Sunday, June 21, 2009

My Friend Carol's Garden

I've been friends with Carol for at least 20 years now. I have few.......well...... no other friends for that length of time.
So Carol is very dear to me. She puts up with me. She taught me to knit. She also taught me a lot about raising children (hers are a few years ahead of mine so she offered me hope when mine were driving me crazy.)

Her most recent gardening efforts start with her front garden of which I could show many pictures but I'll restrict myself to a very pretty basket of petunias and her newest addition, a leaking birdbath she turned into a lovely hardscape.
























Carol and her husband Martin have a garden that I enjoy though it is very different from ours. For one thing their garden is nicely viewed from a large picture window within the house. It's like having a huge painting on the wall. Walking into their house, this is the view.



The garden includes a dry creek bed accented along the way; simple and clean.



I wish my delphiniums looked this good.






And I love her red hollyhocks.















So does this bumblebee.





One of her latest additions, and doing well, is this clematis. Isn't this a great looking fence Martin built?






He has added many of his art pieces to their garden......










































You can view more of his artwork here.


Carol has some shady garden areas including two rhododendrons.
It was from the plant on the right that I received my hellebore starts.



This is not Carol's first garden. She's had a few. For the first time in this garden though, she's growing a few veggies.




A couple of years ago I gave Carol some of my extra allium bulbs. Recently she created this with a dried flower head. (And she doesn't consider herself artistic.......silly woman!)




I have to mention one other thing about my friend Carol besides her lovely garden. She is an animal lover extraordinaire. She adopted two, TWO, abandoned cats not long ago and a deaf (don't get any ideas, this dog is VERY alert) border collie, Angel.




Carol and Martin enjoy wildlife, have multiple bird feeders in their garden and are knowledgeable about wildlife in general. Actually they are knowledgeable on a multitude of topics and if they don't have the answer to a question they probably own a book that does.

I guess my best wish for you would be to have a friend like my friend Carol.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Great post Victoria - loved the garden full of flowers and the artwork too. Everything! Those red Hollyhocks are a beautiful shade and I've tried and wanted Delphiniums for years now. Ask her what the secret is.
Thanks for sharing your friends place with us.

Heather said...

I love that you have had her as your friend for so very long. Lifetime friends are the best. Her yard is lovely, I hope you will tell her that:-D

Janet, The Queen of Seaford said...

Your friend has a beautiful garden. Love the birdbath with the sedum in it. Lots of interesting things to look at in her yard.

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

They have a beautiful garden. I love when artists incorporate their art into the garden. It makes it so personal. Thanks for sharing.

Dirt Princess said...

They seem like really cool people! I love all of his artwork! Oneday I want really big windows so I can look out into my garden....sigh...oneday, oneday!

Jennifer AKA keewee said...

Your friend's yard and garden is beautiful indeed.

Connie said...

Another lovely garden. They are all so unique, like the people that create them.
I really like the what she did with the birdbath, very peaceful looking.

Rosemary said...

Carol does have a wonderful garden. How very special to have a friend for 20 years.

Kathleen said...

What a wonderful tribute to your friendship Victoria. She sounds like a gem. We'd all be lucky to have such a friend. What a beautiful garden she has too. It's great you could share it with us. I'm envious of her delphiniums as well ~ they are incredible. I think it gets too hot here for their liking? I had better luck growing them in WY. That bumblebee is almost red like the hollyhocks ~ or maybe that's the lighting??

Megan said...

Can you imagine having such a view of your garden from inside the house at all times? I bet it's a bit of a blessing and a curse, since you get to keep an eye on it, but also can't let garden chores slide. Beautiful garden and a nice story about a long friendship. Cheers to fellow animal lovers.