In the beginning

Wow, flcrazy.....what a great blog. That is wonderful to have all the photos of your progress over the years. It sure looks beautiful now. Well done.

PS ~ I almost got caught in Hurricane Hugo in '89. We were in the Dominican Republic and we were supposed to get hit head on. Luckily, the storm turned off to the north before it quite reached us. Scary to be in a strange country in an emergency situation.

What lovely progress! It looks like a little hide-away for quiet moments. Well done!

Amazing transformation over the years flcrazy, and a nice little blog - love it!

Oh well done you ! Not sure you posted this just to shut me up ..but hope this is the first of many as what progress .From bits of wire and canes to the last picture is a great achievement and clever to have a record of how it started ..how I wish I d taken some before pics .

Then again Jane would probably say whats the problem ? Not much different now..

That's a lovely tranformation, well done to you.

Wonderful to see how it's all developing :o)

Oh my gosh out of HUGO this all came to be isnt that just like life when we have to ask GOD for help seams like it just turns out better. It looks beautiful and I love your pictures, I do hope you have a good year My husband is from Panamacity we came home for 40 year class reunion it will be our last trip to FL we met at Eglin AFB in the 70s he is not doing so good Health wise so last year was our last trip. I love the ocean and flowers in FL may you have safe year and keep up the good work looks beautiful. Your new friend who lives in Washington now.

That is so lovely to read and see. Thank you for posting it.

Superb..love the photos

Wow! what a great show of your progress. I remember when Hugo came thru also. We had some minor damage. Great that it allowed you to get a start. Your garden is great, but then you already now what I think!!!

~it looks really lovely now~what a transformation!

Thanks everyone for the vote of confidence. I was terrified my first blog would be a big flop. Thanks to Bonkers encouragement I decided to give it a try. Hope you liked it Bonkers, this one was for you !

Gilli, I can't imagine the fright you must have been experiencing in a foreign place, not knowing where to go in case it hit, or where to go for help if you needed it.This hurricane caught everyone by surprise, we've never had a hurricane come so far inland before, well in my life time anyway, so nobody was prepared or had a clue of what to do before the storm hit.

Wohlibuli, I knew you would remember Hugo,being we live so close to one another, but I didn't think anyone else would. So glad to hear it passed by without much damage being done.

Yes Lujean, looks like hugo created a monster here... ,ME....lol. I've certainly turned into a plant junky.

I think Bonkers thought I was stalling, but I was having a time trying to find all these old pictures,(none of them are in albums....lol). Then trying to figure out how to download and resize them for the website.....Phew.....! One good thing is , I did learn a few new things about the computer, bad thing is, if I don't do it again soon, I'll forget how I did it ....lol.

Thanks for showing how you progressed, it looks brill, can't beleave it that long since (hugo).

wow, what a great story and achieving something that you really wanted, from having nothing to the beautifull garden you have today flcrazy,, just shows with a little patients and hard earned money and of course the love you put in,, we can achieve our dreams,, well done and thanks for sharing this with us flcrazy x :o))

Now that was great nice to see how things progress in our gardens i must dig out some of mine!!

Nope didnt think you were stalling .. like many have enjoyed your pics and when chatting to you sometimes sounds like you lack a bit of self belief.

No - one here would think your garden a flop and your pics are always of such great quality sure I am not alone in admiring your skills in the garden and with a camera.

When sending my cheque could you please make it payable to ..

great blog and very inspirational, for the last 10 years my garden has been given over to the children(quite rightly) but now as they use it less and less I can start to realise my plans. Started last month with putting up an arch and cutting into the lawn for new borders. Im hoping at the end of 5 years I wont have much of a lawn left, just borders filled with all my favs

What a fantastic blog, with all the growing photos too. Well done, it looks wonderful :-)

What you've achieved is amazing - you must be so pleased and thankful that you took before and after photos. The hurricane and tornado must have been very scarey. Love honeysuckle especially the fragrance!

Absolutely stunning - what a result from a hurricane.

What a wonderful experience, watching your garden grow with you! Makes all my little adds to grow my garden feel like they really are leading somewhere! (I've a particular familiarity with the first few photos....:-) Just wonderful!

