Monday, March 23, 2009

Jenner Fenner Mo Minner, Be By Bo Biner, Fe Fi Fo Finner ~ Jenner :)

Please give a warm welcome to this week's guest, Jenners of Life with a Little One & More.

When Lisa asked for guest posters, I was so excited! I had visions of a fun family project that involved my Little One and my photographer husband. Unfortunately, we could not come to a meeting of the minds about what to do for the post -- leading to marital discord and general disinterest from the Little One. (I exaggerate about the discord -- but only a little). So I decided to go it alone.

Then I came up with and scratched so many different ideas before deciding to just go with the simplest one, which is to share a little with you about my perennial garden and the visitors it attracts.

Before I continue, I must tell you I am NOT a gardener. My gardening experience before this one was a little vegetable garden (but that was primarily my husband's project; I was just the designated waterer.) But when we moved into our house, there was a perfect little space for a garden right by the entryway, and I thought I would try my hand at planting a garden. Being a bit lazy and having a black thumb, I did a little research and realized a perennial garden might be perfect for me as you didn't need to recreate it every year. So I bought a book and found a garden layout that seemed ideal for what I had in mind. The primary colors are yellow, purple and white.

The other considerations were what would work well in my neck of the woods -- New Jersey. I wanted a garden that would look good for spring, summer and fall. The plants work very well together -- as soon as one is done blooming, another takes its place on center stage. And when nothing is blooming, the plants with interesting leaves and shapes have a moment to shine. It has really been a surprise to me how much I love my little garden and how much it has thrived. So here is the story of my perennial garden and the visitors who "flock" to it!

This is what the garden looks like in May and June.


Come July, things start blooming like crazy.
One thing about perennials, they come back stronger and bigger every year, and I am constantly having to keep them under control.




Butterflies love to visit the garden...


and the place is always buzzing with bees.


The goldfinch in his bright summer colors is one of my favorite visitors. Nice to see him "dressed up" after his drab winter feathers!


But by far, our most favorite visitors are the hummingbirds!
The photo is a little grainy because they are so hard to capture in flight.


The scouts show up each year around May, and I get the feeders ready for them.
By June, we have at least 7 hummingbirds visiting our house all day long, every day.


We get so many, I put a window feeder out back on our kitchen window.
The hummies just fly right up. I love this photo because of the shadow on the house.


They've really gotten used to us and will flit around out heads when we sit out on the deck.


I'm anxiously awaiting their return this year. We are graced with their presence from May through September, and it is one of the best parts of living in our house!

Thank you, Lisa, for this opportunity to be a part of your amazing blog. Your photos blow me away every day, and I was so thrilled to be a small part of what you are doing at Lisa's Chaos.

36 comments:

  1. Thanx Jenner for the great look around your garden! I like it all seasons and love those hummingbirds!

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  2. How very cool to have all that in one little plot! I am so jealous of the hummingbirds. Never saw too many before I moved to NZ, but we have our own interesting stuff.

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  3. Jenner......these are all so beautiful! You hit me in my weak spot.
    I am a perennials LOVER!
    At our last home I had 102 different perennials. I promised myself at this house I wouldn't make so much work for myself.
    Beautiul liitle creatures who have captured.
    Great post.
    Thanks for sharing...TJ

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  4. Oooooh. My daughter and I used to have a butterfly garden once...we would send the caterpillars to her pre-school class so they could witness the amazing transformation. This post brings back those memories. Lovely photos !!!

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  5. God, this makes my heart ache. we're trying to buy some land and I want what you have. simple with lots of fluttery visitors..

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  6. lovely garden, lovely visitors. just a tip about perennial gardens--they still need tending. You might want to read up on your particular plants. Some plants require thinning. Some are hybrids and after a few years will revert to their "natural" state and will have to be replaced. Your garden is lovely and with a little bit of maitenance work should serve you well.

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  7. Wow! How I envy people who have gardens like this around their house.

    A beautiful post - lovely guest - well done!

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  8. I came here via Jenner's blog.

    Very nice garden. I'm jealous that yours grows! We have alot of perennials in our back garden but they did not grow very much. Last year our neighbor gave us some of theirs, so hopefully it will grow bigger and stronger this year. It's supposed to be a memorial garden. But the front garden seems to hold up well. Probably because it gets more sunlight.

    I will have to take a peek at the rest of lisa's blog. It's nice to meet new people, even if we came here to see someone we already knew. :)

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  9. Wow! I just had a peek through your blog, Lisa, and your photography is amazing! I want to be you when I grow up!

