I gave a little tour of our yard here on the blog back in April, but I hope you won’t mind if I show you around again before cold weather sets in and puts an end to all this loveliness! We’ve had an abundance of rain here in Kansas all summer long (even as I write this, a gentle rain is falling) and the flowerpots and beds have loved it!
I call this my treehouse office and I bring my laptop and work out here every possible moment. Unfortunately, in Kansas, between the heat, the wind, and our recent rains, that’s not nearly as often as I’d like. But when the weather is perfect, this is where you’ll find me.
The rail pots are making up for their poor performance last year! The rain has helped, but so has some extra good dirt and an occasional fertilizing.
This jaunty little aster-type flower, bought early this spring, has bloomed its heart out all summer long. It makes me smile just to look at it!
Shady and protected from the wind, this cozy seating area under the deck is home to some of my favorite flowers—the angel wing begonias that I got at a garage sale for a song! And the caladiums that are such a great shade plant. That’s a peony bush near the checkerboard patio. It produced exactly ONE flower in May. But it was a pretty one. 😉
At the other end of the back deck, our orange cosmos is back in gorgeous bloom! The seeds were a gift from strangers at a neighborhood art show who, when we admired the cosmos growing by their back door, told us to shake off all the seeds we wanted. Our city is as friendly as any small town we’ve lived in!
I love how the checkerboard patio looks now that the grass is so tall around it. Looks as if somebody put our lawn in a waffle iron. 😉
The view down the “alley” between our house and our neighbors’ is so pretty right now with the Rose of Sharon in full bloom. The tall Bradford pear is already starting to get some autumn color, and the apple tree looks nice and straight (though from any other angle you can clearly see that it leans dangerously close to the ground. And sadly, this year it did not produce one decent apple).
We don’t spend nearly as much time in the front yard, except to water the flowers. We probably enjoy this view most whenever we return home and pull into the garage. The Shasta daisies are a new addition this year (along with that cute tufted bunny grass in front of the daisies) and we’ve really enjoyed watching them grow.
My dad built this flower cart as a housewarming gift when we bought our first home. It’s always been the landmark we use to direct people to our home and is one of the things that makes this house home for me.
An ever changing array of pots welcomes visitors to our front door. The wire table they’re congregated about was a $3 garage sale find, as were most of the pots and other decor on this porch.
On rainy days like this one, my favorite view of our yard is from my office window.
What’s blooming in your garden right now? Does ‘garden’ mean vegetables or flowers or a combination of the two to you?”
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Your gardens are so beautiful, Deb. I wish I liked to garden but, alas, I don’t. Besides, where we live the deer treat my gardens as their salad bar. They ate all of my hostas, my raspberries and every apple on our tree. But we live in their backyard, so I guess it’s only fair.
Oh, Lynn! I’m so sorry about the deer. We have seen deer here one time, and I loved seeing them, but I’d be SO disappointed if they ate all our hard work!
Your ‘house and garden tour’ posts are always favorites of mine, Deb! I especially love the combination that you have growing in your rail pots. Wow! Stunning!
Thanks, Becky. The rail pots really did turn out great this year. Last year they were on the pathetic side, so I guess they’re making up for lost time. 🙂
Just beautiful, Deb. You not only have a green thumb, you have ten, green fingers!! Curious…what kind of camera do you have. Your photos are always so clear and colorful. Not to mention your eye for taking beautifully-composed pictures.
I just use the phone on my iPhone 6s, Roxy (WAY better than the phone on the 4s, which I rarely used.) I’ve learned a lot from my artist hubby about composition and cropping. I have a lot to learn, but thankfully, the camera does most of the work! And I hear the new iPhone camera is even better with a zoom lens!
I love your yard. Wish I had the time to do more in mine. Blooming right now in my yard are red and yellow mums, purple coneflowers, and Brown Eyed Susans. Out in the pasture some Snow on the Mountain, goldenrod, wild sunflowers, and others that I don’t know the names of.
I love Snow on the Mountain, Cindy! Ken never wanted to let it grow in our last yard because it could be invasive, but I think it is so beautiful! Love the mums and coneflowers this time of year too. We have one mum in a pot, but I’d love to plant some in the ground!
