Have you discovered the joy of gardening yet? Wait until you see my happy gardening tour where I’ll show you what to plant that brings joy in spring.
I’ve been gardening for over 25 years and it is a real passion for me. What started out as a minor interest in my neighbor’s pretty flower garden, inspired me to try and grow things in my home and garden.
It started with one plant.
That grew into a garden.
To several gardens around my suburban New Jersey property.
From houseplants to vegetables and flowers, all forms of gardening bring me great joy throughout the year. And if you are new to gardening like I was over 25 years ago, I hope that I inspire you to start small, with an easy-care plant that will cultivate a joyful garden.
There is so much happening in my gardens this month.
Let’s tour the beds to see what’s blooming, what I planted, and chat about the ways that gardening brings joy.
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Welcome to My Happy Gardening Garden Tour
I’m so glad you enjoy walking my zone 6a gardens with me every month. It’s one of my most favorite things to do.
I love sharing what’s blooming with you, but also enjoy chatting about how the gardens are growing and changing through the seasons.
As we progress through spring, the New Jersey temps are warming up and the beds are filling in.
My Front Yard Cottage Garden
My front yard cottage garden has been my labor of love for several years. I’ve honed this bed to start blooming from the moment spring begins through the last leaf falling in autumn.
Last month, the early spring flowers that I planted in fall were in full bloom.
But now, it’s all about the irises, alliums, catmint, and salvia.
I was walking the gardens the other night at sunset and was awestruck by these gorgeous yellow bearded irises that a friend gave me several years so.
They’ve been here for years, but this is the first year I’ve truly appreciated the beauty of these flowers. Look at the pretty details! And they look striking with my allium globemaster blooms.
Speaking of alliums, they are one of my favorite spring flowers. Deer don’t bother them and they look amazing when planted en masse. Don’t you love those beautiful purple mounds?
The only drawback to these beauties is the browning foliage that accompanies the blooms. However, if you plant perennials and annuals around them, you won’t even notice it.
About this time every spring, purple flowers seem to dominate the borders. My siberian iris, salvia, catmint and globemasters put on quite a show of purple don’t they? I love the relaxing hues of bluish-purple flowers in the garden.
My Woodland Garden in the Side Yard
This part shade to full shade garden is located on the western side of my house. Most of this garden is shaded from the white maple tree, but the front part of the garden gets quite a bit of sun.
So I’ve been able to plant a mix of both shade and sun-loving plants.
In this garden, I have ostrich ferns, hostas, bleeding hearts, solomon’s seal, rhododendron, cranesbill, astilbes, siberian iris, joe pye weed, oak leaf hydrangea, day lillies, dwarf lilac, lavender, and some shasta daisies.
And I tucked a few zinnia seedlings where there was room too! The sun-loving plants are located in the sunnier side of the bed and the shade plants are located in the backside of the garden.
Blooming today, are cranesbill, siberian iris, and rhododendrons. What I love about this garden right now is the layer of blooms from the side yard to the back yard.
I love that you can see the back border in the distance behind the woodland garden.
The colors and textures are pretty amazing and better than I imagined they’d be before planting them.
Let’s Follow the Happy Gardening Tour to the Backyard Borders
Speaking of the backyard border, I have a shade garden section that starts under the outer rim of that same white maple mentioned above that houses several hosta varieties, hellebores and a leucothoe.
As the border moves away from the tree, it gets pummeled with full sun, so I’ve got a butterfly bush, variegated willow, dark horse wiegela, some peonies, plume poppies, smoke tree, magnolia and a viburnum.
I planted this garden over 15 years ago after we completed our total home renovation. When we remodeled our home from a ranch to a center-hall colonial, we had to update the septic system.
Because the yard became a huge slope, we flattened the area so we could add a swingset for my kids. The problem with doing it this way, was the new septic field created this weird drop-off that looked unnatural.
To hide the strange drop-off, I planted the perimeter with flowering annuals, perennials, small shrubs, and trees whose root systems would not impede into the new septic field.
With this design, I gardened the border with plants that are easy-care and have a range of bloom times so something would always be happening in the beds.
And the result was better than anticipated! We don’t notice that drop-off at all anymore and the plants bloom beautifully all season long. What I love most about this garden is that it looks great but there’s still room to tweak it.
Last year, I added a few climbing roses that all returned and are starting to bloom. To give them something to climb on, I added this gorgeous obelisk. You may recall I also have these gorgeous copper planters and window boxes tucked in around the gardens too.
In addition to the climbing roses, my daughter and I found this beautiful passionflower at the nursery. So we planted it around the obelisk.
Isn’t it beautiful? I’ve never grown it before and wanted to try it in my garden.
It’s Lilac Season!
Several years ago, I planted an everblooming lilac called Bloomerang by Proven Winners in my garden. After planting, it leafed out and grew but never bloomed. Until a few years ago.
And now? The blooms are incredible. But the best part? It will rebloom!!!!
And let me tell you how amazing this lilac smells. I could smell it from almost anywhere on my half acre property. It is the only lilac I have and yes, I need to plant more.
Look at how beautiful it looked by the fire pit the other night!
My Raised Garden Bed for Vegetables and Herbs
And finally, an update on my raised garden beds. My vegetables and herbs are doing so well! We’ve harvested lots of lettuce and herbs so far. My tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and squash are all growing nicely too.
I noticed a bunny in my tomato bed just before we left for Memorial Day weekend. She was making a nest under my tomato plant! Can you imagine?
So my husband added some rebar and we used leftover chicken wire to keep her out. And so far so good, there are no signs of animals in the raised garden beds.
And that’s it! I hope you enjoyed my happy gardening tour!
Thanks for walking the gardens with me today.
More About My Happy Gardening Tour
What was your favorite part about my garden tour? I would love to know more in the comments below.
Come See What’s Happening in My Friends’ Gardens
I love to drop by and see what’s growing in my friends’ gardens across the nation.
Let’s drop by and see what’s happening in their gardens.
Chas from Chas Crazy Creations
Mary from Life at Bella Terra
Pin and Save It For Later
Thanks for stopping by the blog today!
Enjoy your day! xoxo
