Hi Cameron and WELCOME to the Cottage! : ) It's good to "see" you on this side of GW, too. I've always loved your home and gardens, especially your water feature . . . it's so beautiful and tranquil, I've no doubt the wildlife enjoy calling it home.

Diana

Hello Cameron. I could almost hear the waterfall. Your gardens are paradise. Thank you for sharing.

Welcome Cameron!
We have a conversation forum too. Make yourself at home and join in anytime!

Thanks for sharing your home and garden photos. LOVELY!!!
PattiOh

Cameron, welcome to the cottage! Your home is wonderful. I just spent the past several minutes oooh-ing and aaahh-ing over your gardens. The waterfall and bridge are just lovely. Nice to have you in the cottage.

Tracy

Very nice!! I would love a water feature and hope to have one someday though on a much smaller scale. I also want to put in a flagstone walkway just like yours this year. However I have so many projects going on right now I doubt we'll get to it this year.

Welcome and keep the pictures coming!!!
Meghan

Welcome..and picture perfect gardens!

STUNNING! That house is gorgeous, and so is your garden!

GGG

Y'all really make a person feel welcome! Thank you!

momof2luv2garden -- making the flagstone walkway is so easy if you've got someone to help you wrangle the heavy stones. We order stone by the pallet, delivered. My DH and two sons break it up and place it for me.

We use polymeric sand between the joints to keep out weeds and give us that casual look. It sweeps in like sand; you mist it in several thin layers. It then has to set for a few days without rain in the forecast. You can leave little dips if you want to plant thyme or something. We're so excited because we've actually got some moss growing in the joints now. Adds that special patina!

Gorgeous plantings and paths. Thanks for sharing and welcome to the forum!
kent

Welcome to the CG Cameron! I hope you stick around for a good long time with your beautiful gardens. You have done a fantastic job in such a short amount of time. I take my hat off to your manic industriousness. We've been in our house nearly three years and are still putting the bones in the landscape. There really is something about North Carolina gardens. You are just far enough south to grow southern things and just far enough north to grow a bit of the Yankee stuff. You folks can end up with a fascinating mix.

Thanks for sharing your garden with us. Do stick around. You certainly won't find many nicer people on the internet.

Regards,

Steven

Welcome Cameron,

What a beautiful home and gardens you have! You certainly have done a lot of work in a year. I hope you will post updates this summer so we can see the changes in your lovely landscape, too. Hope you enjoy the friendly folks here at CG - they are a great bunch and this is one of the friendliest forems on GW.

Balsam

Welcome Cameron! I really enjoyed touring your garden. You and your family have created a beautiful oasis. I love all the special touchs: flagstone path, water feature, dry bed etc.

You have given me a couple of ideas already! :-)

Again, welcome. We're glad you're here.

Marilyn

Cameron, I have to admit I browsed your photos looking for the greyhound and was confused when I didn't see one - and then I realized you meant your net name :-) What a great name!

I don't think you need help from us folks here at the forum, but instead we can learn a lot from you. Your house and gardens are lovely and I look forward to see you post regularly.

Welcome to the cottage!
Eduarda

Oh, I think I can learn quite a bit from all of you folks!

Okay, here's "Charm" (Won By Her Wits) playing in the snow:
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Cameron,
What an inspiration!!! Will definitely show this to DH to inspire us this summer. You have a little "Charmer" in your life. She has such a sweet face. I worked with her "cousin Chelsea" before I retired. Chelsea is a Pooch Pal at our library. She sits around and lets kids read to her. I didn't realize before I met her what sweet dispositions greyhounds have. Glad you're her new mommy.

Oh, and Welcome!!! georgeanne

May I add another welcome, I've been lost in your lovely pictures and happily so. My only water feature is called flooding LOL.Martha

HI, Cameron! Just wanted add my welcome to you and also to let you know that I too find your gardens inspirational. I live in the country too and have dreams of a garden simialar to yours...but I can't get DH to move his tractors out of the way lol. I hope you enjoy yourself here!

MeMo

Oh my gosh Cameron ~ What a lovely home and gardens you have. A bit of paradise here on earth. Just wonderful. I look forward to seeing more pictures of your gardens and your home as well.

Welcome to this friendly forum, it is a great place to hang out. I think we can learn quite a bit from you so do jump right in.

FlowerLady

Hi Cameron, and welcome to the cottage! I love your home, property and tranquil oasis you've created. Just beautiful! Oh, and your greyhound pup looks like such a sweetheart.:)

-Becky

Your Charm is indeed charming, Cameron! You said she's a retired racing dog. How did she adapt to family life? I've heard that retired greyhounds sometimes have trouble adjusting, because they were not raised to be pets and struggle to conform to family life once they retire. Is this truth or just a myth?

Give your Charm a big hug from me. BTW, we also love dogs, cats and all sorts of critters photos here at the cottage :-)

Eduarda

Welcome to the forum. I agree, we can all learn from you.

Your house and gardens are beautiful. I enjoyed the tour!

Just getting to this...welcome Cameron. I like your style : ) Lovely, and a habitat besides. You and Eduarda will have fun talking shrubs, and Edna has a habitat as well.

Eduarda: as with any animal, some have problems and others don't. Charm is a real "Miss Manners" and full of personality.

Charm raced for the full 4 years of a greyhound's career. She was very shy when we first got her, but very well behaved. I've never had a dog that listened to our every word and makes eye contact all the time! She wants to please and is sensitive if she thinks she did something wrong. Charm doesn't want to get on any furniture -- but, some greyhounds live on furniture! She doesn't bark at any noises or people. No agression at all. The only time she barks is when we play "20 questions" to figure out what she wants -- to go outside, water, food, play, etc. When we ask the right question, she barks! And, she never lies about it...if she says she wants to go out, she needs to go out.

Debbieca: I have to use a lot of shrubs outside the fence because of the deer population. In spite of all my efforts to plant only deer-resistant shrubs, they still pick those in the winter when they are desperate. (i.e., St. John's Wort, illicium) I'll be adding more salvias, coreposis, stachys, snapdragons, gaura, etc. for perennials. I try to use foliage and the grasses for color combos. I planted several hundred narcissi and bluebells which are popping up throughout the shrub garden.

I'm about to plan the east side of the shrub garden, which is a blank slate except for a Chaste (vitex) tree. I was so inspired by the grasses garden in another thread! I sat here on the computer last night pulling together a list of all the grasses that will work on my gentle slope. I'll probably be posting for advice so that it works well with the cottage garden inside the fence -- as this will be a view over the fence.