This is just lovely. You must get immense enjoyment out of such a tranquil environment.
Did you begin the garden from scratch? If so, did you create a master plan or did it evolve “room by room”? How old is the most established space?
I’ve never lived in one spot for longer than 7 years. I’ve always begun gardens and immediately tried to establish the backbones. Just have never been there long enough to see it to maturity. But how wonderful to have cared for a garden over the years!
Today, I also worked on the west garden, access from a small porch
where there are 2 sculpturesHere is a another garden room , i have to gone there to pull weeds between the cobbles. I have to use surgical instruments ( hemostat, kelly, to pull out weeds between the cobbles if they are too big.
My driveway is granite and cobbles, so is my entrance courtyard. I only worked on 50% last week.May have to spray
so, naf, these are only part of my very time consuming garden.
I have not even began to prune
We bought our property 1972, within a month after Bill and I got married. It is a lovely property, 3.5 acre , pie shaped, over 900 feet of waterfront, being on the river , and cove on another side .Started planning, architect etc etc. Being custom, lots of problem. Finally moved in 1979 when we started planning our garden. One step at a time. By 1986, we finally located salvaged granite and cobblestone from a neighbor who was a stone contractor, mainly government projects. In went the granite driveway and courtyard, which took 3 years. Then, we started collecting sculptures for the garden, mainly marbles, then by 1996, we decided to visit McDonald in Carmel bec of his 18 ft bronze at Olympics in Georgia. Instead, we discovered Eichinger , and gradually commissioned 11 sculptures from him . Most of them are large( 7" tallest, 12 ft widest) for outdoor but 5 pieces were indoor, also relatively large . My husband retired 1992, started rebuilding the terraces which were railroad ties after a short stint with stone contractors from the area, and then, bringing them in from Va . We felt he would enjoy it more, cost less money, and thus, the garden slowly evolve thru all those years. We planted rare and unusual conifers, boxwood, camellias, cherry trees lined the driveway , japanese maples as the backbone, then, usually mass everything, at least 40 of peonies, 40 camellias.
Problem is now I have to keep up by myself as my son is not interested while labor here is very expensive. There are no teenagers to help pull weeds and hispanics has to come from Va, have to pay travel and gas etc etc which is not affordable now i ma retired.
I hardly want to spray as not only is the spryer difficult for my shoulders but I have now 2 beautiful emotional support pomeranians who are my constant companion in the garden and everywhere. I do not wish to have them be exposed to pesticide.
It has been difficult, with climate change, harsh weather and of course, residing in the buffer zone ( within 100 ft) of a critical area as the Patuxent River is a scenic river that is only within Maryland and the County keep a very close eye on what I plant, not able to dump weeds at the recycle center as in Va , not allowed to cut down trees even if they are dead without permission and on the waterfront, not allowed to remove trees that fell if any part of the tree fall into the water as they want the count to be the way it was when John Smith discovered it in 1608 while mapping the upper chesapeake bay.
Gardening gives me solace with carbon prints everywhere of my husband.
Very impressive and beautiful garden! But only you are working on it? Did your son participate or has any interest? That’s a lot of work!!!
I like a lot the part with the pond, did it exist before you bought the house?
So beautiful! I only ever see those in flower arrangements.
I walked out on the back porch tonight and thought I was imaging things, but I smelled something beautiful. My night jasmine is blooming again!
It’s been three or four years since it flowered, but last year I had the gardener cut it back brutally because it was yellowish and had some kind of bug. Apparently that cut back was all it needed. I bought this as a 6 inch plant when my son was young, and it grew to about 10 feet, and now it is blooming again. I’m so happy. 
It looks very well now! It likes drastic pruning, like my roses.
Beautiful! Although I still have flashbacks from an old relationship with Mexican Evening Primrose. On my never again list.
Here’s my one camelia.
Do you mind taking another photo when the orchid blooms? Are they wild species? I bought my first outdoor orchid Bletilla Striata this year, waiting to see how they will be doing…
Gee…I don’t know…
@naf Here’s the first bloom;
if yo9u mean evening primrose like the ones at Lady Bird Johnson’s garden near the pentagon. I love i but beame invasive. ( see the pictures posted), I do not mind it in this garden room but it was popping up in my8 boxwood beds! I spent 2 years trying to eradicate the. Not completely gone, but more manageable
Used to grow orchids in my sun room
However, had a hard time bec every weekend, I have to run each pot under the tap water for 5-10 minutes to flush out the minerals, Finally, I gave up as there were too many pots involved. Same with Bougainvillea. They were in my sunroom as I am in the east coast.
I just found out that my chocolate cherry allamandas are dead after we took it out of the pool room a few days ago. It is the second one and so, both of them died. Heartbroken bu I am getting too old to have all those plants . Have to cut down my inventory
Nice!
The is the one I mean;
[http://www.bewaterwise.com/Gardensoft/plant_description.aspx?PlantID=1559](http://
Oenothera or something like that. )
Thanks shrinkrap! They are Cymbidium, I like the colours. Mine usually flourishes from winter till late spring each year. I should repot them now and eliminate some old bulbs, the plant is now becoming too big to handle.
A lot of catching up work in gardening, I wish I had that 8 hours a day like ccj.
yes, they are the same
Oenothera is known b8y a lot of common names, mexican primrose being one of them
It is beautiful massed but it pops up everywhere including in my beds where i have formal plants and shrubs. The other reason is I love my minor bulbs and they tend not to be covered . I also love all the stones that my husband had placed strategically here and there.I find that they8a re also covered.
Ah, but I am not retired and there is just too much to do without help
Unfortunately, the garden was planned without thinking that one of these days, when retired, and have limited income, one cannot afford a full time gardener .
So, I am trying my best
A lot of work, but you have passion.
The other day on tv, they were talking about a lady 80 years old still caring for her garden. She woke up 3 times a night to water the roses when it was too hot. Although I am sure she doesn’t work alone in her garden, since you can buy ticket to visit the place. Maybe you have heard about her Odile Masquelier - Jardin de la bonne maison. She has all the varieties of old roses.
