I have a Robin Feast Day. I've a really big holly tree that is covered in robins (and wrens and finches, but mostly robins) at least one day every winter. I remember one glorious year when the melting snow had left puddles of water everywhere and I just sat for hours and watched the birds fly from tree to puddle to bare trees awaiting another turn.

I have the opposite of a blank slate. I bought a property with 50 years of mature plantings and haven't had the heart to rip out. In addition to that holly, I have two more medium sized holly trees, persimmons, mahonia (oregon grape), crab-apples, and cherrys that seem to delight the critters.

The boxwoods must have been planted when they were 5 inches tall, because 1) the stems are less than an inch from the walk and 2) azaleas were planted between them and the house and barely peek out over the boxwoods. I've killed several by cutting back enough to allow access to the front door.

Then I had a 15 foot pieris andromeda japonica (lily of the valley bush - supposed to max out at 12 feet) beside the front door totally blocking the porch light. I've been trying to cut it back gradually because I think it is a valuable plant and I love it. It will bloom for more than two months and captures half the window from which I type with a dogwood in front of the other half and an umbrella magnolia backing up the both. A glorious vision in the spring.

The azaleas along the side of house in a 3 foot wide strip between the house and the drive are those big old fashioned azaleas that grow 7 feet wide. The first time I tried pruning those back the recommended 1/3 at a time, I hadn't realized they had layered and ended up taking out much more than a third with predictable results.

The previously mentioned leatherleaf mahonia has self-seeded prolifically so that I now have a patch that is 15 feet long. Way too much of a deadly sharp leaf. But I love that it blooms in January and February and that the sprays of flowers just float against the dark foliage when they capture the light from the back porch after dark. I have three climbing roses planted in the middle of the lawn with no means of support that I don't like well enough, except during the two weeks of fabulous bloom, to try to figure out what they are and if they are worth keeping. (You rosarians are too intimidating to even approach before I've done my homework and I somehow never have found enough time to try to find out what they are.) I do have a peace rose that gives me one, I repeat, one, perfect bloom every year.

I have an old lilac that hasn't had enough sun to bloom probably in decades that I only discovered the year I ripped out 68 bags of english ivy. It was a stub. Now it leafs out but, of course, doesn't bloom. I've a huge mock orange under the triple canopy of a tulip poplar and a sugar maple and a dogwood. Blooms but not how it should. I'm still waiting on the day I have a spare $1500 to take out...

Oooh! I have one gardening miracle to share.

(BTW - I love reading about everyone's gardens and yards).

A few years ago, we redid our patio and driveway. It was torn up for months. I had to dig up a bunch of bushes and put them in pots until they were finished and then we tried replanting the ones we wanted to save. I didn't bother with my Daphne. I thought it would protest the transplant, esp in August, and cut it down to the ground thinking it would never come back. It is still alive. Not very big, but still alive and looking healthy. I can't believe it didn't die since they are highly sensitive to any disturbance.

The former owners of our property planted camellias as foundation plantings around the house. There was a pair planted in front of a large garden window, which completely blocked the view (I couldn't figure out their reasoning there). I cut them completely down to the ground thinking it would kill them. Not these. They came back more robust than ever. We finally got rid of them when we redid the patio, though we have camellias in other areas that I love dearly. I've also cut our azaleas completely down to the ground, and within one to two years, they come back looking better than before. I don't have the talent for selectively pruning. I once entrusted my husband to trim some juniper bushes that were overrun with trumpet vine. Because he couldn't separate the vine from the bush, he just cut them completely down with his chainsaw. I don't ask my husband to prune anything I want to keep anymore. His definition of a weed, is anything not in bloom. Since our property is mostly wooded, we are constantly battling the Sweet Gum saplings. They take over before you even know it.

Wow, a lot of you are gardeners! Rosefolly is right, My preference is for herb gardening, but I do have other beds around my house. DH and I bought his aunt's house a few years ago. She was an avid gardener, but had let the front of the house go (the deer kept eating everything she planted there), leaving only a magnolia tree and a ton of pachysandra to go along with all the weeds (and I do mean weeds! like pokeweed) It took a lot of work but I finally got most of the weeds and pachysandra out and created a shade garden around the magnolia tree, which then progresses into the herb and perennial area.

A couple of years ago, I signed up for the local Master Gardener's program. I decided it was time to meet other gardeners in this area and learn more about gardening. So far, I still consider myself an apprentice, there's so much to learn.

