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Inspiration for Your Kitchen Garden

April 10, 2014 by Jeanne

Inspiration…who doesn’t need a little shot of inspiration every now and then? That’s why I love gardening magazines (and magazines of all sorts, actually) – I can flip through them at leisure, look at beautiful pictures, and get inspiration for my gardens. 
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A picture inspired us to plant several hundred daffodils among the fruit trees in the orchard. We didn’t plant them all at once; each year, we dig about 20 holes and fill each with 10 daffodils. Over the years, they will spread into a carpet underneath the canopy of the fruit trees’ branches.
–
 What inspired this? A photograph of a British orchard in full bloom that I found in a book in the library. Now I know that the Virginia climate isn’t suitable to recreate the exact picture we saw many years ago, but that photo captured our imagination – the heavily-laden boughs of apple trees, arching over a carpet of blue grape hyacinth and yellow daffodils.

It doesn’t quite look like that today, but our orchard is coming along nicely. The pink trees are peach trees; they bloom first. The pear trees bloom next, along with the plum and cherry. The apple trees bloom last, towards the end of April. So far the apricot trees haven’t bloomed yet, but they have the most beautiful burnished copper-green leaves when they emerge.  I took this photo on Tuesday evening:

 

What inspires you?

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Filed Under: Vegetable Gardening

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Beth Lapin

    April 10, 2014 at

    Beautiful photos! I was inspired this morning by the reflection of the dawn on a nearby farm pond.
    Beth
    http://bethlapinsatozblog.wordpress.com/

  2. Denise D Hammond, CGFM-Retired

    April 10, 2014 at

    I might have daffodil blooms for Mother’s Day. I bought some pansies yesterday just so I could see a color other than brown.

  3. Bangchik and Kakdah

    April 10, 2014 at

    I love that leggy tree, nothing but flowers…… beautiful

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