Hello sweet readers! Spring is in full swing in our Foothills after our cold temperatures last week. With early spring the pollen always makes its appearance, and my allergies are raging! So strange, I never had any seasonal allergies until a few years ago. Does that come when you reach a certain age?
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6
Gardening is also in full swing. Let’s take a short walk and see what is going on in early spring!
Those that have followed a long time know that this bronze statue is the central feature of the garden. I have mentioned several times that it is actually a fountain. It found a new purpose when it moved from the front landscape to the garden…RM couldn’t be happier!
Candytuft surrounds the statue and it has been unusually pretty this year. The frost didn’t seem to bother it.
Two snowball viburnums are not a part of the garden, but they are so beautiful when in bloom!
We shared this photo on Simple + Southern Sunday’s post.
Cherry Blossoms & Snowball Blooms were arranged for Monday Morning Blooms the day before the big frost!
A shot from the back of the garden as the snowballs were in full bloom!
Temperatures dipped below freezing last week three nights in a row. On Thursday night the wind blew all night, so that prevented frost. Unfortunately, with no wind on Friday and Saturday nights, you can see the snowballs suffered from frostbite.
I am often asked, what are the yellow-green shrubs? The chartreuse shrubs are sunshine ligustrum and they provide a different shade of green for the garden. I recommend them, they are easy to grow, and they can be heavily pruned each year.
This photo shows the beauty of Lady Banks Roses as they cascade from the arbor!
This is what we came home to last October. High winds had brought the Lady Banks Roses down. Fortunately, it wasn’t uprooted. Butch had to do some extreme pruning and shaping to what was left of the roses.
This photo was taken yesterday morning. Amazingly, the Lady Banks survived and new growth has almost covered the top of the arbor!
There have only been a few clusters of blooms…
…but, as always, they are so pretty!
In early spring when there are not many blooms, a pair of Japanese Bloodgood maples provide a stunning red display! We took Linda Vater’s advice and pruned the maples to give them a beautiful architectural appearance.
We haven’t made any progress on our English country garden that will be in front and on the sides of the Sunshine Cottage. We are mulling it over in our minds, hopefully we will come up with a plan. I will let you know when we do.
Thank your so much for your visit and and your gracious comments. Wishing you a delightful weekend!
Linking with:
Pieced Pastimes, Between Naps on the Porch, Katherines Corner, Follow The Yellow Brick Home,
Imparting Grace,Life and Linda
Those Snowball Viburnums are exquisite! I planted a young specimen 3 years ago and this year it has blooms. I’m so excited! I’m finding the limbs of this bush grow in all directions making pruning a wacky job.
Mildred, be sure to cut some of blooms to bring inside!
Things are looking beautiful in your garden, Pam. Your Snowballs are incredible, I would like to plant at least one more but am having trouble finding one. The 3 nights of freezing turned all the new growth on my hydrangeas completely brown, hope they will still bloom. Today is already a good day…my 4 day missing kitty showed up at 6 AM, and my darling sister is on her way up for her birthday visit! We are planning on a run up to Highlands and Cashiers, wish you were with us!
Thank you dearest Roxanne. I am so glad your kitty came back home. Oh, I love Highlands and Cashiers, how I would love to be on that trip with you and Kelly! Have fun!
Your garden is so beautiful!
Thank you Lynda!
Your garden looks amazing already. Wonderful that the Lady Banks rose survived, it will be in full bloom in no time. As always you have given me inspiration. After my knee surgery and a hip injection soon I will again hopefully be able to get back into my garden. I have missed it so much and of course, have so many things on my “to do” list.
Carolyn
Thank you Carolyn. I so hope you can soon return to your garden dear one!
Your photos and your words always inspire me! Thank you and continue your fabulous work!
Thank you so much Kay for your kind words!
So pretty pam…you and Butch definitely have not only a green thumb but the foresight to bring a garden plan together to provide you with an abundance of showy flowers all season long.
Hugs my friend
Thanks dear Kari. Happy Weekend!
So beautiful. Love the snowball viburnums. Too bad about the lady banks roses, but perhaps they just need a year to recuperate. I’m sure when you create your English country garden it will be wonderful! Allergies are so tough on us, I hope you are able to get some relief. I’ve noticed that I seem to be bothered when I have flowers in the house at our table. I just love spring with it’s reemergence of life!
