I went out early this morning after the rain showers passed and took some pictures of my old friends in the gardens. These are the survivors of the construction that has been going on here for the past three years. They have survived being stomped on,
run over by bulldozers, crushed by building
supplies...you name it! I am thrilled that so many of my beloved plants have come back this year. It really is amazing....
This is a wild rose that i dug up at the cottage we used to stay at in Cape Cod. I have a few of these bushes here that started out as a little sprig that i carefully carried home and transplanted in the ground over 20 years ago, when my children were small.
I also brought home this wild honeysuckle from the Cape, and even tho it's supporting fence was torn out early this Spring, it too, came back...
The wild geranium came back against all odds
As did the sweet peas i planted many years ago...
This Queen Elizabeth rose took the most abuse, with a truck rolling over it with a full supply of house siding. The trunk of this bush was smashed flat to the ground, but sure enough, soft green canes came up around the old crushed center....
The area i worried about the most was the small shade garden in the back. When the masons did their job putting in the new garage floor, they just pushed tons of old broken concrete from the old floor back up under the soil there. I had spent years collecting different types of
hosta, ferns, lily of the valley and bleeding heart, and in a few days they totalled that area. I had no hope that the
hosta would come back...but they did! I did loose the lilies and ferns, but i am lucky to have any survivors at all. I had a
landscaper come in to take out the concrete chunks and i lovingly transplanted the
hosta back to their rightful place.
Last week i added a new bleeding heart. Also, the hybrid honeysuckle came back. The hummingbirds love that stuff...
So, in the end, we did loose some beloved plants, like my Grandmother's lilac bush, and my fairy roses....But the phlox are coming back, as are the purple
coneflower, the trumpet vine, and the morning glories that were first planted by my Mother's Grandfather at her home. And of course, i have my
tiger lilies back too! Gardens are amazing, living, breathing things to me. They can be so resilient, no matter what comes at them. I hope i can learn to be as resilient and face whatever comes at me, and at the same time add something beautiful and positive to the world. We all learn to bloom where we are planted!
This garden is the one that was completely leveled and the one that is most exciting for me. Some of my old hosta collection came back , but many of the plants here are brand new. This collection of plants enjoy the shade, and dappled sunlight.
We have hosta (all kinds) columbine, astilbe, bleeding heart, lily of the valley, tiger lily, violets and violas, and a few evergreen bonsai planted in the earth to speed and strengthen their growth. Voluptuous flowering begonias are in the planters hanging on the fence. The bird feeders here are very busy and any seed knocked to the ground is eaten by the mourning doves, rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks
This little statue of Mary was given to me by my Aunt Joey before she passed away. She loved this statue and wanted to be sure someone else would love it too and place it in their garden and enjoy it. An old honeysuckle vine trails over the statue, and bleeding heart, lily and viola surround it.
Here is another statue named "Mary" by Samson Contampasis, standing in front of this pine tree. She is also surrounded by columbine, viola and hosta
And another statue by...guess who? Sam... with bonsai planted in the ground behind it and hosta to both sides
So far this is the only chair in this garden and it hasn't been used for sitting yet! Here are more violas, and three peony bushes waiting to be planted out in the Front garden...Next garden is the last one~the Side Garden ...
