Gardens as Part of Interior Design

Let me get off topic for a moment...I swear it's not my ADHD kicking in....

You ever ask yourself why you garden?  I use my available time, money and energy to my gardens.  I endure extreme heat and cold.  I have worked out in the pouring rain.  I deal with cuts, scrapes, bruises, thorns under my nails, allergies...  I have to cope with snakes, spiders, ants, mosquitoes  gnats (I hate gnats).....Why do I do this?  I sound like I need to go to rehab not write a blog...

I think plants are the representation of LIFE..and sometimes Life can very hard and sometimes it can be beautiful...My home is my place on earth and I want it to be beautiful....That's why I garden...

Okay, back on topic.... I think you don't have to go outside to enjoy your gardens.   I think your garden needs to be a part of the inside of your home as well as the outside...  When I plan my landscaping I am very conscious of how it appears on the inside of the home.  

When you walk in the front door, you enter a foyer.  Then to main rooms.  The back of the house is full of windows.  I recently married my husband and the first thing I did was put up curtains.  Mainly because the outside looked very unruly.  And I like curtains.  If you haven't followed my blog. The property was once an illegal dump site...literally but as I continue to garden...the gardens from the inside look wonderful... who knows...maybe when I am done I might prefer valances...

This is the view from the door.   I have been working on the backyard for weeks.  When I am done you will be able to see roses when standing in the living room or kitchen.  Right now there are over 30 in the ground.  The back porch has a dinette.  I am wanting to create an outside room but the gist is that when you are in the main area of the home there are windows everywhere...and I want the gardens to be visible from all aspects.





This is what it looked like a few weeks ago, I have done a great deal of clearing.  The trees have been cut down that obstruct the view from the back porch.



This is what it looked like last spring.

This is the window in the library....as you can see it's very large....You really only see trees at the moment but I want to see flowers everywhere I look.

This is the view from the library window.  There are snow crocuses planted along the drive, there are also roses.  You see a large oak tree and spanish moss hanging it from it.  When I moved here you could see nothing, because the oak tree had such an undergrowth that all you saw was tree.  Same from the other side...You could not see the house except for one corner because it was blocked by massive tree undergrowth.  I did want to remove the tree altogether but the spanish moss has reconciled me to liking the tree.  However, I do want to see more flowers..

Formal dining room window is large as well.  This faces the front yard.

 This is the view from the formal dining room which is on the same wall as the library. You see the oak..

If you look down you see a  front porch very untidy bed but it normally is packed with flowers.  There was Mexican Heather but now there is perwinkle and encore azaleas and lots of weeds,


This is what my beds looked like last fall so you know it's not always this wretched mess.

This is the view from a back bedroom...This is my stepson's room who (along with my son) is about to go off to college in the fall.  So in anticipation of an eventual guest bedroom(s), I wanted to see what view they have..unlike the other rooms this room has two smaller windows facing the back yard.  In this view, they will see roses and hydrangeas...closer to the window is a camellia, bottle brushes and azaleas.

This is the view from the other window in the same room.  There is a climbing Don Juan climbing rose that will grow up the pillar.  You see a small lawn framed by sky pencils.  If you look down you should see hydrangeas. 

This is me playing with the landscape design program of what I want to see...I have since changed a lot of this..but I wanted you to get an idea of what I had in mind.

This is the view from a front bedroom (stepdaughter's) it is a large picture window.  These sticks are hydrangeas

This is what it looks like during the growing season

This is the view when you look up.  You can see a pole barn which I am desparately trying to hide.

My bedroom, also, has a huge window.  It's wonderful waking up in the morning and seeing beautiful landscaping.  Now, I just want to include more flowers to greet me in the morning.  This is what it currently looks like.

This is the view when I look down.  One of my hydrangeas still have blooms on it.  There are also tons of tulips and daffodils planted in front of this bed but I made the mistake of putting rye grass seed so now I can't tell what's the flower and what's grass...note to self..don't do that again.

The window on the right is the my bedroom.  This is normally what you see during growing season outside the window.

Now my son's room.  He, too, is about to go off to college and this side of the house is very, very messy. This is the view from one of the windows.   This is what you used to see out of the other son's bedroom except much more dense.  I haven't addressed this area but I am making a point to take pictures even if it's ugly because I wished I had taken pictures before I started gardening so that you could truly appreciate the difference.  This room has two smaller windows.   This room is next to the garage.

This is the view outside of the other window.  An air condition unit and trash and weeds.

This my very handsome son, this morning, about to go off to school.