# Show me your gardens!



## Paph_LdyMacBeth (Aug 2, 2009)

Hi!
I have been busily digging up sod in our backyard to finally start a perennial garden! 
Last year was the Hosta garden...this year its everything else! 

So, I'm hoping some people would be willing to share photos of their perennial gardens with me. I especially need tips on layout.

happy gardening! 
Christine


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## goldenrose (Aug 3, 2009)

Will it be full sun? partial? 
Layout I would think will also be determined by space available.


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## Paph_LdyMacBeth (Aug 3, 2009)

Well, its a little bit of everything except shade....no wait it has some of that too (but I filled it with Hostas...hostas...and more hostas)
Its a long narrow garden (3-5 feet wide). A large section is full sun, but there are other sections that get sun until around 2, then shade. Its up against a fence as well.

Mostly, I'm just looking for inspiration...and being a little bit nosy


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## nikv (Aug 3, 2009)

Will it be against a fence or the house? If so, I would think about growing a vining type plant towards the back and shorter plants in the front. Add a trellis if against the house. Also, think about bloom time when planning your perrenial bed. I like to have something in bloom at all times during the Spring, Summer, and Autumn months. And don't forget about bulbs. Love it when the hyacinths and crocus bloom in the Spring.


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## Ron-NY (Aug 3, 2009)

I don't dare show my garden...it has been neglected this year.

I would recommend flowers and bulbs that will span the bloom season. 
Pick a color scheme and pay attention to mature plant height, bloom time and size. Taller plants to the back. Get it so that you always have something in bloom from early spring bulbs to fall asters.

I am partial to having interesting foliage as well when the plant is not in bloom. 
Do you have favorite flowers...always include your favorites. My garden starts with some diminutive bulbs that bloom as soon as he snow recedes. They are followed by daffodils, then tulips. Peonies and iris are the next to bloom and a couple of poppies which leads into the summer bloomers...daylilies, lupines, verbena, delphiniums, fox glove, cone flowers, there are so many beautiful summer bloomers.
for late color think asters, mums and monkshood.

I always wanted to plan a garden that changes color schemes with the season but that didn't work out too well...


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## NYEric (Aug 4, 2009)

I bought a book about bulbs so I could try to have a garden that changed color as time went by, then I started growing orchids...


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## Wendy (Aug 6, 2009)

I can top you Eric....we bought a house with a nice yard so we could garden....then I discovered orchids. I grow lovely weeds. :clap:


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## Paph_LdyMacBeth (Aug 6, 2009)

Can't I have it all?!?


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## SlipperFan (Aug 6, 2009)

Here are a few snapshots I took of some of the perennial beds in my front yard. Some are shade and some are sun:


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## JeanLux (Aug 7, 2009)

Congratulations Dot!!!! Super arrangements of plants and stones!!!! Jean


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## Clark (Aug 7, 2009)

Someone has a nice front yard.

I tried combining pole beans w/ sweet peas to camouflage the fence in the 
back. It ended up as a woodchuck pitstop. Total disaster.

Growing white eggplant against black bamboo looked interesting last year.
This year, back row of Canna phasion, front row of Rainbow 'chard.

Five years ago when we went for landscape/curb appeal project, I moved
a minimum of 70 tons of various aggregates and landscape material. Projects
can grow overnight by themselves sometimes.


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## Wendy (Aug 7, 2009)

Dot, that yard/garden is fabulous!

I've actually tried to plant a no maintenance garden. It looks okay but could be much nicer...especially if I weeded regularly  ....and if the dog would stop munching on the decorative grass.  I'll try and get a couple photos in the next day or so.


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## nikv (Aug 7, 2009)

Really nice photos, Dot! That first photo would make an excellent desktop wallpaper.  I'm embarassed to say my garden looks nothing like yours. I did recently have my gardener pull all the weeds, though.


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## Heather (Aug 7, 2009)

Lovely Dot, especially the grasses!


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## SlipperFan (Aug 7, 2009)

Wendy said:


> I've actually tried to plant a no maintenance garden.


My goal is to have the plants I want packed so closely together that there is no room for the plants I don't want (weeds). It's taking awhile....


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## Roslyn (Aug 8, 2009)

You have a very impressive front garden, Dot. Very nice combinations and contrasts of shapes and colours and textures. All so healthy, and no weeds!


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## KyushuCalanthe (Aug 8, 2009)

Dot, I see some perfect places for Cyps in there...especially "easy ones" like reginae, pubescens, kentuckiense, and some of the vigorous hybrids.

Southern Japan's climate is really peculiar - winters similar to Atlanta, GA and summers more like Miami, FL. The weeds are beyond rank. If I don't pull on a regular basis then all I have are weeds. This is a shot from a couple years ago showing the backyard, well, honestly, the only yard! Constant maintanence required.


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## Paph_LdyMacBeth (Aug 8, 2009)

The rocks are a GREAT idea...add some interest. 

Its amazing how similar your garden looks to many of the one's around here, Kyushu. Although, I see some plants that wouldn't grow here for sure. 
I'm in about a 4-5 zone here.


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## SlipperFan (Aug 8, 2009)

Roslyn said:


> All so healthy, and no weeds!



