Themed Gardens Anyone?

Does anyone here have themed gardens? Might be neat to see some pictures. :-D

I'm planning a hidden "Gothic Garden" with mostly dark coloured and rich plants.
The center piece if going to be a gazing pool (the ones that are raised up and perfectly circular). I'm trying to locate a plant that blooms a glowing white, lol. Maybe a Moonflower vine trained on an old statue? (needs to bloom at night) Maybe some nicotina, hmm.

What kinds of plants are dark purple, nearly black and deep deep red? I need to find everything from groundcovers to shrubs. :-D Ohh I'm also gonna add moss in and around the beds!
lol It's fun to plan!
Maybe even some carvivorus plants scattered in it too!

Pictures? Ideas? Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare the wealth, LOL!

Hey, that sounds like fun! I have a dormouse garden, based on the AA Milne poem "The Doctor and the Dormouse". I planted delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red) and bordered them with chrysanthemums (yellow and white). I have a stone mouse and a rock with the first line of the poem carved in it. I would post pictures, but the camera and the computer are not speaking right now. Hollyhocks come in almost-black, and some of my delphs were really dark purple. Violets come really dark, petunias. I bet if we think about it a little, we can come up with some great ideas!

Ohh la la! Thank you!
I found a website that has gothic garden plants- I'm looking them up to find them! Want the link? I'll email it. :-) Man there's some purrrrrrrdy plants out there. :-O

Now I want a doormouse garden! LOL I'll just have to find a place to put it. hehe
Ohhh and a fairy garden!!! LOL
When your computer is talking to your camera again- please post pictures!

I will if I can get them to kiss and make up! Not looking likely, as hubby did something to the computer. Please post your link, that sounds really neat. You need a wrought iron something, I think. Do you have room for a hedge maze? I've always wanted one, but no place to put it! I saw some really cute little mini gardens that people were planting in old suitcases and dresser drawers, with doll furniture and mini paths, I think it was on HGTV.

Sylvia... I can probably use about a 1/4 of an acre of the land for this garden, hehe. Just gotta be quick so mum doesnt "steal" my plot! :-))
It's a constant battle here, over who gets what gardening plot. LOL!

I really wanna do it very small though- cause I want it to be a hidden garden.
Really cozy and dark. I was thinking enclosing it with some sort of fast growing shrub that has dark dark green or hopefully dark purple leaves.
An iron gate maybe? Or, for budgits sake, a normal cheap metal gate painted black, LOL!

That mini garden sounds interesting! Maybe it would be neat to have one in a cottage garden setting on an old chair? Ohh the ideas are flying now!

HGTV rocks! Were hoping to get cable this year so we can watch it again. hehe.

I've always wanted to do a "white garden" like at Sissinghurst... just never had the space unless that was all the garden I had.

Darius, that'd be so beauitful!
White flowers just glow with something great. Now I gotta look that up too! LOL

Here's a link with all sorts of ideas.

http://cfyn.ifas.ufl.edu/theme.html

It says Florida, but I think there's tons on there that can be used in colder climates too.

Hi Crimson--That Florida 'Themed Garden' Link is very cool. Lots of creative ideas all in one spot! Thank you for posting it.

I would love to do a French Kitchen Garden/Potager (there's a link for it there) someday but I have too much going on right now with just trying to learn about basic gardening to get too picky! If anything comes up this spring, I'll be happy (and surprised)!

I LOVE your idea of a gothick garden...sounds very moody and unusual and romantic. Reminds me of a walled garden we found once in London. Or something you might get a glimpse of in a courtyard in New Orleans.

A (well known in Cincinnati) gardener near us planted an 'all Brown' garden--which sounded very strange to me, but the newspaper reporter said it was wonderful. I wonder....well, I can't even imagine what it was like, but then, I'm not creative.

The Sissinghurst Garden must be wonderful. I ogle the pictures in my English gardening book and can only wish. The English gardeners really have the (gardening) gene, I think. Or at least the passion.

I will keep watching this thread for interesting ideas. Thanks again. t.

BTW that reminds me, I did get the book "Theme Gardens" for Christmas--I'll have to take a look!

Don't just look- post some pictures from it! LOL
Ohh this is fun! I can't wait til after the Florala Swap to see what goodies I can add to the gothy garden, muhaha. Gotta get to painting!

Glad ya like the link- if you do a search online for "theme gardens" you'll pull up tons of information. That and www.gothicgarden.net
She has several intersting themes-

This gothy garden I'm doing is for my "darker artistic side". I'll post a picture of a mural I'm doing as soon as it's finished.
Had I thought about it- I would have made the gothic garden right outside my window, lol- oh well, too late now!

Can't wait to see what you guys come up with!

Maybe purple leaf sand cherry, Prunus cistena, could form your corner. I had one that grew fast. Had to have it removed because it wouldn't stop sending runners out into the yard, but it had really unusual dark leaves.

Looking that up now! lol
It sounds really purrrrdy...

...
....

Okay- I will be on the lookout for that plant! It's awesome.

