TWO OR MORE TUESDAY: A TALE OF TWO GARDENS

A big "Good morning!" from Milo & Me!! It is Two or More Tuesday and you can visit Tam, our sweet hostess for today's event to see her contribution and a list of all the other ladies with two or more of anything!!!! As you can see, Milo is posing on two or more legs to greet you this gloomy, drizzly morning in Chicago!! What a ham. And he has no shame!! He is drawing your attention to my day lily's that will be blooming in about two (or more, LOL) weeks. And my post today is about what is going on in my gardens here in the city and up at the lake. And there isn't much happening because you know that our "Spring" here in the Midwest goes right into June. So this is the start of all my early blooming perennials.

Our cottage in Michigan is two hours away, on the other side of Lake Michigan. The climate is pretty much the same. The big difference is that my home in the city is completely shrouded by oak, maple and walnut trees. I get slivers of sun here and there. I can only grow limited varieties of flowers and plants as a result; hostas, lily's, columbine, astilbe, weeds... And then oh, to my delight, we moved to the lake 18 years ago and I was blessed with the sun!!! Gardening took on a whole new realm. Two summers ago we enlarged our covered patio, changed a big slope down to the water into two flat levels and built my beloved Summerhouse, i.e., detached screened in porch of sorts. I started an English garden in an octagonal shaped area between the Summerhouse, shed and patio. At least my version of an English garden. Clean bones and structure, boxwood's enclosing a variety of perennials, herbs and ground covers, a path, an arbor and a lot of funky little vintage pieces here and there for fun. So I am going to take you on a limited trip through "Blondie's English Garden."

Everything is a little weedy and unkempt right now as the rain has really got me behind on things. To the right is the shed and in the background is the rear view of the Summerhouse. I bought the arbor from Plow & Hearth last summer and I have clematis growing up both sides. You might have to squint. You can see my baby boxwood's and my flagstone path, which I promise I am going to tidy up next weekend. I learned a tip about pathways: If you plant Thyme between the steps, when you walk, the herb crushes and sends up a lovely scent. That is on my To Do List. Between the shed and Summerhouse, you might be able to make out my miniature Weeping Willow. I didn't think this guy was going to make it over the winter, but he did and I love him for it. Ignore Resident Carpenter's saw horse~he is going to clean up once he returns from vacation. He has about 3 more weeks of inside work but he no longer lives with us (YES!!!!). Along the side of the Summerhouse I planted 8 tomato and 8 basil plants last Sunday. You can never have too much of either. Next to the shed is a vintage trellis I found that I am growing Trumpet Vine on. Yes, you will have to squint again.

In front of the foxglove is a funky little trellis thingie I found last summer. I need to find some sort of vine to plant inside. Any suggestions??

Isn't Mrs. Foxglove glorious? This is nature at it's most creative. I planted three so I am wondering if they will come up a bit later or if I killed them as I am prone to do with most plants.

Mother Nature was doing some splatter painting!!

Every once in awhile The Husband does something that makes me scratch my head and think "What else do I not know about this man?". We had some "stray" iris growing around the house and I had good intentions of digging them up (at least 15 years worth of good intentions) and planting them in a nice spot and then one day about 3 years ago, The Husband said he wanted to show me something. Now these have bloomed for the most part, but he planted them down along a little slope that divides our property from our neighbor's. It's actually called "naturalizing" in garden lingo because it looks as if they just grew like this on their own. He didn't know this of course, but I was so impressed, not only that he did such a marvelous job, but because I saw a glimpse of a nurturing side of him that I had never seen before. I mean, other than with his children and his law books... But I love his little iris patch and I love him thismuchmore for it!! :-)

Pretty??

Uh oh, I don't think we are in England anymore!

My little garden angel would not approve of this at all!

Okay, a sign that has seen better days....

There she is. Our new boat. We bought her last summer. With all of the clean up work inside the cottage from the renovations, we have yet to take a boat ride. And our dock is sinking!! We have needed to replace the dock for the last couple of years and we are now getting quotes. The huge amount of snow and rain did not help matters. I won't walk on it. But I do love the new boat. It was with mixed feelings when we sold our other boat for this one. It was a beautiful and young. To me, boats age the opposite of how we figure "dog years". If a boat is 7 years old, it is really only 1. If you take care of your boat you will have it forever. And although there will be updates and new luxuries inside new boats; refrigerators, toilets, wine cellars... they are forever young. Our fabulous 23 foot, Four Winns that we bought when we first moved to the lake was a temperamental young lady. She wouldn't start, she broke down, she smoked, she died. But she looked gorgeous the whole time. There is a saying about boats, a definition, if you will: Boat: A hole in the surface of the water in to which money is thrown. So true. We unloaded the little lady and we have this, which is a deck boat. I forget the name of it. I only took a few rides in it last summer because I was recovering from surgery. We also sold our pontoon. It was wonderful for big groups of friends and I liked that it was covered and I could get out of the sun~but it is HARD taking care of two big boats. We also have a fishing boat, a paddle boat and two wave runners. We don't like the water much...

Where could we be?? The Bahamas? The Keys?? No, we are on the patio steps going in to the house. This funky little sign usually sits by my big palm trees that are currently enjoying the warm winter in my home in Chicago. Back they will go to the lake to spend a balmy summer outdoors on the patio, giving us that fake tropical feel. It works though!!

A little glimpse. Ongoing work.... Resident Carpenter has an infatuation with rocks and stones, fossils and arrowheads. They are in abundance up here. He scoured local fields for these stones and performed the laborious job of making these steps as a surprise for us. Wow!! The stones are smaller versions of the large stones in the wall to the left. On the opposite side, inside the house is the field stone fireplace. These stones were also found in local farmer's fields. Some have plow marks on them.

So, I am back at home this morning. I took a few pictures of my yard here in the drizzle. This is my overgrown herb garden. The basil has taken over so I am going to pull some out and re~pot some for the kitchen and then add some of the annual herbs that don't come back every year. IF the rain stops! I also have chives, parsley and cilantro.

And in the corner of my yard is what I call my Woodland garden. Shaded by two big walnut trees, I have a Red Twig Dogwood, the first thing I EVER planted in my life, just a little sprig of a thing 23 years ago. Hidden in there I have peonies, columbine and the remains of a few precious pet birds. They have a nice little resting place there, don't they? And I will pop in some impatiens and red geraniums for color. When it STOPS RAINING!!! ;-)

Bushes and ivy running rampant. I love ivy. The Husband hates it because he says it attracts spiders. Oh, pooh. This ivy covers the whole back and sides of our house and is working it's way to the front. Maybe he won't notice~he has been known to tear it down. But it is stubborn. Emily once took the screen off her bedroom window and left the storm window open a crack. The ivy started growing in to the room and she loved it so much that by mid~summer, one whole wall was covered!! It was fabulous!!! The Husband would have frowned on this...I loved it. But that's just me.

I wish everyone a wonderful week from my neck of the woods!

xoxo

Jane