Beautiful! I felt like I was there for a personal tour. Everything looks great. The wonderful rains make such a difference. Thank you for sharing.

FL, I love the cozy, contained feel of the place - the paths are wonderful with the promise of something special around each turn. Really beautiful, thanks for the tour!

Janet

The thing you can't SEE in that album is the feel of Florida. What you can see are some great ideas. Rainey's porch supports are the same as my grape arbor supports.

Notice the gate. I need to place the gate I got from the Iron Lady somewhere neat like that.

The stones, did y'all look closely at the stones? They're what Miss Billie's daughter's boy friend called 'Rocks that Grow Flowers' -- little sedums (and ferns)will grow in the crevices with practically no soil at all, just the dust that settles on the stones.

I love this album.

Nell

See, that's what I mean by intimacy in a garden. You've done a fantastic job. I'd love to have a private space like that to just sit and relax at the end of the day, or in the mornings with a cup of coffee, or during the day when I'm tired of moving plants around.

It looks very lush and tropical to me. I loved the tropical feel of the garden I got from those pictures. You have done a remarkable job in a small space.

Flowerlady I really enjoyed that! Very lovely indeed. You have a very intimate feel to your garden. It seemed that I could actually feel you working there, tending to the garden, loving the plants and just "being" there. That is a great accomplishment to have created a space that is an outside representation of yourself. You have a garden as it is meant to be.

Flowerlady,
I haven't seen your garden until now and it's just wonderful. I love the size and scale of everything...it looks so inviting...like a place where you can see something different every time you look. Thank you!
Pam

FlowerLady, I always enjoy your wonderful garden photos and it was a real treat this morning to take a "stroll" through your lovely, welcoming paradise with its sprinkling of wimsey. I love it.

Also, I share your philosophy of gardening and you stated it beautifully.

Thanks for sharing with us!
Hugs,
Patti

Thanks so much for sharing that - your garden is fun and whimsical!

FlowerLady, I could feel at peace in your garden. What a wonderful place to stroll, or just sit and relax, and become a part of it all. Thanks for showing us your piece of Heaven.
Jim

It's just beautiful flower lady! Queen is really shaping up, her spires of color are wonderful with the color of your home. What I like most about your gardens is that they are "you". Unique, creative, fun, exuberant, life loving.

Thank you one and all for your kind comments. They have inspired me to keep working and adding more color. You are all welcome for the tour. It was fun and I'm happy you visited.

Blondie ~ The rains certainly have made a difference, especially after being in drought conditions for the past 3 years. The ground is still soggy.

Janet ~ Cozy outside and cozy inside our cottage. I need to work more on what's around the corners to delight the senses.

Nell ~ What you can't see about this far south in FL is that it is still swamp land. Those porch supports we found curbside shopping a few years back. The people put up 4"x4" posts instead. These are probably from the 50's which is what our cottage is. Those stones do grow all sorts of things. A lot of them are shell rock, others are not. DH and I love rocks. Do something with your iron gate, you won't be disappointed and do post pictures when you get it up.

Tom ~ If I did it, you certainly can. Pick a private spot and go for it. We've always wanted privacy in our space. Our whole property except for the driveway and front gate is fenced/hedged off. When we first moved here other home owners were using our property and we had to put a stop to that. We had a little dog at the time so he was our excuse. We started out with wire fencing and then went to privacy fencing. Behind our cottage is our real secret garden, outdoor solar shower, jacuzzi, and claw foot tub, swing, bench. A quiet area to hang out in. It is hedged off from the back of the property where we park. ~ Sorry that got so long winded. Do look around and see where you want a private spot. You had one at the last place you lived, you can have one here too, only better. Enjoy the thought processes and the work.

Rita ~ A tropical/cottage garden is what I've been working on since before I knew what a cottage garden was. I just knew I wanted things to grow happily along side each other.

Bluesunflower ~ Having a garden as it is meant to be. I like that. It's my space away from the crazy, hectic world that we live in. Living on what feels like an autobahn with cars whizzing by all the time one needs a calming space.

Pam ~ I don't usually show picture of my gardens, showing flower portraits instead. It is a work in progress. Limited space and funds. It's something I really enjoy doing for heart, soul and body.

Patti ~ Our little whimsical, tropical paradise, here in the land of sunshine, where it's the lightening capital and we live in threat of hurricanes for 6 months. Winters are lovely though, except for the population explosion.

Lavendrfm ~ We can't keep the whimsy out, it's part of our personalities.

Jim ~ Peace is something I wish to create and for others to feel, even just walking by. It is our little piece of heaven on earth.

