I was ever so tempted to get rid of this planter.  I’m glad I didn’t.  Although the plants in the pots overhead are not trailing as in their name “trailing verbena” and the potato vine hasn’t really trailed either - that’s some simple tweaking for next year.  Picture pots overflowing with trailing, flowering plants.  Not so bad huh?

What was once a really unattractive area of the yard is actually becoming attractive.   In a few years when the Annabelle Hydrangeas that I ordered from Michigan Bulb last year grow in the area will be filled with Hydrangeas.  The bigger Hydrangea plants that you can see - to each side of the planter were picked up from Home Depot for just $12.50 a few weeks ago.  They were on their last legs.  Looking at the pole of the planter the one on the left is doing really well, the one just to the right of the pole (hard to see as there is only one flower you can see in the photo) is not doing as well but I think it will make it.  Next year it should be pretty.  Fingers crossed.

I just love it when you can pick flowers and use them as arrangements inside.  Free.  Totally.  And so pretty.

Just a nice “pick me up” to the day.

Patio Garden.  And I use the “patio” word lightly.  It’s not so much of a patio nor is it really a Florida room.  It’s more of an eyesore.  The structure was at one point a Florida room - really a rather nice attribute back in the 1950’s and 1960’s I’m sure.  It was wired with speakers and a sound system of sorts and electricity.  Off to the side (out of picture range), near where the vegetable garden is remains the remnants of a small pond.  A neighbor tells me there used to be fish in it and everything.  Now all that remains is rock and concrete.  And man, is it hard to break that stuff up and get it out of there.  They built it to last.

Our short term goal is to rebuild the roof and supports over the foundation, fix up the cracks in the concrete and use the space as a patio.  Long term goal is to build out and add a family room in this space.  For now it has an old fiberglass cover which will remain until money falls from the sky (or wherever it comes from).  My vote was to pull the roof off, my hubby wanted to leave it on as it provides relief form the rain (or snow) when you access the garage from the house or when we let the dog in and out.  Guess who won?  He did.  As unsightly as it is, there was an even more unsightly patch of dirt directly in front of the “patio” that was the very first thing you saw when you walked into the back yard.    That I could fix.

I added a Spirea japonica “Frobell”, a Yarrow plant, three Rose Coreopsis plants, some transplanted Hostas  some container annuals, transplanted some rocks and added 2 solar lights.  The patio itself is still not a pretty place but the view is adorable.  At least when you wak into the backyard you are greeted with a little pretty.  

I have admired the Spirea in other gardens and have a Spirea “Little Princess” in the back.  The “Little Princess” lives up to its’ name though and is small and compact.  The Spirea “Frobell” should get a nice 3′-4′ spread and height and fill in nicely.  Plus the “flowers” look pretty enough to snip and bring inside to enjoy.

The Yarrow was an impulse purchase.  I would have bought more but this was the only one in this color, the rest were “Summer Pastels” and multi colored.  I heard from Nicole that htis has a tendency to spread.  I hope it does, otherwise, I will be adding more in the future.

View as you walk into the yard.

All in all, a quick, easy and fun fix to an eyesore.  All accomplished in an afternoon.  Looking at this post, I have to go out back now and remove that piece of wood that is falling down behind the garden.  I started to do it and was distracted, until I saw it now in the photos.  Hope the whole darn thing doesn’t come tumbling down (or do I?).

The sixth and final garden on the Garden Walk was a corner home.  This home did not boast a generous back yard so the gardener made the most of the side gardens.  Much of the backyard is hardscape and dog friendly.

I see they have Bishop’s Weed.  I too have it in my yard, in confined places.  People love this plant for it’s coverage and people HATE this plant for the same.  This plants spreads under the ground and spreads like crazy.  It is really hard to get rid of.  Mine seems to be pretty well under control so I have learned to tolerate it.  Nicole was a little more positive in her thoughts and said I should learn to embrace it.

This is the back yard, more hardscape than lushness.

Yep, that’s Nicole in the distance with Eleanor and Francesca.  Eleanor got a lot of attention at the Garden Walk and I cannot begin to tell you how many people made comments about her being the youngest garden walker and that it’s “good to get them gardening early”.  Too cute.  Everybody loves babies, but I’m thinking gardeners - natural nurturers are even more partial to babies!

