rob -- I'd be happy to add you to my garden -- do you prefer sitting on a bench in the shade or in the sun? Iced tea or wine? I have chocolate... =) Hope you do enlarge the photos!

My mother had a few flower beds (dad had the vegetables) and she & I would perambulate around checking their progress whenever I came home from college. It was our time to catch up with each other. But I never really did any garden work until long after I married. I tried to have a tiny garden at our first apartment in San Antonio, which was a dismal failure. 50 years ago we moved back to MA, and I did some gardens there, tho minimal as the kids were young.

Moving here 25 years ago finally gave me plenty of space to indulge myself in a big way. Once the first layout was in place, I gradually greatly expanded the size of all those beds and began to dig out several new ones. Worst job was to heft those stone edging blocks up front and move & reset them to widen the beds -- those are actual cobblestones, and weigh a ton each. I could not do it today, lol.

I've enjoyed posting my photos, but doing so has encouraged me to succumb to the desire to increase the spring bulbs displays since the sun pattern has changed to the ever-growing height of all the trees here. So, two nights ago I sent in an order for a bunch of pretty stuff that I could not resist. Some will be put into containers, some into the ground. I must be mad....

xoxoxox

@summersrhythm...I've never heard of human manure at Lowes. I'll look for it. Thank you! 💚

@roxanna....We need lots of photos when your new purchases bloom. 💚

Oh yes, I am enlarging every photo. More than once. So I can feel like I am there. Are you kidding? I'd help you work in the garden so we could get done double time and then you can use the hammock while I read in the shade. Maybe a meal later on. If we feel like it.

rob -- sounds like a terrific plan! The hammock is long gone, tho... I don't know (roughly, not being a stalker here) where you live, but I can share plenty of plants with you. Dividing huge clumps of hosta, daylilies and daffodils is probably beyond me now (we shall see). The past two years I had a wonderful man who could and did do tons of stuff for me, but he has just bought his new house and will be busy working on renovations. Not certain I can get him to help me this year. And he is the former boyfriend recently broken up with my lady helper, so it is a tad awkward in that respect!

summersrhythm -- I looked on the Lowe's website for the human manure you mentioned, and it is not listed. Perhaps it is something only your local Lowe's carries but the website doesn't? I would really like to check into it.

I live in Nashville, and don't need any more plants, but appreciate your offer. I'm downsizing. I cannot keep up with what I have! I spent four hours straight in the garden yesterday, and I am feeling the effects of it. Ugh.

Roxanna, there's a name for your place. It's Heaven.

It's called " Milorganite 32-lb 2500-sq ft 5-3-0 Organic Natural All-purpose Fertilizer", $19.98 per bag at Lowes.

summersrhythm -- a-HAH! Of course. I have heard of it but didn't make the connection. Thanks.

You're welcome. I have heard of it for years but refused to use it until last year. My roses went wild with it, then I added it to all my fruit trees and veggies.

2007 --

Bird table at front:

June -- filling in more and more:

Weigela when young; it is huge now, and a companion now to a pretty clematis that the birds planted for me -- serendipitous color matching!

Behind this pillar with two clematis is 'Darlow's Enigma' rose, sweetly scented:

DH's favorite iris, 'Caesar's Brother'.. I prefer the bearded ones.

July --

Spring 2008:

The young clumps of small white blooms in the upper right are Leucojum 'Gravetye Giant', stunning as they have grown bigger, and I highly recommend them!

Inexpensive pergola from BJs Wholesale --- I liked the style, so it jumped into my cart and came home with me. Lots of potted lilies. And a foursome of the seasons on the wall which I could not resist:

Crabapple afer bloom, getting big, accompanied by my gremlin:

June -- the daisy meadow has completely become only a memory from this point and permanently disappeared behind this area by now. I do miss its cheerful look:

Lupines did not care for my location, sadly, and died out quickly:

Nice peony on the left, but this area has become a jungle nowadays:

Golden Vicary privet is the bright chartreuse shrub on the left:

On left: the river birch shooting ever upwards. Center is the crab also getting big, with the weigela influenced by them both and trying to do the same. Notice how the lawn has beginning to be infiltrated by clover:

Blueberry bushes and the deep pink fairy rose. And the world's best garden cart, bar none (made in the USA !!), lightweight and I can handle a full load with one hand easily:

Far too hot on this deck for me to enjoy it:

Not fond of the hot pink spirea color next to the other plants! I'm too cowardly to yank them out...

