Today’s GPOD comes to us from Jeanne Cronce:
“Hi fellow GPODers…Jeanne Cronce here with some pictures of our Zone 7 gardens, called Winter Spring Gardens. Our five acres here in Port Orchard, Washington just keeps getting better and better with the beautiful growing season that we had. Now it is being finished off with the most amazing fall colors ever! Hopefully our winter won’t be too cold and too wet! Happy holidays to all of you!”
Don’t miss: Scenes from a Great Season, Part 2
Don’t miss: Scenes from a Great Season, Part 2
Have a garden you’d like to share? Email 5-10 high-resolution photos (there is no need to reduce photo sizing before sending—simply point, shoot and send the photos our way) and a brief story about your garden to [email protected]. Please include where you’re located!
Sending photos in separate emails to the GPOD email box is just fine.
Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening!
You don’t have to be a professional garden photographer – check out our garden photography tips!
Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here.
Follow us: @finegardening on Twitter | FineGardeningMagazine on Facebook | @finegardening on Instagram
Fine Gardening Recommended Products
A.M. Leonard Deluxe Soil Knife & Leather Sheath Combo
Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.
Comments
Hey Jeanne - Wow, what lovely autumnal foliar colours! Great Cupressus and Katsura trees. Lovely space for sitting down and enjoying the fruits of your labour with the tall trees as a beautiful backdrop (hope you have time to sit down) - and with half a dog showing. My word 5 acres is a lot to maintain, but you are obviously well and truly on top of it. Great work. Looking forward to seeing Part 2. Cheers from Oz
PS. Rhonda challenged me a few days ago to drip feed some Aussie flowering colour as you guys move into winter. Hope you don't mind Jeanne, but the following pics. show some counter-seasonal late spring flowering here - splashes of yellow and purple! Photo. 1 is of the Western Australian Christmas tree (Nuytsia floribunda), which is a parasitic tree in the mistletoe family (obtains its water and nutrients from the roots of a wide range of host plants). Photo. 2 shows the flowers of the Silky Oak tree (Grevillea robusta) and photo. 3 shows Jacaranda street trees in flower (not Aussie natives, but they do put on a nice show).
Oh my gosh Frank! You blew me away with that last photo! Beautiful!
Glad you liked it, Dee. Some towns in the states of Western Australia and New South Wales have annual Jacaranda festivals. Cheers, Frank
I'm looking, saying, "Orange, that's pretty. More orange, that's pretty. Whoa, what is that purple?" It looks surreal! Thanks for the eye openers, Frank!
Gorgeous, Frank! I especially love those Jacaranda trees. I so well remember the first time I saw one in Nairobi; it was huge -- a towering cloud of purple blossom in the sky. We have hundreds and hundreds of Japanese cherry and plum trees planted as street trees in Vancouver, so in spring we get the same effect of scattered blossom, only in pink.
Here you go again Frank, continually tempting us get serious about starting to save for a magical trip Down Under! The beauties growing so naturally in your part of the world are amazing. My first thought when I looked at the photo with the Jacaranda's was that I could hear the clomping of horse's hooves pulling a magnificent carriage with Prince Charming and his Cinderella! Exquisite!
Have a wonderful week!
OMG gorgeous!
Hi Frank, yes five acres is a lot to maintain. As iam getting older and slowing down i find i cant keep up in areas. Time for some hired help. I do get to sit and enjoy it and in fact i make a point to do so every day with a glass of wine. It helps to get a feel for the area, which i have quite a few places around to sit. Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures of yours!
Hi, Frank. I just got a chance to look at these photos. Wow, the Jacaranda trees are incredible. The picture really blew me away. Thanks for posting the pictures, and keep sending them in. We need you to get us through the winter.
Oh, my goodness, what a way for Mother Nature to announce Spring Is Here in Aussie Land...who could doubt it with such magnificent displays of color! Ha, maybe Prince Harry and Meghan Markle should opt for a destination wedding location so they could take the carriage ride Sheila described... with gently falling Jacaranda petals adorning Miss Markle's raven tresses...purple is the color of royalty, right?
Hi Michaele - You and Sheila are such romantics! Unfortunately, their wedding will be during our autumn, but they are certainly welcome to visit the colony whenever they please - we'll throw some extra shrimp on the BBQ for them! They certainly seem like a couple very much in love, and we are very impressed indeed with the way Meghan carries herself. Cheers from a warming Oz
Wow, Frank, you do live in a garden wonderland. Beautiful photos!
Wow, Wow, Wow, I am speechless. Look at all these purple. Thanks for sharing.
My, my. I would love to take my coffee cup out there & sit in a chair & just take it all in.
Hi Treasure mom, I do do this and i have a few different areas at which i sit. Its fun to sit and wonder and vision plants. Our dog and i go out first thing in the morning for a walkabout. He loves it. It is like walking in a park every morning and getting the day started right!
Your gardens are gorgeous, Jeanne!
Two quick questions.... What is the name of the variegated (?) plant at the base of the hand? And what is the name of the red/yellow leaved plant in the last picture?
Thanks! I bet your garden is beautiful in every season!
Dee, the varigated plant at the base is a type of geranium. Sorry but i dont know the name. This was a gift. And the red/yellow hanging vine is a virginia creeper.
Great photos, Jeanne. Love the Karl Foerster grass echoing the shape of the weeping Arizona cypress.
