Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Gardens That Inspire Me To Get Out There & Dig!

For any of you who have been following me for any length of time, you know I'm an avid gardener. 

I have just under 2 acres on a mountain top in upstate NY and I work very hard on my days off both maintaining and improving my landscape. 

And sometimes I get plumb worn out....and I need to take a break and get some inspiration. 

I have a stack of gardening magazines to thumb through, and a load of gardening books as well.  They are truly inspirational and I love to sit with a cup of tea and spend ages drooling over all the lovely photos. 

I also love browsing around online, pinning things to my Pinterest page 'In And Around The Garden' - it's nice to have the things that pique my interest pinned in one convenient location to refer back to. 

Today I thought I'd share a few of the garden spaces that inspire me and keep me motivated to get out there and dig!

Via
My gardens are certainly not formal by any means. I am a country gardener...but I also don't want too many gizmos or knick knacks in the garden. Just a little accent piece here and there. This garden has the informality I love, but is restrained with the stone walls and wooden fencing. It combines both veggies and flowers in one space, and is truly a rustic country garden. 

Via
I adore this side garden. It's filled to the brim with color, contrasting foliage, dappled sunlight....and that meandering path just makes me want to stroll leisurely with my morning coffee taking in every little plant.  The birdbath, wind chime, and metal obelisk are perfect accents and right up my alley!

Via
What's not to love about this cottage style garden tucked against a white picket fence? The fence gives it structure, and the plantings are repeated all along the fence giving a sense of uniformity to this free-style garden.  It's most definitely a happy garden!

Via
Check out this awesome country garden! It reminds me so much of my crooked little country garden that I love so much! Lots of color, plantings are a bit rambunctious, but the rustic borders and arbor give it a little dimension to keep it from being out of control. Love!! 

Via
Here's another simple way to bring structure to your garden - add a rustic obelisk made of garden twigs. I made one of these as well as an arbor (as in the photo above this one) in my previous home. And you know what? It was simple to do!  I went out in the woods, used my lopper to cut some weed tree saplings and used them to create structures just like these! I used zipties to hold them together (easy peasy!) and covered the zipties with raffia I wrapped around and tied. It was perfect and so simple! 

Note to self....make more twig garden items at new house!

What type of gardens inspire you? Are you more a neat and manicured garden or a cottage/country garden?

38 comments:

  1. Some really beautiful gardens and ideas in these pics... I spent today planting perennials and geraniums at our seaside cottage - it was 80 degrees! Still is!

    You asked about that cook book - there aren't photos for every recipe, but there are many, and they are beautiful. AND.. the recipes? Awesome - you won't be disappointed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I spent this morning bringing the more advanced seedlings up from the grow lights room and out onto the deck! I'm not ready to plant them yet, just in case we get another frost (please NOOOOOO!) but they will do better in the sunshine providing the critters leave them alone! Thanks for the update on the cookbook, I'm such a cookbook junkie!

      Delete
  2. Wonderful inspiration! I love both a cottage garden and semi formal French style gardens, so I usually mix them up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lovely! I don't think a semi formal garden would suit my house but they are beautiful to look at for sure, Penny!

      Delete
  3. I would love to have the garden of my dreams, but that will have to wait since we will be selling in a couple of years. I love all the pictures you found and eager to see what you come up with. I love cottage gardens and would love to have a big herb garden.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I settled for my herb boxes on the deck right outside my kitchen door, Betty - it made more sense for me to run right out there when cooking to snip what I want. Unfortunately most of the herbs don't survive the winter, sadly, and need to be replaced in spring.

      Delete
  4. Oh I love the pictures, the first one especially. You have a beautiful yard too. Bet you are excited that spring is finally here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So excited, Henny! It's so tough to have to sit in my office looking out at the lovely day and wishing so much I was at home in my garden!

      Delete
  5. I like the cottage country garden look - I'm not into neat things in a row when it comes to my gardening. ;-) I *love* that side yard photo that you posted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh yes me too, Melanie - that's one of my favorites - I'm pretty sure I've pinned it multiple times!