It's funny what Astrokath said about Librans. I'm a Libra and I absolutely hate having dirty hands! As soon as I get done outside, I have to get my hands (especially my fingernails) clean. I find it difficult to work with gardening gloves unless I'm working around thorny or rough bushes so it's very hard to keep my hands clean. I need to "feel" what I'm doing and gloves get in the way.

I love just talking generally about gardens. But there doesn't seem to be a good place to do that anymore at the Gardenweb forums, everything is so specialized. Or am I missing it?

Here I am with daughter and one of our cats, saying hello to you all. This is our deck. Lovely place to read when the wisteria is blooming, it is so fragrant. Wish I had taken pictures of the hanging baskets (oh, about 20 or so). I forgot to mention the enormous impatiens baskets. Note bird feeder in background. I'll keep this picture for a few days then delete it, so this will be a case of now you see me, now you don't! :-){{gwi:2117093}}

Oh, that white wisteria is unbelievable! Thanks so much for sharing it. How old is it? It is incredibly floriferous.

Absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the comments! The wisteria is about 7 or 8 years old now. It has bloomed like that every year, I have to prune it twice a year. The scented flowers are about three feet long. I designed the deck, arbour and flower beds and my handyman husband built everything.

For those of you who have digital cameras and want to post a picture here, you can use a site like photobucket.com to upload your pictures (it gives you an url tag for each picture, the one starting with img src) and then post them here. It's easy, and I would love to see some of your gardens.

I second that. Photobucket is wonderful for posting pictures. I hope the rest of the "bookies" here don't mind our talking about gardens for a little bit. I hauled out my photos from last year and now I'm getting really itchy to get out there and play in the dirt. Here is a picture of the area around the greenhouse door and the other is the entrance into the rose garden.
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Janalyn and mwoods, your gardens are absolutely gorgeous! I feel like I'm looking at one of the beautiful garden magazines.

Is anyone here a Master Gardener? I've wanted to be part of Maryland's Master Gardener program for quite a while and will start checking into it tomorrow. I see that GardenWeb has a Master Gardener forum but since I "know" the people here better I was wondering if anyone has experience and/or opinions about the Master Gardener programs, which I understand may vary from state to state.

Chris in the valley, I think the Cottage Garden forum comes the closest to being a general garden forum, since any kind of plant can go in a cottage garden.

Janalyn and Mwoods, beautiful gardens! I am always so amazed to see such loveliness in the gardens of ordinary gardeners, not professionals. Gardening is one area that a dedicated amatuer can do as well as a professional, and sometimes better.

Let's keep the pictures coming.

Another gardener (and knitter; also a crocheter) checking in here, although your pictures make my attempts look pretty poor.
I was raised on a farm so I guess digging in the dirt is in my blood. Once I was at a ladies' party and we were supposed to list our favorite smell. They all wrote things like roses and cinnamon and perfume and I had written that mine is the smell of newly plowed earth in the spring. They thought I was nuts but it sounds like some of you might understand.
When my kids were little I had a a HUGE vegetable garden and I canned and froze stuff all summer but I am an empty nester now so my veggies consist of a couple of tomato plants and a couple of cucumber vines so I am in the process of trying to turn my backyard where my 50 x 100 foot veggie garden used to be into something more interesting.
This spring I'm putting in a huge new herb garden. I used to have an herb garden that I loved but my ex husband built a garage on top of it so I'm looking forward to starting my new one.

>Librans

Hee, I read that as 'Librarians' Still made sense, not to want to dirty your hands if you want to read...

Your pictures make me so envious. While I love my yard, and this time of year the wildflowers are coming up, and in another month the entire yard will be in full bloom - it just doesn't hold a candle to the lush greenery others have most of the year (tho I keep reminding myself - no snow, no snow...)

>I had written that mine is the smell of newly plowed earth in the spring. They thought I was nuts but it sounds like some of you might understand.

Oh yes! And out here, I can smell the difference between the fall soil, and spring soil. There is something different in the air, and both smell marvelous (then there is the smell of the desert after a rain storm that is most unusual and most pleasant)

mwoods and janalyn-your gardens are beautiful-I love flowers and gardens but haven't been overly successful. I tend to plant without a plan and everything is jumbled. Now that this will be the second spring in our new home we are going to start some gardening. It is a blank slate. We need to put in some shrubs and trees and of course flowers.. add a fence for the dogs and a start at least on a patio area-it's overwhelming to me. I also like indoor plants and with a sunroom I've been trying my hand with a few orchids.