Thanks everyone for your wonderful imput ! I can finally take a breath again ! Well Bonkers, you are right, I don't have much confidence in alot of things. Until joining GOY, only a few people had ever seen my garden, and I haven't written anything since high school, and Language was always my worst subject....lol. So I was terrified to put my shortcomings out there for everyone to see. But you had faith in me and you were right, I could do it and I survived it too....lol ! I have to fess up and tell you I was doing some stalling in the beginning. I didn't have a clue on what to write about until you said on an earlier post, "that if this picture doesn't inspire you to write a blog ".... Btw, the check is in the mail, I made you work hard for this one..:-)

Yes, it's hard to believe it's been almost 20 years since Hugo came through....., sure hope the next 20 years go at a more leisurely pase!
Sure sounds like you have some fun times planned in your garden for the next few years Mageth. Be sure to take lots of photos ! I've had a love for the camera long before I had one for flower gardening. My poor son will attest to that, I think for the first three years of his life, he thought the video camera was a part of my face...lol. When I turned to gardening, I suddenly had more things to take pictures of, luckily for me my two favorite hobbys go hand in hand.

Thanks GT, we do what we can with what we've got, right ! I hope you have as much fun building your dream as I did mine...;-)

Lovely blog. Hope there will be many more!

What a good blog and a beautiful garden

Its nice to look back then compare with what you have today,enjoyed reading your blog and seeing the photo,s of what you have achieved,sincerely hope you dont experience another Hugo.Well done.......

Thanks for your kind comments and well wishes! I hope to never experience another hurricane, one was quite enough....:-)

Have always enjoyed looking at your beautiful photographs, and now you have become an expert blogger.....well done, I found your blog most interesting, good idea of yours to keep the photographs of your endeavours.....of course we will expect more now, you do realize that dont you?

Thanks Dotty, you're too kind. It sounds like I might have just bitten off more than I can chew....lol.

Excellent blog with fascinating history.
Flcrazy ~ well done :o)

i admire your patience and restraint i hope you get to add as more as your heart desires

Fabulous blog. Loved the story of that arbour, lol.

It looks absolutely stunning now and your planting is first class. Well done, you. I bet you're well proud of that. :o)

I have just stumbled accross your gardening blog and find the content absolutely fantastic. I have learnt a great deal about gardening from this blog. Keep up the good work please over the summer months. I will be reading with interest. I also hope to provide insight into gardening at www.mysod.co.uk

To be honest, I never expected anyone to read my blog...lol. Now that you have, I must say, I'm very pleasantly surprised by your responses, and I really appreciate everyone's imput.

Well, there you go, Flcrazy. :-) The nature of GOY, eh? and look how many people like your blog even if they don't comment.

I certainly would like to see more of your garden too.

Yes Llew , you'll never run across a more wonderful group of people, this site has been quite an inspiration to alot of us in many different ways! BTW, let me welcome you to GOY too. !

Thank you, hun. It's been a good month for me so far. :o)

Oh my... Popular tree, what a wonderfoul compliment, I'm afraid I don't feel qualified to give gardening advice, but I am very humbled by your kind thoughts of my gardening skills ! I just noticed you,Labyrs50, and, Lemondog are new members also, and would like to welcome all of you into the GOY family ! I know you are going to love it here too.

What a beautiful garden, well done. Want to enjoy it even when the weathers awful...? Have a look at these, they're amazing and suit gardens like yours to a tee!

www.signaturegardenliving.co.uk

How have i missed your blog Flc, now that ive eventually read it i think its brill, the things we done when we first started gardening, i didnt have a lot of money but that didnt stop me either, your arbour area (as the rest of your garden) is a credit to you, and isnt it just a fantastic hobby..Love Dee..

Appreciate the info Steve,and thanks for your imput.

Thanks a million Dee ! I've had many different hobbies in my life time, but nothing else I've ever done satisfies me the way gardening does ~! I have afeeling you and most of the other GOY'ers feel the same way.

