My Backyard

7/24/2023

I currently have a lot going on doll-wise, but I still take time every morning to check out our backyard, water the plants, and dead-head spent flowers. So I took some photos...

Well....back to my sewing.....

Sara

7/24/2023 03:04:09 pm

All of your garden is gorgeous! I like the little white star shaped flowers especially. What are they called?

Resinrapture

7/24/2023 03:18:13 pm

Hoya carnosa. They smell lovely as well. I only knew them as house plants.

Martha

7/24/2023 03:44:12 pm

It's one of my Hoyas. It's a huge plant that hangs in our stairwell most of the year, but it gets hung out under the back porch all summer, and then it sends out lots of flowers clusters.

Resinrapture

7/24/2023 03:16:17 pm

Your garden is lovely. And I had to smile when I saw that we seem to love the same flowers. Phlox, day lilies, calibrachoa... I have my hoya indoors, they wouldn't survive our winters.

Martha

7/24/2023 03:49:42 pm

Thanks. It's very shady so I mostly rely on hostas, fuchsias and impatiens. I buy several baskets of million bells (calibrachoa) every spring mainly to use for background flowers in doll photos.

My Hoya only spends the summers outside in the shade under the porch, and goes back inside in fall. It wouldn't survive our winters either.

Resinrapture

7/24/2023 04:38:09 pm

Good to know, maybe I can give one of mine a little outing. :)

Donna

7/24/2023 04:20:49 pm

Your garden is so beautiful! It is how I picture a Secret Garden might look.

Martha

7/25/2023 11:19:13 am

Thanks. We enjoy it.

Dorothy

7/24/2023 05:11:18 pm

Your garden is incredible. I can see why the fairies love to spend time there. It is truly magical.

Martha

7/25/2023 11:23:18 am

Thanks. It's nice and colourful, but not very good for doll photos, as the flowers and leaves are way too bog out of scale for anything except fairies (where it doesn't matter)

For the realistic MSD size dolls the garden can only be used in the distance with forced perspective, and then it works. But that's in just one direction from off the patio.

designdreamer

7/25/2023 11:09:08 am

WOW! So gorgeous! You are SOOOO talented! Hubby recently started a vegetable raised garden bed (after recently replacing many of the plants in our yard - we're in AZ) We both grew up in the midwest. I grew up on a dairy farm, and my mom grew beautiful flowers and lots of vegetable, and strawberries and raspberries, and of course dad grew lots of crops. The planting gene didn't pass down to me evidently, although the soil in AZ in a whole different thing in AZ!! Anyway some of our re-planted flowers in our yard are having a tough time in this heat, and some of vegetables are not surviving transplanting sigh. I guess we'll see in a month or so. LOVE the lilies!

Martha

7/25/2023 11:33:13 am

Thanks. We've just learned what plants will work in our shady backyard, and gave up trying to plant our favourite flowers. There's several shade-tolerant perennials which bloom for short periods, but for season long colour, we plant impatiens in large pots which get placed among the hostas. And I always buy several pots of million bells for doll photo backgrounds.

I can imagine gardening in Arizona would be extremely challenging, all depending on where in Arizona, unless one stuck with native plants. We've visited Arizona a few times, and have been to the Phoenix Botanical Gardens twice. It only has native plants and was quite beautiful.

Cathryn Manning

7/27/2023 01:20:57 am

Martha, your garden is so enchanting and exquisite. Is there anything you cannot do to perfection? I think I would hang out there all day! The colors are so vibrant and rich. I wanted to mention also thatI have been enjoying going through some of your travel pictures. You are amazingly well-traveled. I was delighted to see you had traveled through my state of Utah. I am very proud of all the natural beauty here and love our canyons. Since I am currently reading Tony Hillerman’s books, I enjoyed seeing your Southwest pictures, especially on the Navajo Reservation. Then went back to study your Native costumes. There’s always something of great interest to me on your blog! It’s a gift, Martha.

Martha

7/27/2023 06:52:24 am

Thank you so much. I love flowers, but over the years as the trees matured and the backyard became more and more covered in shade, none of my favourites would grow anymore. So now we just do the best we can with what works, and that's putting large pots right in among the hosts to provide colour.

We love to travel, but prefer the solitude of exploring Canada and the USA by RV. We've explored back and forth across both countries several times over the years. My all time favourite places are Newfoundland, the Canadian Rockies, the US Southwest, and the red rocks of Georgian Bay.

I love Utah. It has the most amazing varied landscapes and scenery. We've been several times, although not since 2016.

designdreamer

9/3/2023 10:39:43 am

What an absolutely BEAUTIFUL backyard!

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