I'm a complete sucker for cherub statues of the four seasons. The roadside trees, mature oak and maple, now shade this garden far too much. And this is the front lawn in its heyday -- it does NOT look like this any longer:

This charmer resides in my front hall indoors now -- he gets decorated for Christmas every year! The other three are stored in the garage. Perhaps I will bring them all out again into the sunlight this year for a change....

August. This is getting a bit too repetitive, isn't it?

2009

Along the front walkway:

A wonderful veronica 'Darwin's Blue', which is now gone, and I wish I could locate a source for it now. It was so lovely.

Variegated willow on right. Bought two to hopefully soak up the excess water back here. Like many willows, they do the job, but have become enormous, and they get severe annual haircuts.

Dancer has very wet feet -- again. She now resides in a different location:

And that, my friends, is enough for one evening. It's a quarter to midnight, and I am going to go out into the cold to view the moon and hope to get a glimpse of the Northern Lights, supposed to be visible tonight. And then, to bed. =)

2007 --

Bird table at front:

June -- filling in more and more:

Weigela when young; it is huge now, and a companion now to a pretty clematis that the birds planted for me -- serendipitous color matching!

Behind this pillar with two clematis is 'Darlow's Enigma' rose, sweetly scented:

DH's favorite iris, 'Caesar's Brother'.. I prefer the bearded ones.

July --

Spring 2008:

The young clumps of small white blooms in the upper right are Leucojum 'Gravetye Giant', stunning as they have grown bigger, and I highly recommend them!

Inexpensive pergola from BJs Wholesale --- I liked the style, so it jumped into my cart and came home with me. Lots of potted lilies. And a foursome of the seasons on the wall which I could not resist:

Crabapple afer bloom, getting big, accompanied by my gremlin:

June -- the daisy meadow has completely become only a memory from this point and permanently disappeared behind this area by now. I do miss its cheerful look:

Lupines did not care for my location, sadly, and died out quickly:

Nice peony on the left, but this area has become a jungle nowadays:

Golden Vicary privet is the bright chartreuse shrub on the left:

On left: the river birch shooting ever upwards. Center is the crab also getting big, with the weigela influenced by them both and trying to do the same. Notice how the lawn has beginning to be infiltrated by clover:

Blueberry bushes and the deep pink fairy rose. And the world's best garden cart, bar none (made in the USA !!), lightweight and I can handle a full load with one hand easily:

Far too hot on this deck for me to enjoy it:

Not fond of the hot pink spirea color next to the other plants! I'm too cowardly to yank them out...

I'm a complete sucker for cherub statues of the four seasons. The roadside trees, mature oak and maple, now shade this garden far too much. And this is the front lawn in its heyday -- it does NOT look like this any longer:

This charmer resides in my front hall indoors now -- he gets decorated for Christmas every year! The other three are stored in the garage. Perhaps I will bring them all out again into the sunlight this year for a change....

August. This is getting a bit too repetitive, isn't it?

2009

Along the front walkway:

A wonderful veronica 'Darwin's Blue', which is now gone, and I wish I could locate a source for it now. It was so lovely.

Variegated willow on right. Bought two to hopefully soak up the excess water back here. Like many willows, they do the job, but have become enormous, and they get severe annual haircuts.

Dancer has very wet feet -- again. She now resides in a different location:

And that, my friends, is enough for one evening. It's a quarter to midnight, and I am going to go out into the cold to view the moon and hope to get a glimpse of the Northern Lights, supposed to be visible tonight. And then, to bed. =)

2007 --

Bird table at front:

June -- filling in more and more:

Weigela when young; it is huge now, and a companion now to a pretty clematis that the birds planted for me -- serendipitous color matching!

Behind this pillar with two clematis is 'Darlow's Enigma' rose, sweetly scented:

DH's favorite iris, 'Caesar's Brother'.. I prefer the bearded ones.

July --

Spring 2008:

The young clumps of small white blooms in the upper right are Leucojum 'Gravetye Giant', stunning as they have grown bigger, and I highly recommend them!

