Postcards ~ From the Garden

I'm playing "catch-up" with some recent garden pictures, and hope to be back playing in the kitchen soon! Thank you for your sweet words everyone. xo~m.

Once you plant these poppies they reseed themselves all over the place. I don't have much bright red in my garden, so I am happy these have confined themselves to the one "Red & White" flower bed that I do have. (Red & White for Stanford U. colors.) :)

Clematis blooming on one of the arches over the garden path.

It is "Blue Light", I'm ever thankful to my friend Monique for introducing me to this unbelievably prolific clematis.

Last year was the first year we had tree swallows come inhabit the birdhouses, I'm so thrilled that they brought their friends this year. I was surprised to find that all 7 birdhouses are filled with Tree Swallow families this year. They are so beautiful and graceful, have such a beautiful song, plus they eat flying insects. What terrific neighbors they are!

Rhododendrons LOVE Oregon's climate (at least in western Oregon) ~ there are about 20 Rhodies in my garden and I love the color show they provide us with in mid-May to mid-June. The rest of the year they provide a beautiful green backdrop all year round (and require very little care.) They are really in full bloom now, but I haven't had a chance to photograph them ~

these pictures are from about 2 weeks ago...when they were just beginning to bloom.

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If you know me, you know my first love is roses. Years ago we were active in the Rose Society, and I used to grow mostly modern roses such as hybrid teas, I'm very fond of them ~ but for the past couple of years old-fashioned and English roses have stolen my heart. Here's a little sample, first a few of the hybrid teas...

And a sample of the old-fashioned, and David Austin's... I love their fuller and looser form.

I've chosen many taller varieties, to train (along with clematis) over the 6 tall rusty metal
arches which line the path in the newest garden. It is a work in progress
but these pictures may give you an idea of how it looks. The garden is about
year and a half old now.

This area is on the north side of the property, it used to be barren wasteland ~ and it was a constant battle to keep the weeds at bay. I'm much more pleased with the area now.

The sandstone path is nearly complete, next project is a large pergola which will be situated in the area of where your back is facing, if you are looking from the above view.

This is a closer view of the clematis "Toki" which you can see growing at the bases of each side of the arch in the forefront. It is one of my favorites, the pure white blossoms are nearly 8-inches across, and absolutely stunning when the vine is in full bloom.

As you walk the curved pathway under the arches, it leads to a closer look at the rest of this garden, I planted with a cottage-garden look in mind, filled with old fashioned annuals ~ tulips and daffodils in the spring, delphinium, lupin, poppies, coreopsis, peonies, digitalis, columbines and more roses, all bloom until the first hard frost.

We had looked and looked for a water feature for this garden ~ and finally settled upon this one which I really love for its simple, clean lines. The garden is jam-packed with plants, trees, and textures... we felt the fountain should be simple.

There is a bench (out of view) for sitting and gazing a few feet away. The bench is a one piece until with a large arch overhead. I've recently planted two fragrant climbing roses at each end of it, which will eventually fill in and cover the overhead arch, providing shade in the summer.

The perimeter of the garden is planted with French Lilac, climbing roses, a few clematis, an espalier pear tree, and a few grape vines.

The grapes are young yet, and won't produce fruit for a year or two ~ but I do use the leaves as garnish, they look especially nice on the cheese tray, and soon I hope to harvest some to use as wrappers for dolmas.

We also planted some dwarf fruit trees last fall ~ nectarine, Italian prune plums, and a specially grafted dwarf tree with 5 different varieties of plums. The trees are young, but two will produce a harvest this year.

(I hope I can get to the fruit as it ripens before the birds do.)

Here are some additional views of some of the rest of this garden...

Old Miss Kitty, who wandered on to the property, injured, about 10 years ago---when she was young.

She timidly approached the deck where we were having breakfast. We don't know how long, or how far she had been traveling ~ but somewhere along the way her elastic collar had become caught under one of her forearms cutting through the skin and into the tissue beneath. :( The poor little thing. She eagerly lapped up the last few Cheerios and milk in my cereal bowl, and stayed around.

We advertised to find her owner, with no success ~ in the meantime nursed her back to health and she's been with us ever since. I wish she could talk so she could tell us her story ~ she's very sociable, loves everyone who comes to the house and is quite chatty with quiet cat-talk. :) Pardon her messy coat, she LOVES to roll around on the sun-warmed decomposed granite sand ~ and picks up odd bits on her fur.

You cannot really see it this photo, but she has the most incredible opal colored eyes.

More random photos from the same garden...

Old Miss Kitty is too old to capture birds ~ it's a good thing because many have

become quite tame and seem to enjoy this garden as much as we do.

Thank you for coming along on the tour ~ I'll try to post more pictures as soon as I

have a chance.

Have a lovely weekend everyone! xo ~m.