GARDENING....LOVE IT AND HATE IT!

We purchased the home we presently have in October 2004. We have changed the 'fingerprint' of the property unbelievably since then. At the time we purchased it, there was one very long, rather narrow garden down one side of the driveway and a so-called garden in the front by the small windows. At that time, there were huge ugly cedars blocking most of the light and the view from that end of the house. We got rid of them promptly. Since then, we have added SO many gardens around the entire property.
I love planning the gardens and my husband and I implement. I still have more I'd like to do, but as time goes on, I'm rethinking what we are capable of at this point. My husband will be 66 years old in September and I will be 64 years old in August and both of us have had some health issues so we aren't quite as impulsive as we were 7 years ago. Each 'grand idea' means more work.
Each garden has been planned, replanned and probably will change slightly as we find a 'new' plant or at least one we feel would look 'so perfect'.
I really don't enjoy gardening when it's brutally hot, but the process of planting, moving plants to locations where they might be happier, I find rather cathartic.
In all my ambitions to have an amazing, scenic property, the upkeep is quite overwhelming at times. It has become more difficult as we brought in mulch four years ago that, unfortunately, had some sort of nasty, invasive vine weed that wants to take over.
For the past few days, my husband and I have worked hours and hours hoeing, picking and pulling weeds and have now laid down a form of mulch from our own fall leaves that we shredded and put in compost cages. Let's hope we now get a rain to pack down this homemade mulch and see if the weeds stay controlled...ahhhh!,the part of gardening I hate.
Two years ago, we had curbs put around the gardens for control of the grass and to define the garden areas better. We were thrilled with the look it gives!
We have planned the gardens, such that there is something blooming at all times of the seasons, before winter hits. Even then, we leave our tall grasses up over the winter to give some design to our space,even then.
I had this grand plan to install a rock garden on one side of the house to avoid having to mow up and down this slope. It ended up being 78 feet long!
I am posting a photo from two years ago, as in it's present state this year, it has been overrun with two invasive weeds. We now have to lift all the good plants out, the rocks out, and pull and kill the weeds. The next step is to lay ground cover and compost and begin the planting all over again....frustrating to say the least.
It's continuous work, but the satisfaction of sitting in our chairs at different points of a day and feeling so comfy and satisfied at how it's all turned out...great feeling. The property actually has some warmth and character now.
I asked my husband to build me an arbor in the back corner of our property, which he finally did last year. I L-O-V-E going back there with my morning coffee. It's my sancturary.
I hope you enjoy the pictures and our efforts.

We did for the first couple of years have vegetable gardens, etc but gave up on that after realizing we had a wonderful Farmer's Market in our area with great produce and reasonable prices. The only thing we have now is rhubard and asparagus. We used to have raspberry bushes, but they just didn't produce enough, so we ripped them out this year.
If I won the lottery, I'd still like to add a very big deck to the back side of the house....but then, that's a big 'IF'!
On another post, I'll show you some other areas of the property from the sides and the back. They still haven't even been touched this year.
On the south side of the property we put in 35 lilac bushes a few years ago that our neighbours let us dig up from their property. They are finally filling up and in that side. We also planted many lilies which we will probably have to move forward this year or next as the lilacs are overtaking them.