I could tell that the flowers in my garden had grown, but I hadn’t realized how much until I looked at a photo from last year. This is what they look like now:
This is the same area, last July:
A huge difference, no? And here now, from a different angle:
The area to the left of the egg chair is looking a little bare, but there are hydrangeas that just need to fill in. Any idea how long that will take? I’m thinking years and years. *Sigh.*
Carmen
July 28, 2009 at 11:36 amHey Nicole,
I’m a big fan of your site. This is an unrelated-post question, but could you tell me where you got your billy buttons from in your kitchen photo? Also, are they real or fake?
THANKS!
Making it Lovely
July 28, 2009 at 11:49 amThey’re real – they’re dried billy buttons.
southern hostess
July 28, 2009 at 12:06 pmYour yard looks gorgeous!
Julie
July 28, 2009 at 12:07 pmWOW what a difference. jealous of your beautiful garden! Wish our landlords had kept their promise of putting our backyard in, then I might have somewhere a little more beautiful to sit! ENJOY!
Danielle
July 28, 2009 at 12:27 pmKeep up the green thumb!
Martina
July 28, 2009 at 12:27 pmLots & lots of water makes plants grow much faster (as long as there is lots of sun, too). And Miracle Grow!
Amanda Nicole
July 28, 2009 at 12:34 pmWow, what a tremendous difference! I love your outdoor sitting nook.
Diana
July 28, 2009 at 12:35 pmI love the flowers. I ordered hydrangeas online 3 years ago and they produced flowers the second year, but not that much. This year, I’ve had fresh cut flowers every week since the end of June from them. The blooms are endless and the wait was totally worth it.
Audrie
July 28, 2009 at 12:47 pmI looked at pictures of my house last year too and it’s amazing how much they do grow! I find that as long as you water and feed them regularly, they do very well :)
michele
July 28, 2009 at 1:15 pmit looks lovely!
our neighbors did some major landscaping last year and planted a ton of hydrangeas. this year, they appear to have doubled in size. it might not take as long as you think for yours to fill in and look amazing!
Jenn Bowman
July 28, 2009 at 1:50 pmMy hydrangeas took about 2 years to get full and tall.. but I thought that was because I didn’t level them at the end of the season. This is their third year and their first bloom!
Macy
July 28, 2009 at 2:08 pmVERY nice! I wish stuff would grow like that here in Phoenix!
Lisa
July 28, 2009 at 2:31 pmAre the very tall lavendar flowers back by the house phlox? They are beautiful! I live in Oak Park, too, and just did a major re-haul on our backyard this summer. I planted some ~10″ phlox in front of our little back deck, but I didn’t realize they could get so tall!
Making it Lovely
July 28, 2009 at 2:45 pmYep, that’s phlox! Our next-door neighbor let me take some from her garden last year, so I don’t know which variety it is.
Camberley
July 28, 2009 at 2:31 pmI love your backyard…it’s basically my dream backyard. Unfortunately, I live in Arizona. This means plush flower beds during the summer are hard to come by. Thanks for letting me dream…for a minute.
Allison
July 28, 2009 at 2:36 pmFor the intervening years, you could always put some plant pots in the empty space to “fill it out” a bit.
Yansy
July 28, 2009 at 2:45 pmNicole, it looks amazing. I wish I had a green thumb like you do.
Lauren
July 28, 2009 at 3:19 pmWhat are those tall purple ones with the red middle? Amazing
Making it Lovely
July 28, 2009 at 3:22 pmThose are coneflowers. The flowers last a good long while!
coral
July 28, 2009 at 3:55 pmI planted a hydrangea this year, and even though eventually it will take up a much larger area, I filled the space around it with some larger annuals and foilage. Just find something temporary like an annual or a cheaper plant you don’t mind trying to transplant later (or the potted plants in the comment above) to fill in the empty space.
That’s amazing growth in just one year – looks great.
Amie Hartman
July 28, 2009 at 4:18 pmLovely garden! Looks like a nice spot to sit and enjoy some nature.
LizzieBeth
July 28, 2009 at 4:46 pmwow, what a difference! Looks great
*gasp* are those tiger lillies in the background? My fav!!
LB
Leslie J
July 28, 2009 at 5:20 pmMy hydrangeas love a good dousing of Miracle Grow once/week. They’ve gotten HUGE in a mere 2 years.
