Are you an early bird? Or a night owl?

If you're an early bird at our house, this is the view through the DR window.


The early morning sun casts tree shadows across the front of our little shed.

"I'll tell you how the sun rose a ribbon at a time." (Emily Dickinson)

But if you're a night owl, this is the view, created by the back porch light casting shadows of the hummingbird feeder, bird bath, and fuschia across the shed.

"The very shadows seem to listen."

(Anna Katharine Green)

Day or night, how I love shadows!

Please visit Cindy, My Romantic Home, for all kinds of Show and Tell Friday fun!

Donna

The little shed...

Our backyard has gone through many transformations over the past two years. In one post, I wrote about our "Roswell, New England crater," the spot where the old above ground pool sat, and which, little by little, is being transformed into a garden and patio area...


And this is our little shed, or at least a corner of it... It sits next to the old free-standing treehouse. (It seems like just yesterday that the girls would have Mr. O'Malley climb the stairs into the treehouse to play with them...)


We've had the shed for about 2-1/2 years now. It sits where the girls' old wooden swingset used to sit. I suppose this is a natural transition for yards once the children who played there have become young adults; but years ago, the deck was a great place to sit and watch them play on the swings, in the pool, or in the treehouse...


This photo was taken last year, our first summer with the shed. Before planting flowers in the windowboxes, I decided to change the color of the shutters and windowboxes, as we'd only had a small selection of colors to choose from when we purchased the shed. (As you can see from this photo taken late last spring, the treehouse hadn't yet been gussied up with an old window and windowbox... That was done later that summer.)


Since I had picked a vibrant (some might say 'gaudy') green for the windowboxes, I thought it might be a bit much for the shutters as well. Although I'd never seen white shutters on a white house (or shed) before, I thought I'd give it a try.


When all was done, I actually liked the 'white-on-white' look of the shed and shutters, with the only color being provided by the flowerboxes. Just a few weeks ago we put lattice around the foundation and planted hostas on either side of the double-wide doors. (Since they grow so quickly, I'll probably end up separating them from time to time, which is a plus since I have several other areas I want to put hostas into.)


Remember this photo from my "Old windows and flower boxes - a match made in Heaven" post back in May? I was so anxious for my impatiens to grow...


Here they are now. The impatiens really flourish in these northern exposure windowboxes, and the vinca vines now reach the ground. By this time of the summer, my impatiens always look better than any of my other flowers. They don't care if I fertilize and they don't need to be dead-headed... They're actually the perfect flower for a lazy gardener like me!

As you can see, Mary has once again been moved. She is now in her (I think) permanent home under the cherry tree, watching over the garden... Now I need to get out and enjoy this beautiful afternoon as we're finally rain-free for a change!! (And believe me, I wish I could send some of our rain to you gals who need/want it so badly!)

Donna

Summer Garden Tour

If you haven’t already done so, hop on over to A Cottage Industry to see the list of blogs offering “garden tours” on this lovely June day! I’m not sure I’m even on the list since I just sent in my info yesterday… but just in case, I strolled around the yard today and took some new photos of our “work in progress” garden!


Here’s the view from out front… Remember the whiskey barrels that were so popular in the 1980’s? My mom was with me when I bought this – such a long time ago. Being the non-gardener that I am, I just planted a few vinca vines and plunked down a hanging basket of petunias on top…


These little guys will greet you by the front door. I got them at Target in with the Christmas decorations last year (I love that place, but I still haven't quite figured out the connection between these guys and Christmas!). In any case, they enjoy sitting on the front stoop under the shade of the old bench and flowers.


Mr. & Mrs. Wren are busy raising their babies because they chatter at me constantly now that the eggs have hatched. They live right beside the garden gate that I wrote about in yesterday’s blog post; therefore, we try to come and go through the house as much as possible so as not to disturb them.


I’ve been trying my beautiful vintage Mary out in a few different spots in the yard. Right now she’s under the baker’s rack (the free one from curbside)… I planted a foxglove on either side of her and a Mandevilla vine behind her, to grow up the baker’s rack. I’m not quite sure about this yet. It could change before end of summer…


"Patience" has been moving around a bit as well.. Right now I have her sitting on an old bench that hubby built around the same time as the gate (it desperately needs to be powerwashed and cleaned up, but we've been so busy with our 'Roswell Crater' work the past year or two!). I used her old hat in another flower grouping so I bought her a new one of coral impatiens. From the serene expression on her face, I think she's digging it!


Here is the outer edge of Roswell Crater, finally starting to look something like a garden (not bad when you consider that it looked like this a few months ago!). I've been planting some butterfly bushes, crocosmia, monarda/bee balm, penstemon, phlox, red hot poker, etc. – anything that will attract hummers and butterflies into the garden!! And this week we finally put up the birdhouse I bought back around March. I've always loved the look of a birdhouse on a post in the center of a garden.


And here, Foxy Loxy stands guard over the Chip(s)’ favorite birdbath. A little green table with bright impatiens gives some color to this corner of the patio.


Why don’t we sit, have some iced tea, and watch for the hummingbird at the feeder hanging from the cherry tree behind us.


Earlier this evening I took my camera over to the feeder and waited for Mr. or Mrs. Hummingbird. I didn’t have to wait long before Mrs. Hummingbird came zooming in for a drink…


… She was being shy tonight though, and insisted on hiding behind the hanger while she sipped her sugar water…


I’m so glad you could stop by for my little garden tour… Let’s go out through the garden gate (we'll hurry so we don't disturb the Wren family). This is the gate from inside the backyard. You saw it from the outside on last night’s post… Years and years ago I planted ivy to grow up the fireplace. I’ve always loved the look of ivy on brick…


It’s amazing how many more clematis have bloomed since yesterday’s photo! And look – even the clematis seems to be growing in a ‘heart’ shape to match the heart cutout on the gate!

I had the nicest time.. I hope you enjoyed your visit to my garden. If you're new to my blog and would like to see more of our "garden in progress" (or the furry and feathered friends that visit us!), just scroll down... It's intermingled with lots of "inside the house" goings on! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Update: If you are looking for the "butterflies and blooms" that Tracey mentioned on her blog, they're on my June 14th post.

Donna

Today's song: Home is Where the Heart Is - Elvis Presley