Finding the Pretty

I love pretty flower gardens, but I don't have the landscaper's aesthetic eye to make a dream garden....or even close.   My flower's exist because I got tired of planting annuals and started buying some perennials here and there - never with much of a plan in mind.  Just whatever I ran across at garden centers that caught my fancy at the time.  It has been hit or miss - mostly misses, but every year they just keep coming back - just luck, not skill.

I trimmed my Knock-out roses way back this year, and I keep trimming them as new growth pops up to try to keep them under control.  These will grow ten feet high if I let them - last year they did and totally took over my flower bed near the end of the driveway.  I gave a little Spring tour, but now that the lush green of late Spring has arrived, I thought I would post more.  I love it when my blogger friends post pictures of their gardens.  The first six photos are what I call my Rock Garden - simply because there's a huge rock in the middle and we put creek rocks as a border.  This sits near the road at the end of our driveway.  It's got all sorts of flowers that bloom from Spring to early Fall.  It has tulips, Knock-out roses, blue salvia, day lillies, asiatic lillies, amaryllis, and canna lillies.

 As you come up into my driveway, you'll see the next few things.

This old cart has a few little annuals and a clump of mums that never die - no matter how hard you may try to kill them.

Looking up toward the house and front yard from driveway.  The center is a Burning Bush which turns a spectacular red in the Fall.  There's a very tall Holly to the left of it and a dogwood to the right.

This is the Neglected Garden.  It's pretty when I do a little hard labor on it in the Spring - which I haven't done yet.  That's where my big Snowball bush is - which has quit blooming for now.

Walking round the bend of the driveway before you make the turn toward our house, you'll see honeysuckles growing up on an old walnut tree.  The grandkids love to drink the nectar from the honeysuckles.  Such a sweet tiny drop of flavor from each bloom. That's our old Chicken house / storage building in the background along with hubby's little pond boat draped in blue.

A little vintage iron table I painted with lots of flower pots of odds and ends.  It's in the little flower garden at the front of our house.

Another rose bush at the front of the house with an old rusty well pump in the background.

A peek at the backyard.

I separated these Amaryllis this past winter and they came up prettier than ever.

A large pot with my Wave Petunias just beginning to grow

A peek on the other side of the house where Wild Things grow.

A little wild area of Ivy, Hostas and Indian Hawthorne circling a dogwood tree.

Another peek in the backyard that needs some attention.

It's a big yard and takes a good bit of maintenance, but each year I love to see it spring to life with lush green growing everywhere.  But no matter how much of a hit or miss  ~  no matter how mumble - jumble gardens (and life) can be, you can always find the pretty.