My One GARDEN GATE & One that I Want Still

I have one large wooden garden gate, off the back of my garden, really unseen , that leads to my neighbor's house basically.

 The house had been vacant for about two years while a family was settling an estate, and I just had a chain-length fence and gate for many years. Then a nice family moved in, and I asked my husband to put me up a large wood fencing and a gate door, so I could have some privacy in my garden when I was back there. After about a year, he finally put one up. I had been asking for a large wooden fence for about 5 years.
One reason or another, then finally I got it.

 At first this was just a plain wood gate, no window. The man who lives next door , told us he was disappointed that he could not talk to us over the gate anymore. I then asked my husband to cut a little window out , and this is what he did.
I was never trying to be rude to our neighbors, I just need some privacy in my back garden .

 This is our viewpoint. 

 This is more their viewpoint, looking in. I rarely see anyone looking in...but that is Ok. At least they know they can if they want.

I am always enthralled when I see a gate with a small window that looks into someone's garden. I want to walk up and look inside. The gate with the see-thru makes it more interesting...at least from a distance.

This is what you see from that view....further inside.

 I liked this shot of me and some cut bush roses I was trimming , and in the distance is the small window of my garden gate. I asked my little boy to take a picture of me and my roses, but he got the gate and the window in the distance too. I felt like it showed what was in my past and then simultaneously what dreams I had for the future...all through that window of my garden gate. Probably makes no sense to you, that's just how it makes me feel when I see it.

These pink crape myrtles are draping my fence and my garden gate. They also give our neighbors a beautiful flowering canopy view on their side.

I used this shot in my header, I love the strong bright light coming through here.

Wait, I believe it is this closer shot of the sun coming through that I used,

This is looking through now , from the other side.

See how pretty in the early morning light it is , with my crape myrtles in full bloom ?

I enjoy looking at the delicate shadows cast by the crape myrtles branches and blossoms. Silhouettes on my fence and gate.

Sun is getting higher now, and I keep thinking that I want my husband to build my fence on the opposite side of the drive, and I want my special heart shape cut out the middle of that gate...the true entrance gate for my garden , for a window.

So it would signify that I love my garden, that I made my garden with love.

Corny and sappy right ?

Perfect for this yardlady. 

He says he will do it...sometime.

I know he will do it for me.

Hope everyone out there is staying cool , where it is sweltering...or getting rain if they need it, or basically taking care of themselves as we head into deep Summer,

Gina

" One thing I have desired of the LORD , That will I seek ; That I may dwell in the house of the LORD , All the days of my life , To behold the beauty of the LORD. " Psalm 27:4

A Quick WALK Around My LOST & Found GARDEN in May

I decided to take you for a walk through my garden to show you some progress in the last month. We are starting from my back deck , I like to stand here and figure out  if I like what I see.

Or want I want to see instead.

Down we go.

Shade garden in front is doing fine, ferns are green again, all kinds of plants that I have no idea what the names are, are also coming up.

 I am going to plot out my garden on paper, I read that in someone's blog about when you plant a plant to go to your layout and write what you planted when and where. I have so many little plastic name tags , I washed off a bunch yesterday and dried them by my kitchen sink. You know they get all dirty when you are planting. 

I have years of plastic tags in a ziploc bag, so at least I kept those.

When I do that ( make a layout ), I will be proud of myself, as organization is a weak area for me.

Looking better. trumpet vine is blooming for me again .

I also FINALLY put newspaper under my mulch to ward off weeds, I had completely forgotten to do that but I have a good excuse. Wanna hear it ? 

I did not put it underneath because I forgot No. 1 , and most importantly I was waiting for all those perennials I planted to show their little heads out of the ground and did not want to cover up too soon. Now if I had my layout I would have known, but my memory is on vacation most days.

I think that was 2 excuses, but they sort of blend together .

In the distance here is the old birdbath bubbling fountain that I put a lot of old seashells in, I do not like it as the contrast is too start with the black. I will plant some flowers in it soon. Ignore it back there.

That is red salvia I bought at our local zoo garden sale a few years back to the left.

It has been raining cats and dogs here as you can see. I picked up my son from school yesterday in torrential rain, and as we drove up....I saw down the street about two houses down, our big trash can ( Herbie-Curbie ), floating in a bout a foot of water, plus all kinds of things. I got my son in the house, put on my husband's large raincoat he never wears, had flip flops and cropped running pants on...walked down through a foot or so of water, and a mini-flood pouring into a neighbor's backyard. I then waded out, my pants were soaked , luckily kept my flip flops on...rushing water all in that area ( cars were turning around and not driving through it in front of me ), grabbed our big trashcan up and out of there and dragged it back in the thunderstorm. Why I was such a she-woman about this is I was worried our trashcan was blocking some drainage in the road and was causing the flooding there.

Also, it is OUR trashcan-Herbie-Curbie, it needed to be rescued.

My son was impressed how wet my pants ( up to my knees ) were when I got back, and at least he saw me take care of a problem .

Back to the garden,

Delphiniums, pink verbena, Shasta daises, and some plumbago and calla lilies are in here, plus more.

Sideview

I have lots of blue salvia coming up to the back left of the garden, in front of them are orange cannas I found at my neighbor's house.

My trusty blue plumbago getting bigger. I have three plumbago , and this is the first one I planted about 5 years ago. I cut it back after the first freeze, and it comes back every year.

