GrandmaT's Garden

My husband and I live in a Michigan suburb called Royal Oak. We downsized into this 1923 Sears & Roebuck house about a year and a half ago now. We’ve updated the inside of the house and truly made it our own little place. I do love it here.

The yard is small, but plenty big enough to keep me busy. This past summer we got a good start on the front bed but I did nothing out back. Thus far this summer, 2008 along the side of the house, I created a Container Garden that I am quite pleased with. It is full of baskets of different sizes and shapes, old stock pots, a tree limb chair, odd planters made out of pottery and wood and my old rusty milk jug. I filled these containers with Wave Petunias, Million Bell Petunias, Gazanias, Gerber Daisies and a type of Painted Daisy.

To the front garden I added 6 Shasta Daisies ,3 Astra Blue Double Ballonflowers, 3 Rudbeckia Prairie Sun, 6 Miniature Hollyhocks, 6 Rudbeckia “Totos”, 3 Pardancanda Sangria Lily, 3 Burgundy Gaillardia, 1 large Dwarf Iris that I divided (from a neighbor), 3 Dwarf Gaillardia and a Dwarf Daylily Collection. Annual wise I planted a flat of Gazanias of various colors, 4 Tall Dahlias, and 2 Opal Innocence – Nemesia Fruticans. With these additions I think my little front bed will be quite lush and full this year. Now I just need everything to begin to fill out and bloom. :-)

Also been working in the back yard. I received a swing for my birthday which we placed on the back patio. So that inspired me to begin planning what I wanted to do back there. We began with laying thick tree limbs down the length of the yard in front of our row of hedges. Then planted the small “circle garden” with Stella d’ Oro Daylilies and finished it off with planting a GIANT/TALL ”Lemons and Oranges” Gaillardia in the center. The patio has lots of different containers and baskets filled with flowers in oranges, purples, yellows, pinks and white. And I planted Zinnia’s down the narrow bed that lines the patio and fence. The last piece added was an old rusty wheelbarrow I had. I filled it with Petunias and placed it in front of the garage. Sooooo, lots of splashes of color for my backyard “concrete jungle”.

May 25, 2008
We got mulch down on the front bed, the row of Stella d’ Oro’s down the driveway, and my Zinnia garden by the back patio. Also got in the ground 6 miniature Hollyhocks, 6 Shasta Daisies, and 3 Astra Blue Balloon Flowers.

May 30, 2008
Planted 6 different colored dwarf daylilies, 3 Burgundy Gaillardia and 3 dwarf Gaillardias today. Along with a flat of Gazanias. Everything went into my front bed. Man, there really will be no more room in that bed once everything I planted begins to spread and bloom. I am VERY excited to see how the garden will look mid summer.

June 3, 2008
Noticed a bud beginning to just open on one of my roses … yup I can see color!!!! Won’t be long now … My Stella d’ Oro Daylilies are peppered with blooms. Just waiting, impatiently, for them to open as well. It is like Mother Nature is holding her breath … LOL!!!

June 5, 2008
My first rose is OPEN!!!!!!! Also saw the first peeking of purple on the dwarf Iris. Today I planted 3 Rudbeckia Prairie Sun’s in the front bed.

June 7, 2008
Finally got around to changing out the Spring Pansies in the wooden planter on the front porch, beside the door. The Pansies had been doing quite well until this awful heat hit. I decided on 4 Opal Innocence” – Nemesia Fruticans. One is a deep purple color, one is a vivid pink, and two are the white/bluish colored flower. Same as what I have in my front bed. Anyway, they should spread nicely in that rectanglular planter.

June 14, 2008
Added a small water feature to the back patio. I LOVE IT!!!!! Bought 5 Water Hyacinths to put in the barrel and Hubby may buy a fish or two. Just big enough for our back patio area. Yah, I/we are really pleased with how it turned out.

June 22, 2008
Hubby designed and built a beautiful gate door out of Cedar … and installed it today. It adds such charm to our little backyard patio area.

July 4, 2008
Truly enjoying all my flowers!! My containers and hanging baskets have all filled out and are gorgeous. I have loved watching them grow from springtime. Today I noticed that I have the first bloom opened on my “Little Business” Daylilies and Balloon flowers. One of my Rudbeckia “Prairie Sun” is about to bloom … waiting anxiously to see the flower on it. My yard this year just makes me smile … :-)

September 1, 2008
Man, it has been a terrific summer! Been sitting here thinking back on all the flowers. Some have become my new favorites and others just performed so wonderfully this summer.

My front garden just exploded with color this season. My ground cover roses and tree roses got some awesome growth this year and bloomed like crazy. Matter of fact they are still blooming. It was a good decision to purchase them.

The Prairie Sun Rudbeckia’s are just beautiful this year and have become one of my favorite flowers. I just cannot seem to get enough of them.

Daylilies were gorgeous this year. I think actually one of the better years for them.

And of course, the Lemons and Oranges Gaillardia that I planted in the backyard Circle Garden exploded, collecting lots of seed and hoping to grow more around the yard next summer.

One of the most unusual plants I purchased this year was the Candylily … cross between the Vesper Iris and Blackberry Daylily. Such a delicate flower. I love the corkscrew that forms after the flower is done blooming.

This has been the first year, in all my years of gardening, that I have taken so many pics of my gardens and flowers. Been fun watching everything through the “camera”. Love that I have this all documented here so I can go back through it all come winter.

It will be sad to say goodbye to this years flowers … I have begun already by tossing out a few of my containers. Guess reality will set in that fall is here once I begin really cutting back that front bed. Hopefully I have another month yet before I really begin that.

October 23, 2008
Well I finally got the gardens put to rest for the winter. Everything is cut back, seeds collected as well as a few seeds planted for next spring (thank you XO!!!). Also stored all my containers, rusty milk jug, wheel barrow, water barrel, baskets and garden whatnots downstairs for the winter; ready for new life next spring.

This year has been one of the best gardening summers I have had in a long time. I do believe that Gardentenders had a lot to do with that. It was fun coming up with new gardening ideas and then sharing them as they came into “being”. And now I have a fantastic photo and written record to go back through this winter when the snow and cold begins to get me down.

-- "A perfect garden is just a garden to be in-perfection. Mornings to work on it and evenings to pause and look at it." Southeast Michigan, Zone 5a/5b