I’ve never been much of a gardener choosing to make a yard as low maintenance as possible. In Maine, however, it’s impossible not to get a little excited about gardening as flowers are, in the words of one daughter, so brave and outspoken.
All you have to do to see that is visit a nursery
where the selection of growing things edible and decorative is overwhelming.
My attempts at gardening so far are mostly trials and even more miscues. What I am striving for is a cutting garden with blooms lasting through the summer and into the fall. While that is possible, there’s lots to learn about what works. Take delphiniums which are beautiful to look at, but they get so top heavy they topple over, especially after a rainfall.
And, that flower around them, which I think is a type of geranium, is the right height, but rather than stand up it spreads all over the place destroying other plants with their weight.
So what have I learned about gardening? A successful garden has a blend of annuals and perennials. That means investing in new plants every year, but to get the right combination of color and texture, it’s worth it. Thanks to a series of trials and miscues I realize that defining scale and developing a cohesive color scheme is a must to avoid chaos.
Perhaps the most important lesson is that successful gardening can be done in pots! It is ever so much easier to combine interesting plant materials in pots than to try to balance them in a garden.
As I continue to learn to create the bigger picture, I’ll not abandon my successes!
i so appreciate your visit and the comments you leave behind
Joining
Lulu's Musings 
Wow, those flowers are so beutiful! amazing pictures, youve got a new follower
Thank you.
Adding in some perennials with the annuals myself this year. Love when the perennials start to bloom in the spring – like old friends returning. The annuals add in a bit of additional color. Love the little pig.
Beautiful flowers!…Christine
I’m still in the trial and error department also. I dread seeing my garden as we have had tons of rain while I have been on vacation so I know the weeds and seedlings are taking over.
I think gardening in Maine would be lots more more than Texas because it gets so hot.
I like your daughter’s description of Maine flowers. She is a good writer like her MOM!
It’s funny you mention delphiniums as Dear was just looking at our and said, “you’d think they could hold themselves up. 🙂 Have fun with your planting and experimenting.
Dear and I are on the same page. After they bloom they are going!
Love your pigs!!
Me too!
Lovely Garden pics..Thanks to share.
My pleasure and thanks for taking a look.
I like your bench.. x good luck with gardening.. trial and error and plants forgive you xx
The surprising heat we are having in Maine right now is a little hard on plants.
I think we are all in the same boat with the trials!! I always think next year I will move this there and this here and then I forget and it’s the same old tall plants in the smaller plant garden or small plants lost behind the taller ones lol!
Each year I make a few changes hoping to get a little closer to what I want. It sure takes time.
So happy you are there and enjoying yourself!!!!
Linda, container gardening provides color and easy maintenance. In a perfect world delphiniums wouldn’t topple…my foxgloves did that last year. My garden experience continues to be trial and error. Since you love to entertain, concentrating on a cutting garden should offer big rewards! I am thrilled you joined the Gardens Galore Party. I have been inspired!
I love it all!!
I think I need that metal pig!!!!