This blog is about my garden and the outdoors. I am new to photography but I am trying to show some of the pretty things that grow here in Michigan. I love the wild things who visit me and I dont mind if they eat a bit here and there. I like it more if they let me take their picture. As time goes on I think I will try to show you around the beautiful area that I live in as well as my garden. I try to use my own pictures as much as possible but will also use pictures from the web. If I inadvertently use your photo or work without permission please email me and I will remove it or give credit if you prefer. I will give credit when I know who the owner is. I would ask that anyone using my pictures do the same.
... I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.......Psalm23:6
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Monday, August 13, 2012

Going Home........



I will be gone for about 10 days, nine days in England. My son Jason is taking me. I hope you will visit when I get back to see the pictures. I plan on taking loads of pictures and with luck many English gardens to show you here.

beautifuloldcottageinsurrey

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Garden Gates.......

I love history and so the past will always appeal to me. With that in mind I want to share some beautiful entrances to gardens. They are not my pictures, I found them on the web. They all evoke that mystery, the wonder of what may be beyond the gate or door to that particular garden................this sort of goes along with my secret garden blog.

Imagine buying an old house and then while exploring the gardens you go through some bushes and find this in front of you.......stones so old they are covered in moss and lichens.

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Ivy grows along the walls and you wonder what lies beyond. Is it locked? or is it open..............This gate on the other hand lies open and welcoming to the open spaces beyond. It looks like it has been open for some time.

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This gate though is tightly closed, it is maintained and pristine. Not at all welcoming. Yet the mystery is there.......what is on the other side?

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More modern gates can give the same feelings, either welcoming, mysterious or unwelcoming and closed.
No secrets here........

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This one is open and friendly looking

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Its not just the gate, but they all have character and the feeling that they are well loved and maintained.

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Come on in and stay awhile............enjoy the rest of the blog if you care to....choose your gate.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

A few wild flowers..............

We were out the other day in Charlevoix. I did a post on the Mushroom Houses. Well I got some pictures of some lovely wild flowers that same day. If they were not growing in marshy land I would have loved to bring this one home. I have to look up what it is. I suspect it was from someone's garden originally. Its lovely.
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Look at the spider and the bee.

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I have no idea what this is either but it was very pretty with its little striped berries.

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A lovely white wild rose............isn't it perfect. It smelled as good as it looks.

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Then the beautiful Thistle........made me think of Scotland.

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May as well show you the Seagull.......not Seagulls any more I suppose. How do they stay so pristine and white.
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These are all my own pictures

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Few more beauties...........

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I have been so happy with the Day Lillies this year. They have added so much to my garden. I enjoy seeing them blooming, some of them more than once. They bloom for a good while in any case. Here are a few more that have bloomed the last few days. I fully intend to get more colours next year and stick with the things I know will last.

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We are getting into the yellows and golds, the orange and reds of Fall. Still there are a few more things still hanging around yet. The Zinnia is another true and trusted (annual) Flower.
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Look at it's beautiful heart
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Tiger Lillies are prolific and I have to pull up so many every year. I do try to find them homes if I can, otherwise I put out on the side yard that does not get tended and let them grow wild.
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I don't have a lot of luck with these(Astibe)this one seems to be flourishing hidden among the Bee Balm and ferns
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I have been visited every day by the BlueJay family who nested under my window. They seem to be flourishing
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I did manage on the one cool day to do a little weeding and things are not quite as bad as I thought. The garden certainly does need attention though. In the Fall, maybe then it will be pleasant out there. Things need to be moved and some needs to be removed.

(these are all my own pictures)
I am linking up with Outdoor Wednesday