I don't know how I found the Home Forums or That Home Site as it is called. Lots of Craft forums and quilting and home makeover type stuff and the Kitchen Table which is for sitting around and talking about just anything. Then after a while I found the Film Forum and then this one. Last year sometime or a little before I discovered some sites on The Garden Web side. We'd starve to death if anyone depended on me gardening. Even the plants in pots on my porch have a hard time surviving. I enjoy reading about how others delight in it.

Janalyn and Mwoods your gardens are gorgeous. I love looking at other people's homes and gardens, they give me such good ideas. I have a very hard time looking at a blank canvas and having a clue where to begin.

Janalyn, I've always loved wisteria and yours are beyond anything I ever imagined! We put in a brick patio two years ago and a pergola is on the to-do-eventually list. Now I know what I'm going to plant to grow over it!

Chris, I wouldn't keep a rose that flowers for only two weeks a year unless it is absolutely stunning. Most of my roses - bought ones and inherited ones - are repeaters or continual flowerers from June/July into late Autumn. A couple even flower into December.

Mwoods and Janalyn, fabulous gardens! Thank you. Here are pictures of my little kingdom:

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Taken in December, when we actually had snow for a change.

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A close-up of my wildlife pond, last summer.

Oh how pretty and so peaceful. What is the tall red plant in the background? It's a nice contrast.

mwoods...you inspire me...that is what I have been working toward. I need to hurry and finish all my quilts while it is cold so I can really, really, really, really work on my gardens this year!

As far as I can recall, it's a Lobelia Cardinalis by the name of Queen Victoria.

By the way, Pam, as your gardening preferences sound very similar to mine and as I have five planets in Aquarius, I would hail you as a typical fellow-Aquarian! I love abundance and the natural look in a garden, and abhor overly regimented planting.

Yes, I'm a gardener. Those are spectacular pictures, thanks for posting.

I love seeing everyone's pictures.
My spring obsessing has already begun.

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Gardener, reader, movie buff. My three favorite things. Hemlady

I am in awe from looking at the pictures of the gardens. It makes my small gardens look pathetic (yes, I know, it takes time for all the plants to grow in, but I am jealous nonetheless)

frances md, I mentioned that I'm involved in the Master Gardener program here in New York. It's based out of Cornell Cooperative Ext of NY. Each county has it's own center, but we all take the same themed classes and get the same handbook. I would highly recommend checking out what's available in your area. The only thing is, if you do go into the program, you will need to spend some time volunteering. In this area, we are required to give a minimum of 50 hours/yr in volunteer service. I'm glad I signed up for it, as I've met so many great people, who share a love of gardening (and are willing to divide and share plants with you too! lol)

I'd love to sign up for the Master Gardener program but the charge for the classes is way over what I care to spend for a hobby. Unfortunately the place where I want to volunteer - the Desert Botannical Gardens, only accepts you if you've taken the courses.

Well, its the end of February, and while I don't have pictures I can tell you that my African Daisies are in bloom, as are my hycinth and paper whites. I am expecting the Brittle Bush and the mums to come up any day now. Ahhhh - winter in the desert (I am gloating now by the way, because in a few months you guys will be gloating about your beautiful summer gardens while I will be watching mine wither in the heat...)

I am an avid reader and consider myself a gardener.Because of a problem with my knee I can't get up and down to work in the beds so I have a man who comes every two weeks to do heavy work and weeding.Another man comes weekly to take care of the lawn.But I enjoy making the plans for plantings and seeing them become reality.Last year I read mention of winter sowing on a forum and gave it a try and found that it works.Have milk jugs outside with some seed already with leaves.Others beginnin to sprout.I learned of GW from reading something in a newspaper about gardening and looked it up.So glad I did!

Thanks, rouan. It was your post that reminded me to check into the Master Gardener program but I had forgotten that I read it on this forum. Sometimes my brain is like a sieve. Unfortunately, the Master Gardener training in my county is almost completed for this year so I have to wait until next year. The volunteer work is what I'm most looking forward to doing. I've done that in the past (giving talks to garden clubs, answering questions, etc.) when working with our local rose society but I want to branch out into all areas of gardening.

It probably is just as well because I can spend the time getting my own gardens back into shape and reading the multitude of books I've collected and refreshing the knowledge I gained taking a two-year Landscape Technology curriculum a few years ago.

All of the garden pictures here are so inspirational. Congratulations to all of you on your accomplishments.

