I am a vivid gardener, and I love to garden. Over the last weekend I was planting shrubs to replace these that died in the heat of the summer. I am preparing my lawn for overseeding in September. I have a decent size of yard and I own one of the oldest trees in the area (it is about 120 years old, 90ft tall and you need four people to wrap around the trunk). I live in subtropical climate with short, snowy winter, and long, hot, humid summer. I am currently in the process also creating a new flowerbed around my shed for herbs. I divided the property that way that flowerbeds are around the house and fences, and lawn is between.
On my shady side, I planted hydrangea. I have two types of them, lace cap and oak leaf. However, my favorite are camellias. I got many of them from camellia society and I have about dozen of them. Three of them were imported from Asia. My camellias are blooming either in the spring or through fall to the first frost. Under my huge tree, I have rhododendrons. I also planted mountain laurels, gardenia, wiegela, myrtles, summersweet, chaste tree, anise, and persian lilac. I also have calla lilies, six different types of cannas, gladiolas, fuchsia, freesias.
I do not grow vegetables, animals would eat every fruit and veggie on sight. I gave up feeding them. My grandmother had nice garden surrounded by climbing grape wines, almond trees, peaches, and apricots back in Europe. She had a well in the middle of the court yard covered with cast iron, and the court yard smelled nicely with lavenders and rosemary. I wish I could recreate the garden as she had, but different climate made it impossible.