Ok, I know it’s cold and you don’t really want to venture outdoors a whole lot right now. After all, it’s still January…or is it? In Blogland it can be summer anytime we want. Just think of Blogland as a magical time machine.
Ok, get your garden clogs or tennis shoes on…whatever you like to wear when you’re out puttering around in the yard. Let’s go see what’s blooming in my garden on this Outdoor Wednesday!
Patterns by Amy Lowell
I walk down the garden paths,
And all the daffodils
Are blowing, and the bright blue squills.
I walk down the patterned garden paths
In my stiff, brocaded gown.
I too am a rare pattern.
As I wander down the garden paths.
I love it when the iris spill into the path…it’s their sneaky way of saying, “hey, what’s the rush, come play a while in the garden.”
Gardening is a kind of disease. It infects you, you cannot escape it. When you go visiting, your eyes rove about the garden; you interrupt the serious cocktail drinking because of an irresistible impulse to get up and pull a weed. ~Lewis Gannit
2003 Perennial Plant of the Year: Leucanthemum ‘Becky’, Shasta Daisy
It is utterly forbidden to be half-hearted about gardening. You have got to love your garden whether you like it or not. ~ W.C. Sellar & R.J. Yeatman, Garden Rubbish, 1936
Phlox paniculata ‘Common Purple’
Green fingers are the extension of a verdant heart. ~Russell Page
Achillea Oertel’s Rose : Yarrow, & Hemerocallis ‘Stella de Oro’ Daylily
Gardening requires lots of water-most of it in the form of perspiration. ~ Lou Erickson
Annual Planter with Geranium, Petunias and Ivy…
When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant. ~ (Author Unknown)
Spiderwort (Tradescantia)
Let no one think that real gardening is a bucolic and meditative occupation. It is an insatiable passion, like everything else to which a man gives his heart. ~Karel Čapek, The Gardener’s Year, translated by M. and R. Weatherall, 1931
Spanish Lavender, sometimes called French Lavender because it grows wild in France. The Japanese Maple is ‘Waterfall’.
What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it. ~Charles Dudley Warner, My Summer in a Garden, 1871
Lychnis coronaria, Rose Campion
Who loves a garden loves a greenhouse, too. ~ William Cowper
A garden pretty… 🙂
Earth is here so kind, that just tickle her with a hoe and she laughs with a harvest. ~Douglas William Jerrold, about Australia, A Land of Plenty
Dianthus, ‘Bath’s Pink’ named after Jane Bath who lives in Stone Mountain, Georgia
In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful. ~Abram L. Urban
Magnolia grandiflora, commonly known as the Southern Magnolia: Every southern garden needs one of these wonderful trees. The flowers smell like lemonade, to me. I use the leaves extensively in my decorations at Christmas time.
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. – Cicero (Marcus Tullius Cicero)
Gerbera Daisy…I love these happy little flowers! 
No two gardens are the same. No two days are the same in one garden.” ~Hugh Johnson
Puple phlox and ‘Becky’ daisys down front, with tall yellow Rudbeckia ‘Herbstsonne’ in back…
I purchased this Lazy Hill Dovecote to use as an ornamental accent to my perennial garden. To my delight, bluebirds nested here three times last spring/summer. If you’d like to see them feeding their babies, just click on the dovecote pic in my sidebar.
I never had any other desire so strong, and so like to covetousness, as that one which I have had always, that I might be master at last of a small house and a large Garden. ~Abraham Cowley, The Garden, 1666
Remember these…from a tablescape on the porch?
Here’s the source. This gardenia bush grows right beside the entrance to the garage, so I get to enjoy the wonderful fragrance each day during the long blooming period. 🙂
Gardens… should be like lovely, well-shaped girls: all curves, secret corners, unexpected deviations, seductive surprises and then still more curves. ~H.E. Bates, A Love of Flowers
One of the last blooms of the spring foxgloves…
Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made by singing: -“Oh, how beautiful!” and sitting in the shade.~Rudyard Kipling, “The Glory of the Garden”
More ‘Stella de Oro’
‘Black Eyed Stella’ Daylily with a replica of the “Bird Girl” shown on the cover of the book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.
