Thursday, August 9, 2007

the gardens by the lake

Finally, the last little walk-about of my gardens!! I will be happy to have this over, so can only imagine how you all feel!
First my apologies - I have a lot of photos on this post - I hope it doesn't take an obscene amount of time to upload for everyone.

I won't go into great detail about each of these. The first three are the view from the porch roof. Basically, it's what I see when I wake up every morning.
Then I just walk you down the east side of our lot - these gardens are mostly shady until you get past the river birch clump - so a lot of hosta etc.
The lakeshore gardens and big garden on the west side get a lot of sun. The 8th, 9th, & 10th photos are taken from the dock looking back up towards the house.
The big garden on the west side used to be filled with prairie type plants - purple coneflower, black-eyed susans, etc - and I'm leaning toward doing more of that again. It has good color in May, June and most of July - but right now all I'm seeing is pale purple, white and yellow. The purple coneflower gave it some punch. Along the same thought, the west lakeshore garden used to be full of monarda which I dug out because it was very invasive, but I haven't figured out what else would fill it in as nicely. We'll see...











(once again, some or all of these should click big)

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

These pictures settle it - I'm moving in with you!

What a beautiful view to wake up to each morning.

Anonymous said...

Through Iowa Garden I found your very interesting blog. You have just a wonderful garden!! I also grew up in a garden on a lake in Switzerland and your pictures reminds me very much about my childhood. Now I am happy with my own garden in another part of my country.I'll certainly come back to your paradise.
Have a good time. Greetings from rainiy Switzerland. Barbara

Beth said...

Kris - I would love to just walk around your garden with you and tell me everything that you did to make it look like that! I'm very impressed with your design. Just curious - how much time do you spend out there daily with the upkeep/maintenance?

kris said...

Lynne - I can't wait! Bring your book lists!!

Barbara - I'm so happy you found my blog! I just took a peek at yours - your photos are lovely. I've only been to Switzerland once - but hope I get to go again - it's a beautiful country. It will be fun to see it through your eyes.
Please send some of your rain over here - we need it! :)

Beth, I wish you could come and do a garden tour with me! If you're ever in the Cities, please let me know!
Every time a garden catches my eye, I wonder if my design should be different - but with 2 big dogs, the center grassy area is what works right now.
In the spring and fall, I spend many hours in the gardens each day. This time of year I pretty much just deadhead and pull a few weeds as I do my walk-about. It's too hot to spend much time out there. Oh...unless you're talking about watering...:(

Anonymous said...

Wonderful pictures, and to think it was only a month ago, I was lucky enough to get up and just walk across the Patio and down the steps to get the same wonderful view. Where does the time go????

It's been really warm here, hover-ing in the 90's everyday. Yesterday afternoon we had to run an errand, and the Jeep said 101 for outside temp----THAT'S WARM!!!!

Have a good day, it's Thursday so you know the drill------

Love you,

Susie said...

Kris,
I know I've only been visiting a short time so I truly had no idea what an amazingly beautiful garden you have. You must feel like you live in paradise with that magnificent lake right at your doorstep! Absolutely beautiful beyond words!
Thanks for sharing, and I'm so glad I clicked over here that first time from Zoey's! Isn't blogging fun!!
xo

Laurie and Chris said...

Your yard and flowers look great.

meresy_g said...

Such an oasis you have there. Absolutely peaceful and lovely. I wish I had moist shade like that.

Diana LaMarre said...

Everything is looking nice, Kris.

Isn't is amazing how we need to fill a large space so we want something that will spread quickly. Then in a few years we decide it's "invasive" so we get rid of it. The next year we are left with nothing to fill all that space and we wonder if we shouldn't have left whatever we removed.

LOL. I do it all the time! I am killing off a lot of stuff this year. I wonder if I will be sorry next summer?

Iowa Gardening Woman said...

Lovely photos, I am sure your garden brings you peace and serenity after the horrific event in MN.

Melissa said...

Beautiful - love the dappled light in your garden too.

kris said...

Thanks Mom - it was so nice sharing the gardens with you and Dad when you were here! Hope you had a great time in Mexico! (Does everyone LOVE your jeep??)

Thanks Susie!! I'm really glad you bopped over from Zoey's too! Blogging is great fun - you meet the nicest people!

Thanks Laurie & Chris!

Thanks Meresy_g! We love it here. This year NOTHING is moist, but it's fun in a normal year!

Thanks Zoey. I do this all the time too - dig it out, fill it back in. Good news: all of my "blank" spaces have filled in this year on their own! Mostly with quack grass!! LOL

Thanks Iowa Gardening Woman. I find working in the garden is very good for my soul. And after the bridge collapsing, it helped me sort out all those feelings.

Thanks Me! With all the trees in our yard, I do get lots of dappled light throughout the day.

Karen said...

I love this post! It's so nice to see the entire layout of your gardens. You're so talented to be able to put it all together and keep it going. I have a hard time keeping up with two little flower gardens.

Beautiful!