Inexpensive pergola from BJs Wholesale --- I liked the style, so it jumped into my cart and came home with me. Lots of potted lilies. And a foursome of the seasons on the wall which I could not resist:

Crabapple afer bloom, getting big, accompanied by my gremlin:

June -- the daisy meadow has completely become only a memory from this point and permanently disappeared behind this area by now. I do miss its cheerful look:

Lupines did not care for my location, sadly, and died out quickly:

Nice peony on the left, but this area has become a jungle nowadays:

Golden Vicary privet is the bright chartreuse shrub on the left:

On left: the river birch shooting ever upwards. Center is the crab also getting big, with the weigela influenced by them both and trying to do the same. Notice how the lawn has beginning to be infiltrated by clover:

Blueberry bushes and the deep pink fairy rose. And the world's best garden cart, bar none (made in the USA !!), lightweight and I can handle a full load with one hand easily:

Far too hot on this deck for me to enjoy it:

Not fond of the hot pink spirea color next to the other plants! I'm too cowardly to yank them out...

I'm a complete sucker for cherub statues of the four seasons. The roadside trees, mature oak and maple, now shade this garden far too much. And this is the front lawn in its heyday -- it does NOT look like this any longer:

This charmer resides in my front hall indoors now -- he gets decorated for Christmas every year! The other three are stored in the garage. Perhaps I will bring them all out again into the sunlight this year for a change....

August. This is getting a bit too repetitive, isn't it?

2009

Along the front walkway:

A wonderful veronica 'Darwin's Blue', which is now gone, and I wish I could locate a source for it now. It was so lovely.

Variegated willow on right. Bought two to hopefully soak up the excess water back here. Like many willows, they do the job, but have become enormous, and they get severe annual haircuts.

Dancer has very wet feet -- again. She now resides in a different location:

And that, my friends, is enough for one evening. It's a quarter to midnight, and I am going to go out into the cold to view the moon and hope to get a glimpse of the Northern Lights, supposed to be visible tonight. And then, to bed. =)

Roxanna - I don’t normally enjoy pinks and oranges together, but that hot pink of your Spirea isn’t so bad with the oranges, really. Sometimes if you add a deep purple and a very dark red to the mix, and if you took out the pale pink daylily and the yellow daylily, you might find it is a nice hot blend.

What are the trees coming up through your beds?

I see bushes with netting over them, blueberries? Do you still have them?

Great photo of the edge of the patio with a row of those cement outdoor pots on the wall. I also have Leucojum ‘Gravetye Giant’, I love it. I keep meaning to add more.

That pergola from BJs looks pretty darn good…lol.

Your hot deck needs an umbrella for you. You must get a great view from up there. Does it get full sun all day on part of it, or is it just late afternoon sun? It might be a good place to grow some heat loving veggies. Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, string beans. Especially if your yard is getting more shade.

I didn’t realize you have all those rock walls. The herringbone front walkway with that wide perennial bed to walk past is great, too. It’s really a wonderful property. I hope you are able to enjoy it and not always look out at a garden that is getting away from you and feel unhappy. What is your favorite part of the garden, now? I love that first photo of the daffodils in front of the wall at the base of a very mature tree and the bird table. Do you get a lot of birds? That photo reminds me of Beth Chatto's Woodland Garden, are you familiar with her?

Beth Chatto's Woodland Garden

Roxanna not only am I loving your photos, but am impressed with how you know the names of so many of your plants. Do you keep a garden journal? I've thought many times of doing so, but haven't in many years. I'll have visitors to my gardens and many times struggle to come up with the name of a plant.

Roxanna, what happened to you, did you wear yourself out!? lol

prairiemoon, LOL -- I was a bit overwhelmed, so my normal lethargy took over for a few days. Sorry about that! Right now I am awaiting for a contractor to show up, so I don't dare stay online here too long. I do plan to answer your previous post, as well as orchidrain's soon. Stay tuned!

Apologies for the above double post -- sleep deprivation, probably, and I am uncertain how to delete it without losing everything...

Should I keep going with this here, for continuity, assuming there is still interest in my proceeding? Thanks for checking in!

Roxanna, we've all been there....lol. There's no rush to get back to the thread, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.

I'd stick with this thread for continuity. And yes, I'm still interested, but not if you have run out of steam. Do what works for you!! As for deleting the double post, I think there should be a delete button under them. And Houzz only gives you less than a week to delete it. If you can't don't worry about it.

