Mary Lu, I always love to see pics of your garden! So pretty. I especially like your Bridal Wreath spirea and have always wanted one altho my zone is too cold. Roses, peonies, and strawberries also wonderful! TFS

Your garden looks lovely, Your Bridal spirea is great. I have one in my garden in the UK (mid south) - it never looks as gorgeous as yours. We usually clip it for the winter, so it looks neat. Are we going wrong there? How do you get yours to flower so profusely? I'd love to know.

I NEVER get tired at looking at pictures of your garden, new or old. If you only know what a lift these pictures of yours are giving me today. It's stormy with torrential rain at times and my garden looks like a drowned rat, thank goodness we are on a bit of slope or we'd be sitting in the middle of a lake right now. Thanks for brightening up my day.

Annette

Aaaaahhhhhh...

:)

WOW!!!!!!! So lovely!!! A LOT of inspiration for me!!!

Your gardens are incredible! I love the colors. So rich and clear against the green of the lawn. You obviously spend tons of time and love keeping your yard beautiful.

Martha

It's a wonder cars don't crash outside your house by breaking fast to get a better look at your fab garden!! That tree peony in the 6th pic takes my breath away (and I am not even a 'pink' person!).

Your garden is so lush and well-kept, shames me enough to say that I need to keep on top of maintaining things better next year (though if that will truly happen is another story, lol!).

What a boost! So glad you posted your pics...
CMK

your gardens are always lovely and inspire me! Thank you for sharing!

If my garden ever grows up it will be just like your's.

Thanks everyone! Looking back at the pictures gives me hope for next year. No accidents yet, but close a couple times. Also one ticket for running a stop sign....does that count? :-)

I have so much work ahead this spring. The DL bed has been in place since 2005 and badly needs dividing. Just not sure what I will do with all the "extra" plants. Not many of my friends are into gardening. Guess I can always put a free sign and put them on the boulevard. Have done that before.

luckygal, the bridal wreath has really done well for me. Only problem is it wants to get bigger than I want it to. So I prune it back several times each year, but later in the summer I have to let it go if I want blooms in the spring!

Jacqui, don't prune in fall. You are cutting off the spring blooms when you do that. I always prune it back after it finishes blooming and then again about mid-summer.

Annette, glad my pictures brightened your day. I was actually surprised when I looked back through my pictures. I didn't remember the spring having that much color in my yard!

cyn, calamity and roseberri, thank you!

Martha, more time than I like sometimes. But like a child, once you have them you must continue to lavish love and attention on them.

CMK, as said above, sometimes I almost resent the time required. But then when everything is blooming I am again revitalized. (even to plant more....!)but no more new beds. We gave the rototiller to our son!

plantmaven, how can you say that? Your gardens are lovely! We have had drought as well, but nothing like you have had recently. Just lugging the hoses around can be quite a challenge! It can be so disheartening, to see gardens you have worked so hard and spent considerable $$ on, then wither and die in drought.

ML, I always enjoy seeing your pictures. You have such a talent for mass-planting where there's just enough of everything, and one particular variety doesn't overpower another. And your succession of the profusion of bloom is so well thought out. I still absolutely love your picket fence. So much more stylistic than the usual picket fences.

thyme2dig, actually I am quite surprised at how well the DL bed does as far as length of bloom. I had thought that it would be a mid-summer blooming bed only. But "somehow" the iris, peonies and of course a couple roses just snuk in there! :-)The only time it really is lacking in blooms is late fall. But even then the roses are blooming.

Hard to believe we put the fence in during July of 2005. The plan is to build the fence up to the corner, but does not seem to be getting done very quickly, does it?

This is the same bed mid-summer. (sorry I could not find a shot from the same direction as the spring shots)

Ahhhh. My favorite thing, finding new photos of Mary lu's garden to look at on the Cottage Garden forum. Your spirea still takes my breath away.
Renee