Annie, what a neat, interesting, fun garden you have, you have obviously put a lot of work into it. I love it! Hope you will post pictures this summer when it starts growing!

Dang, I really "covet" your arbor!

The flowerbed where the statue stands if filled with colorful daylilies, irises, red, yellow, white and pink roses, salvias, dianthus, a large white Texas hardy Hibiscus, Magnus Coneflowers, Red Penstemmon, and other things.
Behind the statue are more daylilies, roses, & etc., but directly behind it is a Pink Flowering Almond which will begin blooming soon, as will the Jane Magnolia with huge pink blossoms and the Oklahoma Redbud tree. Spring should be really pretty too.
Much more to do yet.
Will set up that big round concrete culvert pipe (shown in my PhotoBucket album) for a Lily pond as soon as I can get helpers to move it up there. It is super heavy! In it will go hardy white and soft pink water lilies.
The Empress settee (if I am lucky enough to get it before someone else does) will go near the lily pond somewhere. The bed structure will be changed a bit to accommodate the new garden features.
Adjacent to the daylily bed (in the White Garden) is a white Lilac, which had a few blooms for the first time last year. It is covered in bloom buds, so am hopeful that it will finally put on a good show of fragrant white blooms this spring.
At the back of that path, leading out into the lawn (to the right of the statue), I am contemplating setting up the old garden arbor and gate that was my father's. White climbing roses will grow on that. I want large white roses, fragrant for it.
The Tree Wisteria in the back grassy area of the garden is a Pink variety. If and when it EVER blooms, that will very nice. The Empress settee could go there. Still tossing that idea around too.
So, lots yet to do!
Thanks for looking.
~Annie

It's a big project, but you have a vision and it will all come together some day.

I just uploaded this picture taken tonight just at sunset.
The brickwork is nearly finished. I only need to fill in the cracks between with sand. A trip to my friend's place for sand and leaves is in order tomorrow, weather permitting.

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Note my little solar lamps glowing in the dusky light.

I will use bricks set in squares as stepping stones for the rest of the path up to the formal garden. Then add bricks along the edging as I did below, framing the path. It will look better and help hold the soil from washing down into the path.

Fabu! You can clearly see all the hard work that you put into it Anne. Your garden is the epitome of a country cottage garden.

To be honest now, I am a bit jealous of a few things:
1) That round culvert pipe. What a clever way to repurpose it! I can already envision it with lilies and other neat-o water plants in it. Adding a water feature to a garden really just brings it to a whole 'nother level!!
2) The used garden junk store you made mention of. OoooOOOOoooo! I'd likely be going to that place every weekend if it were near me! Lol. There used to be a garden art store in town, but it was outrageously priced. A metal urn no bigger than eight inches tall was like $40! Yipes! I'm in love with the Italian pouch arbor...

Ps. What a charming house! I love brick. What vine do you have clambering up it? Ivy??
Clap, clap, clap! Great job. Make sure to keep us up to date with new pics of everything come spring.
CMK

Thank you so much Christin.

If I had the money, I would be going to that junk store every weekday. Not so many people there during the week day, so more to myself.
The lady who owns it was so nice. She took the time to show me how easy it was to take that arbor apart and put back together. Then she and I (and her three-year old daughter) put everything into the truck. I also got that arch behind the statue in the garden. The little three year old was so precious and beautiful. Such a sweet child too, and so cute. She followed me everywhere and "helped" me carry things out to the truck, just chattering away. I had to go home to get the truck after making my purchases, and when I came back two hours later, she ran to greet me, her head of blonde curls bouncing with each step and blowing in the breeze. She hugged me and began following again, conversing about anything and everything. I enjoyed her very much.

I sure hope the Empress settee is still there on my next visit.

Our house was built in 1930. It is a very small Bungalow - too small in fact, and there is now storage - none. The original owner was the village doctor - Doc Davis. There were originally 160 adjoining acres. He didn't farm it, but leased it out to ranchers for grazing and growing wheat, so I've been told. We had the option of also buying the remaining 70 acres. Wish I could have talked "The Heathen " into that. But, we got 3 acres and that is nice enough...for now. Several of the old-timers here have told me so many interesting stories about having their broken arm set here, getting "stitched up", or some such. One man in town lived on the place as a child. His father was the caretaker/maintenance man - he lit the coal furnace for the Misses, and that sort of thing. There was a smaller cottage on the north side of the property where they lived. Just the foundation remains. I am gleaning the old red Iron stones that are loose from the remaining foundation. I had thought of planting spring bulbs inside it. Still would like to do that. It is in heavy shade in summertime, but has enough sun in the spring for flowering bulbs. Would be so pretty. Right now, it is a snake pit - Copperheads. Me no likey that!

The house itself is very unique in the sense that it is solid brick, not veneer applied to wood frame. The outside walls are also the inside walls, only coated in plaster. No lath-work underneath, just plaster. And, we have a full basement - not common in Oklahoma on account of the terrible problem with the ground shifting - not safe at all. But this house has stood the years and made it through many tornadoes too. I have visions of it collapsing one day and falling into the basement, especially since we have had some pretty hefty Earthquakes that shook the house and rattled the windows for 15 minutes and longer. Yikes!

There was no garden at all when we bought the place. Only a few native trees, and the two woodland areas on the hill above, and a smattering of old daylilies against the northside of the house. Everything else, including trees, I planted. Sometimes when out int the garden working, I think on it, and am amazed at how much I have done to this place.

The vines on the house are English Ivy and Virginia Creeper. I planted it the first year in 1996. I love the colorful leaves and blue berries in the fall of the Virginia Creeper, and the English Ivy adds the charm and greenery I love to the cottage. It is not only charming, but it also insulates the house in winter and summer. Birds love to nest in the ivy and creeper, especially the Lesser Flycatcher. Those tiny birds eat thousands of mosquitoes every day and flies as well. The vines and birds lure snakes, but they don't bother us. Our cats and dogs see to that.

I did a lot of research to come up with the right type of garden that would look best with the house, and decided upon the Cottage Garden as best choice.

I will be keeping a close watch on the junk store - they are struggling to keep it going. So sorry to hear that. Just another family on the brink of failure and ruin in the country. (Grrrrr...) But, if they do end up going out of business, I want to make their closing sale for certain. In the meantime, I am saving my pennies in jars so I can go back to get that settee and the Birdcage gazebo - at least. You ought to see all the lovelies INSIDE their store!

~Annie