I too am enjoying this thread. Thanks, Roxanna. i really enjoy seeing the evolution of a garden over time, and your is one with lots of character that must have given you and your family and neighbors a lot of pleasure over the years.

NHBabs -- So happy you are enjoying it! Thank you. I have had compliments from passers-by (neighbors don't have much direct viewing) but the bulk of my gardens are behind the house, lol. One year (the one "of the lilies') I did have the town's garden club out to walkabout. I had attended one of their meetings as a guest when a friend was giving a talk. But as I am not a joiner sort of person, I never became a member!

Not ever been a driver, either -- trust me, nobody wants ME on the road, and I do not want to be there, either. The first time I "drove" our family car was the last -- I inadvertently hit the go forward thing-y when I meant to gently back up, and promptly careened into the solid wood door of our brick Victorian converted stable in which we lived and knocked it out of alignment. The whole house shook. The family joke ever after has been "Call Roxanna if you want your garage moved". <grin>

I do have plans to continue this thread, so stay tuned...

I'm loving your thread and pics of your gorgeous property. I get that neighbors might not see the view. Years ago a nearby elementary school's fifth grade took a tour of my backyard and gasped...who knew there was a woods and ponds in our town.

Great post

Truly, truly lovely.

Hello, all ~ I haven't forgotten about this thread and promise to get back with more photos soon (?!). Life has been happening on my home front that has suspended my activity here for a time, but I hope to resume inundating you with further examples of the ongoing thrills of my gardening as I age out of doing much of it. To everything there is a season, and at this specific time things are beginning to wind down. However, to quote a recent phrase, "she persevered", and onward she will go! Stick with me if you dare!!

I love your pretty photos! Any time you want to share....! BRING it on!

Enjoying these photo's a lot. It actually reminded me of the gardens I left behind at my old house (not as grand a scale as yours!). I see the love and the care and it makes me very wistful.

In the first posting, 7th picture down, I had to do a double-take... it looked just like my arbor on a hill! I also had two walled beds on either side with beds in front too. I was going to post a pic, but seemed like bad netiquette! This thread does inspire me to make a 20 year journal of my former garden.

roxanna, this thread is awesome! Your gardens are just gorgeous and I love seeing the changes. Wish I had done that with my gardens - not that they look anywhere as lovely as yours. I do hope you will continue with this thread.

Can I suggest putting this over on the perennials forum as well? Not sure if you can do that once you've already posted it here, but honestly the NE forum just doesn't get as much traffic theses days, and I'm sure there are many folks over on perennials who would love to see your gardens!

:)

Dee

Stunning, all of it! I hesitated to open this thread because I didn't want to get to the "decline," knowing it could make me cry. I had to live through my own gardening decline. I knew it would happen someday, but it's still painful.

Your Lunaria looks like it could be Sweet Rocket (hesperis). It's a bit invasive, for which I'm grateful as it provides evidence that I was once a flower gardener.

That's it, Alisande! Hesperis, whose name totally escaped my aging brain cells. Thanks!

Continuing (if possible!):

2010 -

In no particular sensible order of arrangement. I'm just happy I have been able to do this again at all, at this point, lol.

Not looking too bad here:

Wish I could remember the name of that yellow hosta, as by 2024 it has been smothered mostly. Hope to rescue it this year:

Getting very overgrown, isn't it? That path is now a wall-to-wall carpet of mosses in 2024. My helper spent several days removing it all by hand in 2020, as my DH preferred the original presentation, but it isn't worth the time or effort IMHO. And, honestly, I love the look of a moss path!

The crabapple is getting huge. The wegelia is a lovely thing, altho resents the crab's encroachment. Those lupines decided to leave permanently, much preferring to grow wild up in the state of Maine, where they are fabulous.

River birch clump attempting (and eventually succeeding) to outgrow the crab. I love that tree, but it is a major dropper of small branches, which is a continual job to clean up. Notice the state of that lawn -- it was sod originally, excellent stuff, but Mother Nature had/has other plans.

July:

Nothing here below exists in 2024 -- except for the bridal wreath spirea in the background. I miss the Thalictrum 'Splendide" especially, that airy light purple tall thing. I've tried to grow it multiple times and it simply won't thrive.

