The weather has been good to our Hudson Valley garden this summer. The roses are still blooming beautifully, but I thought I'd show some photos of the garden as a whole instead of the usual rose portraits I post.


The enclosed courtyard; I designed this garden in 2013...



Another view...



The Three Sisters



The potted garden...



The canopied fountain, which I converted into a raised bed this season...



The gated courtyard...



The garden gate...



My garden helper, Sprite, giving me advice on the middle garden...



Sprite, waiting at the top of the steps...



The upper garden...



The upper fountain...



One of the shaded beds...

Absolute perfection!

Your gardens are a real treat to admire, and I am glad to see you and Sprite looking so well.

They're beautiful, Mike! You've really done a ton of work!

Awesome Mike! Everything looks great!

Absolutely breathtaking - very impressive Mike.

Oh, Mike!!! That was spectacular!!!! So well thought out and executed! You are a wonder!

It's all very beautiful Mike, very impressive!

Thanks for the kind comments. The gardens have really come into their own this year. I planted them five seasons ago after moving 200 plants from our former home to this one, and they've settled in and matured nicely. Plus we had an early and very wet spring, so everything is very lush this year.

Mike - that sounds like a LOT of work! But it sure paid off!

Mike your garden better, in most ways thana formal city garden here, God has blessed you greatly.

I agree with everyone. You've created a wonderful landscape that must be so enjoyable.

Mike, I have been wondering how you were, what you were up to and how your sweet beastie was doing. So nice to see beautiful pictures of your yard and your sweet beastie.

Oh, those hostas and hydrangeas. Just gorgeous! OK, tell me about the large (what appears to be) deep pool like structure you have. Is it a pond? It looks empty at the moment. The walkways are so beautiful. So very peaceful. Yes, as Zuzu stated, your yard is pure perfection. Just beautiful!

MBN,

That fountain was designed and built as a fish pond in 1931 for the original homeowners, Gustav and Marion Fleischmann, of the Fleischmann yeast and distilling company. The company's largest manufacturing plant was located in the town where I live along the Hudson River, from 1900 to 1977. I still have the original blueprints for the fountain, which was designed by the Fleischmann Engineering Department. I restored it two years ago by cleaning out the underground drain pipes and sealing cracks in the cement walls. The underground electrical wires for the pump were severed about 20 years ago when a new retaining wall was installed in the middle garden, so I haven't been able to refill it yet, but plan to.

That's interesting as I usually associate them with Cincinnati. We have a Fleischmann park near where I live and there are still many descendents around. It's fun living in an old house with such history. I also have the blue prints and building instructions for my 1914 house. I with it had the electrical drawings, though! I can't wait to see your fountain working again. Mines been down for few years.

Oh, how I love old houses. You have to love them in order to live in them otherwise their constant quirks will get to you. Mine was a Craftsman built in 1904. The plans are in a book that shows craftsman homes designed by Henry L. Wilson. Mine was a Swiss Chalet Bungalow apartment house. There were two apartments attached to each other and each had disappearing beds that you pulled out from the wall (not down like a Murphy style). The fronts of the beds looked like a desk in the living room. In the dining room it was part of the china hutch and the third one was in the screen porch. The connecting walls of the two apartments (they looked like houses) were closets (huge walk-in "boudoirs" actually, complete with windows and stairway) so you never heard your neighbor. Storage was even built into the small staircase! It was lovely and I miss that place still! It was number 826 with an estimated cost of $2000 to build. The woodwork was incredible. There were others in our little "complex" and their plans are all in the book. The "wealthy" used to come out and stay there for the winter from the east coast. It was not too far from Kimberly Crest mansion, the Smiley library and other great old houses. You can see parts of Redlands (where this was located) on the DIY show Restored.

Mike your house sounds lovely. Hope, when you finally have a chance to get the pond working again that you share pictures with us.

VV, the Fleischmann brothers got their start in Cincinnati, and then moved their operations to New York. I visited the former Fleischmann's property in the Indian Hill district of Cincinnati, and it's quite beautiful.

How goes the garden?

It goes well... here are some photos from this season...

The Lower Courtyards







Access to the Middle and Upper Levels



The Middle Level



The Upper Level

Do you maintain all that by your self?
You have my admiration.

I worked on, installing retaining walls, pavers, and trees and shrubs gardens like that, though none was singularly as large as that and it makes me sweat just thinking of the work , while making me wish I had the oomph I once had , even for what I do have now.
Godspeed .