Welcome to our garden! This is the first in a series where you can explore, learn, and be inspired.
This tour is of the space we call the Breakfast Garden. It's on the East side of the house, and gets some of the best early morning light. I love to sit here with my morning coffee and watch the birds go about their day.
This used to be the end of the driveway, paved with asphalt, and a patch of dead grass beside it. With a bunch of repurposed flagstones, we turned this space into a peaceful retreat that is a refuge for wildlife.
The first photo, above, is of an angel wing begonia called My Special Angel. They're amazing plants with their little spots. And they can grow very large.
Next is the same plant, with some other begonias around it. The purple leafed plant between them is a self-seeding coleus that sprouts up all over. It's a great filler, and we just remove it where we don't want it.
Behind the begonias we have a birdbath in a shady spot under a privet bush. This bath is perfect because it allows the birds to stand on the raised area in the center. Our other bath is deep with steep sides, and they don't like that one as much. In front of the bath is a coleus we grew from seed. This great way to save money on annuals and make a statement in your garden.
Around the bath we grow columbine in the spring, along with some tulips. The chartreuse plant is a variety of impatiens. The ligularia makes its appearance in late spring with wide, tall, purple leaves. I loved it so much I bought a few more. The contrasting color and tall structure add so much to the garden. This variety is called Golden Ray. In late summer, beautiful glowing blooms rise from the mound of leaves.
Here's what that looked like on August 17:
Looking up, you can see the sun just peaking over the trees. Imagine sinking back into your robe and taking a long sip of steaming coffee.
That pretty pink flower you see above is a dahlia. We have several of these, and they were in their full glory a couple weeks ago:
Rising above the dahlias is a tall topiary Bay tree. It lives in a basement window over the winter. This was its last day outside until next May. Fresh Bay is so much better than dried. But, it's prone to pests, so that's one of the reasons it's in the basement.
Here is a closeup of the tasty leaves:
To the left is a patch of zinnias:
And the second blooming of the delphiniums. What a stunning flower!:
In the center of the garden we have a small bistro table. There's not a lot of room to put your plate, but just enough for a cup of coffee.
On the table is a pilea peperomiodes, which is fun enough to say, then to look at!
Oh, and here's stan. He likes to chase the shrews around the garden.
The opposite side of the garden has a shallow bed where we have some ferns, and some colocasias. Not sure where these are going to go in the winter, but they sure look good here.
In the front you can see some greenery poking up from the patio stones.
It's a nicotiana that grew here on its own. Have you ever smelled these? At sundown they emit the most fragrant perfume. So what if it's in the middle of the patio. It found a way, and we let it flourish. To the left of the nicotiana is a papyrus. And to to the left of that is a fountain, hidden by a bunch of potted plants:
This is the fountain, hiding within:
Here is a bird's eye view:
And this is what we get to see from the kitchen:
I hope you enjoyed this tour, and found some inspiration for your own spaces. Let me know what you think!