Another shrub I am fond of using in the mixed border is an Oak leaf Hydrangea. But I pretty much have planted all our beds with a mixture of shrubs, bulbs and perennials with a few annuals. I use Potentilla fruticosa, many spirea, lilac, buddleia, mounds of lavender and caryopteris for structure. Here is a mixed look of some of the beds on the east side of the house looking out to a side yard with a favorite sitting place. The dogs love it too. Patti
This is part of the south side which has, again, a mixture of shrubs and perennials with a big under planting of bulbs for some spring color. I did have more roses in this area, but have since moved them to other beds. Too stiff for this area. I have been planting tons of lilies here which we love. I do let some cosmos self seed for late summer color. Early summer has a nice run of Siberian iris in these beds. I started adding some asters too after seeing Boojum, but those are mostly going in a big bed that is newish and that is not fit for pictures yet! Patti
Another collage of the south side that shows another favorite bench. I have planted near that bench this Nov a nice Japanese maple (Acer palmatum 'Butterfly') and will be adding next to it a group of other dwarf Jmaples this spring. They will form a small new bed around our "rock" which is where some of our dearly departed pets are buried. It will just have the J.Maples and bulbs. Less grass is good. Behind the bench the property had a nice stand of cedars that we saved by not building the house on the highest spot with the best view. I never regret that decision as I love having them. We have cleared the understory of that whole area so we actually have a woods. Patti
OOOOH Patti those are beautiful beds
Thanks for sharing
OMG that is sooo beautiful! It looks just like heaven should! You must love living in nantucket! It is a beautiful island! You have quite the touch with gardening! Very inspiring!! : )
beautiful
Meredith I love the before and after pics. You have certainly done a lot of work and made great progress. Don't forget that plants need a few years to really spread out and fill in. I am looking forward to seeing these beds this summer. The site you posted is very nice and I also have added it to my list.
Patti I do love seeing your garden. Everything works so nicely together. The stone paths are something I particularly envy. I am very much looking forward to seeing all those bulbs and new additions to your garden later in the year.
All the gardens on this thread have been lovely to see. You can get so many nice ideas and just the drool factor to these pics is very inspiring. Makes me long for the spring clean up to commence.
Thank you, I love the walks I take daily in all the gardens on Dave's. I have found so many interesting plants that I would never have thought to try without seeing them in someone else's beds. Today we are taking down another dead pitch pine (by the ladder) which is sad as we lost one last year too. But that means more room for some Ilex verticilata that I want to plant for the birds and winter color. I was totally inspired by this thread. Who wouldn't be. Patti http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/933981/
patti - i really like the stone paths as well (surprise!) - did you have to buy the stone or was it on the property - very pricey to purchase - i've been thinking about doing the same thing down the road here although i will not be buying stone - have some saved up although it will take years to find enough flat stone - the alternative would be crushed stone paths
I love the path too, I'd love to have one like that. : ) I would love to plant winterberries here, but I'm afraid it is too dry. I do get to enjoy some natural stands, in the area on my daily drives. They are quite a sight to behold when all else is bare. Too bad the only places they seem to be in high numbers is under ugly ole power lines. It seemed to me that this year the berries were gobbled up much earlier in the season than usual. Unless it was that nasty ice storm that did them in.
Wha, when we built the house in 1981 we had to order stone for some terrace areas and the front walk that we were having built and a small wall. It was way cheaper to buy the stone by a whole truck load to bring to the island. We the mason was finished with the parts we had him do we had plenty left for the paths that we laid. We have dug some of them up a couple of times to change them. We could not afford them today with the price they get for stone these days. We did end up with many that were rejected by the mason as not being level which makes for a bumpy walk, but I do love the way they look. The few we didn't use in the paths got used in the endless stream we built last year. So out of rocks completely, except for the ones in my head!
Here is today's work, the tree is down and in a burn pile along with one we took down in the fall. I will be planting some winter berry back in this area which is part shade, but is less dry than other spots. There are a few that can take more shade which I am hoping to get. I think the birds have pretty much eaten them all by now here too.
We have a dear friend here for the week who loves to play with our chain saw, so the work went quickly. I am going to drag out my brush cutter tomorrow and see if he wants to play with it too! Patti
Patti - i hope your feeding your friend well - lol
your gardens are really beautiful and like that they are raised beds with good deep edging.
This is another on the east side of the house but mostly looking towards the house. Every kind of culinary herb and wildish stuff like DL, Lavendar, Nepta, Box, Germander, Marigolds, Rosa rugosa, Sedum, Alliums, Eryngium, Nicotiana, Antirrhinum, Cosmos, Dianthus, Hebe, Alchemilla, Gaura, Cranesbill, Leucanthemum, Zinnia, Achillea, Iris and of course lilies and in the spring tons of bulbs. I also have a lot of containers that I pop in when things are "thin". It is a bit unruly, but smells good always.
