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FOXBORO

From cottage gardens to woodland gardens, home maker Carole Rounds has created her own bit of paradise at 141 Cocasset St.

She started creating the gar dens 28 years ago when she and her husband Arthur, a local businessman, bought the fiveacre property, and she contin ues to add new gardens although she admits she really should stop adding more.

`` I enjoy it,'' Carole said of gardening. `` It's just relaxing. Every morning I go out and walk around and see things, and I just love it.''

With all that she has added, the things to see and places to walk seem endless. Bordering all sides of the dri veway, house, shed, barn and pool, Carole has created botani cal scenes with colorful flowers, spilling over from container gardens and hanging pots as well as growing in the ground. Many of these gardens are cot tage style, with tall masses of colorful flowers growing into one another.

In several wooded areas that border the cottage gardens, Carole has created woodland gardens, with meandering paths between them. In the left and right wooded sides of the prop erty she has also created dry river beds. In front of one of the river beds, she also added a large goldfish pond.

In an effort to share her botanical haven with nature's fine-feathered creatures, Carole has added at least a dozen bird houses, a dozen birdfeeders and several birdbaths throughout the entire scene.

With their home set back off the road about 200 feet, beyond a wooded area, Carole's garden creations are a hidden botanical treasure that she loves to share.

`` I just take pleasure in look ing at it and showing other peo ple,'' she said. `` A lot of people, they have no idea what's out here.''

For those visiting the proper ty for the first time, the colorful garden beds that border the horizontal portion of the drive way and those bordering the entire width of the house that in turn borders that section of dri veway is a surprising and impressive site, emerging just beyond the wooded entrance.

Much of the scene includes impatiens one of Carole's favorite flowers displayed both in a variety of colors and a vari ety of ways. On this side of the house alone, there are about five window boxes of impatiens along the house, two stone con tainers of impatiens on the arched brick steps and a con toured border of impatiens between the driveway and mulched bed along the house.

But the impatiens are just an accent to the individual scenes created throughout the area, such as the inviting bench between the driveway and the far end of the house, where a white hydrangea tree hovers behind the bench, surrounded by hosta, rhododendron, holly and other plantings.

Bordering this end of the dri veway, the scene includes a cir cular bed, bordered in stone, with such nearby flowers as white Chrystanthemums, hot pink geranium and rudbeckia, hydrangea, pink Oriental lilies, begonia, coleus and more impa tiens.

In this same area, there is also a small bed with a birdbath and whiskey barrel of red and pink ivy geranium and white flowers next to gazebo style birdhouse, with a hanging pot of pink million bells, and plantings of Alberta spruce, hosta and rhododendron. But, the most impressive scene created from Carole's gardens is the one that visitors encounter as they enter the back yard the sea of color from cottage gardens.

Through tall, mass plantings, the color ranges from white to yellow to pink to purple to red, and is even further enhanced by a variety of accent pieces that add a welcoming touch.

The largest of the cottage gardens is nicely situated between the built-in swimming pool and the patio area against the back of the house.

This rectangular garden begins at the left with a large goldfish pond that Carole creat ed herself a few years ago and runs the entire width of the fenced area of the 18- by 36-pool.

Situated under a large, old oak tree, the goldfish pond is adorned with various grasses and plantings inside as well as numerous plantings around its perimeter, such as the ceramic pot of deep pink and white impatiens at the top of the pond, where red lobelia grow tall around it.

Just to the right of the pond, Carole has created a small flag stone patio area, where a bistro style table beckons visitors to stop for a while and enjoy the special atmosphere.

Adding to the atmosphere, a statue of a young girl carrying water and a white gazebo style birdhouse are nestled among blue hydrangea, rudbeckia, red impatiens, Autumn Joy sedum, purple coneflower, purple phlox, pink impatiens and numerous other flowers.

Moving along the right, the flowers become even more pre dominant as pink, white and purple phlox, red bee balm, rud beckia and others fill the remainder of the bed.

This show of color is intensi fied when viewed along with the complementary border Carole has created along the white picket fence that adorns the front side of the pool.

Along with several splashes of color from more impatiens, phlox and rudbeckia, the vari ous hues along the picket fence come from pink roses, yellow Marquerite daisies, pink bego nia, purple balloon flower, yel low marigold and purple cone flower.

Magnifying the colorful scene even further, Carole has also planted flowers along the inside of the picket fence, as well as both the inner and outer edges of the remaining three sides of chain link fence.

Inside the pool, where Carole says she spends much of her free time with her six grandchil dren, additional plantings include pink, cream and gold zinnia, white and red dahlia, white hollyhock, deep pink bougainvillea and pink honey suckle.

And, the color just seems to go on and on, at every vantage point from the pool the back yard patio, the bordering gar dens in front the shed and barn, and three stone-bordered circu lar beds that Carole created to the left of the pool area.

In addition to the sun-filled garden areas, Carole has also added numerous plantings along the shady woodland paths she has created along the outer edges of the property.