Absolutely Gorgeous,and I love the purple ??? My mind just went blank,i know what they are but my brain won't engage right now.Hate when that happens!!!

I know the name will hit me as soon as I hit submit.Dang it!!
Kathi

Simply stunning...your eye for balance and grouping and your hardscape...everything...breathtaking. c

Wow! I would almost be willing to put up with y'all's cold winters to have such a pretty and amazing garden.

Kathy

SOOOO LOVELY!!!

Those purple tuteurs are gorgeous! And your lovely garden is so well put together, with the repeating notes of purple ...which I love anyway.

I am trying very hard not to covet your gorgeous, magnificent, beautiful large rocks. I so love the effect. I just keep returning to that last picture. AND you have the hot pinks, another passion of mine. I love your garden. Thank you for sharing it.

kay

Absolutely beautiful gardens and grounds! What an eye you have, and what a lot of work you have done. Totally worth all the effort. (Easy for me to say.)

TM

Your garden is really beautiful. Not only all the color but the texture too. I really lover your potager garden! You have so much in bloom compared to us here n zone 4. It still feels like early spring much of the time here.

beautiful! Besides those knockout purple tuteurs, I love the rock stairs.

I keep coming back and enjoying your photo again. Love the look.
kay

Kathi, we actually got lucky with the salvia and the purple we chose on the tuteurs. I hadn't planned that color combo at all, but somehow we chose the right color paint after all!

Kathy, sometimes the winters can get a little rough. Especially when they start before Halloween!
This was 2011 when we had 18" of heavy, wet snow before November.
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The physocarpos in the last picture on the right used to be as tall as the rose of sharon behind it. That Oct storm turned it into a "weeping" specimen. I'm continuing to train it to be weeping. Turns out Mother Nature had a very good idea with that. Now we can really see the flowers so well when it blooms.

Kay, here are a couple more shots in the yard with rock. We are SO fortunate in that our property was a dumping ground for all the rock that was blasted when the road was originally put in. We're at the end of the street so this land was where everything was put. When we built the house the excavator kept coming up with huge rock after huge rock. We had him pile them all up in the back and then a couple years after moving in hired someone to do the work for us. We never lose sight of how lucky we are with this valuable resource.
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Here's a longer shot with more stairs last fall.
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It has been a lot of fun designing around all the rock with large shrubs.

Thanks everyone for your nice comments. I have a special needs son so gardening is such a nice diversion and wonderful hobby. Not so wonderful for my pocketbook though! I should probably "pretend" to budget one of these days! LOL!!

Wow! That is an incredible, beautiful, fabulous garden! I can't stop looking over and over again at the pictures. What a treat to be able to see the results of all your labor and time. The attention to detail and the colors are so inspiring. Thank you so much for sharing with us!

I always get "border envy" when I see your gardens.

OMG! That is simply stunning. I want to live there.... What is the pink flower in the foreground of the 3rd photo?

It's always a pleasure to see the pictures of your property... The purple tuteur combination is definitely the one that grabbed me most :-)

What is the name of that wisteria variety? I love wisteria and am curious about the 'stinky' native types. I've never encountered one in person. The closest I've got to one is a few fading flowers on an Amethyst Falls in a pot at a grocery store seasonal garden center a week ago. That one, to me, smelled sort of harshly chemical.

Susan/Thyme
I wanted to bump this up to the top so more people might be able to see your gorgeous gardens. My oh my. So beautiful. I admire your backyard beds -- are those the same ones you started a mere two (or was it three) years ago? You should post those rudimentary first pictures when it was in the "before" stage. Are those painted daisy in the backyard bed? I wintersowed some last year, and I'm not sure if what is coming up are painted daisies or weeds! My peonies in my front slope bloomed gorgeously this year -- thanks to your inspiration. Please post more -- we love to look.
lucia

That is just to die for. I so love the rock stair treads. And you were so very wise to realize what a valuable resource you had instead of having them hauled away. I love looking at them.
kay

Thanks everyone. I've been taking some time away from work between jobs this spring/summer so it has been such a pleasure to be out in the garden. Instead of working triage on weekends or a couple hours after work, I have had all day to stake, prune, move plants, and really think about possible changes and future plans. Winning the lottery would help!

Woodyoak, that is 'amethyst falls'. It blooms well and even while young, but in my yard it gives off a noxious odor, but I hadn't correlated it with a chemical smell. Interesting. I'll have to think about that next year when it blooms again. We purchased it in bloom down in NC and fortunately it was only a 10 minute ride home to my parents house. I'm glad it was the flowers that stunk and not the foliage, so before our 12 hour drive home I cut all the blooms off! At least it was allowed to come home in the car. It's so pretty it's worth the smell.

