{"id":109471,"date":"2026-05-08T10:57:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T10:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/11-readers-share-their-beautiful-gardens\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T10:57:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T10:57:18","slug":"11-readers-share-their-beautiful-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/11-readers-share-their-beautiful-gardens\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Readers Share Their Beautiful Gardens"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\"Cup<\/a><\/div>\n

\"Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s my favorite time of the year \u2014 when we feature the gorgeous gardens of the Cup of Jo community. Sprawling native wildflowers! Towering sunflowers! Candy-colored ranunculus! Every photo submission is a delight. So, without further ado, here are 11 readers\u2019 gardens\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Cup<\/p>\n

Both photos above:<\/em> \u201cMy partner and I turned our front lawn into a native wildflower meadow five years ago. It has over 40 flower species, and the meadow is more than 2,000 square feet (larger than our house!). Folks walking or driving by always stop to tell us how much they love it. Random strangers have even dropped seed packets and love notes to the meadow into our mailbox!\u201d \u2014 Annalisa, New Haven, Connecticut<\/p>\n

\"Cup<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been a tough season for my family, but every time I see these happy ranunculus by my front door, I can\u2019t help but smile.\u201d \u2014 Laura, Northern Ireland<\/p>\n

\"Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Cup<\/p>\n

\u201cVeggie gardens feel magical with kids. We grow tons of cherry tomatoes (perfect for little ones to pick), fairytale eggplants, blackberries, and pink lemonade blueberries, which turn a rose color when ripe.\u201d \u2014 Sarah, Ridgefield, Connecticut<\/p>\n

\"Cup<\/p>\n

\u201cWe added chickens to our garden last year. My two-year-old named them Cashew, Evie, and Pumpkin. She loves feeding them and collecting eggs. They are voracious eaters, however, so I\u2019m always shooing them away from my crops!\u201d \u2014 Naudia<\/a>, Nyack, New York<\/p>\n

\"Cup<\/p>\n

\u201cMy pride and joy is my agave. It\u2019s big, bold, five feet tall, and the heart of my front yard. They typically live for about 25 years and flower only once before they die!\u201d \u2014 Lisa, San Jose, California<\/p>\n

\"Cup<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"Cup<\/p>\n

\u201cWe moved three years ago to a remote island off the coast of Vancouver Island and bought a little 100-year-old yellow house. My friend said it looked like Miss Honey\u2019s cottage<\/a> from Matilda<\/em>, and that has been the garden blueprint ever since. It\u2019s all a work-in-progress, but it\u2019s my wish is to keep building and growing this garden until I\u2019m 100 years old.\u201d \u2014 Jess, Cortes Island, Canada<\/p>\n

\"Cup<\/p>\n

\"Cup<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t always realize when they\u2019re starting out that gardens take a LOT of time. You can\u2019t have your dream garden overnight without spending a ton of money, and there\u2019s no amount of money that can manufacture the feel of a mature, well-tended garden. So, I\u2019ve been trying to take things slowly. I recently built a graveled fire-pit area and breakfast nook. I love the feeling of manual labor, and seeing it come together is so satisfying!\u201d \u2014 Gabby<\/a>, Nashville<\/p>\n

\"Cup<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my husband and I moved into our home, my parents brought over seeds from their garden \u2014 cosmos, zinnias, marigolds. We got married in our backyard that summer and used the flowers in our bouquets. My father, who had been an avid gardener my whole life, passed away last year, just two weeks after my daughter was born. I saved the seeds from that summer and will plant them with her this spring. We\u2019ll use the watering can my parents gave her; and when the flowers bloom, we\u2019ll think of him.\u201d \u2014 Chelsea, Ottawa, Canada<\/p>\n

\"Cup<\/p>\n

\u201cFour years ago, my lovely grown-up daughters got me a peony plant for Mother\u2019s Day. Its giant, fluffy scented blooms are now the biggest joy of my (mostly vegetable) garden.\u201d \u2014 Sasha, Belgrade, Montana<\/p>\n

\"Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the long dark winter, it\u2019s so fun to see what we can bring to life \u2014 sunflowers, cucumbers, watermelon, catnip for the cats, and tomatoes that the dogs eat straight off the vines. Some years are more successful than others, but our garden makes us happy every summer.\u201d \u2014 Lauren, Columbus, Ohio<\/p>\n

\"Cup<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so lucky that our next-door neighbors\u2019 cherry tree and azaleas have been growing under their care for almost 40 years. The colors are incredible! This weekend, we had some stormy weather, so it was raining pink petals. My toddler loves to throw them up in the air like confetti.\u201d \u2014 Emma, Philadelphia<\/p>\n

Thank you so much for sharing! How are everyone else\u2019s gardens coming along? We\u2019d love to know. <\/strong><\/p>\n

P.S. 14 more readers share their gorgeous gardens<\/a> and Abbey Nova\u2019s Connecticut home is full of plants and books<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Photos of Gabby Llewellyn by Mary Caroline Russel<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

72<\/span> COMMENTS<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section><\/div>\n


\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s my favorite time of the year \u2014 when we feature the gorgeous gardens of the Cup of Jo community. Sprawling native wildflowers! Towering sunflowers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":109472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}