Don't look too closely! Like with Tom, weeding is constant around here. Of course, I can be selective in my photography, also...:evil:


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## Clark (Aug 27, 2009)

bump

I may of read that 1/3 of landscape should be evergreen.
When I decorate, I do not favor annuals over perennials or vice versa.
I know, easy to say when one is w/o children or pets. Zone 6 1/2-7 here.
The fence will be covered in a dark bamboo in the spring, right after a new coat of paint.
The empty space on fence on left of center pine is woodchuck damage.


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## Yoyo_Jo (Aug 27, 2009)

Lovely garden pictures everyone! 

Clark - what are those huge grassy beasts on either side of your deck. They're beautiful! Gorgeous cannas too. :clap:


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## Clark (Aug 28, 2009)

Hi Joanne,
That is Maiden grass (Miscanthus sinesis). It just started to bloom. The other reason it looks like a stranger- your right, they are beasts. The one on the right would lay all over the lawn, but we tied small diameter rope about knee high around plants to keep the leaves up. Rather have the lawn w/o brown spots. My wife hates the one on the left, it gropes everybody walking by.
I swear I read that Miscanthus seeds do not make winter below 20 degress Fahrenheit (no spell check this early), but they are as bad as dandelions!
Thanks- the Cannas started the yard,the first year I might of used too much nitrogen- they were close to 11ft. tall!!! :rollhappy:


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## SlipperFan (Aug 28, 2009)

Oh my -- you have woodchucks in the city?


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## Clark (Aug 28, 2009)

Not anymore. Who's got a toothpick?


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## Drorchid (Aug 29, 2009)

Great gardens everyone!, I especially like yours Dot!

I used to have great perennial gardens around my house in Minneapolis, where I was trying to create an English Cottage garden, but unfortunately when I bought an Airstream 5 years ago, I have been up north in Minnesota every weekend, and needless to say my poor gardens have become overgrown, and the weeds are 6 feet tall!

My Airstream is up north at the Airstream Park, close to Saint Cloud (a RV Park, that just has Airstreams). I can show you some pictures of my gardens at the Airstream Park. One thing that sold me to buy a lot up there is the following plant they have in one of the communal flower beds (of course when they found out I am a horticulturist, they made me head chair of the landscape and flower comity):







As Cyps seem to do well in this soil, I planted one Cyp. candidum, two Cyp. parviflorums and two reginaes, this year on my lot. Some pictures of my lot at different times of the year:































Robert


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## SlipperFan (Aug 29, 2009)

No wonder you spend so much time there, Robert!


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## Yoyo_Jo (Aug 29, 2009)

Robert - you've got yourself a little patch of heaven there! The gardens are lovely.


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## Yoyo_Jo (Aug 29, 2009)

Clark - is that Swiss Chard in front of the Cannas. It looks great. I saw someone growing in a pot this year as an ornamental and I'm going to try that next year. Do you happen to know the variety of yours?


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## Clark (Aug 30, 2009)

Yes Joanne, it is chard. I put it there for the funk of it. We use it as a ornamental until it is time to feed. Easy to grow, high output. Definite woodchuck pitstop!

Bright Lights- here's your link:
http://www.reneesgarden.com/seeds/seeds-hm/vegCh.htm

Happy growing!


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## Clark (Aug 30, 2009)

Nice Airstream Doc. Never old or out of style. Love them.

Do you buy those lots, or lease them? We have done both, bought in Poconos and leased down the Jersey shore.


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## Drorchid (Aug 30, 2009)

Clark Edward said:


> Nice Airstream Doc. Never old or out of style. Love them.
> 
> Do you buy those lots, or lease them? We have done both, bought in Poconos and leased down the Jersey shore.




Thanks.

You buy a lot. The park is a co-op Park, so when you buy a lot, you basically own a share to the Park.

Robert


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## Clark (Oct 25, 2009)

Christine havesting 2nd season crop.




Today's yield.




Green lace leaf maple.




Second season 'chard, under castor bean.




Striped dahlia.


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## Paph_LdyMacBeth (Oct 25, 2009)

My husband works for a green roofing company! I'll have to tell him about the herbs on the shed...of course then he'll want herbs on our shed. 

I love the ornamental grasses!


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## SlipperFan (Oct 25, 2009)

...and the maple, and the Monarch...


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## Yoyo_Jo (Oct 25, 2009)

Wow - awesome photos. I'm envious of all the green stuff you still have in your yard. That grass is something else. :clap:


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## JeanLux (Oct 26, 2009)

That maple is very, very cool!!!! Jean


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## KyushuCalanthe (Oct 26, 2009)

Great looking yard! I've always been fascinated by green roofs, but wondered about all that earth above your head...I live in a earthquake prone area.


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## Clark (May 21, 2010)

bump


Hummingbirds drool for this salvia.




No eggs here.




Not popular by us. We love 'em.


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## NYEric (May 21, 2010)

Hahahhahaha! That's about $4 in Spring salad mix where I live!


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## SlipperFan (May 21, 2010)

Very pretty, Clark!


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## Lanmark (May 21, 2010)

Ah, yes, the Lupines. I've had some awesome ones in recent years! This year, sadly, I have none (due to a recent move combined with laziness on my part). Yours sure are pretty, Clark! These are my mom's favorite!


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