GGG ~ I love that Queen. She's really grown since we got her two years ago. I'm happy to have her in our gardens.
'Unique, creative, fun, exuberant, life loving'. I'm a reclusive, crazy, happy person, living with the love of my life, trying to take each day as it comes.

Dear Cottagers thank you. Your words have encouraged me once again. Your gardens have inspired me to keep on in mine. I ooohh and aaahh over your pictures, turn a shade or two of green at times, but jump right out into mine working with and creating with what I've been blessed with.

I've learned a lot here and friendships made are priceless.

Enjoy the rest of the week and happy gardening wherever you are.

FlowerLady

Oh I missed this post. What a wonderful walking tour of your garden. I do love the tropical feel and the lush ferns and vines. Those blue bottles look like mine :) What a charming and intimate haven you created...a retreat as it were. Lovely rainey. c

What a delightful space - you have your own paradise on this earth!!! Thanks for the tour.

Nancy.

Darn I must have forgot to hit submit, I thought I had left a comment.
Although we live miles and miles apart we have some things in common, like a 4 lane highway on the other side of a fence, lots of green, different little gardening areas each coming into their own at different times. We grow different plants because of where we live but I felt right at home in your lovely garden I just love your arched gate, it looks so inviting.

Annette

Flowerlady - that you so very much for that wonderful tour of your garden - I just love the intimacy of it and the surprises around the bends. You have used the lushness of a tropical setting and the whimsy of cottage gardening and created 'heaven' on earth - just a wonderful blend. Thanks again ......

Lynne

Hi Caroline ~ Glad you liked the little tour. Those lush ferns are 'too' lush and take over. There are three different kinds and the one I really hate is the asparagus fern, mean thorns they have. They are all hard to get rid of because of tubers, rhizomes and underground runners. But, they do add to the tropical look and there's no way I'll ever be able to get rid of all of them. ~ Most of those blue bottles were from a good deal on wine that we got at our local grocery store. The wine was called 'Relax', $5 a bottle and the blue bottles were the prize. (These were marked down from $20 a bottle and we didn't know that until we got to the check out lane.) The wine was a tad sweet for us, but we didn't know that until we tried the first one. That doesn't mean we didn't drink them all either, over time. We like drier wines. ~ It is our little retreat here, getting better with time.

Good afternoon Annette ~ Yes we have a lot in common and I've felt equally at home in your lovely gardens. I would never have known until you told me recently that a 4 lane road was behind your lattice house. Last night DH was looking at my posted photo album and he said look at all that green. Like you said we have things blooming at different times and in different areas of our properties. I do envy the colorful flower filled beds that some of these great gardeners have, but I can't let that stop me from enjoying the beauty that surrounds me. I am working on planting more colorful perennials. DH made the arched arbor over the gate as part of my birthday this year. I love it. We have one over the front gate too, just a little different arbor work on that one. The birds are the sweet, cottage touch for me.

Thank you Lynne ~ Tropical and whimsical, that's Plum Cottage Gardens in a nutshell.

Last night I got an idea for an arbor over a seating area at the back/west corner of my main garden area, so began work on that this morning. I will post pictures of that when it's done. I wanted it for the Phyllis Bide polyantha climber that has a long cane with blooms, which is at the north end. At the south end I hope to have St. Vincent Lilac vine growing up and over. We'll see how that turns out.

Anyway, that's it from the tropics. I had a nice soak in our clawfoot tub, with solar heated water. I added Bulgarian Rose Absolute, Neroli, and Ylang-Ylang essential oils to the water and it was heavenly. This is in our secret garden and there were at least three different kinds of butterflies flitting about. A nice relaxing way to end the day in the garden.

Have a great weekend everyone ~ FlowerLady

A nice little escape to Florida! Love all that rusted wrought iron and the lush plants. It definitely has a tropical feel to it and you have made a mini-retreat in your yard. Hard to believe that it was once wide open, it looks so private and enclosed now, thanks to all your hard work and planting. Pat yourself on the back - you've earned it!

Flower, your home and garden are one of the most prettiest places on earth. I am in awe!!! A very cottage garden indeed. One of these days I'd love to see a picture of your out-door shower - I think that is the coolest thing. You are a woman of many talents. The world is a greater place because you're in it :-)

I can see you have a wide street in front of your house so that must mean it has fairly heavy traffic?

Hugs,

Edna

What a treat your album tour was! Thanks for posting. It's so interesting to me to see a tropical cottage garden with plants I can't ID but it still has the same cottage flavor. Love your iron gates.

I saved the pic of your Kenyan Proverb plaque. I've seen the quote before but I'd love to make one for my own garden.