I love admiring your garden, Deb! I feel like such a slacker. 🙂 Although it’s been too hot this year for most things to survive. Now that our weather is cooling a little, I’ll be out there again filling my pots!
I should have made it more clear that Ken is the REAL gardener! I weed and water and do fill the pots in the spring, but he’s the one who has an eye for laying out the flowerbeds and knowing what works best where. (He also does all the mowing and all the heavy lifting!)
Your garden is gorgeous! We just completed the sale of our home, so my garden is now in someone else’s hands! But I do have a few pots clustered around an old fence post in front of our RV – temporary home for a few years while we build a small home.
There’s truly nothing like a few pots of flowers to make any house feel like home! How exciting to be building your house!Praying you make sweet memories in that RV too! Home is wherever the ones you love are!
Your gardens and flowers look lovely. You have a beautiful home Deborah. Thanks for showing us through. My husband and I recently downsized from a large home to a apartment in a senior citizens community. I don’t have flower gardens these days. I do keep post of flowers in the front and back of the apartment. Right now it’s mum’s. I have one moss rose hanging plant left over from summer. It has done well .
Oh, we had a moss rose growing on a rocky hill in our last yard. A friend gave it to me and I enjoyed it so much! We’ve had to plant very different things at this house than our last one because it’s so much shadier here. I love the shade, but miss some of those sun-loving flowers.
Thanks for the post. The photos all make me happy! This year the garden at the new house means flowers with one huge tomato plant taking center stage. The garden looks a little messy but beautiful to me.
I had one lone tomato plant again this year, Jen, but it didn’t do very well, and it’s pretty raggedy looking now (which is why it didn’t make the tour. 😉 ) I like messy gardens! I think they look European when they’ve grown a little wild and wooly!
I live vicariously through your life in so many ways…hope you don’t mind! I love your flowers and yard–always so beautiful. My gardening ability has gotten less and less as my knee pain gets worse and worse. This spring one of my daughters and her 4 children went flower shopping for me and then came and planted them for me in such quick order I was amazed! So I just have to keep them watered with the help of my husband. They are all on the deck or the front porch, so no steps to walk or garden hoses to pull around. Everything is doing well, thanks to all the summer rains we’ve gotten this year. Hasn’t it been wonderful! I’m thankful for the cooler weather this week too!
The rain has been wonderful, and I’m so glad it’s made it easier for you to enjoy your pots. What a warm memory that the people you love made your “garden” come alive. I’m sorry about your knees, but I’m also taking notes about the ways you’ve still managed to keep pretty flowers in your life despite not being able to care for them like you once did. I always enjoy your comments!
I love your gardens! Your yard, deck, and porches are beautiful! My gardens started out lovely, but after 3 weeks of vacation and six weeks of 95-103 temperatures, I have given up until fall comes. It’s still 85 even now.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Usually by this time of year, we’ve given up, too, Betty. We’ve been blessed with abundant rain this year and it’s so nice to still have all the flowerpots looking pretty despite some pretty hot days in Kansas.
I love seeing all your beautiful flowers and yard.You have some great writing areas.Thanks for sharing the pictures.
Thank you, Diana. I love the variety of places I can choose from to write. Today I’m in my office because it’s a too breezy outside, but I hope to be on the deck later this afternoon.
Love your gardens and yard, Deb. I want to come for tea and sit in one of the chairs by your begonias and caladium. But I’d walk around and say Hi to all your plants and flowers. My garden is still not bad even though I’ve neglected it since the weather got hot. I have a rose-flowered pink begonia that’s been blooming its heart out all summer. It was a gift from a friend. I have a vivid magenta bougainvillea in a pot…just brought it inside as our night time temps are getting pretty chill. My brother gave it to me years ago and it reminds me of my childhood in New Zealand where bougainvilleas are almost a weed. I loved them.
I just love bougainvillea but have never tried to grow one. I didn’t realize you could bring them in and winter them in the house. Do they still bloom indoors? Thanks for sharing!