thevioletfern

Wonderful gardens Michelle! I love that you shared with us. I love Dutchman's Pipe. Mine has finally taken hold this year and will be the subject of a new painting. I love vines and I am very happy with our native honeysuckle, clematis and trumpet vines as well as Prairie Rose. I suggest you browse the selection at Brushwood Nursery (where I've purchased most of my vines). They have fantastic vines including many clematis! I am on hold for a hardy Kiwi vine and an American Ground Nut vine that really intrigues me. I love the art in your garden from found objects to the beautiful portrait of your daughter. I have always been wooed by the Gunnera! I hope it grows well for you in that fantastic container. Ditch the shutters - I am sure you can think up at least one or two creative window dressings instead!

What a beautiful garden Jane! I love your plant combinations and the naturalistic style. An inspiration!

What an incredibly beautiful garden. That Clematis alpina is now on my wish list. LOVE the birdhouse. So many lovely layers. I don't want to leave.

What an incredibly beautiful garden. That Clematis alpina is now on my wish list. LOVE the birdhouse. So many lovely layers. I don't want to leave.

And here I was excited to finally plant a clematis to crawl about my Dogwood ... beautiful! When will you be offering tours of your garden? Sign me up!

What a beautiful spring garden (and all year)! I love your stone wall and accents and the drifts of forget-me-nots. Beautiful combinations. The old cherry tree is art and love the wild lawn. I feel lucky that I just scored an Epimedium at the Syracuse Farmers Market.

Words I LOVE to hear - I don't use pesticides! I don't either Beth and I expect our house wren to return any day. I have been enjoying your garden. I especially love your porch and bird garden. We recently added an enclosed porch in back although it still needs a bit of finishing. My favorite pastime is to sit in our new porch and watch the birds. Each evening I play hide and seek with the bluejays by hiding peanuts throughout the garden - they never miss a trick! I love the mushroom vantage. I hope to add a small frog pool this year - do you have water close by? Beautiful owl! I have big, fat rabbits Mr. Owl - send your friends!

You are an inspiration! What a beautiful, intricate garden. I would love to visit.

My goal is to get rid of ALL my lawn. I think I'm about 2 years away now. I LOVE what you've done!

How wonderful to see the native Shooting Star blooming in your garden! I tried one of these, bareroot, but I think I planted it in the wrong spot. I must try again! I have large waves of forget-me-nots throughout my garden. Can't wait for things to warm up here. Just love fresh spring. Your garden is beautiful. It must bring you (like us) so much joy.

Beautiful! I love your stone edging/low stacked wall and the pops of hot pink throughout your garden. Wonderful arrangements of shrubs and perennials. I'm going for more shrubs. What a great get away this morning!

Oh, how I needed this! Thank you so, so much. I love that Blue Zebra Primrose. And since it's hardy to Z4 it is now on my wish list! I am always one for natives and find the Garrya with the tassel-like flowers fascinating. What a fantastic spring garden you have.

Yes, please more photos. I love the way you have edged your stone path in the white garden. I am in the process of planning a new frog pond/pool to add to my garden and the way you have used your rocks will be inspiration. I also love the way you limbed up that yew. Beautiful!

I said to myself, oh, to have such a beautiful tree-lined property such as yours ... I am in love with the primula! They are beautiful. Very impressed that you started those from seed. I'm going to plant another tree.

The furthest East I have been is Quoddy Head, ME. It is beautiful country, much like your paradise. What a beautiful backdrop for your incredible garden.

Love your garden - I can't imagine rolling all that stone through your house! Worth it. I aspire to remove ALL of my lawn - you are THE inspiration. I have been mulling over the Pagoda Golden Shadows but now I am SOLD. I have another Pagoda, young, but doing well. I love Dogwoods and so do the birds. All look so perfectly at home in your garden.

What a fabulous sanctuary! I cannot wait for the day when I remove the very last patch of lawn in my garden. What beautiful tangles of eye treats and intriguing plants. And oh, what an adorable angel!

P.S. I do not know why my comments always appear twice. It prompts me to login but must also publish a comment without my login? I apologize for the redundancy - although repetition is good for the garden.

I have to envy that beautiful Lambs Ear edge, and of course, all those blooms.

What a beautiful home and property! Very inspiring. I love the pergolas, especially connecting the structures - who wouldn't want to walk through that? Love those Kim ferns as well.

I love the pale blue sculptures in the first photo the best. I watched a documentary on Chihuly and his display at KEW gardens - fantastic! Love the organic living shapes he creates and how they meld into the garden. What a treat for you - thanks for sharing it with us!

I rely on some key trees that belong to my neighbors. I try to imagine what my garden would be like if they were gone. I have planted some young trees on my property just in case. I love trees and would be so saddened to lose even one. But it is the nature of gardening to adapt and evolve to change. Now you have so many sunny possibilities! I just planted a Quickfire last fall – so happy to hear how you enjoy yours. You have a beautiful garden and I'm sure it will continue to be so.