Emma
July 28, 2009 at 6:11 pmHi Nicole (LOVE makingitlovely) I planted two hydrangeas just before last (southern hemisphere) summer and then we got a week of 105 degree days (crazy Australian summer I know) but I kept watering them and they tried to produce flowers, then I gave them a cut back and they are still looking a bit sad now coming into Spring again…I hope they survive.
Leslie J
July 30, 2009 at 3:55 pmhey Emma, I wouldn’t touch your hydrangeas or cut them at all. I’ve always been told to just leave them alone, don’t trim any dead leaves or blooms or anything off of them. That’s what they grow from.
jbhat
July 28, 2009 at 6:29 pmHow your garden does grow! It looks lovely. Just be patient about the hydrangeas. And to your readers who have advised Miracle Grow: thank you from me too! I forgot about that stuff and could use it in my own new front and backyard landscaping.
Rebecca
July 28, 2009 at 7:23 pmlooks so pretty! I love the pinks and purples.
Jacci
July 28, 2009 at 8:09 pmHey, Nicole :)
There’s a gardening saying that goes like this… “sleep, creep, leap”. It means that the first year (planting year) the plants don’t really look like they’re doing much. In reality, though, they are working HARD at getting their roots established. The second year they are able to put a little more of their energy into above ground growth. The third year, if they’ve been well cared for (which does NOT necessarily mean drowning them in more water… especially drought hardy guys like the coneflower – plants have specific needs for water ust as they do for sun) they really take off!!! I’d give your hydrangeas the 3 year rule :) I think you’ll be amazed at how much they’ve changed by then!
Your garden looks fabulous! :)
XO,
Jacci
Jacci
July 28, 2009 at 8:10 pmHey, Nicole :)
There’s a gardening saying that goes like this… “sleep, creep, leap”. It means that the first year (planting year) the plants don’t really look like they’re doing much. In reality, though, they are working HARD at getting their roots established. The second year they are able to put a little more of their energy into above ground growth. The third year, if they’ve been well cared for (which does NOT necessarily mean drowning them in more water… especially drought hardy guys like the coneflower – plants have specific needs for water just as they do for sun) they really take off!!! I’d give your hydrangeas the 3 year rule :) I think you’ll be amazed at how much they’ve changed by then!
Your garden looks fabulous! :)
XO,
Jacci
Randie
July 28, 2009 at 8:37 pmSeeing those pictures is so encouraging! I just planted our garden this year and put in some cone flowers, but I keep being jealous of all the fuller patches that I see in other people’s gardens. This really gives me hope that our garden will fill out next year.
Briana
July 28, 2009 at 11:16 pmIt looks great! So pretty.
Manda
July 29, 2009 at 8:32 amIt looks lovely! I’m so excited about landscaping our backyard this coming spring.
Your Mother
July 29, 2009 at 10:15 amok, I need to try coneflowers again, they filled out so nicely in your garden. Something must have ate mine/dug up the rhizone or whatever last year to not have a single one show up! I’ll try again – I’m stubborn that way!
Jill
July 29, 2009 at 5:14 pmLovely garden! I’m curious if anyone has good modern-style gardening blogs that help inspire them. I’ve recently found a few NYC fire-escape/terrace-style blogs that tickle my fancy, but I feel like there’s so much to LEARN. I spent HOURS this weekend searching for best ways to care for potted dahlias and came across either a) old-school gardening forums or b) really vague blogs that seem to aggregate content from other sites (read: steal).
Any suggestions on must-read gardening blogs?! :)
becca @ birthday girl
July 29, 2009 at 11:53 pmway to go on your garden! we started one this year and planted too late, so i think we’ll have to start from scratch again next spring. patience, patience… i know. sigh.
Laura Gaskill
July 30, 2009 at 11:10 pmYour garden is looking magnificent! Goodness – isn’t that one of the lovely things about blogging? You have this wonderful visual record that shows how things (babies, gardens, etc.) grow :)
Down Pillow
August 16, 2009 at 6:29 pmIt looks so pretty & peaceful out there – great spot for cocktails :)
simone
August 19, 2009 at 11:41 amyou should plant the hostas in 3s. they like to cluster and form thick masses. every year they will get wider and you can separate and continue growing them.
Celena
September 18, 2009 at 6:20 pmI love those wicker chairs. Where did they come from? Some friends of ours have the same and didn’t recall where they got them.