Garden Tour 2011

I always think of September as a new start.

The start of a new school year.

The start of better diet & exercise after an ice cream filled summer.

The start of shorter days when the sun goes down sooner than you think.

The garden starts to lose its perky growth.

And the mornings are crisp, hinting at the new season ahead.

"Autumn...The year's last, loveliest smile." - John Howard Bryant

First days of school...

Freshman boy, & 6th grade girl.

2nd grade Googles.

Upperclassman this year...Junior...yikes.

While Trevor's Aunt was visiting this summer,

she looked out into our backyard from the upper deck.

She commented on how my blog pictures didn't do our yard justice.

So here is a little garden tour.

I still don't think the pictures do it justice, but maybe if you imagine 

the birds chirping, the waterfall soothing, 

and morning sun warming your skin...it will help.

 We have 4 varieties of seedless grapes on the split rails.

Those are the bunches you see right off the patio.

The big island in the middle of the yard I call "The Perennial Garden".

"The Round Garden" is behind it to the left

and "The grass garden" is directly behind it obscured by the tree.

"The Rose Garden" is off to the far right out of the picture.

Our small waterfall off the right side of our patio.

The fading summer blooms surrounding the bird feeder

in The Perennial Garden.

The path & arbor in The Perennial Garden. 

Honeysuckle vine, trumpet vine, & climbing roses trail up the arbor.

 A different view.  The sedum (behind chair) is going strong right now, and

I planted Hot Pokers (in front of chair) this spring...I am loving them.

If you walk under the arbor and out a bit, you come to The Round Garden.

This was my new project this spring.

Might do a little tweaking next year, but all in all I really like it.

I ate lunch out here on the benches quite often with my quail friends.

They like it too.

A few steps off to the right brings you to The Grass Garden.

I call it this only because it has many different grass plants.

It is a more naturalized rock garden and does not have colorful blooms.

Just grasses, trees, lavender and some whirling butterfly plants.

This is where the killdeer always lay their eggs.

I'm thinking of planting a few black-eyed susans in here next year though.

The Grass Garden.

And this crazy thing is all from seeds.

I love zinnias.  Just for kicks, I will call this my Zinnia Garden.

So I planted MINIATURE ones with some supposedly

taller nasturtiums and 4 o'clocks.

Well...these zinnias went CRAZY and are almost as tall as me.

They ARE beautiful though, aren't they?  Sigh...

The Rose Garden is along the fence.

I also have one in the front yard.  Sorry, no close-ups this time.

A view of the grapes.

 These are so so sweet.

A view to the left from the upper deck.

 And then out to the right.

And that will complete our Garden Tour 2011.

Lots of work?

Some...but I feel joy every time my hand touches dirt & flower.

And just looking ahead, I think these pumpkin ideas

from Women's Day magazine are simply stupendous!

FUN, right?