A Walk Through My Mother-in-Law’s Blooming Garden

Posted on by Ilze

Every summer, like clockwork, my mother-in-law’s garden bursts into full bloom—vibrant colors, lush greenery, and a sense of calm that only a well-established garden can bring. And every summer, I walk through it feeling just a little bit… jealous.

Not in a bitter way. More in the way a beginner artist admires a masterpiece. Her garden is more than 30 years ahead of mine. Thirty years of trial and error, of planting and replanting, of learning which flowers survive the late frosts and which ones can handle our unpredictable Latvian weather.

She has a lot of roses and peonies! I think I might come at night – divide the plants, dig, and steal 🙂

Inspired!

Ilze

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20 thoughts on “A Walk Through My Mother-in-Law’s Blooming Garden”

    1. Oh, they have so much land—at least twice the size of ours! I love the look of a classic English garden, where everything is planted close together in lush, layered beds. But with so much space, it’s hard to create that same effect. It’s the same for Ilze—there’s plenty of room to plant, so most of the garden ends up being wide stretches of mown grass with flowers here and there.

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    1. She planted 10 hydrangeas! I keep thinking I’ll try one or two, but I’m not sure if they’d survive our spring frosts. Do you grow them successfully in your climate?

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          1. We’ve had something eating our tomatoes and we’ve been treating it with a few natural products to run whatever it is out of there. I bet we’ve lost 10 tomatoes already. It’s not birds or worms, we heard thru the neighborhood app that people are seeing rats, so it may be that. Rats are unusual around here, but they go where they will.

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            1. That is not good! Have a cat that goes out 🙂 But seriously, that might not be the answer! Rats usually come in flocks (I know it’s for birds… don’t know one that is for rats…) They can do damage, but they also carry diseases… Also, if someone decides to use rat poison, the neighborhood cats will get sick and die too!

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              1. I’ve only seen a rat in the winter time, we have several nieghboors who’s garage is stacked to the roof, my guess that’s where they are bedding. We use natural products like pepermint spray and pouches along with red pepper flakes. I haven’t looked in a day to see if the tomatoes left have been eaten on. It’s so disappointing because the tomatoes we ate were so good and our plants have never grown so tall or produced so many tomatoes. Our plants are in two large raised beds so the dogs counldn’t reach any pepper flacks. That’s life.

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                1. Ugh, I feel your frustration—especially when the tomatoes were doing so well! It’s so disheartening to put in all that effort and love, only to have rats sneak in. Peppermint and red pepper flakes are great natural deterrents—I hope they kick in soon! Maybe a motion-activated light or sound device could help too? Fingers crossed the rest of your crop stays safe. 🍅💚

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