Here's a different angle view of the bed where I'm working on the retaining wall. In the summer, this bed is mostly spiders. The bed was built up w/ topsoil and compost a few years ago, and I think it will look better once the retaining wall is complete.

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Some of the daffodils are looking good today. A few have been flattened as a result of high winds and deep freezes over the past week. More freezing weather in the forecast! I'm not as obsessive w/ daffodil names, so I don't know them all. All the daylilies, peonies, roses, hostas are labeled here and I figured that was enough. I do remember this daffodil came from Brent and Becky's and I like how the color changes as the blooms age.

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Lots of daffodils are blooming across the back today, although the earlies are finishing. The Pink Impression tulips have just begun to bloom.

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I'm partial to this daylily, living in VA. It came from Brent and Becky's and is named 'VA. Sunrise.'

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Another view across the back. Some of the daylilies have had freeze damage to their early foliage. Hopefully they will grow out of it.

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Here's another daffodil that I liked today. It came from Brent and Becky's too ( they are a big dealer in Eastern VA) but I can't remember the name.

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Last picture for now! This was shot looking toward the back. Many daylilies will be lifted out of these beds over the next few weeks to make room for new ones. Most of the daffodils in this area were early bloomers and have already finished blooming.

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Floota, these are such wonderful pics of your little piece of heaven on earth!! Thanks for sharing these, as well as the others that you shared in earlier posts. They give everyone, or at least me, a lot to look at and get ideas! Jan G.

Your yard is just stunning. I am so glad you posted these pictures. I love your combo daffodil/daylily beds. I am wanting to get daffs into many of my daylily beds myself but did not get to it yet. Personally I don't see the point in putting labels for daffs either. To me the daffs are early landscape color and I don't care what they are called. Your daffs are really pretty though, mine are mostly just common yellow.

I am also a big fan of putting block or stone edging around garden beds. It just makes them look so much neater and for me it makes it easier to keep the grass out.

Rita, I think maybe your pictures of your terraced beds inspired me to start these retaining walls last fall in the first place. What I've noticed for these raised beds - because the back yard slants slightly downward - is that it really helps prevent erosion and keeps everything in place. It also makes it look neater. I have also noticed that the robins are not driving me as crazy as they normally do each spring, pulling the mulch out all over the place!

Problem is, you get one area done and looking good and then you see several other areas that need work! If I ever finish this retaining wall (I have to haul in the blocks in groups of about 30 at the time, so it seems to take forever!) there is one more smaller retaining wall I want to complete at the edge of the property.

Thanks so much for your nice comments.

I know exactly what you mean about getting one area done and then feeling like you have to do the next one. That is exactly what happened around here. I put in afew of the terraced block walls and then just could not stop because it made everything look so much nicer.

I can really see in the first picture how your yard slopes downward. Mine is different in that I have slopes (look steeper than yours) and then I have more level areas in which I put in gardens. But my blocks are really terraced and make the resulting area behind them level for a flate planting surface. That only works out relatively easy to do if there is not already a garden there. I had only afew things here and there that I had to lift and move because of my terraces.

Looking good floota. Love all the daffs. Mine were really gorgeous this year too but they are all but finished here for now. I also have some beds with daffs and dl's.
Thanks for sharing your garden...I always love to see photos of others. They inspire me to do different things in my own.
Jan

Love what you've done with your flower beds and those daffodils are beautiful. Especially that last one, I love it!

Your pictures really make me realise that I totally goofed by not getting any spring flowering bulbs planted last fall, especially daffs. I did do some in 2007 but had intended to do more in 2008 but ran out of steam. I just love the spring look of a garden with lots of daffs and crocus and your garden just makes me realize how much I want my new daylily beds to look like that with all the daffs.

After looking at your pictures my new (from last year) daylily beds (that I was looking at this afternoon) just look so DULL :-(( Of course, they will look great come bloom time but no spring interest. Its especially depessing when I realize the lots of daffs look was something I had visualized in my mind for those beds but did not do. Oh well, no good beating myself up over it. Will just have to plant lots of daffs this fall.

floota---your yard is beautiful! i like the blooms in drifts-very showy. when i look at your yard-i'm jealous-i can only imagiine it when the daylilies bloom! i think i have too much one of this, one of that, going on in my yard and i plant everything too close togethor. your gardening is an inspiration - and yes i wish you were my neighbor !

Here are a couple more pics taken yesterday. This is looking across the back from one corner to the other. I hadn't had time to get out camera - this is really about a week after the daffodils have peaked.

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A shot of one back corner. In two months, you'd never know there were any daffodils here. Next month, there are some giant Aliums in this area which will bloom. The obelisk by bloom season will be totally covered w/ clematis blooms. In the very back corner ( for any who are on the e-mail robin) is a bird house made by Tony Thompson. ( precious.)The hydrangea in the back corner looks deader than a doornail, but it has tiny green shoots. ( blooms in Aug.)
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Here's one other daff. blooming yesterday. Don't remember the name of this one either!
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Oh my, your spring garden is so lush. This is real encouragement. I ordered 180 bulbs from Brent and Becky's to plant this coming fall in with new DLs in raised beds. Love the wee Violas there too.

