An Amateur's Garden Observations

My husband and I recently bought our first house and moved in. Since it was just getting to be springtime when we closed on the house, we could see there were some flowers that the previous owners must have planted just starting to poke their way through the dirt (and debris, which I need to clean up).

My mom used to make us work in her vegetable garden, and I never liked it, but now that I have a place of my own, I really want to do some gardening. I'm undecided on just what I should do, so I think for this first year, I may just let it grow, and see what I have, before I start digging and changing things.

It's so exciting, now that the flowers are starting to bloom, so I thought I'd just give everyone a quick peek around our yard... starting with the first tulip to bloom. I'm so proud! :)

Walk with me! :)

All photos taken by author. Copyright 2013 by WhiteIsland88 - all rights reserved.

If you have a garden, which do you plant?

I've seen these flowers many times, but since I didn't take an interest in flowers until now, I never knew what they're called. The flowers have five petals, and the leaves are rather long and thin.

From what I can find, I believe they are 'Vinca Minor.' According to FineGardening.com, it looks like they're commonly called creeping myrtle and lesser periwinkle, but neither of those names rings a bell in my mind.

Then we have this nice, tall tree with clusters of white, five-petaled flowers. Bradford pear, while it does add a nice flowery touch to the yard, could stand to smell a little lovelier.

I used to love going for walks in my parents' neighborhood to see the trees in spring. I especially love magnolia trees and another pinkish flowering tree that 'droops' -- I never could find out the name for that one, either.

One time, my sisters and I were walking through the subdivision by my parents', and they had these Bradford pear trees planted on the median at the sub entrance. I was being silly and ran over to "smell the f'owers"; I took a big whiff and gagged. It smells kind of like rotten egg or bad breath.

Next to our little paving stone patio, we have a pond! (Possibly also a fountain, but I've yet to see where the fountain bubbles through.) It needs a little work, but it will look so pretty once it's cleaned up.

The trellis in the back looks a little unsteady, but it has a clematis vine (according to my brother-in-law) that is just starting to put on some green.

That's all, for now, but I hope you enjoyed seeing my flowers and trees as much as I enjoyed showing them. :) Hopefully I will be able to update this as the season progresses.

Here are a couple of pages I used to try to identify the plants in my yard.

Do you recognize any of my unidentified plants? Are you a gardener yourself? Share your thoughts and stories here!