This is a shot of the back yard looking toward the side yard.  The circle of arborvitae in the side yard is at the right.  In the center is a Crimson King norway maple, with more of the arborvitae that block off the back yard to the left.  Under the maple is a delaware valley white azalea.

This shot is in the opposite direction.  In the center you can see the back yard rose garden, which contains Gertrude Jeckyll, L.D. Braithwaite, Winchester Cathedral, Sweet Juliet, Graham Thomas, Heritage, and the climbers Golden Showers and Pierre de Ronsard.  In the left center you can see the arbor that the climbers are in the process of covering.  To the left is the circle containing the white pine that anchors the foundation plantings between the side and back yards.

This is the far end of the back yard.  On the far right is the wild cherry tree.  On the left is the deck, which has its side covered by the rose Zephirine Drouhin.  At the far left is a lilac bush.

Looking in the other direction, you can see the other side of the back yard rose garden.  That's the maple off in the distance.

Here's a close-up of the back yard rose garden.

Here's a close-up of the circle that anchors the plantings between the side and back yards.

Here's a shot of the backyard rose garden on Memorial Day, 1999, in full bloom.  That's Golden Showers to the left, intermixed with Pierre de Ronsard (in the process of opening its buds), with Winchester Cathedral lighting up the right hand side.  Below is a shot with Pierre de Ronsard in full bloom, with the first flush of Golden Showers fading.

It's spring, 2000, and the Crimson King maple is in bloom.  That's right -- the maple tree is in bloom, with each bud giving a set of small flowers, one or two pair of the "polly-nose" winged seeds, and a cluster of purple leaves, at this time no more than a 1/2" long each.  In the matter of a week or two, each leaf will be a handspan across.

We're into the third week of May, 2000 and Golden Showers is in full bloom, lighting up the back yard arbor.

In the following shot, Golden Showers has faded.  To the left, Gertrude Jekyll in in full flush; in the center, Pierre de Ronsard is beginning to open its buds; to the lower right, Winchester Cathedral is in full bloom.

In the photo below, Pierre de Ronsard has opened its blossoms; the yellow rose is not Golden Showers but Graham Thomas, which has thrown canes over in this direction; the white is Winchester Cathedral.

Pierre de Ronsard is in full flower; Graham Thomas and Sweet Juliet provide a nice balance of color.

Here's a view from the other side, with the arbor on the right.  Graham Thomas is to the left, Pierre de Ronsard to the center, and Heritage to the right.

In mid-October, 2000, the backyard garden had a regular visitor!

It's May, 2001, the maple has leafed out nicely, and has a good population of robins!

At the end of May the arbor in the back yard is covered with blossoms. On the left is Graham Thomas; on the right are Gertrude Jekyll and Heritage, with Pierre de Ronsard just beginning to open its cabbage-shaped buds.

The bulbs in the back yard garden have begun to bloom -- March, 2002.

The tulips have begun to bloom in the back yard border.

Gertrude Jekyll and Golden Showers have exploded into bloom on the arbor.

The view from above is worth the trouble of shooting it!

That's Zephirine Drouhin on the left, Gertrude Jekyll on the right.

Here's the arbor: Gertrude Jekyll (pink) on the left, Golden Showers (yellow), Winchester Cathedral on the right (white).

Here are the roses on the arbor in full bloom.

On the left side of the arbor, the pink is Gertrude Jekyll, the yellow is Golden Showers (lower) and Graham Thomas (upper), and the very light pink is Pierre de Ronsard.

In the center you can see Graham Thomas (and Golden Showers on the left) and Pierre de Ronsard, with the white Winchester Cathedral on the right.

On the right, you have a view of Pierre de Ronsard and Winchester Cathedral.

Here a view in early June, 2003.  That's Gertrude Jekyll on the arbor with Winchester Cathedral to the right.

A week later and things are really starting to come alive!

Over the July fourth weekend, I visited the nursery and planted a few new selections.  To the right of the lilies, you can see two new daylilies, Leebea Orange Crush and Double Cutie.  To their right is a new oriental lily, Mona Lisa.  I don't think I disturbed any of the existing bulbs when planting these.

It's early September and the back yard has a visitor!

Late May, 2004 -- that's Gertrude Jekyll on the left, on top of the arbor, Winchester Cathedral to the right, and Zephirine Drouhin showing through the arbor.

