I have always dream of a cottage garden but I have never ever garden in my life before. I just love looking at beautiful gardening books and other people gardens. I woke up one day last spring and decided I was going to create my dream cottage garden. I could have started with you know a plant or two but it is me, you are talking about here. I woke up that morning and had someone ripped out my front yard.
Here is the before. I sold my engagement ring and did one of the best things I have ever done for the girls and I. Create. Grow.
I didn't realize how big the garden really was until I had to fill it with plants. I bought lots of baby cottage plants...lined the fence with New Dawn roses. I just hoped they would come back the next year and Boy, did they. I want to invite you to our garden now.
It is pure happiness every time I walk into the house.
Irises are the first ones to welcome us home.
Catmints grew three times bigger than last spring. Lavenders don't look as good but I am hoping they will survive.
I adore how vibrant Salvias are.
Most of the plants in the garden are roses. I guess they don't usually bloom until mid-summer?
I can't wait for my peonies to bloom. Look at those gorgeous lupines.
A little shabby spot.
This is what has been keeping me busy and taking all of my time away from other projects. I can't wait to share with you my rose garden...after I spend hours and hours weeding, of course. There are four more flower patches in the backyard. I have to keep reminding myself that dream gardens don't happen in one summer. As a very novice gardener, I am quiet proud of my little garden.
Love,
Victoria
Linking up with:
http://modvintagelife.blogspot.com/
http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.com/
http://www.astrollthrulife.net/
http://elizabethandco.blogspot.com/
Your garden looks beautiful Victoria and so very cottage-y too! I can't wait to see your roses, I'm sure they're gorgeous:) I bet your girls are loving it out there! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Victoria. We are really enjoying it! I think I am going to add more Delphiniums and Lupines to look more cottage.
DeleteVery beautiful, Victoria. I love how you raised the money for the dream. You and your girls are making your own magic. xoxo
ReplyDeleteThank you, Su. It is such a wonderful feeling to dream up an idea then turning it into a reality.
DeleteOh Victoria, the ring thing, I agree with you as to being the best thing you ever did for yourself! As for your garden it's wonderful and each year will be that much more grander with having to spilt and divide the bulbs increasing in numbers :)
ReplyDeleteI also love your cottage home! Do you have another engagement ring to sale enabling you to paint? I would love to see the whole face of your home trim and all painted white, even the stone and brick! :))
You could then accent with shutters or window planter boxes of any choice colour.
You my dear really remind me of myself, I to do crazy things like this with so many impulsive projects going all on at once :)
I have been know to get out of bed at midnight to get a sleepless brain thought of painting something our tearing something apart, in fact my daughter and I once decided to clean and weed the yard at 10:00 PM putting the flood lights on to see only to free up morning hours the next day for better projects. So as you see Victoria I so hear you when it come to having a great ice brain thought and nothing holds us back :)
I am still waiting to see what you come up with in the way of your mattress, and the French chair :)
Here's to your garden, and yes the lavender will take time, keep it pruned and year after year it will flourish.
Xx
Dore
Oh Dore, how I wish I have another engagement ring to sell to paint the house. It is on my to do list...hopefully next summer. Weeding the yard at 10:00 pm is something I would so do! I am just finishing up a French chair and hopefully blog about it this weekend. Then the day bed will be next. All of my "indoor projects" are getting pushed back since gardening is taking over my life. : ) I will take pictures of every step of the day bed project for everyone.
DeleteOoop's.... After going back and looking closer to the neighbors homes, could your neighbor hood handle another white cottage?.... Sure, why not !!
ReplyDeletePerhaps White House, white stones, and white wash the bricks.... Would that set you apart from the other? :))
Xx
Dore
Xoxo
Dore
I love that you did what it took to do something to make you happy! The garden is gorgeous and will just keep getting better and better I am sure. Keep being creative and inspiring!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Darrielle. Every time I see your gorgeous furniture make over, I wish I could stop weeding, lol. Unfortunately weeds don't wait for me to do other projects.
DeleteYour garden just makes me like you even more, Victoria! Nothing is more pretty than looking out your windows and seeing those happy flowers bobbing their heads! You are doing a fantastic job...sometimes when everything is planted close together, the weeds are crowded out so maybe it will get easier as time goes on.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. You inspire me!
XO,
Jane
Thank you, Jane! I am going to add some more plants in between but it is difficult because some of the plants aren't full grown yet. I am thinking some more delphiniums and daisies.
DeleteIt is turning out beautifully! I have always dreamed of a cottage garden too.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Amy Jo
Thank you, Amy Jo. It is such a wonderful feeling every time I look out the window. I have to say though it is so much work. I think the only reason I keep up with it, is because it is in my front yard.
DeleteYour garden is perfectly wonderful!! Love the white fence and arbor to set if off. You've done a marvelous job, Victoria. It's so beautiful!
ReplyDeleteMary Alice
Thank you, Mary Alice. The fence and arbor were something I knew I have to have. I think they give my ranch home a slight cottage feel.
