Cameron,

What an outstanding transformation! It's beautiful. All your hard work has really paid off.

I particularly like how your garden encompasses such a wide area and is positioned so that it's visible from every window (something I have to work on at my house!)

Not only are your plants lush and healthy, but the wrought iron fence and stone paths really add to the cottage feel.

What is the beautiful pink shrub blooming near the door in the 3rd picture? Maybe Chinese Fringe Flower??

Marilyn

Cameron, that's absolutely gorgeous. You did a wonderful job!

Congrats on the rain :)

Lisa

What Charm...aren't before and after pics great ..I often forget to take them and wish I had..nice job, the gardens are perfect for your home.

I love what you have done with your yard. Lots of love and work went into it and it really shows. That fence is just perfect for your house and yard. Congrats, it is just beautiful.
Barb

I hope that folks who are just starting out can see the transformation from bare ground to a garden.

Sometimes I think it's too much land and I've planted too much (and you're not seeing it all in these photos). In our setting, the size (scale) of the garden had to fit the scale of the land or it was lost.

Marilyn -- the burgundy beside the arborvitae? That's a Japanese Maple -- brilliant color!

Our house is at the back of a 2 acre meadow, so there was no reason to have a lawn around the house. It's difficult to photograph the house from the road. To understand the setting, it's better to see the meadow from the front porch.

{{gwi:752174}}

Cameron,
I love before and after pictures. Your photos will certainly be helpful to those just starting out. I like the last photo best. That Japanese Maple was worth every penny, lol. What a beautiful place you and DH have made.

I need to get into Picasa and get my pictures organized. Bet I'd be surprised how my garden has transformed over the years.

How wonderful that you FINALLY got rain. I'm praying that some of it makes its way up here. We're about 15" below normal for the year and a quick thunderstorm will help but won't be hardly enough.
Vikki

That is wonderful! Love the fencing.

Those before and after photos are so inspiring. You've done a fantastic job! I love the very wide stone walkway and the generous size of the gardens. Often people plant a tiny little flower bed next to a large home because they want to minimize their work, and the scale is off and never looks right. Yours is perfect!

Good morning Cameron ~ What a wonderful place you have and what a lot of love and hard work have gone into your gardens. It really is amazing what can happen in a couple of years. Thanks for sharing your piece of paradise.

FlowerLady

Cameron, beautiful home, beautiful garden!! I really, fully, appreciate your comments on getting the scale correct when you have such wide open spaces to landscape. I struggled with that very thing for several years. I found that not having a "background" like a yard border against a fence or a small space around a deck or whatever to be so difficult. You have to stretch everything out to get the height, width and depth filled in properly to keep it all in scale and it's really such a challenge. Especially if you are used to planting on a small urban lot. Congrats to you on all of that! You certainly got it right.

MeMo

Cameron your spaces are so beautifully proportioned. I too love the before and after shots.

I am SO glad you got the Humberto rains, as did we. I posted pics of the results. We are still level 4 drought and are 24 in below too , they say that this was not enough to do anything but my plants are really happy .
Caroline

Thanks -- it's so much work! If I weren't retired, I wouldn't have this much garden. There is nothing on the west side of our house except the parking area and a few foundation shrubs. My DH is suggesting that I put gardens over there, but it will really have to be something low maintenance. Maybe when HE retires! He does a lot on weekends. He enjoys it too.

Great news! DS1 will be home from London on Tuesday. He MAY have a teaching position at a university that's about 1 1/2 hours away (for Spring 2008). Until then, he'll live here and travel to do contract archaeology. He helps a lot in the garden. Most of what you see outside the fence that's bigger than a perennial, he planted last fall. When he was home for Easter, he planted Provence lavender for me. I am always sending him photos and he checks my blog everyday to see if there's any news.

The weeds weren't too bad today after the rain. It was so great to get the rain. It was just in time. Things were getting really bad.

Cameron

OH MY! Beautiful house and garden. I covet your walk way.

Stunning! Wow! It's inspiring, that's for sure. You must absolutely enjoy being outside.

May I ask... what did you mulch with?--- beautiful color. I couldn't tell if it was shredded or even pine needles.

Earlier this year, there was a thread about how we created our walkways (and one patio) with flagstone and polymeric sand. There's mortar on the bridge, but otherwise, it's the polymeric. We re-applied this summer and it was easy.

The mulch is triple ground hardwood -- it's NOT dyed red. For some reason, the foliage setting on my camera makes it look a little red.

Yes, we practically live outside and the garden is a family creation with everyone participating. DH and I are empty nesters most of the time.

DS2 lives locally while attending pharmacy school. DS1 came home from grad school in London yesterday. Before he even came inside the house, he had to walk around the garden!

DS1 helped plant the outer garden and helped build one patio (with DS2) and the dry stream bed. The gardens mean so much to him. He's already asked me what I want him to do this fall! DS2 laid all those stepping stones in the outer garden -- they go all the way around to the back of the house.

Cameron