Might even be able to trim it up to resemble a Bonsai.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

I am gonna add some deep purple calalilies too. :-D They look gothy to me! LOL

Here's a list of possible gothy plants.

Fade to Black, Bearded Iris.

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/34908/index.html

Tall Bearded Iris 'Black Madonna'
Iris

Tall Bearded Iris 'Black Market'
Iris

Tall Bearded Iris 'Black As Night'
Iris


Daylily 'Brookwood Black Kitten'
Hemerocallis


Black Kangaroo-paw
Macropidia fuliginosa


Butterfly Bush, Summer Lilac, Orange-eye Butterfly Bush 'Black Knight'
Buddleja davidii


Black Calla Lily
Arum palaestinum
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/53698/index.html


Elephant Ear 'Black Runner' 'Black Runner'
Colocasia esculenta

Taro 'Jet Black Wonder'
Colocasia esculenta



'Black Beauty'
Aloe sp.
If anyone has a cutting or several cuttings of this aloe to share- please email me! LOL



I'll get more when I get home from work, lol.

This too- looks kind of scary to me! Like a skeleton. :-O

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/53935/index.html

A lot of people around here plant theme gardens. Moon garden, fairy garden, secret garden, etc. They are cool and the gothic theme will be neat too. My favorite to date is the "orphan garden" that I saw last summer. The couple had a big beautiful yard and you could tell that it was very well planned. In the back, she had her orphan garden which consisted of the orphan plants that had yet to find a permanent place in her garden. That being said, I think my whole yard is an orphan garden. The garden beds are nicely laid out but I buy plants randomly and stick them wherever. I watch them as they grow and pick a more permanant spot for them as they mature. I am constantly moving plants and have yet to get it right :).

Maybe there isnt a "right"- gardening is so varied and evryone has their own tastes. An orphan garden sounds like a really neat idea.
Most of the time I do the random sticking of plants too, LOL. When the gardens bloom it looks um- not to well planned out! hehe
I gotta go take a nap- y'all take care! :-)

Right and wrong are certainly different for my husband than they are for me when it comes to flowering plants!

LOL!

I kind of dread the day I get married- then I'll have to answer to somone about my gardens! LOL
I'll just make sure to keep eating more beans, muhahaha.

Crimson--that was quite a link to the Gothic Garden site and some interestingly scary garden planning that lady does! I think I'll stick to my bird and butterfly garden!

Also thought it was interesting to note the 'Mary Garden' site. Once Mary Gardens were fairly common, but nowadays they seem to be pretty rare...probably the popularity goes up and down according to Mary's popularity, I guess.--Although they say she is becoming more popular now because of the book 'DaVinci Code'. (I saw a show on TV about DaVinci Code, Mary Magadalene and Mary--I think Diane Sawyer hosted it).

Definately some scary gardens there!

She used to have details behind alot of flowers. I guess after she was ripped off by whoever it was she took them all down. Details like what each flower stands for- like if you give this kind of flower it means true love- and that flower means I wish you ill fortune. Really neat. I gotta find somehting like that again, lol.

K, I'm off to paint now!

((hugs))

-Jocie.

Dark color? How about that new hybrid millet - Purple Majesty? Just about all the major seed houses are carrying it now.

branka, that "orphan garden" sounds like what I call my "dis-garden"... not really discards but not sure where to put them either...

Yuska! I am trying to find that Millet. Guess were gonna have to break down and buy it when I get paied, hehe. It's really pretty!
I just got some "dancing grass" "hippy grass" seeds! It's really neat- the stuff dances!

Park's and Jung's carry the millet, along with several others. Good choice too for people who enjoy inviting birds.

Birds are nearly always welcome! Thanks for the names. :-D

I am starting a Lakeside garden. My husband teaches at, and my kids go to Lakeside High School. I've planted as many Lakeside hostas as I can afford and have ordered a Lakeside dahlia from the co-op. Does anyone have a link to the website that tells all the plants that have a certain name?

As far as themed gardens, popular ones for children are zoo gardens where every plant is named after an animal (foxgloves, bears breeches, toad lilies, etc.).

Good idea Pins! Kids would love that.

Lakeside Garden- likes the sound of that. :-)

The narrow-leaved, black mondo grass, Ophiopogon planiscapus 'nigrescens', makes eery, low, dark pools that are nice to nestle spooky sculpture in, or run around in streams connecting larger islands like "black flowered" forms of pennisetum, or for underplanting shady woody plants, especially those with sinewy, orange-ish bark (forms of stewartia, paper-barked maple, crepe myrtles come to mind) that echoes the red tint in the ophiopogon's black leaves in winter.

There's a smaller, less-likely-to-flop form of colchicum that could underplant this black ophiopogon with its alabaster flowers popping up through the black threads in late summer (or a later blooming white crocus).

There's something about box that adds a flavor of a lost, abandoned garden, so extending the theme of "structural bones" for a gothic garden, I would include that, too. Especially in a small garden, a "grove" of, say, 3 or 5 narrow, vertical columns of Buxus 'Graham Blandy' would inject just the right hint of something monolithic, ancient. There are other fastigate woodies that could be substituted for this particular sculptural effect.

