Spring is just whizzing by here at The North End Loft. The weather has been wonderful, and I've been enjoying a lot of outdoor time the past few weeks. I'm touring our spring garden today in honor of the June Garden Party over at Elizabeth & Co.
Won't you please join me?
Can you spot the elephant in the room? (Garden room, that is.) I almost cut the port-a-potty behind our fence out of this photo, but I thought you might get a kick out of it. Our contractor had it tucked into our trash can space off the alley for the duration of our master suite remodel. It adds that special je ne sait quoi to the garden, don't you think?
My sun collection hangs on the fence in this peaceful corner of our yard.
Chubby Buddha was a gift from my sweet nephew and his wife.
I love getting garden art for Mother's Day because I can enjoy it outside right away after the long winter. This gazing ball supported by three frogs was a gift one year from my husband.
Another unexpected visitor to the yard this spring is the clawfoot tub from our remodel. Hopefully, it will be finding a new owner via craigslist soon. If not, I just may plant flowers in it! The irises really put on a pretty show this year, and the day lilies are getting set to explode with yellow blossoms soon.
My husband's garden gnome keeps the jasmine company. I have two big pots of jasmine on the deck, and the scent perfumes the whole yard and family room when the windows are open.
When we lost our old pale pink rose that grew up the side of our shed to disease last year, we decided to replace it with a more vividly colored one called Joseph's Coat. I can't wait for it to fill the trellis again in a couple of years.
Last year I planted a little four-inch sage plant in the garden, and this spring I transplanted it to a thirteen-inch pot on the deck. It gave us a gorgeous two-foot tall mounded showing of purple blossoms for weeks and is just now starting to fade.
The lavender I planted last year is doing great so far.
Around the side of our yard is our brand new cutting garden. We're still growing tomatoes here among the flowers, but we'll be buying the rest of our fresh produce at our wonderful downtown Capital City Farmer's Market. Hopefully, we'll be enjoying fresh cut flowers all summer.
There are two bird nests nearby, and the birds sit on our trellis and serenade us. To thank them I tucked a thrift store pie plate full of water between the flowers for their bathing pleasure.
Our side yard was spectacular this spring with the clematis and honeysuckle climbing up the trellis and blooming together as the hostas unfolded their huge leaves.
Another Mother's Day gift from my husband this year was two beautiful fuchsias.
The honeysuckle is reaching for an old chippy window frame hanging on the trellis.
Dollar store sunbursts decorate the fence. The more weathered and gray our fence boards become over the years, the more we like them.
A bunny peeks out from the raspberries in a whiskey barrel.
I'm not sharing our front garden yet because the front porch is piled high with lumber for the remodel and not quite as tour-worthy as port-a-potties and clawfoot tubs. I just had to share our new front porch trellis rose, though. We had a pale pink rose here also, but it grew and grew and grew with no end in sight! When I read that we could expect it to be twenty-five feet tall eventually, we gave up trying to keep it tidy on our little trellis and replaced it with this Iceberg Rose variety that should only grow about ten feet tall. In a few years we'll have a beautiful rose covered porch again.
As our tour comes to an end, old Tucker gets a shout-out for being so patient and such good company while I've been taking photos in the garden today.
Gardening, like keeping house, is never ending. Especially in a little urban garden where every square foot is precious, we're always changing things around to make it just right.
It's our labor of love.
I'm so glad you joined me for a tour of our little garden, and I hope you find some time to putter in your own special place today.
Let's party!
