Luke and Toby in Tingshu’s Garden

Toby tingshu garden: a concise orientation before we get practical.

Toby tingshu garden: Quick notes

Hi GPODers!

Last July we received a beautiful submission from Tingshu Hu in Dunstable, Massachusetts that gave tribute to the trusted companions that lounge and frolic alongside her and her husband in their gorgeous garden. Particularly, the post was an homage to Deedee, the 19-year-old Havanese they lost on June 2nd, 2025 (Deedee, Lulu, and Luke in Tingshu’s Garden). Tingshu has shared countless photos of their colorful New England landscape over the years (Check out some of her previous submissions: Tingshu’s Garden in Winter, Tingshu’s Front Garden in Late Summer, Chickens in Tingshu’s Garden, Tingshu’s Low Maintenance Garden in Massachusetts, Flowering Trees in Tingshu’s Garden, and many more), but this submission was obviously extra special. Today she has returned with another fabulous garden update as well as an update on Luke and the newest addition to the family: Toby.

Thank you very much for publishing a GPOD on July 3: Deedee, Lulu, and Luke in Tingshu’s Garden. Since then, a lot has happened to Luke. Here I would like to give an update on Luke’s life in the garden and his recovery from diabetes.

In the afternoon of June 6, 2025, 4 days after Deedee passed away on June 2, Luke was very lonely in the garden. Both Deedee and Luke are Havanese dogs and they got along very well. Along the purple fence, the blooming flowers are oriental poppy (Papaver orientale, Zones 3–7), iris, catmint, white peony, yellow sedum and pink dianthus. Inside the fence, visible flowers are catmint, lady’s mantle, pink salvia and creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum, Zones 4–8).

In the morning of June 9, Luke lied on the bridge across the koi pond. The flowers on the edge of the pond were several varieties of kalanchoe. A pot of ‘Red Sister’ cordyline (Cordyline fruticosa ‘Red Sister’, Zones 10–12 or as an annual) sat by the bridge. Far away along the fence, pink and red peony flowers were blooming. Since Luke looked very lonely and sad, we decided to get a baby brother for him.

Toby joined the family a few days later. He was just over 6 months old, also a Havanese. In the picture, Toby was all smiling, surrounded by flowers, salvia, roses, Johnny jump-up (Viola tricolor, annual), dianthus and several varieties of ground cover plants: dead nettle (Lamium maculatum, Zones 4–9), ajuga, ‘Baby Tears’ sedum (Sedum album chloroticum ‘Baby Tears’, Zones 4–9) and moss.

Along the same walkway as in the previous photo, Toby and Luke walked side by side on June 15. We hoped that Toby would bring happiness back to Luke, but Luke still looked sad and miserable.

On the same day, Luke lied in the shade along the walkway, looking beyond the garden gate. The blooming flowers along the walkway were Flower Carpet® rose, coral bells and catmint.

Moments later, Luke walked along a garden path, surrounded by low growing plants: ‘Ben Ledi’ rock rose (Helianthemum ‘Ben Ledi’, Zones 4–9), Pretty Polly® Lavender rose (Rosa ‘Zlepolthree’, Zones 4–10), sweet William (Dianthus barbatus, Zones 3–9), moss rose (Portulaca grandiflora, annual), creeping thyme, and sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima, annual). Even after the playful Toby joined the family, Luke still looked sad and lack of energy. He answered Toby’s invitation to play with grumpy growl or simply walked away. We were suspicious that Luke had some health problems and brought him to see a vet on June 19. The next day, he was diagnosed with diabetes and sent to the emergency room immediately.

In the afternoon after Luke was sent to ER (June 20), Toby played alone in the garden, surrounded by flowers: Lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis, Zones 3–8), coral bells, geum, sweet Williams, catmint.

Luke returned home on June 23 with medications and lots of instructions. We learned how to give him insulin shots twice a day. Two days later, he went blind due to diabetic cataract. In the morning of June 27, he sat on the patio at one of his favorite spots. He could smell the fragrance of roses, but could no longer see the flowers: Geranium, dahlia, roses, yarrow, penstemon, sweet William, and delphinium.

On June 29, Luke stood in the garden, looking miserable and sad. His downward pointing tail shows that he was suffering from the illness. We had a long summer battling Luke’s diabetes, keeping his blood sugar under control, and getting him qualified for a cataract surgery to restore his vision.

Luke got his eye surgery on Sept. 30 and regained his vision soon afterwards. The picture was taken on Oct. 5, at the same spot as the previous picture. He looked very energized and spirited, with eyes bright and clear, tail holding up and high. Happiness has returned to Luke. The white disc on Luke’s back is a blood glucose sensor. We use it to adjust his diet and insulin dosage.

Side note: Diabetes in dogs are always type1, that means Luke needs to rely on diet and daily insulin shots for life. We’ve developed a strict routine and diet for Luke and followed it precisely to the minutes. This has profoundly impacted our daily lives and gardening as well. 6 months into this new daily routine, something miraculous happened. We noticed from his continuous glucose monitoring, that his body seems to be able to produce insulin again. We stopped giving him insulin shots a few weeks ago, and his glucose level has been stable and improving. Our vet was surprised since she never saw such a case before, but confirmed Luke’s recovery with blood tests.

We are so grateful for Luke’s surprising and unexpected recovery. We are cautiously expecting that Luke’s health will continue to improve and will never need the insulin shots. The two brothers are enjoying life in the garden, playing, chasing around and wrestling even in the winter snow.

Thank you so much for this update, Tingshu! I’m so sorry to hear about the health struggles that Luke faced this year, but happy to hear that he is surpassing expectations and enjoying life with his new little brother. Plus, seeing new photos of your stunning garden is always a delight.

What companions do you garden with? Kids, grandkids, dogs, cats, chickens and even pet turtles have been featured on the blog, and we’d love to feature your favorite garden helpers. Follow the NEW directions below to submit your photos to Garden Photo of the Day!

We want to see YOUR garden!

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

To submit, fill out the Garden Photo of the Day Submission Form.

You can also send 5–10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

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Toby tingshu garden comes up here to connect ideas for clarity.

We reference Toby tingshu garden briefly to keep the thread coherent.