My seven sister Rose :)

The Cosmos were so beautiful and brilliant!!! They are still blooming like crazy even with the ever impending Snow/Winter coming soon! Def one of my favorites but I plan on moving them next year to the front hill garden as I didn't imagine them this tall!! They would look a lot better in the background of another garden!
~Michael

This is one of the hill gardens this year! (taken recently so there isn't much color for that reason too) Filled in with tons of seedlings and hope for next year! I can't wait to see alot of these plants bloom next year! In here I have penstemon, yarrow, lupine, hibiscus, salvia carradonna and blue spires salvia seedlings :)

I've gotta say gardening on hills and climbing them to weed them or care for them sucks!!! But they are my gardens for now till I can save money to move out and hopefully find a small farm and start all over!! How exciting that will be also!!

Now that winter is coming, I will dream and read Tasha Tudors book and watch Carol Klein's videos especially on growing your own veg and wait!! (We just built 5 veggie beds this Fall so I will be incorporating veggies next year and I'm beyond excited!! I have never really grown much besides tomatoes so a new experience is underway! )

~Michael

P.S. Sorry I have never really uploaded pics and I have no idea how to include multiple photos in one post!

How beautiful! Love those zinnias and cosmos are a favorite, too! A friend sent me seeds last year. Now, I just need to add more to the space. I have always wanted roses, but I think I don't really have enough sun. Sigh. Of course, if our new neighbors continue to cut down trees (6 so far), that could change, too, even though I told him (we are friends, so this was said kiddingly...sort of) that for every tree he cuts I will plant one! He likes grass.

Can't wait to see that hill next year!

I like grass too, but I'm not about to turn my yard in to a monoculture of it. A lot of people have the attitude that anything they do in the yard is work. I think of it as play.
Mike

Those fuchsia zinnias, lavender cosmos and that amazing rose are the most beautiful colors! I'm looking forward to seeing that hill, bet it will look incredible.

I agree with everyone above !! What a great garden . I really am planning on jumping on the zinnia band wagon ! Such pretty flowers! Thank you for sharing your photos with us !

My favorite Poppy I've grown so far!! : )

Sorry I can't resist adding a few more pics lol besides a few friends that see the back gardens and the neighbors that see the front hill, not a lot of people get to see my gardens!! It's so nice to share and here good feedback that I did pretty good my first year back to gardening!! :)

~michael

And this is yet another hill! I was hoping for shades of yellow,orange and red here with a lot of orange milkweed plants but sad to say, the seedlings did not make it so I replanted with what I had this Fall leftover including orange mums, yellow/peach gaillardia, arizona sun gaillardia, burgundy gaillardia, red shades gaillardia, double scoop echinacea(she seems sad and has been attacked by bunnies several times sadly!!), tangerine gem poppies and also several kinds of lily and hyacinth bulbs which of course, you can't see that work!!

It was a lesson learned for sure. This hill is even worse then the other two and the soil is clay and full of rocks. I thought milkweed would be okay but I guess not so I went for the next best thing and one of my favorites, GAILLARDIAS!! hahaha...I did plant in mrs bradshaw guem seedlings and i have one lonely peach and dream hollyhock seedling too now that I think of it so hopefully they make it along with all the gaillardia/poppy seedlings and next year it has much more color!

~Michael
heavenlyfarm

Beautiful! I love Seven Sisters. But she can be deadly (ouch). In my garden she is the last to put on a show.The poppies are wonderful

When you say you are going to "move the cosmos to the front hill gardens", do you mean to say they are perennial cosmos? Most are annuals, altho sometimes can reseed themselves.

I really don't see your gardens, just plants. I'd like to see what you are working with as far as layout and bones. Of course I have already seen the hills! Ugh. That is work.

Michael- you have def put a smile on my face this morning with all your beautiful flowers. I love them all! It's incredible how a garden can materialize from nothing but dreams, imagination and a few packets of seeds. I hope they all turn out bigger and better next year.

schoolhouse, I meant planting new seeds in a different location next year. I think it would be a better Annual Flower fill in on the front of the one hill. probably towards the top!

I will post some pics of the other gardens if i can find some, we are mostly hills here. We have a small shady border when you go around to the back of the house and then another garden strip/border that is along the house. Plus a blueberry area with a white magnolia, white w/ red hibiscus, and black hollyhock seedlings. I am so glad that my dad agreed to putting in 5 raised beds on the flatter land this Fall so I can do veggies with companion flowers.( I plan on planting my most treasured flowers in some of the raised beds). We do indeed have an acre of land almost and have flat yard to work with but we have a pool and we want an open space for the dogs to still be able to run and play in so it is limited for me. Especially cuz its my parents home lol

Here is a pic of the "seedling" bed I have by our Bay Window. It has excellent soil and alot of these seedlings are already getting bigger. Two oriental poppy (i'm hoping to get more seeds and have tons more), beautyberrry seedling, some columbine, a little clump of helenium seedlings, moondance scabiosa, and daylily/trumpet lily seedlings....I just realized how much is in that small space but it will do till next year when I might move some of them. Havent decided yet.

surya55, Thank you and I hope I can keep up next year! It is a nice feeling especially when they come from seeds!

