THE ROUNDUP PARTY'S OVER!!! :(

Holly, Do both if you have time....it's great to see them in both places!

Mary, Am thrilled to see yours start rolling in! Heading off from work now but looking forward to many more when I get home!

This one speaks for itself.

Beautiful pool with maidenhair and lady fern.

And the waterfall replenishing it.

Carved wooden wheelbarrow along the path.

Log picnic table and benches overlooking the lake.

Rarejem coming out from a woodsy nook for enjoying a Summer afternoon in the leafy shade.

Gwen in the lovely garden room beneath the unusual limbs of a huge fir tree.

I also wanted to say that it was a great surprise to see that Laurie had participated in spirit all the way from merry ol' England. I was really touched that she did that. I just wish you could have been there in person, Laurie.

As someone mentioned, the statuary was quite amazing. The doggies atop the wall were endearing.

Great photos! What I loved is how each garden was so different and the landscape they 'lived in' was so different as well. Sharon and Julie have such grandeur and natural beauty as a backdrop to the gardens. Sharon has a huge moss covered boulder that is just to DIE for! I completely see a grotto with a small, delicate water feature designed around that rock. Julie has some naturally felled trees with root structure that would look stunning planted with sedums and bromeliads (there are some hardy ones). Lynn has wide open spaces and lots of sunshine. The amount of work that woman has accomplised since early spring puts me to absolute shame! I felt so much better just knowing there is someone who is working way harder at her garden than I am working at mine. Whew! That was close!


Gwen, I'm going to find that thread I did on building those walls. If you seriously want a wall like that maybe you need a wall-building party at your place. I'm happy to attend and show you what to do, it's the amount of labor involved that scares me off a bit. it's getting hard to lift pieces of concrete without being pretty sore the following day. If there were enough people and some man-muscle, it would not be hard. We could do it in a day and then you could do the finish work at your leisure. I'll post a link to the thread when I find it.

Ditto, Gwen. Laurie is amazing.
Laurie, you really were there, girl, with your spirit and determination. I loved your rock with the interesting rift in it, beautifully signed. Mary made sure you were a part of everything we did.

This message was edited Aug 31, 2009 6:41 PM

To be sure! Did you notice the awesome copper beeches at Lakewold? Reminded me of Laurie the whole time we were there.

A little faun playing a drum.

My pictures of the Copper Beech were sadly out of focus. Here it is anyway. I think Mary has a better one.

Pixy, I'm definitely going to plan something for the wall. I will study the thread first and be absolutely prepared with all I can do in advance. I can also arrange lifting/muscle help.

At some point, I'll start a new thread about it. I want to post photos of the area that I want to do it in and get some ideas/advice from everyone. It's my largest 'problem' area, esp since it's in the one spot we can't get any heavy equipment into to help with moving earth, etc.

But that's all for another thread.

For those of you who have a lot of photos, you might want to set your computer to upload them to the photobucket site at night while you're sleeping.

It'll be great to have them all in one place. I have been 'organizing' and dragging them into the order of the weekend as I see them uploaded. I hope no one minds me doing that. I'm anal about stuff like that. ;)

Along that same part of the path were the Cyclamens popping up around the tree trunks.

Gwen, here is the link:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/617600/

Gwen, go for it!

Thanks for it info Gwen, But this was a hopefully point and shoot, no aiming or focusing. Came out better than I thought. LOL
My pics are so sambled , I should have not downloaded them all in 1 file. have to deleat them all and start over I can not find heads or tails of this. LOL 400 pics 3 chips. and in so many dif places I am going out of my mind. got to regourp and down load aging.

But at Pix's I love this shot, One of the best I think I have ever done. LOL

That IS a great shot of her pond. Don't you love it when thing turn out like that?

On our vacation this year, I was shooting photos in the very dark (it was our talent/no talent contest, so had to have them) and somehow my digital camera did some double/triple exposures. I have no idea how it happened. But this photo of my oldest juggling turned out pretty neat, imo.

I am very tired, At this time,. Tryed to do the Photo Bucket but did not work for. need a nap LOL
Could not belive I got them all home.

Pix, thanks for the link to instructions on the making of the sedum wall. Those always remind me of Gaudi. I would love to do a wall like that to make another garden bed by my classroom, but the maintenance supervisor told me anything I put in has to be removable so it can be "landscaped properly" in the future. Like the funding for that will (or should) ever come through when we can't get some of the things we need to just teach. Maybe I could get a grant for an artist in residence to do mosaics on the wall with the kids. Perhaps mosaics could be done on individual landscape wall blocks. That way the whole thing would be removable to fit the stipulations I have to work under.

Gwen, that is an incredible photo of the juggler.

Loving all these pics! Keep 'em coming! :D

For those who were asking where I got my little seed containers, I asked my MIL about it. She got them at Michaels! The brand is Loew Cornell. They come in blister packs of 19 and they're called "Storage cups". She also said they're very cheap, which makes me happy, because I want to buy lots more of them. LOL! I have no idea what section of the store to find them in, but since I wind up perusing dang near every aisle every time I go in there, I'm sure I'll find them. ;)

I want to give a really special round of applause, to all the cooks. You all out done yourselves. No Kidding !!!

Gwen, your Appetizer's where too good.
I can not fine the pic of you making them.
But I know you will Love this

Rach, Best burger's ever

I commented on Lynns now Sharon's. This garden is a walk into a world of cedars. You are blessed with an entrance of the world of John Muir. Her home is a perfect place to start your experience of the garden. As you enter the structure of wood and rock you are anxious to look out. The windows scream look at me and see my view! They open a forward glance of a painting with it framed with the thoughts and creation of Sharon and her lost husband. This is a collage of her garden and because you want close up I shall enhance this with them.

Looking out her windows from her kitchen, livingroom, office, facing the south you are begged to go to the bright openness of her rose garden. The walk way was built by her husband to let you see the roses as they reach out and caress you with their color and enhance the aroma of the cedars with their fragrance. This panorama was carved out of the woodlands all around.

Julie, I do not like salmon, All that much. But I will tell you this, I loved it. best I have ever tasted. Home front is mad cause I did not bring any home.

This look to the east is the colors of a foggy morning and a moment of peace. Not a sound (except the dogs playing with joy) meets your ears and I relished in the time alone here. They valley below lifted the fragrance of so many roses to my sences.

Being a tree person this cedar grabbed me next. It sits outside her home and is covered with miniscule cones of detail and color of life. Looking up through them I was wanting to lay down and focus. But knowing I had to walk the bridge I went there next.

I moved around the cedar and there was another place to sit and focus on a glacial erratic next to the house but I needed to head down to see the palasaide of Roses.

I was torn between choosing the boardwalk or to scalmper amongst each rose to see who was making my nose scream with delight. Yes I took time to smell the roses and almost each one was fragrant. So they all were my purpose.

This is what drives the roses to Sharons home. The valley below was rich with texture and life of "The Big Gardener". Cool breezes carried the essence of Cedar, Fir and Manure! I knew we being gardeners recieve life from all.

As I climbed back to the house I rested with this glacial erratic that gave me pause and peace. It enriched my moment of needed rest. I felt like becomming a toad and resting under the moss covered monolith. Snuggled up with a host of slugs to sing the songs of serenity.

I ran into a group of Latin speaking people telling the names of each herbacious dowager. (known as a gaggle of girls) I stayed away preferring to photograph the sounds that were absent. I could not capture the silence.

Instead I lounged and loved the essence of isolation that this seat gave me.

The next area we were blessed to eat and glance into this magical space filled with orbs of wonder. I fell in love with a small fairy who smiled and told me stories of the forest. She warmed my heart.