What an enchanting garden. I love your glass spires. The light is truly magical. I can feel the mojo. I have been looking at some of these very same plants this morning (dreaming through catalogs) especially Solomon's Plume - love that you have captured the berries. I'm sold. Celandine poppies popped up in my garden. More are welcome!

Just love your fence Ann! It frames your garden perfectly.

Thank you! I am happy to answer your questions. No, the wine bottle border sits through the winter and casts beautiful colorful shadows over the snow when the sun is just right. In the summer the rain collects in the dimpled tops of some of them and I often catch bees and others pollinators taking a sip. I built the rustic arbor and obelisk structures without a plan, although I did look through pictures of arbors for ideas. I often collect branches (before they are mulched) from our local dump after a neighborhood clean up. The branches dictate where they fit best and want to be. I use a drill and screws to hold them together. I drape biodegradable twine over them for peas and other vines to take better hold. I so hope you enjoy.

I love how you've weaved those branches to form an edging ... inspiring and I may have to try your idea on a new bed I'm creating although I am far, far from Panama. Beautiful, lush garden! Meditative – love your yin yang rock garden. Can almost hear that trickling water. Beautiful dog, too. Thank you for sharing.

Beautiful! Why aren't you recovering out there instead of inside? You have a good friend! I recognize that Datura and Perilla and I never thought to combine the two but now I will - thanks for the inspiration! Hope you recover soon.

I would like to point out that many of our native trees provide valuable wildlife habitat. What we might think of as pests or a mess plays an important role in the balance of our ecosystem. As more and more habitat is destroyed, I believe gardeners and landscape designers can offer a happy medium by educating themselves and making more responsible choices. A good online article to read (and online resource) if you are interested in learning more: http://www.ecosystemgardening.com/top-10-best-woody-plants-in-conservation-gardening.html. A book that changed the way I garden: Douglas Tallamy's Bringing Nature Home. Here in my area of the country (Northern NY) the NY Botanical Garden offers a planting guide entitled Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants. I planted a White Pine and a River Birch which supports 411 species including the beautiful Luna Moth, and is at very low risk of being infected by the birch borer. I hope this was not a mistake but I do have many birds and much wildlife to enjoy which adds to my garden and landscape.

Fantastic! What inspiration. I always envy the milder climate. Applaud edibles in the landscape! Vegetables are beautiful and so is that chicken.

I love to make rustic structures for my garden and have made quite a few. Love your tuteur! It is a beautiful focal point in your beautiful garden. I hope to have our native Clematis Virginia climbing up my "leaf trellis" this summer. Can't wait! Wonder what clematis you will be growing ... hope to see a picture. Bloodroot is on my wish list of plants. I, too, admire your home - fantastic.

I see a lot of my favorites in your beautiful garden! I can't get over how lush and lavish your garden is in just under five years! Have visited your blog previous to this and enjoy it. Look forward to more visits.

Beautiful! I love your paths that look like rivers winding through the woods. I try to plant native also. Ottawa is a beautiful city (the Tulip Festival is a trip on my list), but your garden in the woods wins hands down.

This book is on my wish list. I would love a copy! I have slowly been transforming our lawn into different garden areas and am always searching for inspiration. I had planned to leave a little bit of lawn area, but who knows, after reading this book I might be inspired to be rid of it ALL!

Thank you, how fun and encouraging to read your comments. It just makes me want to garden more, more, more! The driftwood "sculpture" is intended to mimic a Blue Heron as there are many along the St. Lawrence River here. So glad you got it! 1000islandKathy - would love to share gardens! Let me know when you are settled back at the river and we'll figure out how to get together.

Happy Birthday Michelle! Hope it's great as chocolate cake.

Tim, wonderful garden transformation. Bloodroot has been on my (really long ever growing) wish list. It is just beautiful, and native!

Black oil sunflower seed and suet. Depending on where you live you may want to invest in a caged suet feeder to deter larger birds as well as squirrels - mainly aggressive Starlings. A shepards hook with baffle works great for me in keeping the squirrels out of my sunflower feeders. I like feeders with a screen mesh rather than plastic tube. They air the seed and prevent it from becoming water-logged if you live in an area with humidity, rain, snow. Project Feeder Watch offers great bird feeding advice on their website: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw.

Recently, in my area of the country, a COMMUNITY chili cook off was invaded by state health officials who would not allow any HOMEGROWN ingredients to be used in the contest/cook off. That means your backyard (mine, organically) grown cilantro, basil, spinach ... are now all considered a "threat to public safety." Better not think about using any of your home baked goods for the church bake sale or school cookie sale, either. Maybe your fresh cut garden flowers will be the next big threat. What is the REAL threat to our public safety (and well being)? The government IS in our backyards here and they're burying my rights to grow and choose. Guess what? No more chili cook offs. They've canceled. So have similar events such as community dinners. We'll be eating our garden veggies under the table with the lights off and the doors locked in no time.