When used for a garden's "bones", the woodies are just the right plants to double up for off-season interest, so perhaps some odd-numbered groups of low, mounding woodies placed on an outer verge, opposite the viewer, for a "cradling effect" could be winter-flowering Viburnum bodnantse 'Dawn', faced down with the dwarf quince 'Cameo' might be nice for winter posies (not black, but does summer have to know what winter does?). Black flowered hellebores would be wonderful underplanting for this group, perhaps around a bird bath.

A gothic garden also should have fragrant vines flinging about for creepy effects - I wouldn't leave jasmine out, although containing the horizontally wandering shoots of some can be quite a tussle, but worth it for the schnozz. Against dark, black leaves, the pale peach-apricot noisette hybrid, Desprez a fleur jaune (1830) - fragrant and always in bloom - would be something wonderful to walk under (farther north, this is not a dependable rose).

About propagation of Ophiopogon planiscapus 'nigrescens' - this plant is expensive. I haven't built up enough plants from the initial plant I bought yet so can't offer any in trade right now, but here is how I've been doing it:

I either poke the mature seeds in the ground among the "mother" plants or in a cold frame in late autumn, which is when I get around to it.

There probably could be more to it, but this allows me to outsmart my disorganized self. This method gives you far more plants in a shorter time than propagating by division would. A few seedlings will be green, but most will be black.

Spiral!

What a great article- I am gonna keep going over it til I manage to create it in my own garden, lol.

Thank for sharing!

You're welcome - i apologize if i sounded like a "know-it-all", but black flowers/leaves are too much fun for me to just lurk.

Does anyone know any pale green or chartreuse flowers/leaves? They would be wonderful with black-toned flowers/leaves.

For instance, there must be some hostas with that sort of color to underplant the dark purple, rambling rose 'Bleu Magenta' that is great to walk under.

Or lady's mantle (alchemilla mollis) with a large black-red shrub rose like 'Souvenir de Docteur Jamain' or a trio of David Austin's Shakespeare 2000 (right year?)...with white eremurus?

I've heard of trees being grown for their leaves in flower borders by being hacked back to the ground every winter. Imagine the purple millet faced down with Catalpa bignonioides 'Aurea'. Or not. With a stream of Salvia guarnitica 'Black and Blue' forward of that. Maybe seed grown black-purple type of Salvia splendens might be more economical - or Salvia farinacea, which I think might be perenial where you live?

Karen, you astound me! This must be the first gardening thing where I have seen you really expound your talent and mindset. Yea!

chartreuse flowers: maybe hellebores?

I thought about making a goth garden once buit never did it. I was going to use a purple smoke bush,
Maybe a Diablo Ninebark, bat plants, etc. Maybe Harry Lauder's Walking Stick for winter interest.
Sum and substance is a very large chartruese hosta, or "Margarita" sweet potato vine would be nice. a gargoyle could guard it... I love the idea! Tickles my imagination.
I love the idea of a fairy garden, too. And a moon garden- white flowers that glow in the moonlight.

LOL- not a know it all- just well worded! It's a great post- I'll get back on here shortly and post better, hehe.

Purple smoke is so pretty.

I like to create a little drama with garden figures. For example, one rocky corner of my garden has a bronze fox looking up wistfully at a rooster perched six feet away, out of reach up on a rail.

This “scene” is adapted from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tale about a farmer's rooster, named Chanticleer (which in French means to sing clearly). In the story, Chanticleer is the “Don Juan” of the barnyard because of his beautiful voice and golden feathers. One day, he notices a fox watching him, and becomes wary. But the fox charms him with compliments, telling him not to be afraid. Chanticleer relishes the flattery as the fox coaxes him to sing some more. He's only too happy to oblige, so he beats his wings, stands on his toes, stretches his neck, closes his eyes, and begins to crow.

In a flash, the fox pounces and grabs Chanticleer by the throat. The farmer hears the screeching and spies the fox running off into the woods with the rooster in his jaws. The farmer’s dogs take to barking, and pretty soon the whole barnyard joins in the chase.

Thinking swiftly, Chanticleer cleverly suggests that the fox turn and taunt his pursuers by boasting of his catch. Liking the idea, the fox opens his mouth to do so, and Chanticleer flies out of the fox’s mouth up onto a perch high above him. Annoyed with himself for being so easily tricked, the fox tries to flatter the bird into coming back down. But Chanticleer has learned his lesson, and tells the fox that flattery will get him nowhere!

I recreated this vignette by situating the rooster up on a rail, about six feet out of reach of the fox!

I saw a Dragon statue the other day I really liked. I explained to
my DH that even tho' it was $$, it was nothing compared to the
expense of a "real" Dragon!! He didn't buy it, or the statue, either!!
Lol.

LOL KE! You tried anyway!

Still loving that garden Bloomer!

hehe, typoe.

This message was edited Feb 13, 2005 8:06 PM

Creative approach KE!
I like your story garden, R. bloomer. Very nice idea. I hope there are children around to see it and hear the stories.