I liked this leaf sculpture on the side of the house.

Ok, this concludes our Garden Walk Tour.  I hope you enjoyed it.  This was my very first garden walk but I am hooked and will be attending every year from now on.  Who knows, maybe someday my garden will be included in the tour.  Until then, I will continue to mold and shape our space into a garden that is just right for our family.  I got so much inspiration from the walk and look forward to future projects, like the water feature pot.

The 5th garden on the Garden Walk was labeled as a Tuscan Villa and was just a block down from the last garden.  I think, more appropriately, that it was a garden filled with art.  It was a busy space, with a deck and a patio area, and instead of just grass there were stepping stones all over, filled in with grass.

Even the parkway, which in our city is typically all grass, was filled with plants.  

See.  Art.

This I love.  I like when folks have ponds in their yards but for me, with the dog and the kids I can’t see adding one to our yard.  I would venture that they come with at least a fairly higher degree of maintenance  than I have time for.  This small water feature would be just right.  I am officially adding it on the my next summer to do list.  I have maxed out my garden budget for this summer, although this can’t be very expensive.

More art.  I like the round discs on the string hanging from the tree.  It reflected so prettily in person.

The patio area of the yard.

They have little doodads tucked in all areas of the yard.

A pretty pond.

The stepping stone yard.

There was a lot to see in this yard.  I think my very favorite, silly as it may seem, was the small water feature pot.  There were some pretty plants too but the project is what I came away from with here.

Coming up soon in my next post will be the sixth and final garden on the garden walk.  We didn’t get to the real final one, house 7.  I think we may have missed an amazing garden as house 7 had the raffle and auction items.  I think they usually reserve that for the creme de la creme of gardens. Oh well.  It was a fun day for us anyway.

After a pit stop at home and moving on with one less child, we proceeded to the fourth home of the garden walk.  This one was created out of necessity.  A rescued German Sheppard mix puppy did a number on the lawn and the flower beds.  With some raised beds, containers, pavers and pathways this is what the garden evolved to.

No grass whatsoever in the back yard.

I’m not so sure what it is I like about this planter but I really like it.  There were two of them, one on either side of the back of the house.  Very simple but very pretty.

Again, a pretty garden but with little ones I need grass in the back yard.  This one had a bit more hardscape than what my preferences are.  The next house on the walk was just down the street.  Very convenient for our entourage.  Up next post - The Tuscan Villa garden.

The third garden of the Garden Walk was a lovely garden filled with plants and even a hidden garden behind the garage.  This garden was accompanied by the self proclaimed “Prettiest alley in Park Ridge”.  The back yard had no grass at all but was instead filled with plants.  

This striking white Hosta was beautiful next to all the greenery.

In the short car ride from house 2 to house 3 Ross had fallen asleep.  Awakened and now taken to another home, he promptly just curled up on the sidewalk in front of the house and stated he was tired.  Francesca, one to go with the flow, curled up right next to him.  He rested in the yard while we toured the garden and then we dropped him off ot be at home with dad.  Strangely enough, this is not the first photo of them I have like this.  I have one from Christmas when they had finished lying under the tree looking at the lights.

Entry into the secret garden.

Seating area in the secret garden.

Alley behind the home.  It was nice to see that all the neighbors down the block had planted along the fence line by their garages.  It really was pretty - for an alley!

The prettiest “flower” in the garden!

All in all a lovely garden.  Not my style, I prefer grass in the yard but I can appreciate the beauty of a yard like this.  After this garden it was off to home to drop Ross off, refuel the remaining baby and toddler and return to the second leg of our Garden Walk.  More to come.

The second home on the Garden Walk tour was entitled “Survival of the Fittest”.  The home itself, a lovely Tudor, had a sordid pastalleged to be the hangout of Roger “The Terrible” of the Touhy gang, Touhy apparently being a Prohibition-era bootlegger according to the owners.  I guess I never even thought of the origins of some of the street names before, especially Touhy.  This was a lovely garden setting, one which the owner states is still evolving. 

The Rose garden.

This was the only home that labeled the plants, this was a wonderful idea for us novice gardeners.