      Delete
  6. I love seeing all of those flowers right up against the white picket fence. So many great ideas and you have enough land to really do what you want. We have a small yard that borders a golf course. I love it and have lots of roses in the flower beds...very neat with mondo grass and ornamental grasses. Hugs, Diane

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love roses, Diane, but they don't seem to love my mountain top. I think I lost 4 or 5 this winter, although 3 I'm still watching carefully to see any signs of life. It's so frustrating!

      Delete
  7. What a lovely and inspiring group of photos you have here. Like you, I find a Pinterest very inspiring! I only have a small area in which to work (although with this excessive heat, today I did move both of the citrus trees outside into the sun -- I nearly killed myself doing that!), so have to choose wisely. One thing that I’ve been curious about this season is those little solar fountains that you float in a birdbath. Have you seen those? Have you, or anyone you know, ever used one? Do they work? I love the idea of a little splash of water in my container garden.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a little solar birdbath I got last year, Pattie - the only thing is it needs to be in direct sun for it to work at all. It doesn't 'store' the energy to work when the sun is not directly on it. I'd love to see what you come up with, I would do a bit of google research and see if there's a different option that continues to splash after the sun is gone.

      Delete
  8. I love every one of those pretty gardens! the minute I saw picture #4 I thought "that looks so much like her crooked vegetable garden, or crooked flower garden, or something like that" and then right below I read what you wrote about your "crooked little country garden". LOL I was close! I love gardens with "doors" like that. Did the snow stop??--can't believe it snowed there this time of year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The snow finally stopped, hip hip hooray!!!!!!!!!! That garden reminded me so much of my crooked little country garden, no doubt! It inspired me to create more twig structures like I had in a previous garden also! Not sure where I'll put them....but we'll see!

      Delete
  9. I think we have similar styles in gardening. I always look at the very structured, landscaped gardens in cities thinking that is what I need to be doing. My gardens depend on split rail fencing as their backdrop and formal would just look silly. I do love that white picket fence picture! -Jenn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes Jenn I feel the same way. I think the formal gardens are lovely, but they would look out of place in our landscape. One of my favorite gardens ever is at a home about 10 miles from here, by Dean Riddle - I wrote about his book a while back, it's my favorite book to read in spring. "Out In The Garden, Creating A Beautiful Life" - his garden is to die for! Not formal - it's got a twig fence around it and swept dirt paths and rock borders but it is fabulous! You should do a google search and see if you can find a photo of it! Or search back in my posts for Dean Riddle, I'm sure I must have included photos. Love, love, love!

      Delete
  10. I am more of a country gardener too, very informal and whatever fits at the time. I wish I had the time to do paths and such, but I don't want to do the maintenance on such a scale. I like looking at garden magazines and books I have for ideas on new plants to try. Pinterest is a rabbit hole for me, I can get lost there for way too long, LOL!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh my gosh, Carole, I know what you mean! Pinterest can totally suck you in and the next thing you know an hour has gone by!

      Delete
  11. Wow! What beautiful inspirational photos!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am a tropical/cottage garden type. :-)

    I look forward to seeing your lovely garden spaces this year.

    Happy Gardening Debbie ~ FlowerLady

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Lorraine - my first daffodils flowered this morning, that was pretty exciting! Everything else is trying to bud/leaf out but I think they are scared after the snow the other day ha ha!!

      Delete
  13. Oh, I love them all. but your gardens are just as beautiful!! I have many and to me they look straggley(?), but far away they look good. I just can't seem to cross from spring to summer to fall. Keep the pictures coming.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The garden is always at its best in June I think, Cindy - I bet that's why there are so many June weddings! Believe me, mine look better from a distance too....up close you can see all the weeds that get the best of me!