Liz, I know your gardens will be beautiful. Can’t wait to see them in bloom!
Beautiful! Your garden always inspires me! We’ve done some planting this year, adding new shrubs and trees to our garden. I’d love to add some Oakleaf hydrangeas (Alice) to our yard. Any suggestions about where to find those in our area? I haven’t found any here. Do you have a favorite nursery?
Stacy, thank you so much. You might check Pack’s Nursery in Gadsden or their Boaz location which is larger.
Your garden is beautiful any time of the year! So glad the rose survived!
Thanks so much Penny!
Everything looks beautiful. I love the limbing up of the Japanese Maple. I am so amazed at the abundance of blooms on your snowball. You should have seen my garden all wrapped in sheets. I am still washing, folding, and putting away sheets. We had a heavy frost the second night. It was evident on our roof and all the neighbors but I did not have damage although my neighbor a street over did. I think my tree cover helped my hydrangeas from getting nipped. I was told to turn on sprinkler and that will dissipate frost. I am going to try that rather than all the sheets.
I think it good to mull over your garden plans and not jump into anything too quickly.
Thanks so much Bonnie. The limbing up really opened up the back of the garden. Any suggestions on an English garden would be appreciated!
An absolutely stunning tour of your beautiful garden! Those snowball bushes are breathtaking! The Japanese Maples are so pretty with their vibrant red color. Ours are looking good this year, too. I know a lot of hard work and patience has gone into your lovely gardens. I also know how rewarding it can be. I can’t wait to see what you do with the English Garden you are designing. I know it will be beautiful! Happy Thursday, sweet friend!
Shannon, thanks so much for your:sweet comments. Have a lovely weekend sweet friend!
Pam, your garden is beautiful and I well understand the work that has gone into creating such beauty. But the rewards are beyond measure. Your Snowball’s are stunning and they are so pretty when your talented hands arrange them. Looking forward to your English garden, I know it will be grand. Have a lovely day and weekend, my friend.
Thank you Sandra, I can’t seem to finalize my plans for the English garden. Happy Weekend!
Your gardens are lovely. Love seeing all of the color. Great idea filling the fountain with candy tuft. The snowballs are gorgeous. I shall check into those. I love lady banks. We have them on a fence by the wisteria. Such a pleasure to virtually stroll through your garden.
Thanks so much Linda. Happy Weekend!
Your snowballs are amazing. Love the Japanese maples. I was shocked at the damage to your Lady Banks roses but it is making a comeback. I covered plants with sheets but believe I may have lost two hydrangeas. My candytuft was not bothered by the cold. I think planning is the way to go in establishing a garden. This year I am adding dahlias and will put the bulbs in the ground in early May. Yours were beautiful last year. Love garden time and yours is amazing!
Thanks so much Dianne. Gardening is hard work, but there are some rewards. Wishing you much success with your dahlias. You will have to stake them, they get very top heavy! Happy Weekend!
Pam, Your garden is beautiful! It’s rewarding hard work. We know many hours are devoted to making it so wonderful and it shows. Your viburnum is amazing! I love all the different plants that create such a colorful, cohesive, well planned landscape. I know your English garden will be gorgeous. Your statuary is so pretty. It’s always a joy to stroll through your fabulous garden. I didn’t have allergies until a couple of decades ago either. Now, I take allergy pills all year long it seems. Enjoy your day. It’s gorgeous here! We had thunderstorms last night which seems to have made the landscape brighter. Probably washed away the layer of pollen that was on everything. Lol Clara❤️
Thank you Clara. It seems most people deal with allergies. We have rain this afternoon and possible severe weather tonight. Severe weather is never welcomed, but rain to wash away the pollen would be good! Happy Weekend!
Early spring is pretty gorgeous! What a grand tour. Those viburnum are really something, aren’t they? But truly, it’s all wonderful.
Thanks so much Jeanie. Happy Weekend!
I always enjoy your beautiful garden pictures and can’t get enough of it! Thank you for sharing such beauty with us!
Thank you Rebecca. I appreciate your sweet comments!
Your snowball viburnums always take center stage amidst the awe. We discovered a land water problem and must remove
an old oak to allow more sunlight in and plan to plant one or two weeping willows once the stone bed drainage is installed. The willows should provide interesting silhouettes to the landscape, so spring has really sprung….in buckets… I have the
ligustrum on order. Looking forward to your English garden and know it will certainly enhance the charm of the cottage.