Quite by chance, Chris. But the colors are great together. Hope you are doing well and that you have a wonderful ending of this year!
Frank, I missed being able to comment a week or so ago when you posted your pictures, so am delighted to have a second chance - and I'm so glad Rhonda prodded you into drip-feeding us with these shots! What was so amazing to us when we visited Australia and New Zealand was how very normal it seems to have these fantasmagorical plants just growing in places where you know they weren't planted! I do hope you will keep up the 'drip-feed' as we go into our winter!
Thanks for the encouragement Cheryl. I was a bit reluctant to post the pics. and take some of the limelght away from Jeanne's magnificent garden etc., but concluded that Jeanne is a very good sport and wouldn't mind. You are absolutely correct about seeing are native plants in their natural habitat e.g. the pic. of the Western Australian Christmas tree was taken in their natural environment. When you come back to Aussie land, the wildflowers in Western Australia are well worth seeing in our autumn, and Victoria is the garden state so worth a trip down from Queensland where your son's future in-laws live. Cheers, Frank
PS. I repeat, great choice of partner in life by your son!
Another 'Wow'! I'm struck by the 'naked' patio. Usually a sitting area is tucked into a bed or next to a house. I love the island-in-stream feel to the stone area.
Hi Tim! Yes it is a naked situation right now. I was pondering taking up the grass but that is so much work! We will see.
Your lawn looks as good as your garden. Leave the lawn alone. Love your naked patio.
Wow! Just as amazing as part 2! Great job.
Thanks Lori!
Loved both 1 & 2. The garden is just so beautiful I have no words. And, like Cheryl. I missed the chance to comment on how much I enjoyed Frank's post. Thank you, thank you. Onwards and upwards!--or is it onward and upward? Whichever it is, let's all do it!
Hi Edith. yes, onward and upward! Only a 115 days until spring!
Jeanne, you have a fall wonderland on your hands. You need to charge admission and get some preferred tax status!!!!!
Hi Rhonda.. yes a tax status would be nice! Haha... I do have garden tours but i dont charge.
Lovely, lovely, lovely, Jeanne! Looking at your Katsura, I can almost smell the maltol released by the leaves as they turn yellow; I love that sugary cotton candy scent in the fall. Today feels like a special day with both parts of your photos and the bonus shots from Frank. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Lorraine, yes isnt the smell lovely!
I love it all, Jeanne. You are an artist!
Thanks Sheila... i use plants like paint to a painter i supose.
Spectacular space, the interplay of trees and plants, beautiful views!
It certainly has to give you a warm and wonderful feeling, Jeanne, as you do a walk-about for pleasure or purpose (on a "where shall I weed today?" mission) to think that all this beauty exists because of the hard work and vision of you and your husband. How long ago was it that you planted that statuesque willow? Did you start with your 5 acres pretty much empty of ornamental plants? and with the stands of pines and had to decide which ones to keep and which ones to clear? I always feel inspired to plant more evergreens when I see pictures of your garden areas...like the very cool 'Raywood's Weeping'.
Hi Michaele...yes, isnt the "raywoods weeping cypress nice! I finally found one this last year! We started out with raw land. Part of it was logged so my daughter could have a horse but she changed her mind. So...it sat there open and as a clean slate. The willow was planted about 34 years ago. I paid one dollar for it through a catalog. So all that you see in these pictures has been done gradually throughout the years. I really dont think too much about "how we made all of it". But every morning when i walk about with our dog it is like having my own park to walk through and plan the day. Or its just a Renewal of whats really important in this busy world. There are so many beautiful evergreens in the nurseries around here. I just went to one today and couldnt believe my eyes!
Jeanne, what a blessing you have been for your property and your property has been for you. I just love the fact that you have been beautifying this spot for 34+ years. In today's hustle bustle world, it is really special to have had the opportunity to put down such meaningful roots.
Thanks Michaele...it is a blessing. Sometimes we need a bit of normalcy in our lives! But sometimes i wonder what it would be like to live in Costa Rica! In a jungle too!
Jeanne, thank you for your lovely photos of your lovely garden. Is that the back end of your dog in photo #2, or some other creature enjoying your garden?
Stunning as always, Jeanne. Fall displays must be absolutely magical in your garden that go well beyond the photos we get here. The way all your plants play together is mesmerizing. I don't think I would get anything done except dream with "adazement" with 5 acres of amassed beauty to take in each day. Thanks for sharing.
Jeanne, your gardens are always magical, but the shots today and yesterday seem to be even more special. Love the Virginia creeper - it's considered a weed by most, but fall really brings its glory, and I love it so much more than the ubiquitous ivy that we made the mistake of planting many years ago. Can't imagine keeping up with 5 acres of gardens, but you do an amazing job. Thanks for brightening our morning!
Good morning, Jeanne. I always love seeing your garden. Our property is about half the size of yours and we keep extremely busy maintaining it so I can appreciate what you’ve accomplished.
How pretty your Katsura looks against that majestic willow. Hopefully you haven’t lost too many limbs in the recent heavy winds and rain.
Beautiful!
Such a charming and beautiful Pacific North West garden! Thanks for sharing!
Beautiful !!!
Jeanne, I just love your gardens. You are a master of design and your photography skills are wonderful as well. Did you make the "hands" in the second photo? What fun!
Log in or create an account to post a comment.
Sign up Log in