THE ACCIDENTAL GARDEN

[smitcompton]

Hi,

Many years ago, I planted daisies in my garden surrounding a small fountain. Every June they appear, and I can see them through my patio doors when I wake-up each morning. After the flowers are spent, they are cut back to rebuild the plant for rebirth next spring. Daisies must be planted from seed and cannot be transplanted.
My good neighbor cuts my grass and on his initial cut, cut my daisies as they were emerging from the ground. He just thought they were grass or weeds. Oh, I could have cried. I didn't know if they would come back.
I watched eagerly the following year for signs my daisies would return. To my surprise the circle of daisies had widened out in other directions.
By cutting them the seeds were spread over a large part of my small garden. Daisies were everywhere. My neighbor learned--no cutting until they are spent. He cut them back and we just left the garden to restore the plants for next year. I love the white next to the green.
Within 2 or 3 weeks white flowers began to appear in the spots where my daises had been. I realized they were wild flowers called Queen Annes Lace. So, from a mistaken cut, I reaped a whole season of white flowers all over my garden. I was so pleased. They are beginning to fade now, but they bring me joy. From daisies to wild flowers. A'int life grand.

Annette
Any stories like this from you all.

 

[kenny]

I enjoyed reading about this sweet moment in your life.

 

[Calliecake]

Oh Annette, I too loved reading this. What a beautiful surprise. Flowers can really brighten your day. They brighten my day. I love the look of white flowers against green.

Daisy’s will pop up all over near where they are planted. Our neighbor had planted them years ago. After a few years they had a whole area completely filled with daisy‘s. I have a garden of rose knockouts and occasionally a daisy would pop up in the middle of the roses.

 

[Matata]

You are fortunate. Most of my accidental garden comes from weed seeds pooped out by birds, the wretches

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I have a weed problem as well, but not in the grassy area, but around the perimeter. My garden has been neglected for several years and this year I promised myself I would hire a landscaping company to clean up the place. I got 2 mailers that advertised they could do the work including other things I needed done. Neither company would even call back. So, again I called on my Mexican immigrant neighbor, named Rene, who has a daughter named Giselle and asked him if he would consider doing the work. He consulted his wife, speaking in Spanish, and she translated that he was afraid of making a mistake and I wouldn't like him anymore. You see, we are both afraid to lose the good relationship we have as neighbors. Hey, I thought he killed my daisies, and I still liked him. We agreed we would continue liking one another even if mistakes were made.(this is true)

So, I began to rebuild the garden with Rene's muscle. We divided plants and rhizomes and moved them around the garden for next year's blooming. I thought I was the teacher and he was the student. On one of the afternoons, he looked up at me and said, "I will always remember gardening with Annette." I thought to myself, not a bad thing to be remembered for. The garden has been good to me this year.
Something good came to the garden. Weeds are gone, harmony is restored.

Annette

 

[Austina]

My late MIL gave me a couple of Lily of the Valley plants, they were her favourite. I planted them under a tree, and watched as each year they multiplied and bloomed.

When we were planting our garden in the last house, I ordered lots of hybrid tea roses, and got a free hydrangea. I didn’t hold out much hope for it, it looked like a 12” dead stick, but nevertheless, I planted it. Over the years it started to grow, and by the time we left that house 11 1/2 laters, the blooms were enormous, the size of a human head.

This was another one of my dead stick, give it a chance plants, a Clematis.

 

[monarch64]

I’ve had petunias self-seed between pavers several times, and come up again in the same planters even though they’re annuals here. I just took a trip through my Instagram because it happens to have several shots of volunteer petunias and found lots of fun, cheery things that remind me of good gardening times. When I have an especially good plant or flower, I like to paint it. I’m no artist, but I have fun with it. My daughter and I used to paint flowers from the garden together. Also including a recent pic of her I took because her outfit matched the petunias in the planters we were near. I told her to look fierce and pose, I swear that’s not her normal expression. Haha

 

[monarch64]

