RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY...

June has arrived with the gorgeous roses and beautiful peonies that I love.

 Unfortunately, it packed buckets of rain in it's suitcase. 

I swear, if I did not know better, I would think it was October! So I decided to live vicariously through my blog.

Here are photos of outdoor dining areas and patios. I am hoping they lift our spirits a little bit, until we can actually use the real thing!

Of course I love this photo. The green pillows absolutely add the final needed punch. I was so inspired by it that I got online and did some research for reasonably priced bolsters for my black and white striped cushions. I will only use Sunbrella fabric because it doesn't fade, but even more importantly I can get any stain off it fairly easily.

I found these pillows on a site called Home Decorators. The 19 x 12 inch pillow is on sale for $20, and the 22 x 9 inch bolster is $19. Excellent prices for Sunbrella fabric.

 The pink umbrella is a great touch!

 Monochromatic and sophisticated.

 Again, the spring green color is wonderful!

Do you think I like black and white striped fabric?

 Refreshing.

 Gorgeous.

 Love it!

 I love this pool set up.

 The idea of a chandelier in a tree is intriguing. 

 I like this because the fireplace does not take over the terrace. So many times they are way too big.

 Also, the lantern is awesome!

 Dreamy!

 Love how lush this is, would not want to be responsible for keeping the pool clean!

This furniture is to die for!

LANDSCAPING, AGAIN

It has been ridiculously long since my last post, but life is like that. Between yard work, Mother's Day, and getting the pool ready to open for the season I lost track of time. We had  glorious weather for Mother's Day weekend. 78 degrees! 

It was wonderful. My four children came home along with husbands and significant others and of course our grandchildren. They made a delightful dinner of Ina Garten's lemon shrimp linguine, caramel chocolate cake and all manner of refreshing drinks. We laid in the sun and swam and floated and just relaxed. Life does not get any better.

I have been studying and reading all the landscaping books I can. I have been particularly enamored by the writings of Tara Dillard. She has a fabulous blog www.taradillard.blogspot.com, I have read every post and gleaned so much from it. She is always teaching about focal points and axis and I am trying to soak it all in.

She also has many books out, two I am studying now are

The Garden View and Landscaping Your Home,

the latter is a compilation of writings from various gardeners. Both offer excellent advice and inspiration.

This is the view from our pool. As I mentioned before, the hill drops off and the view extends out over the pasture and the woodland . I have been trying to decide how to handle this area. 

We built a little retaining wall this weekend, but my plan is to back plant it with Cotoneastor that will hold the bank and gracefully flow over the top of the little wall. The berries are beautiful in winter and it is evergreen.

Here is the wall, which will be spayed with a mixture of buttermilk and tomato fertilizer to age it.

Here is the Cotoneaster I want to use.

This is the side yard where I grow tomatoes and herbs and pumpkins. Last year I put this arbor in, but after learning more about axis and focal points I realized I needed to add one at the other end of the path. This is the view from the back yard by the pool.

This is the view from the front of the house. I want to find some vintage iron fence pieces to put behind the box woods and tie into the arbor which i planted with Clematis today.

Remember the large columns I told you about, they were drug out of blackberries at an auction for a pittance? For my Mother's day present I asked my strapping boys to set them in the garden for me. It took all four of them, but they did it! Today I planted them and I just love them. They turned out just like the picture in my mind. 

OK, enough work, time to relax.

Grandma and Lola enjoying the pool.

Lola having some girl time with Sarah, or as Lola calls her, my best friend.