In the beginning…
That isn’t a picture of our “pink & purple” garden. It is a picture of the area before we created our garden. Over the weekend my husband complimented our pink & purple garden. It was a little funny because he said “we’ve done a really good job with this garden”. I was weeding it at the time. He was watching me. I have to say that I just stopped and looked at him for a moment, before he smiled and then said “oh, I mean *you* did a really good job”! Indeed. 🙂 Here is a post which tells (and shows) the process of my creating it. https://mominthegarden.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/making-a-flower-bed-one-bucket-of-topsoil-at-a-time/
Pink & Purple garden (May 31st)
I have boxwood, called box plant in Ireland, around the border. It struggled for at least a year, and I thought it wasn’t going to make it. I’ll spare showing you the pictures of it turning a rusty orange color. I fed it quite a few times this past winter and it is now finally showing new signs of healthy life. There are three larger box plants on the left in the above picture. My husband and I are debating on what to do with them. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to sculpt them into something fun? 🙂
A better view of the box plant around the pink & purple garden
I have extended the garden a tiny bit since I first planted the box plant. I must bring that line of box plant down a bit further to complete the garden.
Allium ‘purple sensation’, foxglove, erysimum bowles, Weigela florida ‘Alexandra’, Hydrangea Selma
Parts of the garden have really filled out. The foxglove plant wasn’t planted by me. It is the second plant that has been planted courtesy of the birds! It seems to fit in nicely where it is, lucky enough!
foxgloves
The Erysimum Bowles plant is on its last leg I’m afraid. It gets quite woody, gangly and unruly after a few years. I will be replacing it at the end of this season, hopefully with another of the same. It is still quite pretty from the front!
Erysimum Bowles ‘Mauve’
Purple sensation allium gives great personality to the garden. It is a real attention getter! Our spring must have been quite mild as I only put in a couple of stakes just the other day for the allium. Normally they would be completely flopped over by now!
Allium ‘purple sensation’
Allium up-close
Those are all of the blooms in the pink & purple garden so far. I have a few more plants that should give it some color later on in the summer. Undoubtedly I’ll be shaking things up a bit and moving things around as I figure out sizes. For instance, that globe artichoke plant is double the size it was last year! We’ll see. And I’ll let you know how it goes. 🙂
The globe artichoke plant is *huge*!
Happy June!
Dana
Mom in the Garden 
You two di oops I mean you did a great job putting this together! It’s beautiful!
Haha Lennie! I have to admit that he planted the boxwood… It’s just that the upkeep (weeding) is seriously a full time job! Thanks for the compliment! Dana
Oh, Beautiful Gardens, Dana!! I’m jealous! ~amy
Hi Amy, What a compliment coming from you (thank you)! I love how you use color in the most vibrant and “alive” ways! Thanks for stopping by 🙂
Your gardens are to be envied & maybe inspire me to work a bit harder. Thank you for your amazing compliment. ~amy
Hi Amy, a little bit at a time. That is what keeps me going. The yard is a constant work in progress too. But I like it that way as it keeps me thinking about what is next! 🙂 Dana
Oh, I feel the same way, Dana. It is the best kind of work because we know if we do it, we will be rewarded by our hard work…the benefits are many for gardeners. 🙂 ~amy
Very pretty pics. I guess when I think of houses/gardens in Ireland, I never think of a plastic kids play set. hehe. But yes, we have a bunch of those ourselves for my little ones, 2 and 4 and they love them! I guess I just though plastic stuff was so American? Your house is beyond stunning. Lovely. I guess I think Ireland = Dublin. Would love to visit someday….sigh…
Hi there Laura! That was the only picture I could find of the front of the house before we started creating the beds, unfortunately! Well spotted, those are definitely American influences. We moved here from Syracuse, New York and I packed *everything* including our climbing set and playhouse! Our littlest one was only four years old when we moved, so I couldn’t part with things like that just yet. We’ve since sold those things on – and did well, too, as those sized items are impossible to come by here. Anyway, we definitely live in the country even by Irish standards. My husband commutes 50 minutes to the north side of Dublin for his job because we wanted the country life for our family. I would highly recommend a visit to Ireland – there is so much to see and it is such a beautiful country. Just don’t come for the weather! 😉 Thanks for stopping by! Dana