Oh! And your thread title reminded me of this absolutely beautiful book that was given to my daughter several years ago by a fellow gardener. It’s called The Curious Garden by Peter Brown. Gorgeous illustrations and a wonderful story. If anyone likes to give the children in their lives the gift of books, this one is fantastic.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

I’ve had petunias self-seed between pavers several times, and come up again in the same planters even though they’re annuals here. I just took a trip through my Instagram because it happens to have several shots of volunteer petunias and found lots of fun, cheery things that remind me of good gardening times. When I have an especially good plant or flower, I like to paint it. I’m no artist, but I have fun with it. My daughter and I used to paint flowers from the garden together. Also including a recent pic of her I took because her outfit matched the petunias in the planters we were near. I told her to look fierce and pose, I swear that’s not her normal expression. Haha

i love petunas
they smell like summer (not unlike tomato leaves)

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

we have this camailia out front and im sorry i cant posta picture right now as its covered in buds
i love camilais and i get so upset when people cut them down
i cant understand why anyone wouldnt love them ?

i know they make a bit of a mess if the flowers fall but a couple of years ago i was out walking and i saw a pink cloud fly up into the air and come down and a wee girl was playing in the fallen flowers - how can you not fall in love with than ?- she was like a flower fairy

anyway anywya so before we brought this house the owner had slashed and burned and cut down the cameilas
but a few months after we moved in one started to grow back
i watered it and talked about it, it was quite excitting

then Gary did weedkilling
i yelled and screamed and cried and cried - i really love cameilias
it was long term weedkiller and by the time i found out it was a week latter and it had been hot
i cried some more
then through the tears i thought and thought and cried some more
so i cut all the curling sick leaves back and i left the hose trickling on it hoping to wash the poison out of the soil
we are on pumpis soil here
ok it sounds wastful when ive been on that water consevation thread but it worked
i left the hose trickling for about two weeks -maybe a month...

so we have been here 5 years almost
its flowered a little bit the last two years
hidings its flowers on the inside of the bush like its afraid to draw attention to itself

but this years its covered in big fat red flower buds, like it knows its loved and its finally safe and to quote Bruce Springsteen, it aint no sin to be glad you are alive !

i ahve another traumatic camelia story too
again lots of tears and yelling and screaming
i planted this cameila under our bedroom window at our rented home in Wellington
we were allowed to garden and it was not a large growing one
i trimmed it so it would be just above the hight of the bedroom window so we could admire the pink blooms from bed
it was looking bl**dy spectacular one year and then i got home from work and the landlord had hired a bob cat and my cameiliai was gone
i found it two days latter drying in the sun, all bare roots on a huge mound of dirt out the front
again much crying
i plopped what was left in a bucket of water and cried for a week
there was just a stalk and some roots, hardly any green
on my next day off i planted it in Gary's tomato planter and hoped for the best

sure enough it grew back
it take take a few years to grow into a nice shape again

its outside by the heat pump thingy at the front door now, covered in blooms

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I love your stories. Austina, your clematis is beautiful. They are considered hard to grow around here. I want some lily of the valley. They grow in shade and they look so good mixed in with other flowers in a vase.
Monarch, It makes me smile to see your daughter matching the petunia. Of course she is more beautiful.

surprise, surprise Callie, one more thing in common.

I used to watch gardening shows on T.V , Martha Stuart had one and I remember one episode that made me laugh. She was showing a friend some roses in her garden. They were lovely. Her friend noticed there were no red roses in the rose garden. And Marthas response was a pinched up nose, and with some disdain she said, "Oh, red roses, they are soooo in your face. I would never have them in my garden," So, I learned there was a class system amongst the roses. Red is low class.

Daisy, keep loving those plants. You have a green thumb.

Annette

 

[Austina]

Thank you @smitcompton, they were in my English garden, they’d never survive the Texas heat.

I had lots of beautiful roses and clematis there.

