A Walk in the Cutting Garden

I'm not very happy with Blogger right now!!!  Somehow all of my copy disappeared on this post, so I'm rewriting it and hoping that this doesn't happen again!!!

I've had emails from many of you wanting to see the cutting garden.  It's my pleasure to take you on a walk out to see the flowers.  This rock pathway runs from the driveway into the garden.  The rock is set in crushed granite, but yet to be cemented in.  When we bought this house a few years ago, the potting shed and fence were there, but the garden was nothing but poison ivy and "pricker bushes" taller than I am.

I change out the wreath here seasonally, but I must admit that this one might be looking a bit tired.  The sunflower wreath should probably be hung soon.

Here's a peek through the old gate.  Let's step in.

The wooden footpath leads from the gate back to the sitting area.  Mr. Pressed Pants and I put this in.  Oh, yes, we did!!!!  With power tools!!! And splinters!!!! And lots and lots of trips to Home Depot!!!

To the right, this pea gravel path leads to the yellow and orange side of the garden......

and the left side leads to the pink and purple and blue side.  I just don't like these all combined.  I know, I know!!!

Here's the sitting area that we designed particularly to hold a dining table for four which I store in the potting shed.  Even if we're not dining here, it's a great spot for cocktails or morning coffee.

Here's the morning shade on the sitting area. The furniture has the orange and white cushions.  I also have navy blue and apple green.

The furniture is nothing special.  The special stuff fell apart last year.  Dang, it looked good, though!

Each corner of the sitting area holds a double boxwood topiary in a faux bois pot.

This pathway leads from the sitting area to the potting shed.  Don't ask me why I took this photo with the door open!

This view shows you the firepit I bought for Mr. Pressed Pants for Father's Day one year.  We just love to light a fire on a chilly night.  But, the grandsons love the some mores we can make here.

Several years ago, I bought a few of these teutors at Smith and Hawkins.  I miss that store, don't you?  I always put a climbing mandavilla vine on these.  I've never had any luck wintering these over outdoors or indoors, but I really wish I could.  I'm thinking about painting the teutors black for next year.  What do you think?

The movers were not very happy with me when I informed them that we'd be taking this plaque with us.  I had planned on putting it elsewhere, but it wanted to be in the garden!

I've placed garden seats and blue and white pots  throughout the space.

And miscellaneous little gems are tucked in here and there.

If I keep these balloon flowers deadheaded, they will bloom all summer.

These yellow hibiscus are Mr. Pressed Pants' favorite.  I love them in the standard form.

Don't you wish day lilies would last more than one day?  They would make such good cut flowers for arranging.

These are headed to a Mexican tablescape soon.

I really want to remember to lift this dahlia tuber in the fall.  I just love the color.

And there are tons of lavender dahlias.

A shady corner holds ferns, hosta, and caladiums.  The white helps them show up in the shade.

I've turned this French zinc tub upside down to hold a fern.

Another zinc tub is used as an end table.

It's just big enough to hold a few pretties.

Here's another interesting zinc table.

It has similar things on it as the other table.

Cement faux bois planter with succulents....

an Ikea lantern....

and a willow holder for three glass bottles used as vases.

The hard work to take this from a weed patch to a garden has been worth it. 

And the potting shed?

I'll show you the inside in my next post.  Stay tuned!!!