If you had told my younger self I would be a quilter in my 40s and a gardener in my 50s, I would’ve said “No way Jose!” Yet, here I am, quilting and gardening.
The idea of gardening came to me last Spring after a couple of heavy snowstorms damaged a bunch of limbs on the trees leaving me with a lot of bare ground after I had them properly trimmed.
I asked a few peeps for advice on what to plant and got busy. Shortly after getting several things in the ground, a friend found this little playhouse on a curb in her neighborhood. They brought it over and got it situated and gave me some ideas on what to do with it.
I hit up the neighborhood Dollar Tree and garden center and before I knew it, I had an adorable garden house AND I had been bitten by the gardening bug!
When I lived in Missouri my daily commute took me by a yard that had a pair of gorgeous blue spruce. I had a good-sized yard and a beautiful lawn but no trees. I started googling trees and came across a couple of specimens that immediately had me smitten and I’ve been low-key obsessed ever since. I never planted any when I lived in Missouri but last year I planted 3 here in Milwaukee.
Allow me to introduce my weeping beauties. The first 2 were planted last Summer by a local landscape company.
First up is Beast. He’s a Weeping Norway Spruce aka Picea abies Pendula.
Next up is Beauty. She’s a Weeping White Spruce aka Picea glauca Pendula. She is staked.
And last but not least is Chuck, another Weeping White who is not staked. I planted Chuck myself in honor of a dear friend who was battling cancer and has since passed. (We miss you, Chuck!)
The beautiful “berries” are immature cones. I read that the trees produce both male and female cones, though I’m not sure which ones look like berries. I also learned that every part of these trees is edible, not that I plan on eating them, but you never know.
The house came with a ton of hostas, iris, and lilies in the gardens which are all beautiful in their own right but they don't provide year-round beauty. Evergreens, especially conifers, have my heart. So last Fall I hired help and pulled and relocated everything (but the bulbs) and planted evergreen and conifer shrubs and some different perennials. These pics are what the gardens looked like before.
You can see how the gardens currently look in the first pic of this post, but there will be more posts and pics to come!
Thanks for stopping by. Until next time, happy stitchin' and diggin'!
A Thread for Life
Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. Psalm 16:5-6 NIV
Very beautiful. Sorry to hear about Chuck.
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous garden you've created! I, too, garden & quilt. Although our gardening is now different than the first 5 decades of our marriage. We now have zero lawn, 2 different colors & types of rock spread everywhere and raised planters all over so that watering is contained. We spray once a week to kill any weeds that pop up early, so we won't have weeds to have to pull. We've received many compliments on the front yard & few have seen the back, which is the real gem to us. We had zero trees when we bought this home about 2.75 yrs ago -- we now have 8, and they are all beauties. Two brilliant red crepe myrtles, 2 smaller magnolia trees, a black tulip magnolia, a redbud Flamethrower (oh, the color is spring is what many look for in fall), a lemon tree & one white crepe myrtle. This house is being renovated and nearly done now. All to suit a couple who want the least amount of maintenance work and the most safety & comfort possible. Your yard reminds me a lot of what we've done. Deb E/CA
ReplyDeleteUh Oh!! Quilting... Gardening.. what is next on your passions? haha!! I love it!! I think this looks so great - and what fun to have passions to pursue!!!
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