Today we’re visiting Jane in northern Illinois, who is sharing some views of her garden from different times in the year.

I have been gardening on our four-acre property for 34 years. This property was originally a hayfield before we purchased it and built our home. It all started when a fellow gardener gave me some lily and iris plants, and it has developed into the best adventure ever! I keep creating and expanding with flowers and shrubs and shrinking our lawn.

I’m including a picture of our yard on March 7, as it was once again covered by a late winter snow. You can see the “bones” of one small part of the backyard. We are fortunate to have lots of space and good health to keep this up in retirement.

This a summer view of the same area also showing some of our garden produce. My husband has a huge vegetable garden that keeps him busy so I can wile away hours digging, moving and planting.

‘Fire Light’ hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata ‘Fire Light’, Zones 3–9), coneflowers (Echinacea ‘Pow Wow White’ and ‘Magnus’, Zones 4–9), peonies (Paeonia hybrids, Zones 3–8), baptisias (Baptisia, Zones 3–9), and lupines (Lupinus hybrids, Zones 3–6) cover this area in midsummer.

A deep purple heuchera (Heuchera hybrid, Zones 4–9) brings deep contrast to the pink flowers around it.

‘Sun King’ aralia (Aralia cordata ‘Sun King’, Zones 4–8) has brilliant yellow-green leaves that light up lightly shaded areas.

This is the little tree that could! Planted two years ago, this ‘Autumn Brilliance’ serviceberry (Amelanchier ‘Autumn Brilliance’, Zones 3–9) has survived two years of near-drought conditions to put on a beautiful display in fall. But the best part is it also has white flowers in spring followed by berries in summer.

Have a garden you’d like to share?

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

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