      Delete
  14. You always inspire me. I get a lot of emails and can't always read them all, but I always look forward to yours and what you've been up to. I too am a country girl for all of my life. I have too many flower beds that are more work now than enjoyment since I'm older, but come August everything is gorgeous and I'm usually elbow deep in putting up tomatoes from our large garden by that time. My hubby keeps saying he wants to make the garden smaller, but I always tell him I have to have room for sprawling squash plants....I always win..lol. Our onion sets got put in late this year due to an unusually cold April....last year we had them in by March and endured the "onion snow," but they're in now, plus I picked up some swiss chard seeds the other day. My hoard of flower seeds from last year awaits May 15 ish to be sowed again. I see from your picture you like zinnias....my very favorite flower. I plant them everywhere. As a kid, my mom always had a vase of zinnias in the house. By the way, I'm in PA, a transplant from MD, having been born on the Eastern Shore (Easton MD)...quite a change. Enjoyed your pictures.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are so sweet, thank you so much for saying such lovely things! I would love a larger veggie garden and then I think I'm nuts because it's so hard to even keep up with what I already have! My sweetie has a veggie garden as well so between the two of us we do pretty well! Enough to fill the freezers and enough to share with friends, what more could I ask? I just put in my onion sets the other day - I made my order much smaller than last year, only ordered one type and I'm trying them out in the herb boxes on the deck this year. I read that onions and garlic like to be with herbs, so onions in one box and garlic in the other. We'll see! I might try peppers on the deck also, they don't seem to do well in the veggie garden....I think the tomatoes cukes and zucchini take over. I'm also trying a squash tunnel this year where I'm growing the squash up and over and I can walk under them - fingers crossed it works! The right side of my veggie garden is up next to the garage and it's more shady and gets very wet since my property is on a hill...it's only good for lettuce really so I figured the squash can sprawl over that way from the middle bed and I'm not really losing any space. Fingers crossed!!

      Delete
  15. I love all of these gardens and my favorite is wild and random and low maintenance. Every Fall I promise to dig out my largest garden to start over but when it starts to randomly bloom and there is always something colorful to see, I leave it another year. Once the clean-up is done I don't want to have to do any more maintenance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same here! My perennial bed should really be all dug up and started again - I inherited some awful stuff from the previous homeowner that drives me nuts. But I don't have the time or the energy to do that and the budget doesn't allow hiring it out so oh well I guess I'm stuck with it! I just keep adding things I like to that area hoping they will crowd out the thing I don't, ha ha!

      Delete
  16. The gardens are all so lovely! I really like that rustic obelisk! Do you have a picture of the one you made? I would love to see it. How clever of you to use zipties and then just cover them with rafia. Thanks for all the inspiration you share in your blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't have a photo of it, not anymore....sadly I had to give up that house and all my lovely gardens when I got divorced. I know the obelisk is still standing, though, as is the arbor I created!!! The arbor was at the back of the house when you came around the corner, and I had lights in it....it led you into our entertaining area with our back deck, swing, and firepit. It was so cool!!

      Delete
  17. Our garden is manicured, but I am evolving into wanting a more relaxed home and garden. Oh my. There. I said it. I get tired of feeling the need to always weed and control.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think you'd be able to stand not keeping things weeded after you've been doing it for so long, Rita! Your garden is so beautiful!

      Delete
  18. I love looking at gardens and garden books also! We were on the garden tour one year at our last house. Your gardens are so pretty that they could be on a tour also. Thanks for sharing the pictures of gardens for us to look at. Nancy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh there's no way my garden could be part of a tour, Nancy - too many weeds!! Darned weeds always get the best of me since I also work full time and summer is my busiest season!

      Delete
  19. I like relaxed gardens too, and these pics are right up my alley. Like you, I don’t like a lot of tchotchkes in a garden, just some structural elements like a fence and/or arbor, maybe a fountain and not much else. Let the plants and flowers shine I say :).

    xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely, Doreen! An odd little thing here and there but I see some gardens where there are more gizmos and gadgets than there are flowers and that's just not me!

      Delete

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking time out of your busy day to leave a comment...I truly love reading your comments and I try to respond to each and every one of your sweet comments right here on my blog page!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
09 10