Winter garden

[Thepainterswife]

Further to copd16 s post in which she showed us the lovely first snowdrops coming through in her garden I thought I’d share my love of evergreens . I do have loads of deciduous plants ( the one in the foreground is a blueberry bush) but the evergreens keep me cheerful throughout the winter . The photo was taken on a wet misty day , through my summerhouse window in December ( cold but lovely 🥶)

[Damon1864 Volunteer]

I love evergreens and growing fruit. Have a lovely day and take care 😊 Bernadette and Jack 🐕 xxxxxx 🌹

[sassy59]

What a lovely photo. I like the greenery and the cute dogs too. Thank you for sharing. Xxx💜😘

[CDPO16]

You have a lot of year round interest. It's quite amazing how many shades of green there are.

[Katinka46]

Thank you. I love winter, I know, I know definitely bucking the trend, but I love the skeletal trees, and the evergreens. The colours are much more subtle and rich than summer.Kx

[Thepainterswife in reply to Katinka46]

I don’t like cold weather but the dogs enjoy being in the garden every day so I’ve tried to make it interesting all year round so I can enjoy the view when I’m huddled up with a brew in my little retreat I’ve also tried to make it wildlife friendly and winters a great time for watching birds, squirrels etc . Like you I prefer subtle colours , in summer I plant wildflowers and perennials but no bedding plants Having said that a couple of years ago I planted some trailing deep orange/ red nasturtiums , they travelled about 15’ twinning through the dark evergreens , looked absolutely stunning and came up again last year 😃 x

[Jane2005]

Great Photo of your lovely garden 🙂

[Thepainterswife in reply to Jane2005]

Thank you 😊

[madonbrew]

I love the evergreens! I planted an autumn pot last year..lol, I have no idea what’s in it but I like it! It’s doing really well atm. I’m not sure what’s supposed to happen with the berries though..they’ve all died off now. The plant in the left pot is doing amazing now. The photo was taken last year in October I think.

Autumn 🍂 plants

[Thepainterswife in reply to madonbrew]

The one on the left looks like a photina red robin , I’ve been meaning to get one of those for ages and not got around to it - it’s definitely on my list for this year. Love your little bicycle 😊 xx

[madonbrew in reply to Thepainterswife]

It may well be! It’s really pretty and growing lots atm. I bought the little bike for my mum and a geranium to pop in it for Mother’s Day last year. It’s been flowering really well too although just died off too. Our garden needs some serious TLC but it’s quite big and I’m the only one in my household able to look after it now…well dad can mow the grass still. When there’s another nice day I’ll get out and try and do something with it! Mum used to be the gardener but now can’t really do it.

I love 💕 the summer version of the photo too!!! Ooo to be sat in that lovely chair, enjoying the sunshine, birds singing and looking at the beautiful plants and flowers 🌸 Perfect!! 🌺💕🌸😘

[Thepainterswife in reply to madonbrew]

My gardens quite small really Dee and it was an absolute mess four years ago We had an extension built and the builders used it as a builders yard When they left it was covered in concrete, plaster and rubbish waiting to be taken to the tip 🤦🏻‍♀️ I set about creating a wildlife garden , luckily there were a lot of shrubs already there so I just added to them , tidied up and put in a few features made from stone and old planks left lying about 😂. You can’t go wrong with shrubs and evergreens they re pretty low maintenance and whilst the tiny lawn still hasn’t recovered I just let it grow longer in summer so the bare patches don’t show 😂 xx

[RoadRunner44]

A lovely photo! Really cheered me up too.Thanks.

[HollyBoyd]

That looks like an oil painting, lovely greens and of course the dogs are the focal point, lovely. Thank you for sharing your very varied evergreens xxx😊

[Thepainterswife]

Thank you 😃 that was my thought exactly I looked through the wet window , saw the dogs on alert ,watching a squirrel probably , and thought that looks just like a painting , one of those moments your just lucky to capture . x

[Thepainterswife]

The same view from a slightly different angle in summer. You can clearly see the stone bench ( made with my own fair hands from rubble 😂) that the dogs were standing on and if you look carefully you can see a few foxgloves, Canterbury bells , daisies and a beautiful peach coloured 25 year old rose peeping through from the other side of the hedge otherwise it’s still mostly evergreens. I also made the little pond for about £30 - £20 for pebbles , £10 for pond liner and about 2 hours of my time 😃

Summer garden

[CDPO16 in reply to Thepainterswife]

That looks like a lovely oasis Val and you are talented to make that bench and pond. It must give you much pleasure to sit there. Thank you for sharing xx

[Thepainterswife in reply to CDPO16]

Thanks Carole , that’s just how I think of it , a little oasis , I go in and leave all worries behind for awhile I’ve always been creative but it’s not so much talent as necessity being the mother of invention these days I don’t drive and Geoff can’t anymore , it was awful at first not being able to get to the tip but now I love finding new uses for stuff . I have a path made out of roof slates and I’ve fenced off a very small corner using the spring base of our old settee 😂. I was breaking up the settee to put in the bin bit by bit and when I got the spring section out of the base I thought “ that would look lovely once it’s rusty “ I left it out all winter and it does look really nice , I just need to find a beautiful shrub to put behind it now . I do realise there are people who would say I’m crackers 😂 xx

[CDPO16 in reply to Thepainterswife]

That is true recycling and very inventive xx

[Caspiana]

I was looking at the beautiful pups more than the garden. Aren't they lovely (and your garden) 😄. Thank you for sharing. Made my morning. ☕♥️

[Thepainterswife in reply to Caspiana]

Thank you Cas , I’m glad you like them both and you had a nice start to the day , hope you enjoy the rest of it 😊love to you and Chom , I hope you’re both well 🥰 xx

[Izb1]

Aaaw the dogs look lovely in this setting and made me laugh when you said on high alert, can just picture them chasing a squirrel. You have done well creating such a natural setting its lovely x

[Thepainterswife]

Thank you Izb , creating the garden has keep me sane over the past few years . The dogs do indeed see squirrels and wood pigeons as invaders but they will happily watch the small birds feeding just a couple of feet away from them and even play games with one lady blackbird They all run around a large laurel bush , the dogs never go fast enough to catch her and she never flies off ,when she’s had enough , after a couple of circuits ,she darts under the bush and they just walk away 😂