Monday, May 2, 2011

Garden Tour #1 - So Peaceful!

The Smith County Master Gardeners held their annual Home Garden Tour this past Saturday.  It was to be held rain or shine.  But the weather was perfect.  The clouds were thick enough to block the hot rays of the sun, yet not thick enough to rain.  And the gardens?  Amazing!  Each with their own distinct personality.

There were five gardens on the tour and I would love to share them with you in a series.  This is the first of that series.

I will start with the Kindig Garden, a garden where I found myself not wanting to leave!  Enjoy!

This garden had a lot of beds separated by grass walking paths.  The beds were lined in rocks.  It was a place you could walk for hours, or just sit and enjoy.

It was a shady garden, with pockets of light for some sun-loving plants.

Isn't this the most unusual arbor?  Loved it!  Want one like it?  It's a round hay bale feeder.  Very creative.  And the landing underneath had different symbols in the concrete pertaining to their cattle ranch.

Yes, I said cattle ranch!  See why the bale feeder arbor fit in so well?

There was water in several areas, used in different ways.

This was a perfect spot for a morning cup or coffee, or evening glass of wine.

'Anthony Waterer' spirea, oakleaf hydrangea, and I believe those are poppies in back.  Not like any I've ever seen, but the stems and pods led me to believe they were poppies.

More pathways.  I was torn trying to figure out which way to go.  I didn't want to miss anything!

She relied upon foliage form and texture for interest.  In case you don't know, using different foliage texture makes the most interesting gardens.

The beds in this garden were very large.  I overhead someone wondering how she weeded in the middle!

All connected with different pathways, I found this garden to be a place I could stay in indefinitely.  Although it was mostly shady, with not a lot in bloom, the foliage was interesting, there was a feeling of calm, and the views overlooking the cattle ranch were incredible!

I hope you enjoyed the tour!

17 comments:

  1. What a lovely garden...I do believe those are the double flowering poppies..? Looking forward to seeing the other gardens you visited.

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  2. Beautiful - and I love that hay bale arbor!

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  3. What a fantastic garden and how lucky to be able to view it. I love seeing photos of garden tours, so many ingenius ideas out there and styles.

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  4. Love it! It's so much fun to tour gardens. We have quite a few tours coming up in the next couple of weeks. The arbor idea is a good one!

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  5. Darla - I believe you're right. I had never seen the double flowering ones before, but I knew they had to be poppies of some kind. They were gorgeous! Thanks for the identification.

    Ginny - I loved the arbor, too. Very creative - and it fit this garden perfectly.

    Marguerite - I just loved seeing all the different personalities in each garden. And yes, so full of ideas and new (to me) plants.

    Cat - I hope it's good weather for your tours. I was quite lucky it was such pleasant weather for this one. I imagine they had a lot of these feeders, but it really is an economical and easy idea for an arbor!

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  6. What a lovely garden filled with variety, color, joy of life, and I love that arbor.

    FlowerLady

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  7. I've just found your blog, and I'm glad I did! Love the hay rack arbor, what a creative idea. The garden is beautiful with all the manicured pathways and gorgeous flowers. Looking forward to your next in the series.

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  8. Beautiful gardens. I love the idea of the round hay bale feeder as an arbor...and it fits in so well.

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  9. FlowerLady - It was a very pleasant, yet visually interesting garden. Very well done.

    Karen - Welcome! I thought the hay feeder arbor very creative, too. I would have never thought of it, but it was the perfect size. The other gardens in the series are all so different, but each full of wonder. Thanks for commenting.

    Sage Butterfly - And I loved that they included symbols of their cattle ranch in the landing! Just the right touch.

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  10. What a beautiful garden, thanks for the tour! I love the meandering paths, the grasses and the hydrangea. It is always such a treat to see someone else's garden. I hope one day soon you will do a tour of yours :).

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  11. Beautiful tour and garden. It really is a large garden with a lot of variety of plants and paths.

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  12. I do love garden tours! I'm glad I didn't miss this one! I like the pathways and the use of grasses. Thank you!!!

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  13. The garden was very beautiful, thanks for sharing. I want a hay baler arbor.

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  14. Thanks for sharing your tour, I felt I was with you. Christina

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  15. Masha - It is a treat to see what others have done in their garden, and the way they incorporate their personality. I have been thinking about a virtual garden tour of my garden - but I'm not finished with it yet!

    GWGT - Glad you enjoyed it. It was a great walking garden.

    Tanyana - I wondered about the rock that surrounded the beds - if it was found on their property, or brought in. Very natural looking.

    Carolyn - I want one, too!

    Christina - I'm glad you got a sense of the place. Though I didn't show much of the trees, there were a lot of them, and they too bring year-round interest to the garden.

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  16. What a treat, I too would have enjoyed a walk round a garden such as this. Your quite correct, foliage plays such an important part in the overall look of a garden, large or small. I will look forward to the other gardens, is the tour in the form of a competition.

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  17. Alistair - Yes, right now most gardens here are in that 'in between' stage of blooming, so foliage was very noticeable. No, I don't believe the tour was any type of competition. It was a way of bringing more awareness to the master gardeners organization here, and to raise funds for their other projects (there was a small fee to tour). This was their 12th annual tour.

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