A Winner, A New Giveaway and the Side Yard Gardens

The winner of last weeks giveaway for the brass candlesticks is: Mother's Moon's Message. Send me your info and I will get them right out to you!

This week's giveaway is for 5 of the above plates. They are salad plates with a very nice garden scene surrounded by Latin words. Click for a better look.
To enter, just leave a comment on this post. If you are not already a follower, sign on to follow. The winner will be picked next Saturday and a new giveaway will be posted.


I've had trouble with my side gardens from time to time. The first few years they were planted, they did quite well. As trees grew they created shade which killed off some plants and drank lots of moisture from the soil which dried it out and killed even more perennials. I've re-planted it this year and will have to wait and see the results. Above is the entry way up the steps to the side gardens.


You can see that a lot of the rhododendrons have become quite leggy.


My Bleeding Hearts have returned.


Jack in the pulpits have always been some of my favorites woodland plants. I had huge ones growing up to 4 feet here and now I just have these little ones that are about a foot tall.


The Japanese Ferns do well in this area.


The other ferns are just beginning to fill out.


The Wisteria does very well here because it catches sun from the top of the pergola over the porch.


Teddy likes to lay in the side gardens early in the day when they are cool. As soon as it warms up she retreats to the garden room.


Here she lays on the cool stone floor with a fan blowing on her.


I planted three of these variegated shrubs whose name totally escapes me at this moment. The new growth comes out bright pink as you can see. If these do well here I will be very happy. They grow to be about 8 feet tall and would really fill the area in nicely. Ok...I just looked them up. They are Pieris Japonica and they are evergreens.


I designed this area to feel like you are following a path through the woods.

Comments

Lucie Le Blanc said…
Your gardens are so beautiful. I love the way they go in stages, with the stone stairs.

Teddy has a nice spot there ! I am sure she can keep watch of everything there !
Love all your garden photos! You have such a beautiful place. I think those plates are adorable. Put my name in the drawing please!
TMCPhoto said…
Again, amazing space! I love bleeding hearts, they remind me of my childhood, my Mom planted them wherever we lived. I can remember sitting for what seemed like hours with a handfull of hearts and breaking them down to tell the cinderella story right down to the magic wand...

I think I might need to write a post about that :)
The last photo really makes me feel like I´m looking at a path through the woods. Like it a lot!

Congrats to Mother´s Moon´s Message!
That plate is really beautiful! I´ve never seen anything like it before.

I love trees but unfortunally they dry out the ground so much. If it only had been the shadow they made I could find more perennials that would love to live benieth them. Some, like some walnuts, also poison the grounds too just to get rid of any competition around the roots. But the more trees the better :-) :-)

I have one Jack in the pulpet in my garden, the only one hardy enough. But last year both frost and dogs destroyed them. I hope they´ll come back anyway.

Ferns are other plants one can´t get to many of :-) I´m planning on having many around my pond when it´s finished.

My dogs like to sleep benieth one of my apple trees during summer. They dig big holes and sleep on them :-) :-)
Have a great day now!
Christer.
brokenteepee said…
Nope, Teddy's not spoiled, not at all.
Mother Moon said…
thank you so much... what a wonderful surprise this morning....
Marie S said…
Congratulations Mother Moon you lucky girl!
I love your side gardens too and it does feel like walking along a woodland path. It is very beautiful and relaxing.
Have a great weekend!
Sharon Day said…
That looks soooooo beautiful. Believe it or not, I live in the desert, but I have trouble with getting enough light to my plants. My first desire when I moved in was to shade the house, but those trees grew huge in the past 22 years and now I'm having a constant bickering with hubby who doesn't want to get rid of any trees and me who wants to grow veggies! Argh!
Cindi Myers said…
I just love your posts! especially the garden ones. (The food ones make me SO hungry!) I love the privacy of Everything! The path way, the wisteria, just all of it!
Love it!
MY side garden/boat dilemma has been resolved!!!- I'm going to post about it later..
maybe tomorrow, right now I'm kinda tired. I think I'm going to lay down on the floor and have a cool fan blow on me...
Teddy's so smart!
Congratulations to the new winner of Teddy's Treats!

Oh my, enchantment, pure enchantment and beauty and hominess (is this a word, oh well, it is now.)

I wandered all around the garden and had a grand time. Teddy Love was sleepin'.

Happy day and have a great weekend!
Anonymous said…
Love your gardens & Teddy is so darn cute.
BronnyB said…
Such a pretty garden. I love your photos. Nothing like that at this household. No back fence yet - no landscaping. Lots of weeds, gravel, dirt and bricks. Some poor plants trying to survive in ancient pots waiting for a garden to be laid down to be repotted.

sigh.
I am such a brown thumb when it comes to plants. I like looking at other people's gardens...a great talent that you have.

bronny
You have such a wonderful array of plants :)

I love the plate!
Jennifer Rose said…
i love forest flame plants :) don't have the space for a big one here sadly :( the inlaws have 2 big ones in pots, taller then me and I love seeing the hint of colour
Absolutely gorgeous!!! Your gardens are awesome. I love bleeding hearts...they are so delicate, yet powerful looking.

I would love to lay down next to Teddy and hug her big fluffy self!!

As always, enjoyed your post!

Cheers!
Sharlene T. said…
Congratulations, Mother's Moon Message!

The plate is beautiful! I can only imagine what the others are like. I'm going to kidnap you and let you fix me a nice fern garden on the North side of my house...
Tournesol said…
I love your beautiful garden photos! What cute plates. Please enter me in the drawing.
Rosemary said…
What a lovely walk thru your side garden. All the plants look very happy to me. The pieris is outstanding.
To win those plates would be delightful .
Bridgett said…
Okay, I'm totally digging those plates. Very pretty.

And Jaz...the gardens surrounding your house are nothing short of amazing. It really is like a fairtytale.

I totally want to live with you. Would that be cool? :)
I love your gardens, everything is so peaceful. Your Spring Pasta Salad was heavenly. To tell you the truth my first love is Teddy. I can click on a picture of Teddy and just start smiling. I feel like i'm hugging him just looking at that sweet face. Thanks for a wonderful blog.
Heather said…
I love wisteria!!! So pretty!
Birgit said…
The plate is wonderful -- thanks for the chance to win something so lovely! :)

Greetings from Munich,
Birgit
Celia said…
I love your garden path that looks like you are going through the woods! I can't wait for my gardens to fill in! So magical!
Kerri said…
Wow! What a gorgeous yard! Enter me in the drawing please!
Have a wonderful week!
Carma Sez said…
love those plates (follower)
Anonymous said…
Hi,
I love the garden pictures. Such beautiful flowers and that fern has such a beautiful colour.
I love those plates. They look as if they are made by Marjolein Bastin. She is Dutch and so am I ; )