 

[Austina]

You can see the size of the clematis against my hand

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,
Austina, how beautiful your garden must have been. Your Roses are so beautiful. I never knew the clematis could get so big. The English are certainly known for their wonderful gardens.
My brother married an English woman and lives there. One year when I was visiting my brother pulled me aside and told me that he and his wife have a contest every year. They are each responsible for creating a beautiful garden in the front of the house on half of the front property. My brother cheats. He goes to the nursery and buys new plants that always give a new punch to the garden. My sister-in-law tidies up the old flowers and thinks her half looks good. Then he swoops in with his new plants and out dazzles her half. This is all in good fun, and my brother loves doing it. He hides the plants from her. They have two greenhouses and a gardener, but my brother grows his own roses in the back yard as well. My mom grew roses and so we both like them, They are hard to grow as well.

My compliments to English men as they garden, and are interested in the home furnishings that only women in the US purchase. Cultures are different even when they appear to be similar.

I love fish and chips. Yes, I know this sentence doesn't belong.

Annette

 

[Austina]

We love fish & chips too @smitcompton We always had pickled onions with ours, and I can‘t find them here, so I had to make my own, and even if I do say so myself, they’ve turned out really well.

When we moved to our last house, everything was very neglected and overgrown, so we more or less had everything ripped out and started again. One day when we were out in the front garden, a nosy neighbour walked by and scoffed that we’d ‘never get roses to grow in that soil’. We always wondered if she ever walked by when they were all in bloom and choked on her words

At the side of the house we created raised beds, and it proved to be the perfect spot, everything there really thrived, we even had passion fruit growing.




It’s amazing how a few small pieces of Creeping Jenny soon spread!

This was how it started once we’d cleared it.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,
Do I spy a conservatory. My niece's new house has one.
I'm like the nosy neighbor.

Annette

 

[Austina]

It was an Orangery @smitcompton .Conservatories in England were more summer rooms, and were usually not heated. Ours was an all year room with underfloor heating and a roof ‘lantern’. We absolutely loved it, and lived in it.

 

[Calliecake]

@Austina, Your garden and yard look picture perfect and beautiful. Thank you posting the pictures. I loved the pictures that included sweet Dottie (tugs at my heart). That purple clematis is HUGE. Were they easy to grow where you used to live? A few other neighbors tried growing them here but unfortunately they didn’t thrive.

@smitcompton, I’ve had really good luck with rose knockouts, carpet roses and geraniums so I’ve stuck with them thru the years. I’m a cheat like your brother every spring. If a rose bush isn‘t looking well, I replace it. We only get a few months a year to enjoy flowers here and I want to enjoy every minute of it. We have a gardening service come out once a year in early summer and do the deep edging, replace plants that haven’t made it thru the winter, and put down fresh mulch. They do the hard work and make everything look beautuful. I just do the upkeep. I always found it relaxing after working all day to spend a few hours weeding, deadheading and watering.

I would love to see the program showing Martha Stewart’s gardens.

I love your pictures and paintings @monarch64. I remember when your daughter was a little girl in the garden with you. She is beautiful Monnie.

 

[Austina]

Honestly @Calliecake, I just planted them and let them do their thing. The side of the house was obviously the perfect spot for them, because they really grew. I had honeysuckle there too, and every year I used to cut them right back, and they came back stronger. Most things grew really well in the garden, the only thing I just couldn‘t get to grow in that house was peony, although I’d had them in previous gardens.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I am blown away by your Orangery. That must have been hard to give up, My dream was just to have a small greenhouse, but my property is really small, and it just wouldn't work. My niece's conservatory looks like your Orangery. It has a Grand Feel to me.
Callie, your right, there are so few bloom days out here, you may as well dress the garden in its best. Garden cheating is OK.

Annette

 

[Calliecake]

@Austina, I just noticed the room with the glass ceiling. I LOVE IT!!! I also love your the wall of green hedges. Can you please tell me what those are? They make the perfect fence.

LOL on garden cheating Annette. It was my dream to have a small greenhouse too @smitcompton. I plant geraniums with ivy in pots and at the end of the season is when they look their best. I hate to see them die when the cold weather hits.