Did I mention the jungle-ifcation of this bed?? Ye gods.

Ah, yes, my jungle continuing to evolve, on steroids:

That baby golden privet is now about 10 feet tall. That lovely lily has gone to the garden in the sky. We still get blueberries from those shrubs on the left.

It has become a cluttered mess out there... Am trying to decide if it really bothers me or if I am simply a lazy gardener...

Next up, If you are not crossing your eyes with boredom yet (in which case, just scroll on by!), we will be heading into 2011 and beyond.

WOW! WOW! WOW! Please post more...

nicole - I plan to, as long as I can remember HOW! So far, this morning was successful. Remains to be seen if that continues... =)

Write down your steps for posting so you won't forget - I think we all would love to see more 🙂

MORE, please.

Hi Roxanna, I did find the new posts with the new photos and your comment came up in my notifications too, which was great. So I will be following along now... :-)

Wendy, I just saw your post. I would love to see photos of your old garden too! You moved far away, didn't you? Started a new garden? I am so curious how your new garden is doing too. I hope you will start your own thread so we can all follow along.

It's amazing to me at least, to see this very large, garden and all the projects that it takes to put it together. Especially the hardscapes, because that is the part I really have struggled with. And you can do so much with a large garden that you can't do in a small garden.

Roxanna, I'd like to know how long it took you from the planning stage to what you considered a completed garden? Did you have help in the design stage? A landscaper that arranged subcontractors? I can't get over your brick patio. It is SO gorgeous. Beautiful craftsmanship.

I wish houzz was set up to allow people to 'heart' a photo that especially appealed to them.

prairiemoon -- So glad you are here! To answer your questions above: We bought this house, our first after 20+ years as a military family, in 1998, I think. Except for the front walk and lawn areas, which had some minimal gardens, the "outback" stayed empty for a year or two. I knew I wanted to have gardens there, but didn't really have any ideas right away.

Enter a very nice young man who had his own landscaping company. He worked alone, and after some conversations, we took a chance and hired him. He was great, easy to work with, a good worker, and he came up with the initial plan for the back yard. I liked his vision. He set up underground electrical wiring for some lovely copper lights (shaped like flowers) -- those are the white pipes you can see in the second photo at the beginning of this thread. He made the beds along the central axis from the big arbor (which be built from scratch from his own design) to the woods, and made the original pillars to match. Marked out the pool area, outlined with genuine cobble stones, Installed the pool -- it's about 18" deep, and faced it with a stone wall. Of course, I had to get a small fountain! The local frogs love it.

The patio was my design -- I love herringbone brick. He built that as well as the stone walls around it. I still love the look, altho the environment here leads to mosses covering the bricks, and the western-facing aspect means we never use it, sadly, altho we had thought we would... Had the bricks cleaned last year, so it looks pleasing again now!

As mentioned, he advised me on suitable plants/trees, and put those in (amelanchier trees, a couple of hollies). He made some beds raised because of our very high water table out there (vernal swamp, remember?).

The rest I insisted on doing myself -- who's a gardener if she doesn't actually DO it, sez I? I loved grubbing in the soil. I brought some plants from my childhood home -- a wonderful 1820 farmhouse which has since been torn down and replaced by a dreadful monstrosity, grrrr. Those plants include the allee of daylilies, a Bridal Wreath spirea, some very ordinary hostas (which have led me to more exciting varieties over the years). Everything else has been bought and installed by three people -- Me, Myself and I. I am bound and determined to spend down my children's inheritance -- a plan that is still working beautifully, since I still cannot fail to go to local nurseries as well as online to get more plants, etc., and having lost permanently many things over the years, I keep purchasing, lol.

Ah, well, as I tell everyone: It keeps me off the streets, wandering aimlessly, and out of the hands of the police. All is well.

This is a testament to a steadfast love of your garden and home. Thank you for sharing.

Roxanna, I apologize, I didn’t see this last post.

Thank you for filling in the story of how this garden developed. You really did get lucky with the gentleman you hired to help with the design. He would appear to have been well rounded and talented and he must have loved his job!

You came up with the patio design, wow, you did a great job on that. That is one of my favorite parts of the garden. I especially love the herringbone brick. Classic.

