Gorgeous! I love those stone walls! Is that a hoop-house in the background? What do you grow there? Do you have a nursery business or is it where you grow stuff for your own garden?

The hoop house is where my husband grows basil, baby spinach, and Japanese greens for area restaurants. I have my own hoop house (not shown) that I grow tomatoes, peppers, eggplant for our own use and give away to family and friends. I do grow a lot of my plants, starting indoors under lights in Feb, and propagate plants....I took 100 cuttings of Korean boxwood 5 years ago, and 60 rooted, and now they are nice size small shrubs ready for my next project....a boxwood enclosed herb garden. :-)

Love your garden!, Y'all have definitely been bit by the rock hauling bug. I have hammocks just like your bench. I have rotted three of then that were carefully strung from two trees down by my arroyo. I never lay in them but one time each after the initial hanging. Benches are for leaning your maddox against.

stunning.. thx for sharing the pix

ken

I feel the love that has gone into the making of your garden. Really beautiful!

What a beautiful property you have, and all your hard work has made it even more GORGEOUS! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Quite excellent, Maureen.

Rouge21- Thank you! The dry stacked walls let the water drain freely where ever it wants, no special drainage system. Our soil here also drains very well and is very stable. If we took the walls away, the soil would stay in that shape.. The soil does not leach out. There has been no problem with frost heaving of the stones in winter either....they are free to move and then move back. The top 18" of soil is what we added...topsoil with lots of compost mixed in.

P.S. The beds are that deep because the slope was that steep :-) Also, it might be hard to see, but there are three terraced walls.... The lowest wall is the deepest (tallest) , 4 feet. The uppermost wall is the shortest, about 2 1/2 feet.

Not a very well thought out comment from me but can I just say that I love it!. Thank you.

I can appreciate the questions....not all native soils are as stable as ours, with its tons of rocks....heavy clay soil might present a drainage problem....those issues you brought up might be a problem for this type of wall somewhere else. :-)

really stunning! Thanks for sharing pictures of your lovely garden :)

Awesomeness!!!

I again agree with all of these compliments. Your garden is a real work of art.

Sometime would you address maintenance of these beds? I think you started to explain it by explaining your "hoop house?", but I am interested in how you keep out the grass and weeds, allow the correct plants to seed, and bulbs to form.

You said you have been gardening for 40 years, but you have also been studying and learning in that time too. Your beds show that you know a lot about caring for the plants as well as just planting them and letting them go.

Your yard is beautiful.

Sammy

Sammy, again, thank you for your compliments. I guess the most important thing in becoming a good gardener, is to be observant, and learn what each plant likes and doesn't like, learn all you can from books, from fellow gardeners in your area, and be glad for the things that didn't work out because they teach you valuable lessons. You are right when you say it is a learning process....you learn what plants do well in different micro climates in your yard, which ones do best in sun, despite the label and book recommendations, because you live in the northeast. My Actaea (formally Cimicifuga)) is a good example....everything you read says shade for these plants....mine languished until I moved it into sun, just to see what it would do, and it thrived! Just make sure it is mulched and the soil never dries out...that's the important part, not being in shade. The same with Astilbes.....the further north you are, the more sun they can take, just keep the soil moist, and mulch! As far a maintenance goes, I have put more effort in reducing the maintenance needed throughout the growing season by putting more effort in in the beginning of the season. Get out in the garden early and clean up any debris from last years garden. Refresh mulch or put down mulch around your plants to keep weeds down and soil cool and moist. If the garden is mature and plants cover all the soil, less of that is needed, but make sure to pull any weeds early before your plants fully leaf out. There are areas that I wait to mulch until I see what seedlings come up that I want to continue, like the Cleome, Poppies, Feverfew, Coneflower.....then I decide where I want them and get rid of the rest with a scuffle hoe. Once they are getting to be a good size, I mulch around them. The nice thing about these raised beds is the grass/lawn never encroaches into them...but grass seedlings and weeds do, especially in the paths. I just put down thick layers of wet newspaper right over them, and put my mulch over that...thicker in the paths, thinner in the beds. For the beds that do border lawns, I dig a trench to edge it, once in Spring and then neaten it up again mid summer. I am pretty much out there every day doing some kind of neatening up, trimming, transplanting, watering containers...my favorite summer activity. And don't be afraid to cut back overzealous plants that are crowding out their neighbors, cut back any plants done blooming or looking scraggly. Oh, and THE most important part of having a good garden is of course the soil....we make tons of compost from hay, goat and chicken manure, leaves, garden clippings and use it liberally. Know the soil requirements of your plants...do they like it fast draining and dry? Heavy and moisture retentive? If you don't know, look it up, books, Google, Gardenweb! There is so much more I could go on about, but I think I'll stop here....glad to answer any questions....

Excellent advice, Maureen!

Compost and mulch! In the early spring while I am cutting and pruning, I need to be composting and mulching. I may be late in disposing of limbs and rose canes, but that will give me a head start on controlling the weeds.

I definitely am going to add lupines to my collection, and quite a few others that I have never heard of -- if they will grow in our climate.

Thank yo so much for such a thorough answer. I really appreciate it.

Sammy

Re lupins, Sammy.

Have grown/do grow a wide variety of perennial plants here. Find that after a couple of years the plants tell you whether they appreciate your growing conditions and your style of gardening.

As previously said, lupins were one of the few obvious garden perennials for me to try which have done remarkably poorly here; that is, purchased in flower, I've never had one last more the a year or two.

Elsewhere I've complained of the generally very short life-span of penstemons in our garden. Still even with them, five of the cultivars or species I tried did and still do well for us.

When it comes to lupins (admittedly a much more homogeneous group), as said, not one of them survived.

I'd say it's "add lupins" to the list to try.

Thank you. My zone is 7A. Do you think that could make a difference? Of course they are for sale almost everywhere, more than likely, but I have just seen them. I have really purchase few perennials since I mainly grow roses and crape myrtles.

Sammy

Maureen, your advice is sensible and speaking from experience, makes a huge difference. This year, I wasn't able to do any real gardening until almost July due to a crazy work schedule, As a result, I've been battling weeds all summer.

Your gardens are outstanding. Each post you've done shows that hard work really pays off.

Sammy, the fact that you see a lot of lupins for sale in your area could be an indicator that they sell/work in your zone/location. I guess another thing is to look to see if there's established lupins in local gardens. Re advice based on local experience: maybe there's also a local horticultural society.

I do agree with talk of a potential problem with the quality of available lupin stock as well.

I will be cautious. Actually any issues are items I can address at my rose society meetings that start up again in a week or so.

I am anxious for the fall. After having taught for 34 years, I have not been able to enjoy the fall days. Now that I have retired, I am free and feel ready to experiment with many plants in the garden.

Sammy

Now, that is truly very beautiful and those stone walls and walkways are wonderfully done .... great job, indeed you should feel very proud of your hard work and achievements!