GET FREE GARDEN DESIGN IDEAS

It has finally stopped raining here and dried out! Of course it will be so dry soon we will be dragging out the water hoses!  I am sharing photos from Biedenharn Gardens in Louisiana. I recently visited here-while it was too wet to do anything else. I hope you can get some inspiration
for things to do in your garden-just maybe not on such a grand scale.

I love this combination of the lime green and coral color!

You could put your favorite piece of yard art in a bed of impatients, too.

O.K., so this is a little grand for most gardens, but do-able(is this a word?-lol) on a smaller scale.

All this is, is grouping pots with the same color flowers together in front of a green background-anyone can do this. It sure makes a bigger impact, than pots scattered everywhere.

How is this for a low maintenance garden? Pea gravel is used here, but you could probably use crushed granite-a cheaper option. All the maintenance needed here would be spraying the occasional weed that popped up. Notice how the pots are grouped together-more impact! I hope this gives you ideas. When you have down time in your own garden, go visit public gardens, there are tons of free ideas out there!

YEAR OF THE ROSES

One good thing about all of this rain and cool weather is that the roses are spectacular this year! Otherwise it is so soggy outside, nothing much can be done in the garden. Most vegetable gardens will be late or nonexistent this year. Weeds are rampant!. Well if it ever dries up and warms up-get out the weed killer.

Master Gardener Area Meeting

Recently attended an area Master Gardener meeting in Rankin County. Paula won this door arrangement. It was made of elm branches and covered with fresh flowers-of course you could put silk on it.

This was another arrangement that was demonstrated and given away. This one was on a piece of driftwood.

There was a lovely demo on fairy gardens-as they seem to be the big trend now.

RANDOM MG HAPPENINGS

Our newest Master Gardener (in the middle of the photo) is already hard at work on those volunteer hours. He even talked the County Director and the Nutritionist into helping.!

The snowball tree in  my front yard is spectacular this year!

A beautiful vignette in MG Judy's garden. We are putting the finishing touches on our yearly Green Thumbs in the Park program, more on that later.

THINGS ARE POPPIN AROUND HERE

Things are beginning to pop around here. We have had such a terrible month for working in the yard/gardens. Our part of the state has had lots of rain and it never seems to dry out before the next one comes. A lot of yard work this month has been done sloshing around in rain boots.

I love these old azaleas, they get huge! I think this is Pride of Mobile.

One small branch is a bouquet.

The snowball tree is getting ready to put on a show.

And the strawberries this year are wonderful. These are from one of our Master Gardeners farm.

EVER TRIED SWISS CHARD?

Been eating lots of this good stuff! If you have never grown swiss chard, I think you will love the taste. I plant in the fall and it grows all winter and well into summer. I have grown if for years to use in floral arrangements but never had eaten any until this year.I joined The Southern Gardener group on Facebook and several people mentioned how delicious and good for you it was. They were right -I love it and am planning a larger crop this fall!

MORE RAIN PREDICTED

I hope it has dried out enough for everyone to get in their gardens.I have lots of seedlings up in the greenhouse, though they need a little more size on them before planting out. Some people have their vegetables gardens planted already.I have been spending time getting all the grass out of my flower beds. I have never had such a crop of grass before! Getting lots of fresh lettuce and swiss chard to eat-it has been delicious. Well more rain predicted for Wednesday and Thursday, so it will be another several days before it is dry again! Some gardens will be late this year.