Is it because it is hot on the patio that you don’t use it? But isn’t it comfortable in the Spring and Fall and even the winter? It has such a great view and is right down in the garden!

You grew up in an 1820 farmhouse? It sounds lovely. I love older homes with some history. And don’t you think everything was built so much better and with better materials in the olden days?

Daylilies and Bridal Wreath spirea….do they even sell that shrub any more? I actually have a Bridal Veil spirea. It is stuck under a mature Maple now and is barely hanging on. I really need to dig it out and let it have a life again. It was a very pretty shrub.

That was a LOT of plants that you shopped for and planted yourself….lol. But to me, it just sounds like a really good time. We all wish we were young enough to do something like that again. [g]

Kept you off the streets and out of trouble, huh? I wonder what ALL of us would be doing if we weren’t gardening. LoL

So what are you doing with the garden now?

I haven’t gotten around to a fraction of the projects I was hoping to do this season. Actually I haven’t done one. LoL I did get my front bed ready for the season and I went to one local plant sale and dragged home 26 small little plants. I’ve only planted 5 plants so far. And I just planted tomatoes and peppers and that’s about it.

A lot of my full sun garden is about to burst into bloom and I’m lookin forward to that. The rabbits are eating up some of my shade garden. This year I have tiny little baby bunnies that seem to be able to climb through the smallest openings. Our dog chases them out of the yard when she is here, but they wait for her to go back in the house and are right out there again.

I keep comforting myself with the list of plants they are ignoring. Lol

Roxanna, tha ks for sharing your garden history. i recently rediscovered Houzz and so glad I found your thread.

defrost49 -- Welcome! -- and do join in the conversations! Where are you located (nearest big city)? This is a wonderful group! Start a thread and tell us abut YOUR gardening life. =)

Thank you for your comment. As you can see from the date of my last entry, I have let things get away from continuing this thread. Life in general, the weather this year (has varied from awful to fabulous), and my highly-developed sense of procrastination has kept me from doing updates here...

Theoretically, I do intend to resume my photo essay. (!!!)

Thanks for the welcome Roxanna. i was acrive severalmuears ago so several names are familiar and I have visited Thyme2dig's garden. i'm near Concord NH. concentrating on getting rest of vegetable garden in but have a growing collection of plants both annual and perennial waiting for homes. my star purchase is a dwarf fothergilla. i was surprised small local nursery had several and I wanted one after seeing one in the Charlotte Rhoades butterflu garden on MDI, southwest harvor I think.

have you really been gone?i may be mixing up your name with someone elses because i feel ive been resding your posts recently. Well, im mixing up more than names sometimes. Im sure others remember you as well

marie (once known as idabean)

I don't think I posted last summer. I remember idabean I think. There used to be a twice a year plant swap in Goffstown very close to the former Uncanoonuc Perennials. The plant swap was held by the lady who used to teach French at MVHS.

Marie -- I have put my photo essay on hiatus, but yes, I have still been posting in other threads now and then. It's nice to see the Idabean name again, albeit briefly!

Off topic- a friend nicknamed our dear departed stupid beagle named Ida, Idabean and i used it as my screenname . when she died ( a long time ago) i retired it but couldnt come up with anything i liked as much so im just me now.

i went to that swap once but there were people who went for years and years. the food was as popular as the swap. I know there are a lot people who remember her name (and her) fondly but i can’t right now

roxanna- If and when the will returns i hope you will re-start your story. or perhaps start at the end- which would be now. i bet there are still many beautiful spots.

Sort of like us as we age….

@defrost49, was that plant swap Annie's by any chance? When I read your comment, the name Annie popped in my mind. I recall she offered lemonade and cookies. I went to a few of them in my early gardening years (before I learned that plant swap items may have aggressive tendencies -- which is ok when starting out and needing to fill spaces). I miss Uncanoonuk for sure!!! I'm an hour away but I have a friend in Goffstown and it was usually an annual event to visit (annual for me... she got hooked and went all season long -LOL)

Yes, Wendy, it was Annie! I couldn't remember her first name.

Oh my word!

Love this so much! I have ooo'd and ahhhh'd over all your pictures. That is a lot of work! Hard work too!

I love flowers, have a small yard now. After 35 years of NO yard. I am enjoying it so much! My favorites are asiatic lilies, echinacea and the gorgeous peonies.