My name is DeBorrah Tibbs. I live in the hot Georgia Peach state in Smyrna. Gardening is my passion and is ever changing. I have gardened most of my life, growing up in a little town called Andover, Ohio, while living on a farm growing sustenance. As I got out on my own, flowers and shrubs became my main focus and passion. What I’d like to share is my before and after garden transformation. I took a bland backyard to what I now call my garden sanctuary. This has been a six-and-a-half-year journey that I think inspired me to started my own YouTube channel, Inspiring Garden Korner, in December 2022.
The finished garden sanctuary
Here’s the space as it looked before, just as work was started making the new garden. Not much to get excited about yet!
It took a lot of work getting everything leveled and ready for building and planting.
Sometimes things have to get ugly before they get pretty, but plants in containers and a few in the ground are already making it feel like a garden even as the construction process continues.
The project is all finished and planted up. Plantings include ‘Double Knockout’ roses (Rosa ‘Double Knockout’, Zones 5–9), woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata, Zones 3–8), ‘Little Limelight’ hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata ‘Little Limelight’, Zones 3–8), and jasmine (Jasminum officinale, Zones 7–10) in a flower box, which didn’t survive a freeze blast we had.
These dianthus (Dianthus hybrids, Zones 5–9) are blooming their heads off.
We stained our fence in slate to make everything pop, and I believe that is accomplished.
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening!
Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here.
Comments
Wow, what a beautiful sanctuary! So much hard work paid off in a lovely result. Congratulations, and enjoy!
Thank you so much this is so my passion and love giving back to Mother Nature
Wow what a super transformation of that space!
Once a nothing place and now your sanctuary!
I will subscribe to your Youtube!
Thank you so much for your support and taking this journey with me. Tell me what you think of the Garden Oasis’s I created for my neighbor plus it is a dedication to their daughter that passed
What a marvelous job you've done creating this lovely garden. It must be extremely satisfying every time you're out there. Kudos!!
It is, with our long summers and fall we so enjoy it.
DeBorrah, your love of gardening shines through. Thank you for sharing! I agree - the slate colored fence makes the plant colors pop. I wonder if you will try the jasmine again (as an annual?) so you can have the scent?
Thank you, I have a star jasmine in a pot by my patio that is doing well. I will bring inside when and if we get another one of those bad freezes.
Nice work! Amazing how much staining the fence a dark color transformed and framed the garden. Beautiful.
I was a little hesitant to try it and husband looked at me sideways asking if I was sure. Now he is a believer lol
DeBorrah, your hard work has paid off and now you have a wonderful area to enjoy. I live in Seattle, Washington, zone 8b and have success growing Confederate jasmine in the ground. You could attach green wire fencing to your newly stained fence to provide a grid for jasmine to climb on. Because it is dark green the fencing disappears against a wood fence.
Thanks Angela, I don’t allow one failure to keep me from trying again.
You should be proud, inspired and eager to show off your gorgeous sanctuary. It looks so inviting and your imagination of your space is spot on. Enjoy your wonderful space.
Thank you, it is truly my happy space!!!
Thank you all for your kind words. When you do what you love I so enjoy sharing with the goal to inspire others.
Log in or create an account to post a comment.
Sign up Log in