~Michael

P.S. I saw an inspiring video with Tasha Tudor where she says something like "I've always done what I wanted to do. With patience, you can get anything. it just takes patience. I love to garden more then anything else" I will think about those words everytime my dreams of a farm/my own house seem far away!!!

In this pic, you can see our pool to the side which takes up that area and then what I consider the "Pool Garden" in the back of it, the two squares you can sorta make out are two of my new raised beds for next year!
~Michael

I don't think I posted a pic of the front hill yet so here is a part of it. In spring, the creeping phlox and evening primrose steal most of the show, followed by lambs ears and the Sedum!! There are other flowers but most are seedlings that I started this year as those first 4 were what was left mostly after I took control of this hill again! There is cassie de hollyhock, asters, a magnolia, white yarrow, some pink mums, coral reef poppies and white scabiosa which will hopefully show their true colors and in a big way next year! I also planted a grouping of Star Gazers in here and this Fall, I put so many bulbs in. Daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, crocus, muscari, allium and some anemone(i think).

~Michael

P.S. This hills do indeed suck!!

Schoolhouse mentioned about wanting to see your garden bones and the layout. So would I.
I would much rather garden on hills than flat land. The up and down contours add so much more to a garden. Add good contours to the lawn, reflecting the slope, and you've got a good start on a garden. Then plant your evergreen bones, add some muscle...deciduous trees and shrubs. Then some skin,.... groundcovers, and then you can add makeup,....perennials and annuals. You're going at it backwards. Most people do.
Pictures of just flowers looks like a nursery catalog rather than a garden.
I realize you will have to get your parents permission, but go for it!
You seem to have a real interest in gardening. Most of us probably wish we had started earlier. I know I do.
If you go at it in the right order it can be a lot of fun, rather than a lot of work. Build the cake, then add the frosting. Think big first, then work down. I outlined it above. I can't emphasize proper order enough.
Mike

Dear Michael,

Your enthusiasm is contagious. I bet your parents are thrilled you are improving their property as well as have found such a great passion. Gardens are always a work in progress and finding what works for you as well as your garden takes time. That is a good thing IMO since a finished garden would be so boring! Better to plan, rearrange and dream in the winter! Thank you for sharing.

Thank you for the comments everyone!! :)

I will have to take better pics next year but we do have "bones" and several bushes and trees throughout. The top of the front hill has Dogwoods outlining the top and a Magnolia (which is why I picked whites/shades of pink to compliment it which I hope it will next year) we do have a Rose of Sharon "hedge" in the back and we have several crape myrtles(3 or 4 we bought this past year), magnolias and such. I would never have evergreen trees or hedges tho, I strongly dislike them. The people who own my grandmothers farm put up a row of them to block out any views from the road and first thing I'd do if I bought it, would knock those suckers down and plant some nice Peonies or Lilacs and put in a nice garden. (thats a rant of mine lol)

As for the hills, I would love slopes for drainage and such but these are a pain to weed. and I'm not going to lie,l I am using them sorta as a test of combining colors and shades of the same color...I am still learning every day!! The flat part in the back, if it was up to me, it be a path of gardens throughout leading to different areas like the vegetable raised beds or the tree/table where we sit and spend time outdoors.

I am very OCD and I get anxiety from also not being organized or really planning something but Cottage Gardening really feels more free. Of course, I plan and replan but I always want it to remain an expression of me. It is my relaxation from the world, from work, from stress. It has saved me last year when I was so depressed and lost. I mean, I was just out of FIGHT. One day, I just decided to weed my old herb garden (my grandma had been badgering me since Spring last year) and suddenly I was out there everyday instead of worrying about my paranoia or worrying where to go in life. At the approval of my parents to start weeding out the hills and gardens my mom had and take over, it was like I was rediscovering myself with each weed pulled and every new plant dreamed up in my head. (lol thats just me)These gardens are great and I will keep at it but I can't wait to have my own small farm/house and completely have control over every aspect of it!! I will miss so many of these plants tho and will be smuggling seeds to start new ones when that time comes! LOL

~Michael

I would love to see an outline of your entire yard. If you could take a picture from each corner pointing toward the center and also along each edge, then we might get a better idea of the entire space you have to work with, and how the house and pool occupy that space. I agree that it would be ideal if we could all start designing our gardens with the "bones", but those are also the most expensive and most permanent, so require the most planning and largest investment of money and time to develop. Most of us don't start out with a budget to follow an ideal plan. I also garden more for my sanity than for the visual results. I enjoy the miracle of a seed transforming into a plant that flowers and provides sustenance and shelter to birds and insects, as well as beauty for me to enjoy. Whether it "fits" with it's surroundings couldn't be more trivial. Though, I do admire a tasteful garden design. I simply can't demand it of myself. I have other demands that I must bend to.

Martha