Wednesday, April 18, 2012

April 16, 2012. Bloomington, Indiana. Part 3 Of 3. Mar's Lovely Garden.



The Hawthornes, on their way across America,
made a detour to meet a long time
 internet and blogging friend of mine.
And that would be Mar, of Foodies Untie blogdom.

The Hawthornes showed up at Mar's lovely home,
greetings and hugs were exchanged,
and we piled into her car.
It's so nice to be taken care of.

Knowing of Mr. Hawthorne's self-imposed dietary restrictions
and the fact that I hadn't had a decent meal
in 3 days on the road,
Mar first took care of the business at hand - food.
She'd done her research
and took us to Upland Brewery
for a most satisfying and convivial repast.
See here for details.

After fortification,
(I swear, I was getting faint.)
the Hawthornes were taken on a personally-guided tour by Mar,
of the Indiana Memorial Union,
one of the largest student unions in the world,
and home to an impressive art collection.
See here for details.

Next, we got a tour of Mar's garden.
I recognized most of the plants,
but there were still a few I wasn't familiar with.
We do live in quite different climate zones.

Let's take a walk through Marilyn's garden, shall we?


Beautiful, huge clematis, 
maybe 4-6 inches across, are climbing up her trellis.
When mine decide to bloom
(They're finicky.),
I get maybe 1-2 inch blooms.


Rhododendron.

Ain't gonna happen at the beach.

I forget what Mar said this plant was,
but she's simply labeled it "Deer Food."


Mar, anytime you want to jump in here
and ID something, go right ahead.


Another view of clematis.


Mar found this antique pump
and made the plinthe it sits on herself.


Inviting walkway.
I love garden paths that beckon.
And this one was beckoning.

I also love garden accents.




Flowering chives.

Iberis or candy tuft.



Bleeding heart or dicentra
which I've had no luck at all growing.



A gazing globe.
No gazing globes for me.
One minor Nor'easter
and it would be Adios!

Uh oh. 
Wait...
What's that in the back left?

Oh Mar, Mar, Mar.
I thought there might be a problem.
I wasn't sure
and I didn't want to say anything.

But dear, you never, ever stash your bottles like that.

Take a lesson from Rosie.
Cut to Rosie's garden and her "pond."
Take notes, Mar.
This is how a professional does it.
Check out the outline of my "pond."
Make it look like you went to the recycling center, dear,
and hand-picked all the bottles.
Display them proudly!
Embrace it, Mar!

You don't guiltily hide them in your garden,
but this explains soooo much:
Mar's tipsy terra cotta pots.


Thanks for everything, Mar!
I love that shirt.





4 comments:

Marilyn said...

Rosie, that plant is Glade bluestar or Amsonia tabernaemontana.

And btw, the weeds were hiding the fact that there were other wine bottles in my garden there. They are meant to be a butterfly bath/watering hole area. Sorry I hadn't been able to get the garden weeded better, but I blame the early spring dry-spell for that.

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Oh, butterfly bath/watering hole area.
I got lots of them!

As for the weeds in my garden, I blame my laziness. But weather works for me.

dh said...

Omg love the tipsy pots :)

Marilyn said...

Oh, and the "Deer Food" is Winged Euonymus, or burning bush. The deer actually keep those two bushes trimmed quite nicely.