Lucia, I'm glad to hear you planted some peonies on your slope. Anything can grow on a slope with some extra water at first. Painted daisy foliage does look a bit weedy so maybe the seeds took! I started mine indoors from seed and will order more seed for sure. They bloomed for a very long time. I may even throw some on the slope to jazz it up. They tend to get very tall and flop, at least in my garden.
The backyard beds are the ones I had recently started. This fall will be 4years since I started them. Everything has grown quite well and I've been moving a lot of perennials around. Fortunately, so far I have been happy with the shrub and tree placement.

I tried to post some more shots of the back, but picasa and my computer are not playing nicely together.

Oh my, what a beautiful piece of property you have and the beauty you have created. How many years has it taken you to get the flowers to this point? I am an inpatient gardener; I want instanst gratification without spending thousands of dollars to get it! Did you plant one area at a time or a little in each area every year? Were you able to divide from one area and use some of same plants in another area as they matured?

Pippi, thank you. We built the house 14 years ago. I have broken the yard up into phases. Before the ground was even dug I had a CAD drawing of my cottage area with the paths, etc. I knew I'd have a slope in front and wanted to be sure the guy doing the site work dumped enough material up at what would be the cottage area so I would have enough flat ground to work with. The cottage area and slope were planted first. The slope with cotoneaster cuttings and some juniper. Yawn! I had moved many perennials from my old garden so the cottage garden took shape pretty quickly.

After a few years I was so bored with the slope that I dug it all out and planted the mixed shrub/perennials in there. I did use a lot of what i had brought with me from my old house. it was much more interesting to come home to.

The cottage garden went through 2 different phases. After a few years I didn't like how the beds on the outside common with the slope were looking so I actually sat and drew a perennial plan for the first time ever. I've been happy with it since. At the same time, I had the middle 3 beds as roses and heather. The roses needed too much extra work between Japanese beetles, black spot, etc. Dug them all up and lots of folks at work went home with bare root roses. As well, while I was trying to rid the yard of roses for Japanese beetles, I also got rid of any other Japanese beetle magnet in my hard. Now I rarely if ever see one. The heathers died off during a particularly rough winter. Those beds then became daylily borders mixed with some other perennials. Then, when we were ready to devote in-ground garden space to veggies, this was the best area. Full sun and a fence to keep it deer. So out went the daylilies to a new border out back.

In the meantime I had been planting shrubs and trees in other areas of the front/side yards. Then 4 years ago I went all out and installed the backyard beds. I've never used any plans except for that first go at the beds in the cottage area.

I have divided perennials to plant when I'm starting new areas. For the backyard, I started hundreds of perennials from seed. If you have a way to do it with lights inside, I would highly recommend it if you want instant gratification for low cost. I have to say I never put myself on a budget for my garden and spend an awful lot of dough every year..... Because I want instant gratification too! Maybe someday I'll budget....but doubt it!

I still have a number of other areas of my yard to plant, but that will require a 3-step process.
1). Win lottery
2). Install second well
3). Install deer fence
Oh, there would be a fourth step.....never work another day in my life except to play in the garden!

So for now my dreams of my hidden formal English garden, woodland walk, water garden with bridges...........will just have to all wait.
What is Powerball up to for Wed drawing?? I better play!

Beautiful and peaceful! I love the use of rocks, love all of the purple. You've done a fantastic job. Your photos inspire me to get out and work in my gardens some more.

FlowerLady

I keep coming back to see your gardens and can't believe that I haven't already told you how beautiful they are and how much I appreciate your sharing the process of forming them. Your hard work has paid off over and over. I tell my DH that while it is hard work, hard, and work, it is a joy. Your joy is apparent with your results.

Now that is one beautiful sight to see,..just like what we see on expensive biscuit boxes and approved by Queen Elizabeth.

Philip

Thanks everyone. I appreciate all the kind words. I live at the end of a street, so no one really sees the garden. It's fun to share it with other gardeners.

Here are some pics from August. I'll be sure to post the next batch for Oct when the color really comes in. I use lots of trees and shrubs to extend the season.

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It's gorgeous Susan!!! These last pics are especially impressive. I had to do a double check on when you took these pics since everything looks as fresh and vibrant as it did in the spring shots.

What is that fine textured evergreen tree in the first pic of your last post? The one in the middle of the scene?

The painted daisy in your early pics is gorgeous with the salvia. Is it a spreader?

Absolutely wonderful Susan! You (& Mike ;-) have done a fabulous job!
CMK

Its a pleasure to view your garden,.. and its so vast,..everything looks so colourful and healthy,..its a prize winner for sure.

I like your additional Fourth Step,..never to work another day in your life except to play in the garden,..its a good wish.

Philip

Hey Christin, you're very observant! That is a larch. I think European, but I'd have to check for sure. I'll post another pic when it gets its yellow color.

So glad you posted more pics of your gorgeous garden as I was away when you first posted so missed this thread. I always enjoy pics of your garden - love the way you've used rocks, your color scheme is lovely, and those purple tuteurs are exceptional!