A July Favorite

Incredible as it seems it's the middle of July already (where did June go?) and the gardens are bursting with color. This is the peak bloom time for my gardens when all the summer beauties are pushing out flowers at an amazing rate. My absolute favorite of all the blooms strutting their stuff at the moment are the extravagant Tarragona Orienpet lilies that grow in my Sundial Garden. I look forward to their flawless blossoms every year and they never disappoint.  The back gardens are redolent with their wonderful fragrance and they command attention from every view in the back yard.  I especially love them in combination with the Heliopsis helianthoides (smooth oxeye) and yellow Hemerocallis (daylily).

A view from the second floor of the house

A clump of several stems by the birdbath in morning light... sigh...

And a few close-ups

Now if there were just some way I could post a 'scratch and sniff' patch so I could share their fragrance.....

Love Those Shrubs

I've had a border next to the driveway here since we moved in during the summer of 1978. It started out with lots of violets and iris next to the neighbor's lawn. I was forever weeding her lawn grass out of my garden until one year I got totally sick and tired of it and dug out all the iris and grass roots and started over again. It was a much longer and more difficult challenge to eliminate all the violets from that patch of ground but finally that was accomplished. I planted more perennials and added ground covers like sedum and ajuga but that strip of garden was a lot of work to maintain.  During the early 2000's I met some very talented gardeners on the GardenWeb forums and from that association I learned about including shrubs in one's perennial borders and it changed my thinking of what can be planted in a garden forever.  This section of the driveway garden was the first to get transformed with shrubs and I love it more every year, especially because of the ease of maintenance and with the dwarf conifers it has year round interest.

The Chamaecyparis pisifera on the extreme right of the photo was the first shrub I planted in this border almost ten years ago and it anchors that end of the garden.  To the left of that is a young Ilex crenata 'Sky Pencil' (Sky Pencil Holly) just hitting its stride and it's now about six feet. Nex to that Pinus parviflora 'Glauca Nana' (Dwarf Japanese White Pine) and Picea orientalis 'Bergman's Gem' (Bergman's Gem Oriental Spruce). To the front of the birdbath is a Thuja occidentalis 'Bobozam' (Mr. Bowling Ball™ Arborvitae). Behind the birdbath is a Fargesia rufa (Rufa Clumping Bamboo). 

These dwarf evergreens look great in every season and I only have to do a bit of pruning each spring.  They are disease and insect free and the voles don't bother them. What's not to love? As time goes by I'm foresee my replacing more and more of the fussy perennials with these beauties.

Danielle's Gardens

So have you ever wondered what makes one person have such a love of gardening and growing things and another has no interest whatever?  Does it come with the gene code or is it something learned?  Wherever it comes from our family has many accomplished gardeners. Our mother has always had a garden of one kind or another and I can still remember my grandfather's lush and productive vegetable gardens. He used to grow the best tomatoes ever. One of my brothers (and his lovely wife) as well as my sister Danielle are avid gardeners and in fact edge over to the "extreme gardener" category.  All our gardens are very different but we are all alike in that we love to create beauty in our outdoor living spaces and have a deep love of growing things.

Today I visted Danielle's beautiful gardens and wanted to share some of her lovely outdoor spaces.

Her home is up a fairly steep hill. In the front of the property is a ledge outcrop where she's chiseled out planting spaces but leaving some of the ledge exposed.

The driveway winds up the hill to the right of this area and has plantings all along its length.

Love the color of the front door and the containers on the front steps! Danielle painted a verdegris finish on the urns on the top step to harmonize with the color of the house. Love it!


At the top of the driveway is a sweep of lawn that leads to the pond

Absolutely love this vignette on the upper end of the pond.

A couple  views looking from the pond back toward the house.

The shrub/tree border on the northwest side of the property includes many lovely conifers

And a perfect spot for enjoying the gardens is the gorgeous patio with outdoor fireplace...

What could be better than enjoying al fresco dining in such a gorgeous setting?!

Danielle's gardens will be on the Garden Conservancy's Open Days on July 21 and 22. Worth a drive to NH to enjoy this beautiful garden.
http://www.gardenconservancy.org/opendays/open-days-schedule/venueevents/966-danielles-garden

A Wide Angle View

When wandering with the camera it's very easy to concentrate on capturing close-ups of all those beauteous flowers that fill the June gardens to the exclusion of the 'long view'. Every once in a while I like to force myself to work with my wide angle lens to try to capture an overview.  We had an overcast day today, perfect for garden photography. Here are a few images from the gardens today.

The terrace and west container garden. I'm still enjoying those white astilbes and Asiatic lilies.

The west container garden is filling in nicely after the heat wave of the last week.