I'll certainly second that Flcrazy. :o)

Glad to know I'm not alone on this one Gilli....;-) Can't imagine another hobby being able to takes it's place . As long as I can still walk ..., make that crawl out to the garden....lol

Brilliant blog Flcrazy it's good to look at and read the storys of gardens in other parts of the world. We Brits like to moan about our weather but your hurricanes and tornados puts ours into perspective. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your garden, as Dottydaisy2 says we expect more!

Thanks Rbtkew, so glad you enjoyed my blog. You are right, our weather can be very unpredictable, and disasterous here, without much warning . I think the mistress of the sea on our side of the Atlantic is an evil little witch....lol

What a great story and inspirational photos - well done you -

What is This???? You wrote a BLOG???? Great!
You started with a honeysuckle too? Great progress pics...I enjoyed your pics as much as your history! ( I've often felt at odds with people who called in the landscapers.. like it's a creation of their's...not nature's.) But your garden has come with time, patience and a lot of loving care...like you knew what was waiting there and drew it from the earth in pieces...each piece an addition, an improvement! I like your style of landscaping you have a very light touch...but it's magic!
Have you done a blog about your pond adventure? and your tropicals? Will be watching for your next one!

Thanks Angiedoherty, really appreciate your thoughts on my blog, and welcome to GOY ! I sure you'll find some gardening inspiration everytime you log on..

What about that Lori ! I still can't believe I wrote one either....lol Life's just full of surprises isn't it ? Your sweet words have my poor head spinning friend.... I'm so glad you liked it ! As far as more blogs goes...., definitely considering it, but not making any promises.....lol May not happen until the peak of growing season has past. This is my busiest time of the year. If this is starting to sound like a cop-out, that's probably because it is....lol.

Ah no pressure! I'd want to give all my attention to my garden too...I want to take mine with me...boo hoo.

Great to see how this developed. You described it as a work in progress. Is the plan to keep expanding till the whole garden is done? How many stumps have you got left to cover now?

Thanks Gardeninfr. ! The plan was to only have interconnecting pathways throughout the garden, doing away with most of the lawn, but age has put a damper on that plan. I takes me twice as long to get half as much work done anymore. It's all I can do to keep up with the weeding . I luckily did get around to covering all the stumps that were out in the garden before I slowed down, even if it was only by placing a statue on top of them...lol

You've done a beautiful job flcrazy...

Well a few years ago hurricane Stephanie wreaked similar havoc here. You probably didn't here of this hurricane as it only affected my garden. Lots of tree stumps were left behind. It did not occur to me to cover them. I have been removing them and it has been very hard work. I must say your planting looks a lot better than my holes in the ground!

I think he means hurricane Stephen lol..Flrczy....lol...

Thanks for the compliment Gardeninfr. What ever the hurricane was called Catfinch, it sounds like it was bad business...:-). Nothing like the wrath of nature to put one in their place and make you realize just how insignificent we really are, and how lucky we are to still be here...

lol..I think it was the wrath of GF...actually...that hit his trees...trying to make more sunlight..himself is nature on this one...lol..but I certainly do agree..Mom nature can certainly get our attention when we get in her way!.

Should have known he was the culprit Catfinch, it was sounding a little suspious, being only his property was destroyed, but I was going to give him the benefit of a doubt...;-) I'll know better next time. As the old saying goes, Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me...lol

He is so bad...I love that about him...lol..grrrr...I can just see him now...growling around about us talking amongst ourselves...hehehe...can't pester you in person right now..I shall pester you on GOY with the help of Flcrzy..I do believe she has your number...lol...

lol...., Don't cut him any slack Catfinch, you know if you give a man an inch, they'll try and take a mile !....;-)

LOL... GF may break all land records of distances he can take...lol..
I still like the ideas of paths etc...through your garden...just take your time..there is no rush...putter through it and enjoy.

lol..., sounds like you better keep an extra close eye on that one Catfinch....lol.
I plan on gardening as usual, and that encludes about one new flowerbed a season, can't fight the urge to create something new completely, I wind up giving in at least once a year...lol . I'm hopeless !

Just caught up with this Jerrie.....super blog and smashing photos, the end result is really beautiful!

