Dirt Queen's Garden Transformation

My parent's bought this house 3 years ago, there wasn't much landscaping. Just your basic, "make it look pretty enough to sell the house" landscaping. Before they moved here, they had a 2 story house on 4 acres. That was the house I grew up in...well I say I grew up in it. We moved there when I was 10 years old.....and to me....I grew up in it. It was beautiful, way off the road, back in the woods, and the yard was amazing......sigh......When you sat out on the back porch you looked at woods, not another house, and I like to look at woods. It didn't hurt that the house had A LOT of storage!!! Plenty of room for all my junk.

I loved that house.

Moving along......My parent's bought this house. The Dirt Queen (my mom) immediately began to work on the garden. Over the past three years I have taken a few pictures of her garden as she transformed it. I wanted to share them with ya'll so you can see it to :-)

 

This was the first year they moved in. The flower bed to the right was one of the first ones she created. I would come over to their house and she would have a entirely new flower bed finished, and it would look like it had been there for 2 or 3 years!!!



The second year Dirt Queen had this pergola built. This photo was taken at Easter last year.



She made a few small raised beds for herbs, and continued to add more flower beds.

This is from the second year

Also the second year....

 

And last photo from the second year (above).

The Dirt Queen is retired.....and she stays out in the yard. My current office is upstairs in their bonus room. Their house phone rings all day....and she never answers, because she is always outside. I want to change their answering machine and ask people to call between 7pm and 9pm. You might be able to catch her on a lunch break, or on her cell phone when she runs into town to pick up the mail. Other than that....you can forget it. (If you are one of those people trying to call during daylight hours, please hang up and try again when it gets dark)

All the time she spends in the garden has been well worth the effort, and after three years.....this is how it looks now..........

Don't mind that horse/dog. His name is Zack, but I call him Snuffleupagus...the Sesame Street character. I don't know why, but Zack reminds me of Snuffleupagus. Zack is an Airdale, and he is huge (he weighs 110lbs).

 

Until last week, he slept on the couch on the back porch!!! On the cushions, and would actually lay his head on the pillow. It was cute for about a day or two. Then when we realized that our rear-ends were covered with dog hair when we sat down, and the cushions weren't going to last very long. Needless to say, Zack had to find another bed.



Back to the garden....

The yellow string is there to keep Snuffleupagus out of the flower beds.

Notice the cushions draped over the chairs, he won't lay on the couch if there is no cushion.

Yes, that is a deer head on the fence. I found it in the woods this past hunting season.

 

Hydrangea's will soon be blooming.

Knockout Rose

This rose came from Petals from the Past. American Beauty Climber from 1909.

This is Lilac, and I had never seen it grow here, but apparently it will.

Clematis

 

She just planted this wisteria vine on the pergola a few weeks ago and it has tiny little buds on it already. The pergola will be gorgeous next year when the wisteria begins to cover it.

The weather here has been gorgeous! The low today is 62 degrees, and the high is 80 degrees. I am debating on going outside to get some sun. I usually have a good yard tan by this time. I think I will go work on my tan....I can work tonight!