How about a little garden tour? This is another one of the gardens we saw while on the Atlanta Botanical’s Gardens for Connoisseurs tour on Mother’s Day weekend. This garden featured some beautiful Lazy Hill birdhouses and bird feeders. I love their feeders and houses, they add so much beauty and interest to the garden.
Beautiful rhododendron…
Lots of pretty planters…
Loved this great outdoor dining area. Imagine dining here with the fire blazing away on a spring or fall evening.
Pretty perennial garden…
Love all the Foxgloves!
This path took us through a woodland garden.
This Lazy Hill bird house is their Purple Martin house.
This one looks new, the roof hasn’t begun to weather and patina. It’s also by Lazy Hill and is called the Loretta Bird House
This bird feeder is Lazy Hill’s Carousel bird feeder. Notice the shiny copper roof. All the Lazy Hill feeders and bird houses are true show stoppers in the garden. They aren’t inexpensive but they add so much beauty and interest to a garden.
A place to sit and enjoy the surroundings…
Love this little summer-house with seating and fans, perfect for enjoying the gardens and pool.
Notice the ivy growing along the steps, such a great look here.
Hope you enjoyed this tour and it provides inspiration for your garden.
Pssst: Be back later this evening with another fave book from the BNOTP library. In the meantime, check out this previous post of the sweet bluebirds who nest each spring and summer in my garden dove cote: Bluebirds Nesting In A Lazy Hill Dove Cote
Oh, I SO NEEDED to see this…such beauty. Enjoy it while you can….my entire childhood experience was “wiped out” in a tornado yesterday in Pilger, Nebraska. My schools, church…nothing left. It was so pretty. Fortunately my family is alive…homes…gone. franki
Franki, that is terrible! I hate tornadoes. We get them through here every year and they are so destructive. I’m so glad your family is okay! Well, no tornado can rip away your memories, those you have forever.
Susan…you are a treasure. Thank you for being you. franki
Just lost my first post to you Franki. What a devastating loss, hope your family and friends are safe. I had not heard about it, as I am not a news watcher. Sending you hugs.
Meg…that was just so thoughtful!! Thanks
I heard about this on the news, but until you connect with a person, you cannot feel the disaster. I hope your town rebuilds and reunites after this tragedy.
Katherine…Susan has the nicest friends. 🙂 Thanks
So sorry to hear that Franki. I hope your family and friends are o.k. I hadn’t heard about this, as I am not a news watcher. Sending you hugs!!!
Meg
Loved the garden tour, Susan! Thanks for the share. The pics all look so cool and welcoming … with these recent stifling temps and suffocating humidity, I could almost feel a chill in the air!! : )
Would you happen to know the name of the blue-flowering shrub in the next-to-last photo? It’s the photo before the dove cote. There are several along the garden’s edge, about 2 – 3 feet tall, with the delicate blooming spikes. Is that lavender? I planted it this spring and I am just drawing an absolute blank on it! From a little thing (I’m thrifty) in a 1 gallon pot, it is that size already! Very hardy in this NC coastal plain environment. I recommend it … just don’t know for sure what it is?! lol!
Thanks again … always fun!!
C.
Thanks for reminding me I need some lamb’s ear! My last house had them and I need a few here, too.
Carolyn-
The plant you asked about is cat mint and it’s a perennial.
All the best.
Beth
Beth, it sure looks like a “mint.” That makes perfect sense. I will put the name in my garden log.
Thank you very much!!
Hi,
I just want to let you know how much I enjoy your blog. I shared with you in the past that I have retired from teaching the primary grades and I have dropped my teaching websites (sort of). My dear daughter-in-law let me know on our last visit that she misses my sharing information from websites that might interest them. (Both are teachers)
Well, I can do that… but I really enjoy your blog. The only non-education blog I ever went to was Susan Branch’s.
It would fill my soul. Well, she had your blog listed on her website. I checked out all the others as well but….
I so enjoy your site. I volunteered in a local elementary school this past year working with struggling first grade readers. It was fine- but I need to expand and find a new avenue for my need to volunteer. I found that going 3 days a week for 2 hours each day felt like work. It ended up feeling really stressed because I was there only intervention. So… my point- I so enjoy your site. I need to volunteer in an area that is all new to me. So I can learn new things. I went to your past post about bluebirds. (My daughter’s family live in Charlotte N.C. and a friend put a bluebird
house in their yard several years ago and they shared with me the restoration project) So now that you shared about your past volunteer activity, I am thinking that is an area I would so enjoy. So this is a big thank you for inspiring and always being so real.
Lani
I found your blog a few months ago and so enjoy reading it! I have always enjoyed creating tablescapes but had no idea that there are so many who are passionate about them until reading your Met Wednesdays. Love your screen porch, by the way.
My neighbor is known around here as the Bluebird Lady. She is a retired elementary science teacher. In her yard, she has multiple bluebird houses. Yes, mounted on posts, not trees. She has one couple who have nested in her boxes for years. Their offspring do as well. Twice a day, she goes out onto her deck and whistles. The birds fly to her and eat out of her hand. It is quite amazing. Her husband is a professional photographer. In one house, they sometimes mount a tiny camera to take still shots. It also provides a live feed when they want to see what is going on in the house.
They are such beautiful birds. Continue to enjoy the ones in your yard.
Also, thanks to you, there are several new books in my collection!
Dear Sue,
You captured everything on your tour beautifully! Love the dovecote with the pretty blue bird, but especially the
ivy laden cement steps. How would you plant the ivy in these steps? I’d like to do this.
Thanks,
ANN
Ann, that’s a good question. Maybe it starts in the ground near by and just runs across, grabbing hold to the stone. It can crawl a long ways.
Hi Susan, what cute birdhouses, hope they had some nesting families this year. I love, love, the fireplace and seating, would spend many evenings out there. The summer house is lovely too.
Thanks for the journey!!
Meg
I love birdhouses and feeders and have them all over the yard, however, I must like them, at least the houses, better than the birds because none ever visit. Oh well, they are lovely in the yard.
I love all your posts but some still go to junk mail??I look there daily so I don’t miss any hope soon they all come to regular mailbox.
Thanks Susan for the great post. What a lovely garden and the tour was great and the bird houses WOW.
Mary
I’m drooling over your Lazy Hill Dove Cote especially because of the blue birds. I have never seen a blue bird in my yard or anywhere, except in pictures of course until this spring when I found a dead blue bird in my back yard. I was so sad. A few weeks after that I found a dead Downy Woodpecker. The neighborhood cats must be busy. Regarding Ann’s question about the ivy on the steps. I agree with you that it starts in the ground and climbs up and across the steps. As long as ivy has some moisture it will live. This garden is so pretty ~ loved the vista behind the sofa in the garden room. Looks like a picture window. Vikki in VA