Thanks a million Janey, I was really intimidated and worried about writing a blog. So I just attibrute this one to beginners luck...lol

You have such a beautiful garden now Flcrazy and it must be wonderful to walk around in all that space you have in North Carolina- can you send me some of it please so I can add it to my garden!

Thanks so much Richard for your nice comments. I'll be glad to send you some of my land. I know you will work miracles with it. Hope you don't mind helping me pay the taxes on it though....lol

I'm impressed!
Do you have all of your plants on an organic program?
The growth and diversity is impressive! My compliments to the chef ! :-)

Thanks N2, so glad you like it ! Every year in early Spring, on the areas that don't get much water, I put down about 4 inches of finely chopped bark mulch. On the areas that are densely planted and I have to irrigate a couple of times a week, I put down about 2 inches of bagged humus with manure mix, or some mushroom compost if I can afford it. I've tried mulching the whole garden but I found out the hard way that mulch doesn't do well when placed in overcrowded areas where it doesn't receive any sunlight and gets watered frequently. I always wind up with a virus in the garden that wipes out alot of plants. Mulch and compost once a year is about all I can afford to give the gardens anymore. ..:-)

We have honeysuckle in our garden Flcrazy, and although we have had it for a number of years this is the first year that we have had a significant amount of flowers on it. Well It sounds as though you really enjoy your garden Flcrazy and although you are busy with it, I suppose it keeps you out of mischief !

LoL..., I wouldn't count on that Richard ! You hang around GOY long enough, you'll find out I stay in trouble...lol.
My honeysuckle is dieing back on me because of it's age. I need to give it a severe pruning next spring to rejuvinate it. Now that I have a trumpet vine growing on this trellis now also to cover it, I can afford to cut the honeysucle back to the main stump. I just haven't had to heart to do it so far, out of fear of losing my first plant.

You have a wonderful ,stunning garden obviously much loved and just a bit younger than me too, but if I may say so its kept better than I have. LOL well done you!

Oops sorry I read that again its not 55 its 95 , even more impressive to have such a place in such a short time!

My Honeysuckle is in a large pot in the garden but what I want to do is to take it out of the pot and plant it in the ground where it is. I will have to undo all the ties tying it to our trellis and then drop it down so it is level with the soil. Would you know when is the best time to do this Flcrazy as at the moment it is flowering.

Thanks Indy, it seems like it's been here forever...lol

Here in the States Richard, they suggest the best time to plant is early spring as new growth begins, after last chance of frost has passed. Good luck with it! I think you'll love it even more once you get it in the ground, it will get much larger once it gets established.

Thats great Flcrazy we are growing it to cover the trellis-mainly to stop our neighbour looking over when we are sat in the garden- as her garden is a bit higher than ours! (we can't see into her garden - not that we would want to if we could!)-thanks for the advice hope you are enjoying your life over there!

You're welcome Richard, and thanks, this has been a fantastic gardening season for me this year !

Thank you so much Marguerite, that's such a sweet thing to say !. I have to give all the thanks to Bonkers for encouraging me to write this blog. I'm afraid , I don't have very much confidence in my writing abilities. I may give it another try this Winter, when my life slows downs a bit.
Glad you like the new avatar.(you're making me blush...lol) It's been a long time since I've had a picture of me up , thought it was time to undate it so all the new comers to GOY would know who they were chatting with. I need one with me smiling, but I don't have a recent one. I'm always the one behind the camera, rarely ever the one in front of it...lol

Whatever made you think you couldn't write a blog F/crazy ? This is BRILLIANT ! A wonderful story in words and pictures from the beginning. I am very new to GOY which is why I am so late to this page. This reminds me of the saying 'Every cloud has a silver lining'. Out of the cloud of Hugo came your beautiful, beautiful garden !! More blogs please F'Crazy, you are a wonderful storyteller !! xx
ps: I like AC/DC too !!

What a thoughtful thing to say Sue, I'm blushing...lol ! So glad you enjoyed it , I was a nervous wreck while writing it !
So you like AC/DC too ! I feel closer to you already Sue.;-)Nothing like a little 'Let There be Rock ' to make you want to get up and shake your booty is there....lol. I can feel the years shedding off, just thinking about. Aahhh..., to be young again !