Love this plant.

Keep ignoring the back fountain w/ white seashells.

Ok, since you keep looking at the glowing object in the distance , here is the up-close look at what I do not like and will change. Too stark with the black. But we always need to try out our bright ideas to see how they look.

This was definitely a BRIGHT idea that is going bye-bye.

Cute little birdbath I made into a planter so my husband could see it when he walks in and out of his palace-workshop. I do not know if he ever sees it, I do know he has almost tripped over it a few times.

View from the back. See that itsy-bitsy middle green something in the dark mulch ? That is my third plumbago coming back. I got so happy when I saw that ,as I have planted plumbago three times here, and it died. This one lived over the winter !

I stepped up in my son's fort to take these last shots.

A fort with a view ( a fort he never plays in, and may get taken down and have a small new garden bed here soon ).

I threaten that and he says he'll start playing in it.

Ok, that was a walk around the garden, I did not show you a side back left bed that is in dire straits with deep thatch that I have to fix.

That's what's neat about this tour online. I can blindfold you like this and only show you the parts that look good.

Hey, I think that's what internet dating sites do right ?

It is a cloudy overcast day here, gotta run and get busy with the day,

hope yours is very productive, 

Gina

" Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD ! " Psalms 150:6

Views of My Backyard GARDEN Accents

I wanted to take you around and show you a few accents I have in my backyard garden, which is my main garden that not many people ever see. Wouldn't it be nice if we all could flip our homes around so our neighbors could see our back gardens all the time ?

Here is a shot I took , before I decided not to wait for my husband to move the really heavy statues and fountain ( that never stopped bubbling )....so I took it upon myself, and my meager but adequate muscles to move a bunch of my statues around,

Like this...

I took Mrs. Top of bubbling fountain down , and carried her with the help of a dolly cart , to the back of the yard where I had my most favorite statue, my cupids. To do this , I had to semi-slide the 100+ lbs. plus basin out, and to the ground...and then cart it off. When My husband saw I did this , he did not think it was romantic as I did when he did it for me.

He considered it one of my dumb-impatient actions I do in my garden.

He was correct, but it is done. Look where I put my favorite statue...

I put it right directly in the shade garden, and I can see it from my picture window much better.

We had a good rain last night, and it is always nice to go out in your garden after a rain...and see the droplets still on your flowers and foliage. Just planted these caladiums in  my shade garden a few days ago.

Can you tell I just love this statue ? I told my little boy , when he is kicking balls, fighting bad guys..whatever in the back yard...he better NOT get near this statue or else ! I will bet that that went in one ear and out the other without any memory remaining, he gets that from his Dad.

 This was my make-shift birdbath for my poor birds , while the fountain was still bubbling. They did not like it very much. The roses growing beside it are some of the very few I have left in my garden, after having about 20 + bushes. Black spot destroyed my roses in this hot and humid climate.

 Here is a make-shift bird feeder my husband made me and he plopped a plastic container in the bottom and filled it up, nothing for days...even the squirrels didn't touch it. Then all of the sudden, two days ago...

the little guys found it ! I am worthless at taking pictures of birds, but here is one little guy. They all come here very regularly.

Plus, guess who else,

Yes, our squirrels, I told my husband they would. I went for a walk this morning, came back almost an hour later...and this fellow was lounging in the plastic container of food...sort of laying down...claiming it as his new pad I guess.

Look at the very back of this picture and you can see the large basin, my bottom of my bubbling fountain...that' s as far as I got it with the dolly cart.

Here is a statue/urn I moved to the top of our small deck and it's base from the shade garden.

 I like it here so far, but knowing me ...it may get moved . I use a wire hanging basket window box, sans the moss insert...to store my garden gloves.

Has a bit of an artistic look to it...if you squint your eyes. Speaking of that, No..the cute little hand-painted wooden paintings I have to the sides of the porch were not done by my son when he was in kindergarten.

I painted those one early evening, down in the dirt of my garden...to put them in some iron chairs as seat covers. I did use them for awhile, but it was very uncomfortable to sit in ( duh ), and so they have been relegated to the garage for years. I painted them about 6+ years ago. The top iron piece is from our first bed we bought about 20 years ago, and the two iron brackets are from an antique store. 
Remember to squint your eyes when you look at my paintings.

This is probably my favorite element on my back porch, my Art Deco mirror that reflects my yard.

Then I have some hand-painted windows and stained glass windows on one brick wall.

Here is Maxine demonstrating how to stand by the window-wall.

My screen door, every porch must have a screen door. Maxine has autographed it with deep scratches at the far right side. We considered a doggie-door, to let her come in and out...but then a grown man could also fit there as she is a big lab.
So,
No doggie-door.

My heart in my garden, pretend you do not see the weeds around it. I did just weed after this shot, and soon it will be surrounded by blue plumbago and salvia.

 Our gigantic river birch tree, stands approx. 40-50 feet tall, and is very happy when I water my garden to get the extra water. It is a messy tree, limbs breaking all the time, and little pods all over the place, but I do love it. We have another river birch to the back of the garden, not quite so big.

A window planter off the back deck, can you see the chameleon to the right ?

Now you can.

I see this entry is getting too long, so I will stop now...more later,
Bless you,
Gina

" How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God ! How great is the sum of them ! If I should  count them, they would be more in number than the sand ;
When I am awake, I am still with You. " Psalm 139:17-18