Beyond The Garden Gate: Summer Tea in the garden

Monday, February 27, 2012

Summer Tea in the garden

Welcome to my summer garden! I thought we could have tea there.

When visiting a friend last year, I admired this cup, saucer and spoon in her garden...and she GAVE it to me! She used an industrial strength glue to adhere the cup and spoon to the saucer, as well as a metal piece on the bottom to which a pole could be attached. Some people use these as birdfeeders.

This would be a lovely spot for tea.

Or perhaps you'd prefer the view here.

Another option: the porch swing.

This spot is FRAGRANT! See the stargazer lilies right behind the table?

This spot is shady; it'd be cooler. It's on the patio, under the deck and by a small hosta bed.

Now that you're here, how about a little garden tour?

We'll start with a bird's eye view from the deck.

We call these the border beds. This is right out the walk-out basement door and is fenced on three sides. The cottage garden is on the other side of the fence to the east (to the right of the border beds in the photos), and the lawn, garden shed, raspberry bed and hosta farm is to the north.

Other side of the border bed - peek over the fence for a view of the cottage garden.

When we moved to this property, there was a 16 x 32 foot above ground swimming pool here. It was surrounded by a deck and fence. We enjoyed it for several years, but as the kids grew up it just wasn't quite as much fun. We removed the pool in 2002. By 2003, we had a MAJOR weed patch here.

I began removing the weeds in 2003 and making plans for a cottage garden. Here you see the west side. You can see the fence; on the other side of the fence is my border garden. Toward the back (north) is my raspberry patch.

Close up view, same location.

Heading east. The fence you see here is our neighbor's, and the area of pine straw and a few plants was yard in the spring. We decided to expand the garden. (Actually, we've planted and expanded twice since these photos were taken in July 2010.)