The kiss of the sun for pardon, The song of the birds for mirth, One is nearer God’s heart in a garden, than anywhere else on earth.~Dorothy Frances Gurney, “Garden Thoughts
These are beautiful Susan! Your yard is amazing! Ok, note to self, TAKE PICTURES MORE OFTEN! ☺ Diane
We’ve got about three feet of snow here in Toronto, but you’ve got me dreaming about my garden, Ah, summer.
Oh, my!!! I can just smell the gardenias!! Thanks for the tour!
Suzanne
What a lovely garden and it fills me with hope for a lovely spring.
Horses sweat
Men perspire
Women glow
Roberta Anne
Hi Susan.. welcome to Outdoor Wednesday! Ahh…summer in the garden… gardenias blooming (oh I can almost smell them)
I long for spring now….but in august I will be complaining about the Georgia heat and humidity!
Great post…and gorgeous photos!
What a beautiful garden you have. What a wonderful place to laze away a summer day. And that gardenia bush is amazing, my favorite scent and flower. Just lovely. Kathy
Susan, I loved the walk through your garden. It’s aways fun to see everyones gardening style. And what’s growing in other parts of the country. I wish we could grow gardenias here. I love the bird girl statue. I had a very nice one. But, it got broken. I really want another one. I love Savannah!!
Hugs, Terrie
Hi Susan!
Love all the garden shots and the quotes, too. What a fun stroll and read…
As usual, I’m amazed at your post, your flowers are beautiful. I know when I click on to your blog that I am going to be inspired. Thanks for sharing all of your wonderful pictures.
Wendy
Susan, those photographs are so lovely! That lavender is particularly gorgeous. A friend of mine in Mississippi has those same lovely irises. And I love gardenias… can’t wait for ours to bloom. You are so blessed to have such a beautiful garden. 🙂
XO,
Sheila
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!! What a wonderful post! It has lifted my spirits during a very cold, dark, dreary, New England day.
Your flowers are wonderful and so beautiful.I love the quotes you add in your post they worked well.I always enjoy your post.Thanks for a look at Spring/Summer.
Beautiful flowers – thanks for the tour. We had out first snow of the season this morning – just a heavy dusting, but enough. I am ready for Spring.
Glenda
Your flowers are food for the soul!
Susan…what a lovely post! I loved everything from Bruce Springsteen’s music playing to the LOL garden quotes which so rang true!! Your flowers are beautiful and it is amazing that given we live in two very different regions, I have most of the same, they just aren’t blooming yet!!
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
xoxo
Jane
~~~SS: Not only a DELIGHTFUL read & pics, but this reminded me of how much I/we enjoyed living in Georgia for a few years (MINUS the summers, of COURSE! Ewwwww, huh? But the rest of the year was GR888!!!). The most WONNNDERFUL gardens, if memory serves me correctly, were "Calloway Gardens"… isn't that the name??? And going to August was, well, a dream come true!!! XOXO
all so pretty, i am a bearded iris addict, but i still gasped at your full blooming gardenia~ i just killed my 25 year old standard this fall, no water did it in and i am heartbroken…
Hi there!
Just recently came across your blog and am enjoying it very much.
It’s the dead of winter here in Kansas so I really liked your pics you have here. We’re one day closer to Spring. Hallelujah!!! Won’t that be nice?
Will be following your blog.
Deanna from the Kansas Flinthills
Susan,
You have such a beautiful garden…lovely paths to your garden. Mmmm..I can just smell the sweet fragrance walking in your garden…Can’t wait till Spring..Thanks for sharing…Love the garden’s quotes…It’s Great! Katherinellen
How wonderful to see your photos of Spring today. I posted a few floral pics today also, and its all making this dreary winter day MUCH more cheery! I especially love your “French” lavendar.