Thanks so much Mary. I love the look of weeping willows. They like a moist area to live. Let’s talk soon!
The candytuft is putting on a show this year. It is perfectly placed around the fountain turned sculpture. I can hardly wait to see the English garden by the cottage. It will be so much fun planning what to plant. The Grands will probably get to plant and watch them grow. Sorry the frost visited. Last year a freeze killed everything in our area. Not one bloom was seen. Hoping we can get through Spring this year without a freeze.
Alice, this is the prettiest the candytuft has ever been. I hope you get through the spring without a freeze!
Good Evening Pam… your garden is doing so beautifully this Spring even with Frost and Wind. Those Snowballs are spectacular! And I’m so glad the Lady Banks survived. Our neighbor has them and we benefit with them cascading over our wall.
I love stopping by for garden inspiration!
Happy Weekend to you!
Thank you for stopping by, Nancy. How nice of your neighbor to share her Lady Banks. Happy Weekend!
Just beautiful! Your garden and blooms are a couple weeks ahead of ours. Our Lady Banks doesn’t put on blooms until the end of April as a rule. Pollen season is in full swing here and in just minutes everything is covered in tiny yellow grains. Neither one of us developed allergies until we moved to the lake, spending more time outdoors…achoo! 🙂
Mary, thank you. It is raining here this afternoon with possibility of severe weather tonight. It does clean the air for a few hours!
I know your garden requires a lot of work and care, but oh my, what a beautiful labor of love! The snowballs were magnificent this year and I love seeing the cascading roses from your arbor, so glad they were able to be salvaged! Yes the pollen is thick this year, but we are reaping the rewards of beautiful trees and flowers!
Jenna
What a delightful post Pam! I enjoyed the tour of your blooming garden this morning as I sit in our chilly autumn weather here in Australia.
This post gave me such a peaceful blessing this morning, thank you sweet friend!
Yes, allergies seem to be on the increase in this world of ours!
Bless you, ♥
Jennifer
Thanks so much Jennifer for your sweet comments.
I have always followed you on the WP app and your posts are not showing up. I saw no new post from you this week. I am having trouble commenting. This is the comment I was trying to leave.
Words are powerful and I have been guilty of not watching the tone of my words. As always, Jennifer you give me much to ponder. Thank you for your insights and for your willingness to share. Wishing you a lovely week, my friend!
A couple of bloggers & I have had the same issue with each others blogs Pam on WordPress I’m not sure what’s going on…
I’ll contact technical support to see if they know. 😀
Pam do you have the same issues on my actual website with trying to comment & like?
Yes, Jennifer I tried to comment but I don’t think it ever went through.
Ok, thank you Pam. I’ll have a look in my Spam folder sometimes comments go there for some unknown reason.
The tech advice is to clear our caches or access WordPress through a different Browser.
Its been happening to quiet a few WordPress bloggers apparently.
I love seeing all the details of your garden! Thanks for sharing the early spring appearance. It’s gorgeous.
Thank you for your visit, Rita. Wishing you a beautiful spring week!
So much beauty in your yard, sweet friend. I am so thankful you share it with us here!
It is my pleasure, Cheryl!
I can’t imagine your gardens being any lovelier than they are but whatever the two of you decide to do about your English country garden, I sure it will be stunning.
What a wonderful garden tour! The snowball viburnum are magnificent. At first thought, I thought they were hydrangea. The cherry blossoms are pure joy! Love the views from different areas. You are not only extraordinary gardeners but photographers as well. Hooray for the survival of the Lady Banks. The Japanese Maple is also so beautiful and puts such a dramatic color into the scheme. Thank you for the visit to your lovely and peaceful place
Thank you, Ruthie. I am so glad you spent time with me in the garden. Happy weekend!
I love being able to ‘walk’ thru your garden with you! I can only imagine how much more beautiful it is in person. Thank you for sharing it with us. Oh, to have a snowball viburnum like that would be incredible. You said you can heavily prune the Ligustrum’s, when do you do this and how low to the ground do you take yours?
Thank you, Raylene. My husband pruned the ligustrumns in January. He cut them back between 2 – 3 feet, depending on their size. I hope that helps.
Thank you Pam for sharing that info, I better get mine cut now. Yours must get really tall!
They really grow during our hot summers! Happy pruning!