Saturday, October 10, 2009

Grace's garden


This afternoon, I visited Grace - my neighbor and one of my dearest friends. A couple of weeks ago, I won this Waistie Pouch from Teresa of Gardening with Soule. She held a fun contest "You know you're a gardener when..." that another blogger and I won. It was the story of my little gardener savant 3-year old who would yell "moonbeam coreop-pah-sis!" out of a moving car window that won it for me. Check out the other entries for a laugh. Though the Waistie Pouch has the potential to be a very useful product, I didn't think it would fit my needs as much as it would Grace's, so I've regifted it to her. As you can see in the photo above, Grace has hundreds of blooms in her garden - a veritable rainbow of perennials that encompass her entire front and side yards! She thinks the Waistie Pouch may be useful when deadheading. Continue with me on a tour of Grace's garden - though I warn you - this is the season when there is not a lot to see... Can you imagine what it's like during the height of spring and summer?

Here, a quiet and secluded nook for reading. This is the lush walk to the front door, but as Grace says, the front door is for salesmen, the side door is for friends.


A great two-toned hibiscus

Canna

Reblooming Iris

Snapdragon

Campanula


Notice the different stages of the Angel's Trumpet below...


Cosmos and a tall native sunflower (the sunflower is probably about 8-10 feet tall).

Butterfly Bush

Sedum

Nasturtium - am I the only one who loves the foliage even more than the flower?


Solidago - done with its blooms.



Dahlia


Zinnia


I love this foliage. I believe it's a calla lily.


Monk's Hood behind the porch swing.



Ornamental cherry



Moonflower bloom getting ready to open



A little corner garden in the back.



This is the heuchera corner of the large "Topsy-Turvy" garden in the back. A new side garden that will contain azaleas, a raspberry patch, and other plants will connect the front garden to the Topsy-Turvy garden.



A Hollyhock somehow found its way into the Topsy-Turvy garden.



Grace's Noah's Ark of coleus (except there's only one of each!) potted up and ready to go inside for the winter. In the spring, cuttings and divisions will provide all the rich coleus foliage Grace will need.

A very old ornamental pepper, adding a splash of color to the large shady back deck where Grace relaxes and has dinner every night.



Just past a few houses down the street, Grace tends her aptly named "Creek Garden" where she grows vegetables in a larger space that she shares with another neighbor/gardener. The Malabar spinach grows on a trellis here. Grace loves to add some freshly cut spinach to her soup bowl just before she ladles in her hot soup. For convenience sake, she also keeps a smaller pot of this favorite spinach on her driveway.


Another container on the driveway holds the remains of summer's zucchini and the recent addition of fall's lettuce. Grace also grew some colorful lettuce and herbs in a beautiful wagon wheel shape near the side of her perennial garden this spring.


And finally, what everyone who passes by gets a kick out of - her delicious and beautiful Meyer lemons!


18 comments:

  1. Wendy, It looks like Grace will get alot of use out the Waistie Pouch. It is great for dead heading. She has a beautiful garden. I can't even imagine it in it's prime.

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  2. Hi Wendy, just found your blog, and enjoyed browsing through it. I love the way you talk about your dream life. Say hi to Grace. cheers, catmint.

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  3. Grace's garden is so so wonderful! Her selection of plants are awesome. She even has ornamental pepper! I love that coleus in the centre very much. I have not seen the red/yellow/green one before. Those hanging baskets are really lovely too. Now I am inspired to be one good gardener like Grace. I look forward to have a big garden with many lovely flowers and foliage :-)

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  4. We could all use lovely neighbors like Grace! What a treat to tour her garden...thanks, Wendy! I especially like her pepper plants;) And I definitely envy that fruit ladden Meyers lemon!

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  5. Grace certainly looks happy using the Waistie Pouch. In fact she looks quite elegant in it! What a beautiful and neat garden she has. The ornamental cherry plant looks like the ones they sell here during the Chinese New Year season. I always thought it was ornamental tomatoes!