Oh they are all so beautiful! You have all given me so much motivation to carry on with my blank canvas and make it something really special. I have purchased decorative fencing to keep the dogs out of the backyard beds and am ready to scatter plant my yard with my typical burst of color method. Maybe someday I can share photos, too.

anyanka, thank heaven you mention the "aquarian gardening method". Now I know there are at least two of us in the universe who garden in this manner!

PAM

Such lovely gardens. As I said, mine are a mess, but I thought I'd share the pic of the mahonia bealei flowers floating in the dark.
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Chris,not only are they beautiful but very interesting.It looks like once the flowers are gone,you are still left with wondeful foliage. Is that true?

Thanks. Those flowers turn to fountains of berries that the critters love.
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Then they are a nice backdrop for astilbe and cardinal lobelia.
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Thank You mwoods!!! For giving me that list of Garden 'story'authors AND for recommending THIS forum also... Such beautiful pictures. You guys just made my day. I am doing a 'number' on THIS place and really need some inspiration right now... I am SO tired of doing nothing but DIG. ;-) I sometimes wonder if I will EVER get to just relax and enjoy my yard without so much back breaking work.

Thanks again. Like I said, you guys made my day today. I don't know how to post pictures right here in the posting such as you guys do so I'm putting the 'link' to my endeavors below.

I'm so happy I found your topic/forum. Thanks again mwoods.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sow's Ear To Silk Purse or 'doing a number on RED CLAY'

Thanks for sharing your web page with us. How fun to see the transformation and what a wonderful transformation it is. Hope you will stay here and join in on the book conversations.

Ruth, I love seeing how you have created your landscape. Please. Do stick around.

Thanks for feedback re my sites. I keep saying I'm going to slow down but never do. Two things I'm dreading this year:

Putting in a small pond by front patio 'and'

Those lousy Japanese Beetles. I'm thinking of applying some of that stuff that you put down to kill the larva before they hatch, but wonder if it would harm my earthworms. I've went to a lot of problems introducing earthworms to this yard. Every fisherman in this place has been told to throw 'left over' worms in my yard when they return from fishing. ;-)

Thanks for sharing Ruth! I enjoyed watching your corner of the universe transform from the painting to the porch to the gardens.

My son planted some vegetable seeds in little yogurt cups four days ago. The cucumber sprouted yesterday. I fear that we'll be pollinating this vine in the living room with Q-tips before it's warm enough to plant it outside! Four days! I can't believe it sprouted so quickly.

PAM

Attached is a link to a picture blog I started. I'm still trying to figure out some quirks with the headers and text getting cut off, but this primarily shows the landscape renovation we did during the summer and fall of 2004. We are still working on filling in much of it, and the deer keep eating almost everything I plant. I also feel a little depressed about gardening this year. We found out about yet another neighbor who has sold out to a developer. I really feel like that is what is going to happen to us in a few years. My husband is also looking for a job because the plant where he works is closing in the next 18 to 24 months. We don't know where we'll end up. Anyway... hope you enjoy the photos. I've enjoyed looking at everyone's pictures so far.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our landscape

Wow! Those pictures really make me envious. Living in the desert is such a different experience as far as gardening. We have caliche in the ground, a hard concrete like material caused by calcium carbonate deposits. You almost need a jackhammer to break through it. I live near a desert preserve and between the boulders and caliche in my backyard forget about digging in the soil!
Cindy- do you do any container gardening? I posted on the Arizona thread asking for help with container gardening, I really want to spruce up the patio with some dwarf citrus, fan palms and flowers, but need to start small so I won't feel overwhelmed.
Penny

Penny, I so know your frustration. The first house I lived in during college was nothing but caliche in the backyard, and was totally bare of any vegetation. Anything I tried died (and of course had no money to try anything else.) Then in the first house we bought, the yard was so large that it really was overwhelming.

I haven't done container planting, but I am thinking about starting. I have one area which gets enough day time sun for a veggie garden - unfortunately thats where the RV driveway is. So I am thinking about playing around with one side of it that isn't used. So its something I want to investigate as well.

I agree with you to start small. I think there is a garden forum about container gardening. You might also check your local bookstore for books one gardening in the desert. I think I have seen some books on container gardening as well. I'd also suggest checking out the Botannical Gardens and ask them about caliche removal and how to start landscaping (tho if you are by a preserve, I suspect that your yard is xeriscapped, right?)

