spring fling 2010

What’s my favorite style of garden?

I don’t have to think about it — beyond any shadow of a doubt, it’s the quintessential cottage garden.

There’s just something endearing about the layers and the textures and the colors and the magic marriage of a quaint cottage garden.

And the cottage gardens we toured last Friday morning in Buffalo didn’t disappoint.

While each garden shared the cottage style — they were all unique in their presentation and plants.

My favorite was one filled with bright, tropical plants and colors, mixed with more traditional cottage-style offerings.

I loved this Clematis meandering along the quaint white picket fence framing the front yard of this house.
These little individual succulent planters made from tree fungus lined a short fence leading into the back yard.
This beautiful seating area was surrounded by plants with rich, tropical colors and lots of vertical interest.
The front picket fence was chock-full of cottage goodness and offered a plant paradise for any birds who stopped by looking for a cool drink of water.
Because these cottage gardens were so intimate (read: small!), they were perfect backdrops for garden art on their walls and fences.
We enjoyed these gardens with a steady dose of rain, however, which stuck with us all day. Not to be deterred, we shielded our cameras and kept walking. The rain couldn’t stop Gail, of Clay and Limestone, from smiling as she strolled along.
There was always the next garden, drawing us along, mesmerizing us with its wonderful setting and amazing (albeit, wet) plants.
The sun peeked out occasionally, and let me capture this moment between fellow bloggers Kathy of Cold Climate Gardening, and Dee, of Red Dirt Ramblings.
The days rain left tell-tale signs and a little garden art of its own on the plants.
Though my favorite was the tropical cottage garden, I was also totally charmed by this shabby-chic garden, with its ecclectic mix of flowers and art.
And even more vertical fun in small spaces.
As with most of the houses, no fence or post or eave is left unadorned.
If I had included more individual plant shots my post would have taken a week to do! But these just begged to be shared with you!
And then there were the cottages themselves…so quaint and historic and adorable.
It was just all too cute. My only regret was that I couldn’t bring one of those lovely cottages back on the plane with me!

I went out yesterday morning to capture a few shots of water (yes, really, in Austin in July) on the garden.

I didn’t realize until I was outside that I had some supervisory assistance!

Dakota sat and watched me until she couldn’t see me any more. I’m not sure if she was wishing she could come outside, or if she was just thinking in her little pea-brain, “What in the world is that alpha-dog-woman doing now?”

Don’t you sometimes wonder what they’re thinking? I was even wondering about the squirrel who stopped in his tracks on the way up the tree when he saw me watching him through the window.

It was lush and green and moist in the garden this weekend after our several inches of welcome rain last week.
The drops on the Caladiums look like puddles on an abstract painting.
And, like most things, the droplets were dwarfed by the huge blooms of the Moy Grande Hibiscus.

And the moisture helped me see this huge spider web that spanned about 5 feet — from a tall coneflower plant to a neighboring tree. Couldn’t see anymore when I got far enough away to get the whole thing in the shot, but clearly the spider had lured in some lunch.

The rains gave everything in the garden a huge boost — so welcome since I am leaving before the chickens are up on Thursday morning — heading to Buffalo for Buffa10, our annual garden bloggers meet-up. I’m so excited to visit with friends from across the country and meet new ones, while touring amazing gardens.

Will I see you there?