Blessings ~ Eileen @ Star’s Fault
What a beautiful garden you have. I loved to walk through it.
I loved the tour of your garden. I love flowers of any kind, it’s like therapy.
Hugs,
Chris
Gorgeous. Just what this Missouri girl needed in the middle of January!
Susan, I loved my walk in your garden today, and totally loved the writing captions underneath each one. I am “so” into that… I’m excited to see you have a Rose Campion! Remember the woman Willie that I posted about on my very first Tablescape Tuesday that gave me my Redbud Tree after she came out of her coma? Well, she gave me my very first Rose Campion which has bred millions ever since! Thanks for the lovely share today! Come visit me for a moment in my mothers Iris Garden and have a spot of tea with me! =) ~CC @ catherinesteacups.blogspot.com
Susan,
oh what a lovely garden and variety of blooms. I also love your Dovecote!!! I always wished for one to put in our garden.
Have a wonderful Wednesday,
Tam
Loved your garden! Just what I needed to see this snowy morning!!! Great quote – “If you have a garden and a library, you have all you need.” Thanks for sharing that and the pictures! 😀 Jewel
What beautiful pictures – I'm warmer already. Makes me want to get out & dig in the dirt. Do I really have to wait? Speaking of waiting – I have a question. We moved to SC this past Aug (from NC). When do I plant bulbs? I'm new to the whole gardening thing so I need lots of tutoring.
Enjoy your Wednesday.
What a warm feeling you have brought to my very cold day. Thank you!
Thank you for sharing your beautiful garden. I dream of spring this time of year.
I had a little reminder that arthritis lives in my right arm, yesterday, so I missed Tablescape Tuesday. I’m trying to catch up this morning. I certainly enjoyed your garden photos on this 18 degree January day! Gorgeous!
Your tablescape is beautiful. I need to collect some of that blue!
OK, Susan! That was kinda of cruel! ha-ha! Now I have spring fever and it’s only 10 degrees here in Ohio this morning. I can’t even see where my garden usually is with all the snow! Sigh.
Love the garden and the flowers are just so beautiful. Thanks, for taking me walking on this cold morning.
Blossom
Good morning Susan…even your garden is beautifully decorated! I loved reading all the quotes you added… 😉 Bo
Thank you. Instant garden beauty in the middle of winter. I needed a little summer color without the heat.
Kathy b
I’d love to walk out on to your beautiful deck and porch and see that view right now : ) It would do the soul wonders!
Alas, we are still frozen and snow covered.
Thank you so much for your sweet comments on my blog. I’m looking forward to enjoying your gorgeous blog and talents when I have more time.
Cheers,
Bre
http://chantillygrace.blogspot.com/
Beautiful post even though I’m so NOT ready for summer. I love my winter time!! Sally
My ‘Bath’s Pink’ that you planted for me in 1998, is finally recovering from it’s near total decimation with a lawn mower, by the young man that we hired to cut our yard.
That was such a wonderful BD present, for you to share your plants and create a garden spot for me. While nothing the size of your plantings, it is large enough that I can enjoy many varieties of flowers. Alas, the labels you made for the plants haven’t survived, so I’m not really sure what I have anymore.
The hybrid irises you planted put my wild ones to shame as far as size, and the color is magnificent. I am rooting several cuttings of the ‘Confederate Rose’ you brought me last year, just in case the Mother plant doesn’t make it through this horrid Winter.
Hi Susan,I am with you, the beauty of our minds is that we can go where ever we choose. I will always choose Spring.I just posted a fun little post over at Micasa.I just bought some flowers for pots on my front porch and planted on Monday.I was in an English mood.English varigated ivy,primula,white margarites,English daisies,lavendar.All in purple,pinks and white.It just makes me smile when I look at my porch.Thank you for sharing your amazing yard.Hugs Kathysue
Susan, thanks for this wonderful escape into spring. Beautiful pitures; beautiful quotations. I enjoyed it so much. laurie
As always gorgeous.Yes,a little spring escape is just what we all need..Ann
So lovely to see such a beautiful blooming garden, along with lovely poems. Does makes a long winter day, worth waiting days of spring to come.
