Not Your Ordinary Garden Post

Every day, when I look out my kitchen window, I get to see this:

 Pretty flowers all around. You can sort of see my knot garden. There is an identical one on the other side of the steps. Traditionally, most English knot gardens are made with herbs. Mine is comprised of boxwoods around the outside and---now I forget the name---red and chartreuse---intertwined on the inside. The best view is from the bedrooms upstairs where you get a full view of the design.

 The purple to the right of the hydrangea is called Russian sage. It's a little to wild and free-flowing for my taste, but I have such a large space, it'll do.

 The hydrangea are either Tardiva or Peegee. I studied which hydrangeas do the best here in Middle Tennessee. I planted one of each on either side of the back bed. Only one lived, but I didn't which it was. A quick internet search tells me they are the peegees.

 This is the view of the patio looking back from the pool.

The English ivy just about takes over the house every year. We have it cut back severely just so it stays off the windows and doesn't ruin the gutters. I like the looks of greenery softening all that brick, but I don't like the spider webs all through it. I used to take the broom and literally sweep them away, but it's much too big of a job these days. I do like  that nearly every spring, the birds build nests in it.

 White and hot pink crape myrtles border the pool.

 This is called creeping Jenny. I love the looks of it---and it's been the perfect thing for these hot/dry concrete planters. But, the foliage completely covers the ornate detail of the pots.

And then, of course, we get to see the turkeys every day. They are pretty messy, but still it's fun to have them around. I do enjoy picking up the variety of feathers they leave behind. In fact, I stick them in to the ground and call it my feather garden. I saw Nicky and Greg looking at it. Shortly thereafter, the feather garden was all smushed and destroyed. I accused "the boys" of vandalizing it. Turns out the turkeys did it! I don't know if they thought it was some rival turkeys or what. Luckily for us, they have not done a lot of damage, but they have nearly destroyed the neighbors backyard. Still, I might just have to put up with that to have them around. They are just so much fun to see. We didn't see any toms this year.

Last year, they nested in the trees in my shade garden. The trees there are 40-50 feet tall. We had no idea they could fly up that high. Once they were up there, you could NOT see them. It was amazing--that birds this huge could hide so easily in the tops of the trees.

I'm enjoying the last of the days in the garden because it soon will be over. It's about that time to put stuff away and prepare for winter. One of the things that I love about the south is our very long growing season. We really only have about 3 months of cold weather. That's why my fish are safe too.

How does your garden grow?