English Roses & Promises

In the Promise Gardens, rose promises come true.  Our English roses are successful here because 1) they are loved and cared for 2) the have a healthy garden environment and 3) they are David Austin Roses.

We have over 250 roses and 70 are English roses and we absolutely love their prolific blooming and rambling look of pleasant softness and sweet aroma.  They are an integral part of our rose gardens.

Pictured here is Skylark…a beautiful luminous pink that is perfect in the garden and next to lavender, white peonies and lime green/silver foliage a knock-out color combination that will wow both outdoors and indoors.  The description of this lovely rose is here.

Visit David Austin Roses and you will see why I love them so!

Spring Garden Design

We are excited for the gardening season as we see spring bulbs popping out of the ground and buds on flowering trees.  These colors are wonderful and helpful as we create the color for our design this year in our annuals and container gardening.  We like the pinks, purples, whites with various hues of light green for this year’s plan.  Looking at images of flowers, strolling through garden centers and perusing flower catalogs are a great way to create your spring garden palette.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Garden Views & Outdoor Studios (via Jay&Jacy Photography)

Garden Views & Outdoor Studios Our favorite time of year is spring/summer/fall when our Promise Gardens are in bloom which serves as our outdoor studio.  It does not get better than this to shoot landscape, nature, portraits, bridal, engagement, teens, children, families and those fun and funky photos in natural light of day, blue hour and sunset with the beautiful natural backdrop of creation.   Each year we dress the outdoor studio in its finery for our Rose & Garden Sho … Read More

via Jay&Jacy Photography

Gorgeous Free Garden Plans

It’s Spring and that means gardening, flowers and new garden beds that provide a beautiful backdrop to your landscape and great curb appeal.  Country Living has excellent plans that you can download in free pdf form.  These plans will excite you for the ease and beauty and transform that tired garden into a jaw-dropping, eye-popping feast for the eyes.   County Living Garden Plans

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Beautiful Container Gardens

Do you love container gardening?  Looking for a way to beautify your gardens with your favorites and keep the critters out?  Do you have limited garden space?  If you answered yes to these questions, consider the wonderful ways you can dress up your gardens, porch, deck, patio and more with a plethora of different plants and flowers in containers.  I have always loved them because I love vases filled indoors and urns outdoors so they were a sure bet for me in my Promise Gardens.  I have everything in them from roses, flowering shrubs, perennials, annuals, tropicals and more.  In the summer, I fill large containers with tomato, squash, lettuce, cucumbers, peppers and herbs.  All of these plants and vegetables grow beautifully and they are easy to water, feed and protect from disease and insects.  They are just the best and their use and creativity is limitless.

This container and its twin sit in “pie-shaped” twin gardens on each side of my porch stairs.  They contain floribunda roses, perennials, annuals, grasses, trailing vines and many other plants.  Each year I choose different plants and create a new look for the season and transfer the previous years plants to the main Promise Gardens to spread and supply me with future container plants.  It is pure joy to create and photograph them and during our flower and garden show to share them with friends and family.  

One of the first questions I am asked about the containers when folks come to visit the gardens or see photographs of them is “how do I create them?” and where can they learn to do it.   I share my favorite books and sites with them (see links on tab above).  My favorite container gardening book is P. Allen Smith’s “Container Gardening” and was the inspiration for my twin containers above.    You can visit his website to see photos, videos and recipes for container gardening.  The book is a “must-have” for your gardening bookshelf and will inspire you to create beautiful containers for your home and gardens.

We will be sharing many of our container photographs and recipes over the seasons.  Be sure and come back and visit us.  Happy Container Gardening!