In the beginning back in 1955 ... year I was born !! haha You don't look that old AT ALL Jerrie !! My philosophy is that age is a state of mind !! I can be 17 everyday if I want to !! lol
And I HAVE danced around the living room to AC/DC and MANY others !!! lol

Don't be nervous, get the pen out !! You have a gift ! xx

I'm not far behind you friend, I was born in Jan. of 61. I love your philosophy by the way....lol. There are days my hubby would agree with you too, says I act like a two year old when I don't get my way, (which is most of the time )...lol

January the what ? I'm February 10th. Don't tell me we're both Aquarians !!! That would explain a lot !! lol

January the 28th, I sure am Sue !...lol.

Woo hoo !!!!! Humanitarians rule !!!

Fantastic garden!! Fantastic blog!! - full credit to you on achieving your dream garden.

Thanks so much Judz, so glad to hear you enjoyed my attempt at a blog...lol. Let me say also, welcome to GOY. Hope you love it here as much as the rest of us !

Oh Good Grief!!! it's written in the stars....I'm an Aquarian too.... "This is the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius!" but I'm older than both of you..I was born 1950.

Thanks for the welcome - I'm already addicted.

Wow..., all this time we've chatted together, what's it been Lori , a year and a half now ? I never knew you were an Aquarian too. No wonder we get along so well...., we're kindred spirits....lol.
Judz, glad to hear you're enjoying yourself, it's really hard not to get addicted to this site....lol.

We're taking over the world Jerrie and Lori !! (Probably do a better job !) lol :~)))

Lol...., I don't know if I'd do a better job Sue, but you can guarantee we'd have more fun than anyone else while we were doing it.... !! Yeehaaa .....lol

LMAO !! :~)))

I sure enjoyed reading this blog. Your an inspiration to me. Let me know where in N Carolina you are. Have you ever heard of Land Harbor N.C.?

Hi Valerie ,it seems like forever since I wrote this blog. I've had a blast reading though it again after all this time. ..lol I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it too.

I don't know the mountains as well as I should, as I don't ride through those curvy roads very well...:-). My husband used to live there many years ago and said he thought you were close to Linville. Is that right ?

Hi Flc
Your husband is right, I live in Linville. Saw you on my web page yesterday so you know I have a shade garden. That makes it a little harder to garden but I get a little filtered sun in some spots where I can get things to bloom. I put in a coral vine this year to run up a wall post but not sure if there is enough sun to get it to bloom. I'm wondering where in NC you are? We havn't had any hurricanes but did have an ice storm at Christmas that brought down a lot of our large branches and trees (some on our roof) Going up next week to check out the damage and meet with a roofer. We live in Florida in the winter. Your blog is a real inspiration to me

Hi Vakerie, I had a feeling you had to be in or near Linville, hubby used to live there many years ago, before we met. We live in a small community called Grace Chapel. It's in between Granite Falls and Hickory.
I hate to hear you had damage done to your house, hope the damage was minimal. Must be very disturbing finding something out like that when you're living that far away from your home .

Went up and checked out the damage to our home. Not too bad but we are having 5 large trees taken down that are leaning over our house. The good news is I will get a little more sun into my garden. I don't know where Grace Chapel is. How far away from me are you? Is it close enough for us to look at each other's gardens? Would love to have someone look at my garden that know something about gardening. I just guess at everything.

Still only one blog Jerry .... ?? (I'll bet you're sitting there with a bemused look thinking, 'What the ..... ?' LOL) xx

I'm just an honest to goodness, well trained, professional procrastinator. What can I say....., at least I'm honest....lol

As I said my Aquarian friend ..... still only one blog ? FAR too much talent going to waste .......
Got it yet from this side of the pond ...... ???
Shook your booty to AC/DC lately ... ?? Cat still having your hand off when you go to stroke his tum ....??? LOL !!!
This is not a troll .... if you still haven't got it, I'll pm you .... ! ;~))) xxx