 

[Austina]

They were Cypress Leylandii @Calliecake. They were the bane and cause of a lot of neighbour disputes! The grow huge if not kept under control. If you keep the tops clipped and trimmed, they bush out and form a tight barrier. They’re perfect for privacy hedging, but do need trimming twice a year (in England anyway).

It was hard to leave that house we absolutely loved it @smitcompton. It. was the only home we’ve ever had that we felt sad to leave, but we were moving here to be close to our only child. Now we get the opportunity to start all over again with a completely barren plot of land! We won’t be able to have the kind of garden we had in England, so there’ll be lots of xeriscaping with grasses and rocks. We’ve already put in quite a few plants at the front and next year will see if there are any more spaces to fill. We’re just waiting for the work on the pool to start, and once that’s done, we’ll set about sorting out the back garden. It’ll take us a couple of years to get it all sorted, but we’ve (hopefully) got time and we enjoy gardening and seeing it grow and mature.

 

[monarch64]

@Calliecake thank you! Yes, she was always out there in the dirt with me. I came across a pic of her and the neighbor girl sitting on the patio sorting out marigold seeds to save for the next season from probably 6-7 years ago. I always had them doing something, especially when my neighbor needed a sitter and I was around. Those kids were outside helping me and that was that! Do your nieces come and help you with the roses now?

 

[monarch64]

@Austina TIL what an orangery is! We just call it a greenhouse where I live, but your term is so much more sophisticated. Now I am recalling the time I was given a Meyer lemon tree. It arrived with lemons already fruiting, but they never became ripe because the climate I live in wasn't right and I didn't have an orangery. Er, lemonery.

 

[Austina]

A greenhouse where I’m from is a far cry from an orangery @monarch64 It’s usually a little structure tucked away in the corner of the garden to pot up and grow on your plants.

 

[monarch64]

A greenhouse where I’m from is a far cry from an orangery @monarch64 It’s usually a little structure tucked away in the corner of the garden to pot up and grow on your plants.

Isn’t it funny how words carry so much meaning across cultures?! I’ve had a couple of those little plastic setups. Probably called them greenhouses! Here is an example of a scholarly Midwestern “greenhouse” just because I don’t want you to think I’m a dunce.

https://jhgreenhouse.biology.iu.edu/fun-facts/index.html

 

[Lookinagain]

I would have called what @Austina had was a sun room. A green house for me would be outside, something that keeps plants more warm, for growth.

 

[Autumn in New England]

What a beautiful, uplifting story! It could serve as a useful metaphor for so many things in life. Thank you for sharing it!!

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I used to work in a luxury hi-rise. At the beginning of each Spring, the whole front of the building was planted with geraniums. At the end of the season, in the fall, they were removed and thrown away. The following year I asked if I could have them. My little red mustang was filled with geraniums. I have two front bedrooms that face South, so do get a great deal of sun. My living room and two bedrooms were filled with geraniums. In the bedrooms they bloomed all winter. My living room faces north, and while they stayed alive, they did not bloom.
So Callie, if you have a sunny room, bring your pots indoors and they will bloom for you all winter. The only caveat I have is that sometimes a worm comes indoors as well in the pot. The ivy should do well. Or you may continue to cheat.

Annette

 

[Calliecake]

@Austina, Thank you. I looked that hedge up and unfortunately it won’t survive our winters. I would have had such a hard time leaving your previous home but have to be honest, its still thrilling to me to plan how the outdoors and indoors will look. I know your new house will be every bit as beautiful as your last home. You have so much to look forward to in the coming months.

@monarch64, One of my grandnieces reminded me of your daughter. She really loved gardening when she was younger. She loved flowers and watering anything and wanted to water for hours. Now going shopping for art supplies and crafts (she loves drawing and jewelry making kits), she also loves reading and going to book stores so thats what we do. My other two little grandnieces that live in the area are young toddlers. Too little for gardening.

@smitcompton, I tried to keep two potted plants alive indoors when it started getting really cold out but my rooms face north too, they didn’t do well. Not a sunny enough exposure. I guess I will just have to continue to cheat at gardening.