Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Flowers Galore

Last Saturday my friend Tina and I made an impromptu visit to the annual Northwest Flower and Garden Show, where we saw all sorts of inspirational displays.

This one had the look I attempt to replicate in my yard -- lots of flowers and shrubs broken up by paths.  Somehow, this one seemed a tad neater than my garden for some reason.  Probably the hordes of minions they had on hand had a little to do with that!


This one was called something like "Mini Tetons" -- there is no way I will pay to have boulders hauled into my garden, but it was quite striking.


Now this appealed to me greatly -- a desert theme.  This would work splendidly in Richland, where I grew up -- Mom, don't you want to get rid of the lawn and stop paying for mowers?


This one was for all the golfers out there (not me!):


I've often thought it would be nice to have a summer house...


Another view of the first garden with all the flagstone paths...I had flagstones for a while but they tended to get very slippery in the rain (mostly because I didn't clean off the slime that accumulates on them in this neck'o'the woods....).  I replaced a lot of them with aggregate pavers instead.  Much better traction and no cleaning needed.


Another view of the desert garden, complete with camp site.  I don't think I'll start camping in the back yard any time soon, though I've occasionally considered it during those hot summer weeks when it is 90 or above for days on end.


This one had more rocks than garden.  Another low-maintenance plan:


My own garden, which I've been working on for 18 years now (!) is comprised of (mostly) native shrubs, flower beds, herbs, twelve roses, paths, lots of decorative statues, plus a fake woodland stream area and a fake "beach" scene.

Here are a few of the 30+ decorations (the blue fish was not a success -- it's gone now):


Here is the fake beach area:


And here is what the flower beds look like when they get out of control:


This year I should be able to keep them in better order, since I can get out there much more often.  That's the theory, at least!

4 comments:

  1. Wow, it's like a garden museum! I totally dig the boulder one. And you are right - the Mother should get something like the desert scene. These are all gorgeous, but I think you yard is pretty awesome too.

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    1. It's sunny and warm right now, so I am going out to work on my garden -- hurrah for retirement!

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  2. Thank you for sharing photos of the gardens at the Flower & Garden Show. None of them are as nice as the shots from your garden, even if you don't have the minions to keep it all tidy. On reflection, I might be against too much tidiness in the garden. (You may note I'm not sharing any current photos of *my* yard; it's all mud and grape trimmings.)

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  3. I like your out-of-control garden best of all, but I do know that shortly after that pleasing stage comes chaos and hard work.

    I have camped in my own back yard to test out a tent and sleeping bag and so on for actual camping.

    P.

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