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  10. This post is wonderful, and your pictures are great. I am so anxious to get my flowers planted and garden growing. I always have more ambition now that I do in July/August when it is 90+ and very humid. I filled my bird feeders this weekend and they are empty already. I'm surprised that so many birds are back already. The finches are here already too, which is a good sign of spring in my book. See ya back at your place! :)

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  11. I came by to visit after stopping at Jenners' blog. You are inspiring me to start that first garden! The pictures are beautiful and I love those hummingbird visitors. You should be proud of putting together such a lovely display for all the neighbors! Looks like you're getting that green thumb after all. Thanks to Lisa for inviting Jenners to post! I'm glad to visit your blog too!

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  12. That is one of my favorite parts about summer too! The hummers...I can't wait till they return :0)

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  13. there you are! we get a few hummingbirds around here, as well. but our garden is not near as pretty.

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  14. Wow Jenners- that's great that you have such a lovely little spot for visiters to come to. I'm excited to have something like this of my own someday. My husband has the gardening fever and so I'm sure I'd have plenty of help tending a garden whenever we can plant one. He actually tried to plant pumpkins and potatoes in my baby's nursery! Their room has the south-facing window which gets the best sunlight. So those pots were on their little night-tables for a month or so until I finally got him to make sense and wait until spring to put them outside. (The pumpkin was spreading all over the place and I just didn't want it. I just knew my toddler was going to pull it off onto the floor sometime and make a dirty mess.) So we're now waiting or spring- but since we rent, we'll only be able to use pots or buckets outside. Thanks for sharing!

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  15. What a beautiful garden! I've never done one, as I tend to cause flowers and plants to wither at first glance. :) You've inspired me, though. Maybe a little garden like yours is in our future? :)

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  16. Beautiful garden. The pictures of the humming birds are so cool. I'm inspired to plant flowers now.

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  17. I love hummers, I wish I was better at attracting them.

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  18. I love this look-see at your garden and its visitors. I've always wanted to attract hummingbirds to my place!

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  19. Found you! I love those hummingbird pictures, that's amazing!

    This makes me want Spring here even more!

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  20. You are so lucky to have hummingbirds!!! My parents have them in California and after my last visit, I bought 3 kinds of feeders trying to attract them to my backyard in Florida, but I didn't have any luck. Nice shots!!

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  21. Heeey I found Jenners :D What a great post! I am sooooo jealous of your hummingbird pics!! I tried to get some recently and will post them soon but they are awful compared to yours! Grr LOL ♥

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  22. I love your flowers! They are sooo pretty! Of course, I love the bee photo!

    We have lots of hummingbirds here too. I can't believe you were able to get such great photos of them!

    Awesome post!

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  23. Those hummingbird photos are amazing! Beautiful garden. Thanks for sharing.

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  24. Love the photos.

    Can't wait for the flowers to return!

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  25. I saw hummers on the Oregon Coast this weekend - but they haven't gotten to my neck of the woods yet. Next week I'm going to put out my first feeders -- just in case

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  26. Great post. Living in the city, I don't have a garden of my own, but love visiting them, and yours was great to visit. I love the macro shots.........................:)

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  27. HUMMINGBIRDS! Amazing... just love love love those photos!

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  28. Wonderful, wonderful! The photos are glorious and what a treat to see those hummingbirds. How lucky you are to have those beautiful little visitors to your very pretty garden.

    Oh, and thank you for hosting Jenner's story, Lisa! Your photography is absolutely stellar!

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  29. Wow! What a talented person but this post together! Oh wait, it was me. HAHA!
    Seriously though, if anyone reads to this comment, I want to thank everyone who left such kind kind comments here. It was such fun to do this and I love Lisa's Chaos. It is always a treat to find what she has up every day.
    And I will be coming by personally to thank you for your comments (if I don't know you already as I "imported" some of my own readers -- never one to take chances) if I don't know you. It just might take me a while as I have limited blogging time. Thanks so much everyone. And Thank You again Lisa! It was fun!

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  30. Beautiful photos! Gardens give such a rainbow of life and attracts all sorts of life. Thanks for sharing.

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  31. Greetings from Arizona! I Really enjoyed touring your garden and seeing all the beautiful critters it attracts. Bees, butterflies, hummers, and cute-as-can-be goldfinches, wow!

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  32. Those hummingbird shots are amazing!

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  33. Great post. It must be since you have me wondering if maybe..... I should tend a little garden this year. And I totally have a thing for hummingbirds - love the photos.

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  34. AWESOME!

    Yet another reason I wished you lived nearby... you could help me create something like this, and then we could hang out in lawn chairs (with cameras within reach, of course) and BS the day away ;-)

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  35. Beautiful garden. I can hardly wait for May myself! (I thought the shadow was another bird.) Great guest post!

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