Invitation to sit, relax and enjoy the views!

My gardening friend, Barb, uses an family heirloom patio set to create a scene in her front lawn that leaves one feeling they should take a break with a friend, sit and enjoy a moment of summer relaxing!  I especially enjoy the various ground covers and plants she has included in the floor of the little patio that anchors the scene.

Hydrangeas are the star of this show!

What an absolutely stunning way to landscape the front of a home!

Soft and elegant comes to my mind!

Idea for a clematis display

I love garden tours for the ideas they provide for your garden!

 This is a very attractive way to display a clematis.  It catches your eye for more than the beautiful floral display and looks great even without the flowers in bloom!

Looking for a fabulous focal plant?

On a garden tour you often find plants you don't usually see in most gardens and its always fun to explore for information about them.  And then discover you just may have a perfect spot for adding one to your gardens!

Fleece flower is the common name for 'Persicara Polymorpha' and really gets your attention!   Absolutely stunning!  Looking for a fabulous focal plant?
  

Check this out:
www.http://blog.northerngardener.org/great-plants-for-northern-gardens-day-12-fleece-flower/

"Pretty bubbles in the air"

What a fun garden this was to visit on the garden tour!  Do you suppose they found Lawrence Welk's bubble machine?

Amazing what you find on a garden tour!

I don't have a fairy like this in my yard!  Hmmmmmm...... maybe I need one!

Fairy Garden Fun

This week my  Fairy Gardens and I were invited to participate in my local Rochester Garden & Flower Club's Annual Garden Tour!  Thanks to my friend, Rita, who also has fairy garden fun, was there to help me handle questions and comments from tour attendees!  We had a steady stream of people stopping by to look, admire and ask questions so it was loads of fun!  This is the third year we've done this and the interest doesn't seem to wane.

Thunder Bay Ontario Hidden Gem

We decided to explore this little known gem of a garden at the last minute on our last evening in Thunder Bay!  WOW!

What an explosion of spring color!  It simply is the most delightful garden I've ever visited with such a wide variety of spring blooming perennials!  It was July 3rd and was absolutely at its peak!  This is just a taste of the varieties of flowers we found!  Whoever designed and is caring for this little bit of heaven is doing an absolutely fantastic job! Wishing I could visit it often but I'll have to look at my pictures each spring instead!

Duluth Rose Garden

I always check out the Duluth Rose Garden when I am in Duluth, MN.  However, roses were still tucked inside their buds the first of July!  But peony buds were just opening and they provided a wonderful display of many varieties! This is about a month later bloom time than at home so it was a delightful experience to enjoy these fragrant blossoms a second time this year!

A spring flower display was a lovely sea of blue and purple

'Rozella'

'America SRE'

'Coral Charm'

'Princess Margaret'

Lupines

Early July we were on the MN North Shore Drive along lake Superior enjoying the scenery and the spring flower season again.  Just a little over 200 miles north from where we live and perennials are about a month later with their blooms so it was a bonus to enjoy spring flowers again this year!

Lupines grow wild in Northern MN and Southern Ontario Canada along the highways!  

For more information on growing lupines check out this website:
http://www.planetnatural.com/growing-lupine/

Wildflowers in Northern MN

Mother Nature's Gardens always has pleasant surprises for us along the way......

My newest fairy garden

A friend asked me to make a fairy garden for a gift for her special friend's patio that is in shade.

It was such fun searching for the right plants and accessories to match this person's personality!   There is a tiny glass of lemonade on the arm of the recliner waiting to be enjoyed!   I just have to share this one with you.  My only regret is that I won't see it after the plants mature more!  

I can't wait to hear how she liked it!

At the beach

Fairy Garden Fun!

For July it seems appropriate to share this fairy garden of mine!  Can't you just imagine yourself sharing this bit of heaven in the sun with the fairy and her friends!

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Clematis Time!

Our neighbor at the lake is lighting up the shoreline with this fabulous clematis these days!  

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A bit further down the block....

Just had to share this unique planter!  Who says shade has to be boring!

Walking around the block

the other day I was admiring this year's version of the flower cart my neighbor puts out!

Just had to share the view with you!

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One extra stop smelling the flowers...

Not on  the tour that evening but we stopped at  Rita's to leave her car there and while we were there, of course we had an excuse to tour her gardens also!  We called  it the bonus garden on the tour!

I can always find beautiful and unique planters to admire at Rita's! This one caught my eye for sure!  Actually, it was the whole scene, with the cat that did it!

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