Today’s garden photos come from Cheryl Moon.
You featured my “resurrected” gardens in October 2017, the first season after rebuilding from a fire. Those photos didn’t show any winter scenery, nor did they include any photos of the gardens that were not affected by the fire, so I thought I could send some along now that do both.
This picture was taken a year ago with our first of several snowfalls. This is the south side of our home, which is on a southerly sloping hill that is mostly limestone outcropping. My husband, Jim, has built walls from stone from the property to retain enough dirt for us to have gardens.
This was taken the same day, from about the same place but about 120 degrees to the left. This hillside was covered with scrub, vines, and weeds 10 years ago, when my husband’s mother died. But friends of ours gave us two plants, an everblooming hydrangea and a gold mop cypress, in honor of her passing, and we had no place to plant them. So we cleared the brush and started a Japanese garden. The structure on the right side of the picture is an old root cellar that we dressed up with bamboo trim for the door.
Here is a metal sculpture by a friend of ours, with a branch of Sambucus nigra Black Lace (Black Lace elderberry, Zones 6–8) in the foreground. We think Big Bird looks quite dapper with his new cap!
Another picture showing how beautiful the leaves of sambucus are when they have captured some snow.
We started a gravel garden last year using a root ball that had washed up on our creek bank. Here is a very early spring picture of a sedum and Mexican hair grass (Nassella tenuissima, Zones 7–11) clustered around that log.
We have a red buckeye (Aesculus pavia, Zones 5–9) on the hillside between the house and the Japanese garden. Early last spring, we got this photo of the fat buds on the buckeye looking just like the goldfinches feeding from the seed feeder.
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.
If you want to send photos in separate emails to the GPOD email box that is just fine.
Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening!
You don’t have to be a professional garden photographer – check out our garden photography tips!
Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here.
Comments
Cheryl, I especially love the image of the Mexican Hair Grass with the Sedum. Do you know what variety that was? ….and is that ruby color present earlier in the season? I know some of the many varieties of Sedum and some Sempervivums have great winter color that remains as new Spring growth arrives, only to become more humdrum in Summer.
Hi, Eric, I am not sure, which variety because our local grower displays them all together with a generic tag. I believe it is Dragon's Blood, and, yes, it does have a red color all year, becoming deeper in the winter.
Good morning, Cheryl. It is not only fun to see today's pictures but to revisit your previous sharing in 2017. I'm sure it has been gratifying to see your garden areas return to robustness and plants increase in size and numbers. The last photo is fascinating because it's almost hard to tell the difference between the finches and the fat Buckeye flower buds. Love your bird sculpture and, yes, he does look dapper sporting his white cap.
I harvested 5 Buckeye nuts yesterday when I was cleaning up under the tree - they are so glossy and beautiful.
Oh, yes, I definitely know what you mean about how pretty the Buckeye nut is. I used to bring some with me when I competed in horse shows and I would tell my stablemates that they represented good luck...so I encouraged them to tuck one in a jacket pocket.
Love all your pics!
Thank you!
Good to know that goldfinches grow on buckeye trees! : )
Love the driftwood/grass still life.
Yes, it hadn't occurred to me that was where goldfinches came from!
I spent a long time looking, looking, looking at each and every picture. Loved them all. What a beautiful garden. Thanks for sharing it and making the snow look inviting.
Thank you so much for your kind words.
Log in or create an account to post a comment.
Sign up Log in