DeleteYour flowers are gorgeous. I am a novice gardener too and sometimes I struggle with the idea that gardening is a process and each year I get a bit better at it.
ReplyDeleteTraci
Traci, I blame pinterest for that. I need to constantly remind myself that gardening is a process too and not to compare pinterest to real life.
DeleteI love your determination. Your garden already looks beautiful and will only look better next year. How wonderful to be able to walk out your front door and have fresh cut flowers at your disposal!
ReplyDeleteMary @ Orphans With Makeup
Thank you, Mary. I am nothing if not overly ambitious. I am always scared to cut flowers from the front yard because it is like a show, you know. : ) I am planting a cut flower garden in the back for all my cut flowers.
DeleteYour flower garden is so nice to look through
ReplyDeleteThank you. It is a great way to start the day too.
DeleteThe creative soul is always running and jumping into a project full hearted, impulsive and happy! I wouldn't want it any other way! Just LOOK at what you create, Victoria! Your garden is lovely, and now you and your girls have little pretties to bring indoors to enjoy up close! I'm sure your neighbors and the butterflies and bees enjoy it as well! ;)
ReplyDeleteWhen I mention that I'm growing a cottage garden at 10,000 feet above sea level, people look at me dumbfounded and tell me "nothing grows at that altitude". And I say, "Really." "Just trees, and bushes, and teeny-tiny wildflowers." All I have to do is improve the soil, carry plants from our property to the house, snug them in, and baby them the first year. After that, they do fine on their own. I've also added lavender, delphinium, roses, and foxglove ~ and have plans to add more. 10,000 ft? No problem when the heart says "YES!"
And not only are you growing a garden, your little girls' hearts and creative souls are growing as well. Yay for you, Victoria!
Hugs,
Lin
Lin, you and I the same. Once we have an idea, that's it. I love delphinium and roses. I really want to add foxglove to my garden but worry about the kids and dogs. Have you read Tasha Tudor's garden? Now, that woman got serious determination. I can't wait to see more pictures of your garden, Lin.
DeleteAbsolutely stunning, we have quite a few of the same plants, I am getting into Roses myself now also. I would love to see a picture of your New Dawn. I had one, once and I am thinking of getting another one for my gazebo. I'm just worried it might be to shady for it. Have you tried the Queen Elizabeth Rose, I love it! I would love to see a list of the Roses you tried and which ones worked best. What zone are you? I'm zone 7, and i have the worst time with lavender, my mom says I watered it to much which is in direct contradiction of my tough love gardening approach. lol so I am not sure what I'm ding wrong there. :)
ReplyDeleteI love love love roses but aside from Knock out roses, most of them are a lot of work. I have ten new dawn roses. None of them are blooming yet. I will take pictures of them when they do. I am at zone 6 and my lavenders are not doing too well. I didn't prune them...maybe that is the problem? I read somewhere that lavender like more dry area...they don't like rain as much. I think gardening is kind of learn as you go kind of thing, don't you think?
DeleteBeautiful!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Joelle.
DeleteGardening is so satisfying and yet its hard work! And its not quite instant gratification, as we have to wait for results (unlike paint and wallpaper etc). But I too am a gardener. I planted a climbing White Dawn rose before I had an arbor...I planned to make one out of old columns and stretch a piece of iron between them in an arch. But that has yet to happen, so for now I am letting it ramble along a stone wall. I will be excited to see the roses reach the fence and climb along all flowering!! Its wonderful! I love fairy roses too...I had lavender bushes but they can get woody and then need to be yanked out and replaced. Catmint is great, and how about Russian Sage for the same effect as lavender but in a larger size. Its awesome!
ReplyDeleteAmy, it is like a full time job. I keep wanting to do other projects but I will feel much better once the backyard looks more put together. I have ten new dawn roses. I put six along the fence and four along the foundation of the house. We will see if they will actually climb up the house. I absolutely adore David Austen roses but I am having trouble with lots of holes on the leaves. I am starting to think lavender might not work for me at all. I am going to take your advice and put some Russian Sage in the garden.
DeleteJust keep going Victoria, you´ll see how nature provides you with lots of joy!!! same joy you are giving nature.
ReplyDeleteSending blessings your way
Oh Maria, your garden is my inspiration. I am sure you have put so much hard work and time to it. My roses are not fully mature like yours yet but I am battling with lots of diseases that these roses get.
DeleteYour garden is wonderful. I dream of the day when my puppy stops digging up flowers and I will have a lovely cottage garden. For now I have to settle for a nice garden.
ReplyDeleteWhat an absolutely charming garden! Everything is so lush and full. I love the mix of perennials. They just keep getting better every year. And the fence really adds to the cottage charm! ... Now I must get more lupines. For some reason, I only have one!
ReplyDeleteAw, this was an exceptionally nice post.
ReplyDeleteI’ll bookmark your blog and check again here frequently.
ReplyDeleteI am quite sure I will learn lots of new stuff right here!
ReplyDelete