I have been hoping to add Echinacea, but I seem to kill them. In one picture you can see a disjointed small round bed that has a sundial in the middle. That has always bugged me. The sundial covers up our well. I think I am going to connect it to the bed which is currently anchored by the Alberta spruce. That spruce was in a small Xmas tree in a pot on my desk at the bookstore back in the mid 80's until I planted it. Looking at my pictures today has settled it about that silly little round bed. I will have to dig the connection when DH is away or he will say I am "encroaching". I have plenty of plant material for it including a couple of nice oak leaf Hydrangea that I started a few years back as well as lots of iris that need dividing, plus DL's. Patti
So beautiful! I envy those of you who seem to have a nice size lot and more full sun beds! Here are a few of mine. This was taken in June of my backyard.
funny i have a sun dail over our well too
very nice anita
Patti--fantastic, you have put in tons of work.
Meridith--would viburnums get too tall? Ours , the arrowood type were here before we were & are quite tall. How about the ground hugging roses. You can try annuals for color this year & they will show you what you wish to do. Birdbath for a centerpiece?
Thank you - here's another angle taken in July
Wha, we will feed him well and we are giving him the house for a week in Aug. Though he and his wife and child are welcome anytime. He is my son's godfather and one of my oldest friends. His wife had to stay in NYC to work this week while he and his daughter came here for her winter school vacation. She is 9 and we have arranged for her to help at a stable this week in exchange for riding. She is in heaven.
The only problem is that he has bigger plans for our property than ever possible. He had me enlarging our endless stream this morning to include a bridge and a koi pond. He had it all laid out in his mind and was willing to start digging today. No way. But I love his energy.
I love the colors in Anitabryk2 July garden. That orange and yellow combo is perfect. I need some Black-Eyed Susans. I did order one called 'Henry Eilers' which I now think I will mix with some orange and yellow DL's as I am seeing in your garden.
irisMA, Thanks, it has been done over a long time, as we first started clearing the property in 1981 and started planting in 1983. But since 2000, I have had much more time to really work on it.
Here is a collage of the endless stream through it's first season. It is now over a year old, so it should be much better next year. I am hoping that many of the shade plants and ferns we put in last summer survive their first winter. My friend wanted to have us enlarge it to meander way past the current bench into a clearing that use to be our veggie bed and become a large pond. Too funny. Patti
Patti, Lol about 'encroaching' - everytime my dh sees me making a bed larger or adding one, I see him tense up and look at me like, Oh No What's She doing now!? I think that would look really good if you did it! I do the same thing and try to make sure I do those types of things when He isn't home! : )
Anita, I love your beds! Very pretty. : ) Can I pick your brain about the Trumpet Vine? Did you plant it? If you did - how long did it take to see a bloom? I planted one in a 3 gallon pot, it has had 3 seasons to grow and hasn't bloomed! I've heard they can take like 7 years! Ugh I hope not!
Iris, yes I think viburnum would be too tall for the front of the fence. I am just a scatter brain and was thinking about them for a completely different spot! lol : ) I have been drooling over roses....
This message was edited Feb 16, 2009 5:11 PM
Here in the deer and rabbit yard. Not fenced and planted with as many things that I hope they don't eat. But they do. There is a peak at the new bed, started a few years ago. It took me so long to dig that it has been dubbed the "slacker bed". It is still very sparse. I will have to sort it out this summer.
We have planted many viburnums and have been slowly clearing the jungle around some good plants like scrub oaks that look wonderful when pruned and the bay berry. The cedars and high bush blue berries are wonderful old trees once we cleared around them and got the virginia creeper and poison ivy off of them. We have added shad, sweet fern clethra, inkberry, Tupelo, holly, beach plum, rosa rugosa, Fothergilla, vitex, Hamamelis, mugo pines, rug juniper, iris and other plants that the deer and rabbits aren't suppose to like and that will meld with the natural flora. But that's a joke.
I ordered a couple of Cotinus, a Abelia 'Silver Anniversary' and an Quercus robur 'Concordia' to plant along with all the winter berry which I will plant this spring. We planted a Cornus kousa dogwood a year ago along with a pin oak and a big holly hybrid called 'Nellie R. Stevens' which the deer have munched on all winter. I should have caged it. At the moment I have more things caged than not. Not so pretty. Patti
Everything is lovely, different colors of greens & I bet wonderful in fall color. Do you have any pictures of the fall season?
The orange trumpet took just about four years and the peach took three.
Looks like I'll be waiting awhile! Did you by chance move yours? I ended up moving it after I realized I put it in a really bad spot. After I read about all it's bad traits I somehow couldn't believe the tenacious behavior of it! Until I saw the way it grew for myself! ; )
I was looking at my pics from 08 and I realized why my garden looks the way it does. I subconsciously planted everything so I could get good pictures if butterflies stopped by for a visit! lol
I don't know if I'd really say they qualify as bed pictures but I am really proud of all my hard work and like to share it with other people that love gardening! Here is a link http://picasaweb.google.com/FlutterbugGarden
Patti and Meredith great pics!
I actually had to cut the tree down that it was growing on. Instead of cutting it completely down, I had the arborist leave about 10' of it to act as a support for the vines.
