Gardens

It's getting warm enough to finally get in my little garden.  I love my tiny spot along side of the garage.  My husband doesn't really see the point since it's in a spot that no one can really see but I think it's perfect.  I can sit in a lawn chair and sketch each petal, leaf, bug.....without getting weird looks from anyone passing by!

I also love my little garden because of the plants I have put in it.  I have decided to create a little heirloom and memory garden.  In fact, I have tried to use plants and rocks that have a little meaning behind them in other places around our yard.

In my little garden, I have lupine growing.  I got the seeds in Bayfield, WI a few years ago when I went to Madeline Island for a girls' weekend.  The Island was awash in beautiful lavender and pink lupine on our trip.  I heeded the instructions to NOT TAKE ANY PLANTS from the side of the road.  Instead, a little shop in Bayfield was selling seeds.  I planted them as soon as I got home and had beautiful lupine blooming the following spring.

The wooden arrow was carved with a chainsaw by oldest when he was 14 years old.  The hand print stone actually has two hand prints - one of each of my boys when they were 6 and 4 years old.  Ah, the memories!

This little spot has two plants - an iris and a holly hock.

I have other hollyhocks in this little garden too.  They remind me of my in-laws as they had beautiful holly hocks growing in their front garden.  I never got around to getting seeds from their plants so my dad got some seeds for me.  He got them from an elderly gentlemen in my hometown who shares a huge garden with my parents.  Every time I went out to the garden with my dad, I would comment on how much I loved the hollyhocks by the old barn.  My dad gathered seeds for me from these amazing plants and they now grace my garden.  Here is what they look like in full summer glory.

The other plant in this little grouping is an iris.  It is magnificent in full bloom.  It came from my Aunt Lonnie's garden.  I nurtured it for about 5 years before it bloomed and when it did, I took a million pictures of it and sketched it every day for about a week!  The pictures below don't do it justice.  It's huge!  About 8 inches across and a very interesting color - burgundy/brown.  Very unique.  I have a friend who specializes in plants and he's helping me figure out what kind of iris it is.

I also have lillies from my friend Shiela's garden.  She lived across the street from me for a number of years.  We became very close and I cried when she said they were moving.  As they got ready to move into their new home, she brought over lillies from her garden that originally came from her mom's garden. They are vibrant orange and remind me of her vivacious spirit.

The hearts and the "J" are from more chain saw carvings from my oldest son.  The old coffee pot is where I plant moss roses.  They were a close family relative's favorite and remind me of visiting her in North Dakota in the summer.

I also have sedum in front of my house from my parents' garden.

It came from their rock garden and it will bloom in the next few weeks with bright yellow flowers.  The rocks were hand picked by my husband, my oldest son when he was 2 years old and me.  We have added to this rock pile from the North Shore, Madeline Island, the prairie around Ortonville, MN.......

Lastly, we have a shed in our backyard that needed a retaining wall.  My wonderfully creative husband made a wall with rocks brought home from our 40 acres in northern Minnesota.  When I look at it, I think of bonfires, back braking shoveling, dirt biking, sketching wild flowers, shooting stars, my oldest cheating at card games, rain on the metal roof, coyotes howling, jazz music (since radio reception is so awful where our property is, everyone is at the mercy of my CD music choices), a tree house, learning to drive a bobcat...........

So this Sunday will be a day of preparation.  I will remove all debris from my little garden in preparation of the summer joy it will bring!

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."  -Marcus Tullius Cicero