Hope that helps! (just got your email btw, will reply soon :)

I've just started my "garden" for the year. We live in an apartment with only a deck. I cannot start flowers inside because of lack of space and cat teeth, therefore, I buy them started. We're a little low on funds this year (thank goodness I finish grad school in May), so I attempted to get good deals on lots of flowers. I do have my purple coneflowers, black-eyed susans, and russian sage coming back from last year, as well as my catnip. The others I planted this morning. Red is the theme so as to attract hummingbirds. Click on the link to see pictures.

A preview:
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Here is a link that might be useful: My

I still have pictures of our first apt garden, in our little 5x6' patio. We had a porch swing hanging up, and filled the area around it with pots of all sizes with all sorts of blooms. We'd sit out there with a book, or just watch the world go by, and feel like we were in heaven. I think it was that experience that moved us to have a big yard when we got a house, so we could garden to our hearts (and wallets) content. But that image brings back good memories.

Wow, all of these garden pictures are woderful. What varied and lovely gardens are represented here!

I love to garden although unfortunately I'm in the same boat as Siobhan (although with the directions reversed!) I had a nice little garden when I lived on the east coast but now live in an apartment in California and can only take advantage of this amazing climate with container gardening on my small balcony.

The town I live in as starting a community garden and I have my name down in the lottery for a plot so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Good luck Zoenikos. I hope you get your plot.

Cindy - my husband and I are hoping to get a big yard when we get a house (probably next summer!). He wants one for our future dog and I want a lot of area to garden. One of my hobbies is bird watching and bird gardening and I have all sorts of plans for our future yard :o)

It still amazes me that people want to buy big houses on tiny lots. I thought it was a phenomenon of California's incredibly expensive land and buyers trying to maximize the investment. (In some areas, over a million dollars an acre, if you can find land at all.) I didn't agree with it, but I could understand it. But I see that in recent years this has spread to many parts of the country where land is cheap. I don't understand it. For me, the whole point of buying a house is so that you can have a garden.

Rosefolly

rose, I feel the same way. I'd much rather have a smaller house with a big yard. Gardening is one reason, plus loving the outdoors and wanting to spend as much time outside without being in the side pockets of neighbors. I'm also amazed at the number of parents who pick those huge houses on tiny lots. I can't imagine growing up without our back yard to play in. Where do those kids play?

>He wants one for our future dog and I want a lot of area to garden

Hee, I hope you have a way to keep future dog out of the garden area! Might want to consider that now :)

As to the dog & garden - We've already got lots of ideas for that. Of course, its mostly going to be an inside dog - just outside to play with us as supervisors.

vtchewbecca, I'd forgotten you live in VA, too. I would recommend an "invisible fence" for the future dog. I have friend with 2 Golden Retrievers, a large vegetable and flower garden. She has found this sort of unseen fencing works quite well with her dogs.

Depends on your dog...but yes, the invisible fences are nice. Of course, I don't mind a white pickett fence, either :o) I have some friends that sectioned off a doggy area in their yard - looks great and the dogs enjoy it.

I have enjoyed reading about and seeing photos of everyone's gardens.
I used to do a lot of gardening until I got a virus in one eye and thought I was going to lose my sight a couple of years ago-so I now have to stay out of the sunlight and wear very dark glasses when going out-(didn't stop me from reading however!).

Today though I did go out for awhile and attack the aphids (I usually just pick them off) on the roses-they seem to be very hungry this year! I will have to count how many rose bushes I have left, we had over 40 bushes which I mostly maintained, but as they died off we haven't replaced them.

My DH does most of the gardening and we have a pond with fish-actually that is how I found my way to RP-through the Pond forum, then over to the Rose forum, and then a couple of the HomeSite sewing forums and finally finding RP probaby 8 or 9 years ago.

Living just north of Sacramento CA we get very hot summers so the ground tends to get baked, so some things don't survive while others thrive. I particularly enjoy the japanese maples and have several of them, green & red ones and the lacy leaf type in a couple of our more shady areas.

I did try an herb garden but that was a failure-probably due to my neglect! I do grow lavender and dry it for sachets though...

If I could figure out how to add photos I would!

Pat

Hi Pat, watch out for all the mosquitos we have this year from all the rain. I am taking benadryl for an allergic reation I'm having to the evil vampire bugs.

I was out your way this weekend, to the Open Garden at the historic cemetery near Old Town Sacramento. Well worth the trip, despite the showery weather. Now we have sun, though, and I am busy with my garden.

As for pictures, the easiest way it to put your photos on a hosting site such as photobucket and provide a link. Someone told me about it and I was amazed how easy it was.