A Garden Tour at My Sister's

My sister, Pam, loves gardening and a few years ago completed the Master Gardener program in Indiana. She now lives in St. Louis and has been transforming the yard of her new home. It is gorgeeeous, simply gorgeous!



This little bed greets you as you drive up. It's at the front edge of the yard telling you there's more beauty to see.

Pam has been working inside and outside on making her new house an inviting, beautiful, refreshing home. She added a picture window to her family room looking out over the back yard and here's what you see.

Walk out onto the patio and this burst of color and texture grabs your attention.

As you stroll into the backyard, you're greated with all kinds of lovely plantings. The mulch she uses is this new stuff called "Black Gold". It's not oily, I swear! It's like a black peat moss or rich, dark soil. Only it's magical, because she says it stays in place and seems to control the weeds better than traditional bark mulch.

Look at this...those weepy, bushes that are really trees are just too cool!

Do you see that bush in the back with the fushcia flowers? That little number has caught the eye of my husband. He wants to plant them here in Kansas.

They are Crepe Myrtle (with my poor spelling I first typed Crape Myrtle...drop the first e...now there's a plant you want in your yard - ha). I've been asking around and what I've learned is they are a little tempermental here... a little too windy and a little too cold in the winter. They will grow here, but every few years they decide they are perennials instead of bushes and die back to the ground. We can live with that, 'cause you need to keep the guy who does all the heavy lifting very, very happy! If he wants some Crepe Myrtle, he's getting some!

Touring gardens is inspiring, with different plant varieties to investigate. How it's all put together, for me, is the most intriguing part. Pam has that gift. She is able to group plants in ways that make a whole garden bed interesting and beautiful. I love watching her gardens evolve and am currently plotting a way to extract her creative genes and inject them into me...we are sisters, so it should work!

Sharen's Country Garden

On Friday, I had the pleasure of visiting the gardens of the sweetest lady on the planet, my friend, Sharen. In her magical garden, your cares and worries melt away with the dazzling beauty of the flowers and dreams of the delightful tastes of the fresh fruits and vegetables. Sharen completed the Master Gardener program a few years ago, which added to her knowledge and experience. Here's a peak at her lovely gardens.

Sharen at one of her favorite places. This archway leads to the playground; she also owns Sharen's Country Kids Daycare. She says the clematis will stretch all the way across the arch by fall and bloom in a cascade of flowers.





She and her husband, Jim showed me their favorite place to relax. A deck overlooking the garden. I understand why they love this spot!





Sharen has picked up tables and chairs over the years, mainly at yard sales, and annually hosts a huge family reunion in the midst of this setting. Wonder why the family insists she be the host?!



We meandered around investigating the different growing beds Sharen has developed for vegetables here and flowers there. We first wandered into the vegetable garden. What in the world...I'm now convinced I've grown a tiny, teeny garden.





Just look at this unbelieveable yellow squash plant.





Gorgeous tomatoes, too!



Cabbage, peppers, onions, green beans, cucumbers and more are hangin' out here growing huge, loaded with tantilizing veggies.

Of course, she's evenly more deeply engrained in my heart because she, too, loves blackberries (and rasberries, gooseberries, peaches, apples and cherries, too. All growing in her yard).

Next we made our way through the winding flower beds. So many unexpected surprises...an overturned bucket, a cream separator, an angel. Sharen loves to go to yard sales and she has an eye for garden treasures.

I had an early love of daylilies that had faded for some reason. It' been renewed. If you have lots of sun, daylilies are perfect!





I waited for the sun to shine on this beauty and make it dazzle, but y'know I have a little trouble with patience.

Here she is with her girlfriends.

Just to give you an idea of Sharen's knowledge and talent, this Wisteria is just three years old!

Purple coneflowers, daisies, daylilies and more greet you as you drive up to the house.

As these hollyhocks stand guard.

We had a wonderful time walking through and discussing the plants...me unknowingly learning, she unknowingly teaching. She asked me to come back! She explained that it all changes as different plants begin to bloom later in the season. "On a Saturday, I'll make lemonade". I can't wait! Thank you, Sharen.

Garden Tour - Including A Classic Barn or Two

The nearby city of approximately 50,000, at least they are hopefully awaiting the official count, which has something to do with receiving more federal money, had a garden tour on Sunday. To my deep delight my husband agreed to go with me. He's the one who digs the holes for the new trees and shrubs, and builds fences, so we need to get him inspired!


We both fell in love with the setting of the second garden we visited. It's outside of town on a few acres. Both the husband and wife have horticultural degrees, so we arrived with a feeling of "not possible" for us and left inspired.

This is their organic vegetable garden. Ours is a teeny, tiny version of this one.

I simply must conquer my fear of growing roses! Any advice?

This is the view of the side yard garden standing on the steps of the very cool, rustic barn. The barn has an area that has been converted to a gathering space.

The next house was built in 2001 by the owners of a nursery. Most features would be next to impossible without a similar business ownership, but a few things caught our eye.

This patio with pergola could be the setting for frequent evening gatherings. The wisteria was my favorite feature! It's baby wisteria at this point, but image what it will look like more fully grown on the trellis.

The last house catches your admiration from the road.

The native, stone house was built in 1901 and many of the trees must have been planted at this time. A cottonwood tree in the backyard has a trunk more than 4' in diameter! Those are oaks towering over the house in the picture.

Just look at the treasure we found out back.



Alice, the tractor, needs a home just like that. Horses, please. How do you build a 100 year old barn?