LOVE LOVE LOVE your flower beds. I like the raised borders also. Mine have irises in them. Mine is also on a slope, being about a foot high in front and almost 3 ft high in back. It took lots of stones for that and lots of bucks since it is about 40 feet long.

Dot

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All the pictures of those lovely blooms are very inspireing, even if they are not daylily blooms.

I do remember once a long time ago an article (with pictures) of someones gardens that was done with bulb type plants and daylilies. The part that made it fascinating was that each succesion of bloom came and went and you never even noticed that the other stuff was there until it bloomed. So it started with drifts and drifts of daffoldils, then the tulips bloomed. After that came Asiatic lilies and then the daylilies bloomed. I love that multi interest look that takes advantage of lots of spring bulbs.

About 2 or 3 years ago, I had daffs in my front garden with
the idea they would bloom before the daylilies. This
worked very well--for a while. I enjoyed them being so
beautiful and then discovered the daffs were crowding out
the DLs. Darn, darn darn. I started looking at the clumps
of beautiful daffs and they were happily shoving the DLs
away so I had to remove them. I saved a few bulbs and now

I try to keep them dug up so they don't crowd the DLs.
This is OK except I'm getting too old to make more work in
the flower beds.

Kay/phal

Daffodils do increase quickly and I have dug up some clumps - have also thinned out the daylilies here and added some other perennials. Believe it or not, in all these beds, there are also clumps of Echinacea, Nepeta,Liatris, Kalimeris, true lilies,Rudbeckia, and probably some other things I didn't think of. I probably should consider digging and selling some mixed daffodil bulbs this fall, as they are coming out of my ears!

Hi everyone, what lovely spring pics, Once again Floota, your gardens are stunning, and I love the iris that Dot posted. I also started a spring project. Took out the last larger section of grass. I was able to get one section ready. The babies are due to arrive starting on the 13th, starting with my Marietta order first, and I am almost ready with the first section, The further section, which I have barely touched will need a larger retaining wall since the lawn has more of a slope there and since I saw Rita's Terrace gardens.:) I had the two sections, tilled pretty deep which took care of larger surface roots from nearby trees. I still need to add the amendments. Will certainly add spring bulbs in the fall along with other perennials, but the focus will be the DL. I plan on a black/ white section, a lavender section and two sections that will feature the eyed DL. Will see how it works out, one of the many great things about the DL is they dont seem to mind being moved, so if it doesnt look right they can be rearranged. The further section will be home to ones I plan on buying when we visit a somewhat nearby daylily farm in Ohio, Daylilies by the Pond, and a trip to New York to visit Cottage Gardens.
Snow tonight in Ohio , Yuck, I'm going to just ignore it and hope it goes away quickly, The daffs and hyacinths are just getting started here. Cindy

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Cindy, it looks like you have a great plan in motion and a good start on your new beds! I like the plans that you have for your color schemes. I hope they work for you after they bloom. It is so nice how DL's can be so forgiving of us changing our minds and moving them around! LOL Good luck on your finished project and planting this year. I will be looking forward to pictures of it when blooms start! Jan G.

Thank looks like its going to be great. I say the more Daylily beds the better.

Wow, all the gardens are beautiful.Love them all, but sure was a lot of work to get them looking so great.Them daffys are so pretty.Would love to have some yellows with them red centers in them.All you see around here is yellows.Just some plain janes.

Jean

Cindy,Oooo wonderful new bed. Oh to be by water, sigh!
I have 100 cinder blocks being delivered in a week to create 2 large raised beds in the front. Did you dry stack the brick retaining wall? I keep going back and forth about mortar or dry stack. A week away and I still don't know what to do. It will only be 2 high. Well I can't wait to see your summer bloom photos.

wren-garden, I always dry stack, long time ago I used mortar and it was a mess, plus when I wanted to rearrange I couldn't do it easily. I put landscape fabric behind the bricks to prevent any soil erosion through the bricks. I understand that if you go higher than 3 of the larger retaining wall bricks, you need some sort of drainage system, but I have never gone higher than the 3. I was watching an old episode of Gardening by the Yard, and Paul James, stated that he always does dry stack, so I felt I was doing the right thing!! Good Luck with your beds.
Cindy

Thanks Cindy, That's what I'll do, dry stack. I thought I would dig the outline of the bed so the first course will be a few inches below. Because the cinder blocks have those 2 holes in them, maybe I could run some rods down through. The top course will be capped with the flat 2" thick slabs of the same size as a cinder block, 8x16 so I can sit there to weed etc. Since it is in the front of the house I will stain the gray of the blocks a moss color. Thanks again, now I will stop worrying and just get excited. Yeah! My 17yr old Nephew is to come and help me so it should go quickly. Elizabeth