The shade garden

The back yard from the west fence looking east

The shade and west container gardens.

The perennial border on the east side of the house.

Marvelous Medleys....

There is no task in gardening I enjoy more than composing interesting combinations.  The living medium of flowers and foliage combined with the hardscape and garden art provide an ever changing palette of colors, values and textures to delight the viewer.  It's a continuous challenge to provide visual interest throughout the growing season.  Sometimes things do work out as planned but just as often there are surprises where something self sowed or  bloomed where the gardener didn't expect that create wonderful unplanned vignettes.  A few of my favorite things in the gardens in early summer...

I planted several clumps of this white astilbe in my terrace garden many years ago and added the white Asiatic lilies not long after.  The astilbe has been a wonderful reliable perennial here for almost twenty years and I replant the white lilies from time to time when the voles or lily beetles take their toll.  The airy texture of the astilbe and strong form of the lilies provide such great textural contrast that this is a lovely classic combination I'll always try to keep in my gardens.

I added the Hakonechloa 'All Gold' (Japanese Forest Grass) to my driveway garden last year to continue a chartreuse/purple theme I've got going in that area and was surprised this spring to see how great it looks with the Coreopsis 'Moonbeam'. The contrast in foliage textures is great and the color of the flowers harmonizes beautifully with the grass... one of those serendipitous combinations that are so much fun.

Garden combinations are not just about the plants but also how they visually interact with the hardscape and garden art... I really loved the juxtaposition of the soft and airy flowers of the Cotinus 'Golden Spirit' against the cement bird bath... Another happy accident

A wider angle view of the birdbath area of the driveway garden shows more of the chartreuse and yellow flowered plants I've included there over the last few years...  The Calluna vulgaris aurea (Scotch Heather) has been a great edging plant that helps soften the edges of the driveway. Love the texture of that plant contrasted with the purple heavy leaved form of the Sedum 'Purple Emperor'. Also included in this vignette are Sedum kamtschaticum, Lysimachia punctata 'Golden Alexander' (Loosestrife) and a new addition of Symphytum x uplandicum 'Axminster Gold' (Comfrey).  These bright colored plants provide a light area to contrast with the bluer greens of the dwarf evergreens and Fargesia rufa (clumping bamboo) behind the birdbath.  The strong red/violet of the Euphorbia cotinifolia (an annual that is just leafing out) creates another great complementary color contrast.

In a shadier area of the back garden I've included more chartreuse foliage plants. They are especially valuable to create light value focal points in areas of the garden that don't get a lot of sunlight.This combination includes my favorite hosta 'Golden Teacup' that I bought from its creator Dr. Jim Wilkins several years ago.  It's joined by the classic Hosta 'Frances Williams' and one of my favorite Heucheras 'Key Lime Pie'... Again all these colors harmonize and this vignette achieves it's interest from the contrast in shapes and textures of the plantings.

Another classic and realiable hosta 'Gold Standard' looks great next to the airy foliage and flowers of Geranium sanguinium 'New Hampshire Purple'. The Hakonechloa 'Albo Striata' (Japanese Forest Grass) again  provides a contrasting texture and a harmonizing color to the hosta....

Also in the shade garden I quite like the contrast between the shape and color of the dwarf Hosta 'Cracker Crumbs' next to the Heuchera 'Palace Purple'.

More red-violet/chartreuse contrasts in this vignette showcasing the rich color of Heuchera 'Berry Smoothie' and Hosta 'Daybreak'

And so it goes, another day in the garden another combination to enjoy, change or rearrange....

Clematis Time...

There are few plants in the garden that can create as much impact as well grown clematis. Success with this beautiful vine eluded me for years until the day I saw a meadow vole pop out of the garden and 'light dawned'.  It turns out that voles consider clematis roots to be the height of epicurean delights.  So began my battle with these pernicious and destructive rodents. So far we're about even... I began planting the clematis vines with oyster shells lining the planting holes... The shells are sharp and can cut the feet of these little diggers so they don't go after the roots.  Well, that works for a few years but long term it eventually breaks down and loses it's effectiveness.  The next, and better solution to the problem is to plant the clems in hardware cloth cages. That seems to have done the trick and I now have some lovely specimens. 

Some of my favorites are.....

Polish Spirit

Piilu

Combination of Betty Corning, Ville de Lyon and Polish Spirit

Ville de Lyon

Betty Corning

Abundance

 I used to have some fabulous Arabella but sadly that's one of the garden battles the voles are winning. I'm planning on replanting it in a cage at some point so it will hopefully get back to its 2009 glory....

As with everything in gardening it's win some, lose some but it makes the wins more precious...