Lavender and gardenias? Could it be any sweeter?
I love the gardenias in the vase very beautiful flowers!! Makes me
want spring time even more.
Oh the YEARNING for Spring!!!! I can’t wait. I USED to have all the flowers you showed: however, we live in the woods and alot of my perennials have not survived. We are down to annuals in pots and window boxes, plus MANY rhododendrons and azaleas. Probably have 80 rhodos and as many azaleas. It is glorious in spring for a few weeks. It breaks my heart that I cannot have a REAL garden here. Someday…maybe…. a girl can dream, huh? Your garden was a FEAST for my eyes. Thanks, Susan! Hugs, Pinky
Wow! Susan…How beautiful! I love the way you added the poetry and quotes as well. Perfect music! Beautiful post…Debbie
What a delightful tour…and I think that its simply that you USE what your garden has given !!! 🙂
Oh this makes me long for summer! Great post!
Just by looking at your beautiful garden, makes me anxious for spring to get here. Thanks for sharing!
You have put me in the mood to put on my rain boots and get out in the garden! What a wonderful reminder that it isn’t too early to start dreaming of our Spring planting. Thank you, Paula
Lovely as always! It was 70 degrees here today & should be in the 80's tomorrow. You know how the south is… always changing. My poor flowers can't figure out what to do!
Oh, how nice…I have a foot of snow on my gardens! I lived in GA yrs ago and loved my Gardenia bush. They dont grow way up here. I also miss the Magnolia tree. Thanks for sharing your beautiful gardens. I think I’ll look through my summer photos and post a few!
Hi there. Thanks for stopping by my blog. I have really been wondering where there’s chickens stay at night. I have been out looking for their ‘home’ but cannot find it.
Oh how I long for warmer weather and to be outside gardening. This year I want to put out lots of flowers.
Hugs
Patti c
Hi Susan!
What gorgeous photos. I think I can even feel the warm breezes blowing and the scent of gardenias wafting past…mmmmmmm.
I just found your blog and it is fabulous. I enjoyed looking through all of your different room photos. Everything is so beautiful. I’m definitely adding you to my favorites!!
Have a great evening!
Kathleen
Hi Susan,
Your pictures are so inspirational! I’m so looking forward to warmer weather and spring gardening! It is such a joy to watch flowers and shrubs come to life and bloom
Ooh, so pretty. I especially love the gardenias.
The stroll through your gardens were delightful. I’m sure you enjoy walking these paths all the time. We had temperatures today that hit almost 50 and is suppose to be warmer tomorrow, but then they say the temps are suppose to hit rock bottom again with a snowstorm coming. So, I’ve enjoyed today and will tomorrow. Thanks for sharing the beauty of your gardens. hugs ~lynne~
Thanks for the serenity!
love your garden!
Sandyt
I’m as envious of your garden as I am your sunroom. It’s just as beautiful!
What a beautiful garden you have Susan. I loved all the quotes you added between photos too & would love a dovecote like the one in your garden! Thanks also for the link to your kitchen reno. We are getting ready to do a little tweeking to ours and want to replace some of the solid doors with glass (like you did). I also love your piggy message board ~ where did you find him?
What a beaurtiful garden, gorgeous flowers! Makes me so excited about spring. I finally joined blogland, Susan!…Christine
Thank you so much for the sunshine Susan. Boy was that needed. Especially since it’s been cloudy for two weeks straight now with maybe 10 minutes of sun one day. 🙁
It’s all good, we’ll get through, especially with beautiful blog summer pics. Thanks!
I make it a habit to keep the lid on envy of anyone else’s life – however, you’re trying me sorely with that gardenia growing so lush! I’m zone 7, so no perennial gardenias for me. Their scent transports me.