See Beautiful: Our Blooming Yard

When we moved into our house 16 years ago it had only the most basic builder's landscaping in front, a  large but plain rectangular deck in back, and a few spindly gum ball trees. Brush and poison ivy grew along the neighbor's fence at the back of our yard. As I am extremely allergic to poison ivy, I won't soon forget the hours we spent clearing it out.

Our yard is a labor of love. Many of the plants and structures trigger happy memories . I truly 'see beautiful' every time I step out of my home. I would love to share some of that beauty with you...

Step out the back door:

This is the first flower bed we created after Ted fenced the back yard.
The cherry tree replaced a huge tulip poplar that we had removed
due to the risk of it falling in a hurricane. (Yes, that is one of Toby's bones at the bottom of the photo!)

Cherry blossoms

Ted added a pergola to one end of the deck and a huge gazebo to the other side in time for daughter Lauren's wedding. He trained the Carolina jasmine over the top over the next several years.

Carolina Jasmine

The bushes in front of the pergola survived being crushed by a neighbor's tree during Hurricane Isabel.

These wax myrtles are native plants that give food and shelter to songbirds.

We don't use herbicides or fertilizers on our yard and are rewarded each spring with a purple carpet of violets.

The cherry tree steals the show, but I smile when I see the forsythia in its shadow. Ted dug it up from out front, where it was a sickly twig. He was about to throw it away, but I insisted we give it one more chance. Evidently it likes its new location!

Forsythia

This is where those skinny gumball trees originally lived.  Now it features clover, gardenia, St. John's Wort, Easter lilies, day lilies, irises, daffodils, and azaleas. The bird house is used every year by a pair of chickadees.

Clover blooms

Can you believe the size of this rosemary bush? It's been here for years now and it's still going strong!

Rosemary flowers

I love the contrast of the dark purple plum leaves with all of the bright green. 

Plum blossom

Ted spent years growing and pruning these bushes to make an archway.

Not sure, but I think they are viburnums.

Step through the gate 
into the front yard...

This is the Monticello bush. Well, that's what we call it. We bought it soon after we moved here on a visit to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. The gift shop had 10" tall twigs for sale. We had no idea what a "silver bell" bush was, but planted it anyway.

Silverbell flowers

This tree used to be a dogwood. Then it was split in a storm and we had to cut it down. The next year it threw up a shoot and spontaneously grew tall and straight with no help from us. But mysteriously, it's not a dogwood!

The Mystery Tree (Bradford Pear?)

The azaleas at the foot of the Mystery Tree are about to bloom.

The "Anniversary Garden". For our 25th anniversary, we built the garden as our gift to each other.

Tulip Magnolia

Quince blossoms

This incredible double plum was one of the few trees here originally. It has doubled in size, and now blooms and shelters a nest right outside our bedroom window!

 Looking past the plum, you can see the trunks of the pines that hide a drainage canal from view. They are about to start coating everything inside and out with pollen. When they are finished we scrub the gazebo, rinse the deck and patio, and officially declare the beginning of summer!

Ovulate cone - carrying last year's seeds.

Staminate (male) cone - source of all that pollen.

 Happy See Beautiful Friday! 

Have a beautiful weekend of seeing beauty!