Backyard Bliss

This is the entry to my backyard bliss! The walkway is flanked by two urns of the deepest, almost black, 'Surprise Midnight Cowboy' petunias. To contrast the deep purple, bright pink 'Lanai Bright Eye' verbena and 'Callie Pink with Yellow Eye' calibrachoa are potted with them. I saw this stunning combination at our local nursery and it simply took my breath away! Obviously, I had to have some!

When visitors come up the drive, I think they have to be drawn to that striking set of contrasting flowers. What is funny though, Sophia, my granddaughter, stopped by right after I had planted these. Thinking they were such a draw, I was excited to see how she responded to them. She jumped out of the car and ran toward the pots. Excitedly, she said, "Beautiful flowers!"

Imagine my jubilation! Then she ran right past them to the sea of lavender irises blooming at the time! Her favorite color is lavender! I had to laugh.

It took a lot of work to create our humble little paradise! When we first had the house built, there was no retaining wall. The yard sloped down to the walk-out basement doors. I had a dream. While Dave was away at work, Jon-Michael, Will, and I started shoveling and carting dirt away to the back of our property. I don't know how many trips we made, but when Dave returned from his week away, we had his attention.

I can tell you now that there is no comparison between a petite woman with two children digging and a strong man digging. The kids and I put blood, sweat, and tears into digging and removing that dirt and did put a sizeable dent in it. Then Dave started digging. It is incredible how much faster his efforts showed progress.

Years of working in construction for the railroad gave him the knowledge to create a good foundation for the patio and the walls. I remember him tamping down the rock and realizing that I would not have been able to physically do that.

He complained that I always do everything caveman style! Guess we could have rented a backhoe and torn up the yard but sometimes projects just have to be started with what you have. I had shovels and a wheelbarrow!

It's impossible to remember how long it took us to finish this project, but it was well worth it. I love the way the wall looks. Dave argued with me about the wall curving inward. Yet he did what he said couldn't be done.

The Annabelle hydrangeas were nothing more than little sprigs when I planted them. They were from Bluestone Perennials. They grew so much and bloomed that first year! Now they are just huge and gorgeous!

There is a butterfly bush on that side of the house, too. As you can see in the picture, the butterflies have noticed. This bush came up from seed. Originally, I had three Black Knight butterfly bushes but one really harsh winter killed them. Before I replace them, these started popping up in the flower beds. I keep one each year and pull the others.

The short retaining wall is topped by the pots I painted and stenciled in an earlier post. You can't even see them in the picture above because the flowers have grown so much! The hostas and the purple speedwell run along the back edge of the wall. The taxus yew is in the middle of a semi-circle of peach colored daylilies. They are just starting to bloom now.

It has taken a lot of time and hard work to create this backyard bliss and it was so worth it.

#garden #flowergarden