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  6. oh, sweet of you Wendy to regift it to Grace.. It fits her well and with such garden, the gift will be put to real use... ~bangchik

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  7. Wendy,
    How sweet of you to "re-gift" your prize to this neighbor! And to do a post on her garden. I love it! She has a lemon tree... how lucky!
    Rosey

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  8. I love the nasturtium leaves too, and they are very tasty in salads.
    That moonflower bud looks almost like a sea shell...even better than the full blown blossom.

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  9. What a gorgeous spotlight you did on your friend Grace's garden! Super lovely photos..she has a spectacular garden...and those photos you took are awesome!! Your blog is lovely and there alot to look at..I have enjoyed my visit here!
    Ps: Does Grace leave her reblooming Iris as is.. or does she cut the flower( first bloom) for the second rebloom to occur! If you know I'd love to hear!
    Great post!

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  10. How beautiful! I sure wish more of my neighbors gardened. Sounds like you could learn a whole lot from Grace. :-)

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  11. Sweet neighbor, beautiful garden!

    How nice to have a gardening neighbor: I have great neighbors but they only garden sporadically. You are blessed!

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  12. Hi Wendy~~ Does Grace blog? Maybe you can nudge her. :) She seems like a real gem. If only we could all have a neighbor like her.

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  13. Grace is definitely and gem and I know she'll be really excited to read all your comments! I haven't yet shared the link with her. I think she'd be a great blogger.

    In the garden's prime, there are hundreds of blooms of every type high and low, and also butterflies, hummingbirds, and yellow finches flitting about, with the sound of the fountain below. It's always worth craning my neck as I drive by every day - just need to watch the curve...

    Stephanie, I asked about the green/yellow/red as well, and that is actually amaranth, but I guess it may propagate the same way?

    Kiki, I doubt she cuts the reblooming iris, but I'll check and let you know or maybe she'll comment here...

    It's definitely wonderful to have a gardening friend and who is a neighbor too! Grace is generous and I have many plants in my garden from her. She is also always willing to try new plants, so I'm happy to share my plants with her knowing they'll have a good home (of course, everything does better under her care, but ho hum...).

    Oh, and the meyer lemons? The only thing better than seeing those meyer lemons on the tree is tasting them in Grace's lemon bars.

    Did I mention how lucky I was to have Grace for a friend?

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  14. What a beautiful post on Grace's garden. I can't believe this is her slow season! Wow. It must be just amazing to walk through, I can imagine the perfume. You are lucky to have each other as neighbours =)

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  15. what an absolutely gorgeous garden...I am so very happy to have had the chance to tour it with you.
    That waist pouch looks very handy!

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  16. Can you eat Ornamental cherry tomatoes? I like ornaments and I like cherry tomatoes, lol.

    Grace sure has one hell of green thumb,lol.

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  17. Hi everyone, I am the "Grace" who has the garden that my friend and neighbor Wendy was kind enough to share with all of you. Frankly, I was stunned, thrilled, in awe, whatever to discover what she had done with the pictures that she seemed to be taking so casually. Isn't she a great photographer?? To answer the couple of questions that were raised. The iris are of the reblooming variety - blooming spring and again in the fall - surely worth having - two blooms for the price of one!!! The ornamental cherry is just that - a cherry, (nothing to do with tomatoes!!) - I have had the plant for over 30 years, moving it inside to an unheated bedroom for the winter, where it manages to survive until it reaches the wonderful outdoors of summer. Happy gardening to all - and my thanks to amazing Wendy!! - Grace Deitemyer

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My awesome gardening friends...thanks for leaving a comment! I don't typically repond here, but I love knowing who you are so I can visit your blog as well.

btw - if you're trying to show me nude Miley Cyrus photos, sell me nikes or viagra or antibiotics, or encourage my lovely garden readers to visit your site on solar panel construction, or seo-whatevers, sorry, but I'm not publishing your comment. If you want to moderate my blog - well, I can't keep you too busy, and the pay would be horrible. And lastly, no. I'm not interested in Club Penguin cheat codes. Thanks anyway.

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