A really pretty granite fountain.  Very tempting to the kids and I am very glad I stopped Francesca before she took a sip.  A few minutes later we saw the homeowner pouring bleach in it.  Can’t be good for the birds.

This was a very large puddle on the way back to the car.  See the yellow thing in it?  Wait, let me get closer.

A bit blurry as I was trying to stop Francesca from running into the water to get it.  It’s a little yellow rubber ducky.  Too cute.

At this point, Ross had tuckered out from the two gardens we toured.  We promised him one more and then we’d drop him off at home, as dad would be home by then.  This seemed to placate him.  For now. 

When we get to house three, things take a turn.  I’ll be posting house three on the tour shortly.

Today was the much anticipated Garden Walk in our city.  Nicole and baby Eleanor joined myself, Ross (who insisted he wanted to come) and Francesca on the walk.  It was a beautiful, sunny day and there were some lovely gardens to tour.  Of the seven gardens on the tour, we got to six of them.  Not bad when toting around a pre-schooler, toddler and newborn!  Here are some of the highlights.  Giant Hostas, Astilbes and various Oak Leaf Hydrangeas were a common sight throughout the day. 

The first garden we visited was called a “Friendship Garden”, because many of the plants were received from friends as gifts and divisions.  One of the highlights was a train in the garden.  One of the owners was a dentist and she had repurposed a tooth shaped toy box as a planter.  Her husband joked that she asked him to drill some holes in the bottom and he replied “Good, I get to do a root canal!”.  The kids enjoyed this garden the most as they had snacks - Oreo cookies in particular and a play area in the yard for the kids in the family, not to mention the train .  I’m sure Ross was thinking I was crazy for trying to talk him into going to Nonna’s house instead and telling him there wouldn’t be anything fun for him.

The houses along the path are actually bird houses.

The play area, with a little seating area for children at the very forefront of the photo. 

A very cute garden.  The homeowner commented that she is a haphazard gardener.  It was cute in that it wasn’t a serious garden.  It had many elements of fun and whimsy.  I will share the rest of the walk with you shortly.  There are so many photos of each garden that I need to spread them out into separate posts.  Stay tuned!

Dianthus

I promised more photos from the garden, so here goes.  The Dianthus is a new addition to the garden.

The Endless Summer Hydrangeas are blooming beautifully.  The Salvia annuals clash pretty strongly next to the Hydrangeas.  I had the annuals left over after planting up my pots and didn’t want them to go to waste.  Even with them clashing, having had no color in the yard for so long - I still think it looks nice. 

Pretty, simple Marigolds in the Florida room.

More Florida room fun.

This Pieris Japonica “Valley Rose” or Valley Rose Pieris is along the side of the house by the fence.  It will eventually get 3-4 ft high and 5 feet wide - a good screen for the garbage cans kept behind the fence.  It is an evergreen that blooms in the spring with pretty pink, bell-shaped flowers. 

The side garden is mostly Hostas, with this Astilbe which is growing nicely.  This is the third summer for this Astilbe, it had another planted right next to it which was not as healthy looking.  Last year I moved it to the other side of the house where is is thriving.  Go figure.

And this is what happens when I don’t write down - RIGHT AWAY - in my garden book or file what the name of the plant is.  I think this is Angels Halo or something like that - I can’t find the tag - it was purchased at the Garden Club sale, as was the little wrought iron tri-fold ($1 SCORE!).  I have to find the Popsicle stick with the name written on it.  It will have little yellow flowers on it.

My neighbor’s Phlox has crept over to my side of the garden.  I do not mind at all, it is very pretty and I hope it spreads some more. 

Some pretty annuals in containers up front.

And would you believe I just divided and thinned out the day lilies by the front coach light last year?

It looks too crowded.  I think I need to thin it out again later this year.  If the rain ever lets up I can get back out to the yard and continue to tweak.  I know the rain is good for the plants and that since we have some new additions to the yard the rain is great for helping to establish good roots, but come on.  Oh, and with the new grass in the back yard I am mowing twice a week some weeks.  I’m not complaining, the fact that we have grass in the back yard is great.  I’d love to be playing on it more though.  Looks like we may have some better weather coming.  Come on summer, we are waiting!