Moving into mid-June, here's a shot of last year's new plantings -- they're doing very well!  From the left, the daylilies Leebea Orange Crush and Double Cutie.  To their right is the oriental lily, Mona Lisa.

Here's a shot of the whole lily bed -- the white Asiatic lily on the left is the only one that has not yet bloomed.

It's early June and it's a bad time for baby birds -- several have fallen out of their nest and I'm unable to return them. :(

Here's a shot of the backyard rose garden; Gertrude Jekyll is on the left and Winchester Cathedral is on the right.

It's April 2006 and the backyard garden has a visitor!

Here's the back yard garden in mid-May.  The new topsoil and grass seed have worked wonders!

Toward late May, here's the backyard rose garden, with Gertrude Jekyll on the left and Winchester Cathedral on the right.

One of the local garden critics stopped by to have a look at how the garden is progressing.

Here are the roses on the arbor: Heritage (light pink) and Gertrude Jekyll (dark pink).

The end of May -- Gertrude Jekyll (dark pink) and Heritage (light pink) tot  he left, Winchester Cathedral (white) in the center, Sweet Juliet (apricot) to the right.

Gertrude Jekyll, Heritage, and Pierre de Ronsard.

The lily bed in the back yard garden is in full bloom.  From the left, that's Leebea Orange Crush (daylily), Double Cutie (daylily) and Mona Lisa (oriental lily).

Here's the lily bed now that the white Asiatic lily is also in bloom.

Here's the back yard around Memorial Day 2007.  That's Zephirine Drouhin through the arbor.  On the arbor are Gertrude Jekyll, Heritage, and Winchester Cathedral.

At the beginning of July, the backyard lily patch is in full bloom.

In 2008, a new neighbor has taken up residence in the back yard.

Just after Memorial Day, the arbor is showing Gertrude Jekyll (pink to the left) and Winchester Cathedral (white to the right), with Zephirine Drouhin visible through the arbor next to the deck.  As you can see, growth has been very vigorous this year.

Fast forward a week to the beginning of June.  That's Gertrude Jekyll (pink) and Heritage (lighter pink) mixed together on and around the arbor, with WInchester Cathedral (white) to the right.  Note how they've all spread and intermingled.

Here's a closer view of the arbor.

The back yard garden survived the winter of 2010 pretty well, with just a really ratty looking lawn to show for it.  Slit seeding by the landscaper, and me with my bags of perennial ryegrass and kentucky bluegrass took care of that, and the backyard is looking fine at the end of April 2010.  Here's the view looking toward the east.

And toward the west.  Through the arbor, you can see the new dogwood in the side yard garden.

As in the last few years, the cardinals have returned to the back yard garden.  They've made their nest in the roses on the arbor.  This is Mr. Cardinal.

And this is Mrs. Cardinal.

Mr. Cardinal likes to perch in the cherry tree.

This is one of the cardinal fledgelings, who flew out of the nest!

He wasn't very happy with me taking his photo!

Here's another of the cardinal kids, in the roses just outside the nest.

Mr. Cardinal watching over the children.

Cardinal fledgeling sunning himself on one of the rocks.

In mid-May, here's the view looking toward the deck thru the arbor.  On the arbor is Gertrude Jekyll while that's Zephirine Drouhin next to the deck.  I suppose we could call this "A Study in Pink" 

It's early April 2011 and the spring bulbs in the back yard garden have begun their annual bloom.  The daffodils are up and the hyacinths are beginning to bloom.  After a very hard winter (five feet of snow in the first month), they are a welcome sight indeed.

The Crimson King maple has bloomed in mid-April.

Here's the back yard in late May.  To the left is Gertrude Jekyll (purplish), to its right is Heritage (pink), with Pierre de Ronsard (light pink) starting to open.  Under the arbor against the deck you can see Zephirine Drouhin.

Forward to the end of May.  On the left is Gertrude Jekyll .  Mixed in and moving to the right is Pierre de Ronsard.  To the right is Sweet Juliet.  And mixed in is Heritage.

It's now mid-March 2012 and after a very mild winter, the spring bulbs in the backyard foundation bed have bloomed a full two weeks earlier than ever before.  You can see the daffodils and hyacinth. The daylilies have also begun to show new growth.

Last Updated: 03 Mar 2023

All of the text contained within this page and all of the photographs and videos taken by ToyTrains1 are copyright (c) 2000 - 2023 by ToyTrains1, and may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the written consent of ToyTrains1.

If you wish to use any of my content, please see my detailed copyright statement for terms and conditions of use.