Everyday Living

Southern Gardens With A European Twist

~ Gardening

“With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭119:10‬ ‭ 

It seems that summer has been all about gardening here at Everyday Living!  I guess that makes sense…because we have spent many, many hours in our little haven. And I have also loved seeing all of your beautiful posts that you have shared on our Gardens Galore Link Party!  Be sure to come back for our 5th link party on Monday, August 7, at 8am (central time)!  I am looking forward to partying in the garden with you!

If you are a long-time reader, you know that we live in the Appalachian Foothills of Northeast Alabama in a very scenic area with the Coosa River flowing right through our downtown!  There are beautiful private gardens in our city that I have shown here, here, and here.  We aren’t far from Birmingham…only a short 60 miles, and lately I have been checking out private gardens in the Magic City through shelter magazines.  Today we will be taking a walk through two outdoor spaces that are dream gardens for sure…but a little dreaming never hurt anyone!  So, let’s stroll through a French-inspired garden and then an English garden!

Be sure to visit my Pinterest Board Outdoor Spaces 

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(photo by Jean Allsopp)
A 1926 Country French home is nestled into a hill in a historic neighborhood in Birmingham, AL.

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 (photo by Jean Allsopp)
We have used quite a bit of stone in our garden, so I am drawn to this stone walkway that promises beautiful vistas ahead…
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Gardens Galore No. 4 & A Giveaway!

~ Gardening

 “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever”
‭‭Isaiah 40:8

 Welcome to our Gardens Galore link party!  I have so enjoyed all the beauty that you all are sharing!  It is extremely hard to choose features when every link  is feature worthy!  Be sure to read all the way to the bottom to see how to enter the Giveaway!

Last week I shared My Happy Place •  The Summer Garden 

Now on to  “picks” from our last party!READ MORE

My Happy Place • The Summer Garden

~ Gardening

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭26:3-4‬ ‭

Greetings dear friends from our very hot and humid Southern Appalachian Foothills… perfect for a tall glass of ice tea with a twist of lemon and a sprig of mint.  Can you all believe we are over half way through July?!  We’ve had some strange weather, and I shared on Tablescape Tuesday about our storm that blew in late Monday afternoon.  The garden survived fairly well considering the 50+mph hour winds that blew for forty minutes and were constantly shifting directions…it was a little scary! My largest vanilla-strawberry hydrangea wasn’t broken, but most of its branches are now on the ground.  The second planting of sunflowers are mostly bent over, after the first seeds we planted failed to come up. Being ones that don’t give up easily, we tried again.  They were almost ready to bloom when the storm hit, so I guess we have to give up on sunflowers for this year, but there is always next year!  Gardening is definitely a challenge since we have no control over the weather, that is totally in God’s hands.  Fortunately, I had taken all these photos last week!  Please join me in my happy place…the summer garden!
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  I have been asked several times about the center statue in the garden…it is a bronze fountain that we moved from our front landscape.   It isn’t serving as a fountain because The Renaissance Man (the name I have given Butch, it fits him perfectly) didn’t want to constantly clean it…so that settled it!  Candytuft surrounds the statue on the top tier with soft touch hollies and vinca on the lower tier.READ MORE