Every year I like to share a few garden tours throughout the season, giving you little updates on how the plants are growing. I am especially craving spring right now (we still have a few feet of snow outside and are experiencing the coldest April on record since 1912) so I thought it was the perfect time to share my end of summer garden from last year. I grabbed a few photos, but didn’t get around to sharing here on the blog! I did share a farm tour here. If you’d like to see our flower farm in action.
If you are new here, my name is Ashlea and I love flowers. Always have, always will. Our home lot was a bare 1/2 acre of grass and weeds, and we have slowly been transforming it over the last several years. I grow cut flowers that are used in bouquets, as well as for my own enjoyment. I live in a Zone 3- in the Alberta Prairies- so our growing season is short but abundant.
I shared a full tour of this area in July. (you can find that tour here) Keep in mind that I started all of these flowers from seed. You can see the difference of the same rows- the first photo is the end of July, and the second is late September. Most of them I start indoors 4-6 weeks before the last frost.
It’s amazing to see how much this row changed! The zinnias really put on a show last summer. They were the longest, biggest zinnias I have ever grown. They brought me so much joy! I don’t know if you can make them out, but way in the back those big orange blooms are giant marigolds, and they were about 3 feet tall!
The cosmos also took off like crazy! (shown on the left) We could barely walk through the pathway. It was an absolute jungle. I planted these rows with about 9″ of spacing between plants.
I didn’t get any wide angle shots of the garden, but for reference this is what it looked like in the spring. It’s remarkable the growth that happens in a season, isn’t it?!
I have one box devoted to lilies, a few perennials dappled in the second and third box- and the rest of the garden gets planted up with annuals. I can’t believe I didn’t take a photo of my sweet pea fence, because it was quite lovely.
I also found some photos of one of our window boxes, and thought it would be fun to share a side by side once the plants were all lush and filled in.
This wasn’t a full, full garden tour- as I didn’t seem to catch it all, but it sure has been nice to look through the beauty again… if you’d like to see the garden tour from July 2019 you can find it here.
Has spring arrived where you live yet? What are you most excited about growing this year?
-Miss Ash
Find out more about our garden and exterior here
No THAT is a garden! So lovely and huge! I love gardens and the beauty they hold.
Thanks for your sweet comment Rose!! They really do bring so much beauty and joy to this world.