Show me your gardens!

[Paph_LdyMacBeth]

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

 

[goldenrose]

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

 

[Paph_LdyMacBeth]

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

 

[nikv]

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.

 

[Ron-NY]

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...

 

[NYEric]

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...

 

[Wendy]

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:

 

[Paph_LdyMacBeth]

Can't I have it all?!?

 

[SlipperFan]

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

 

[JeanLux]

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

 

[Clark]

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.

 

[Wendy]

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.

 

[nikv]

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.

 

[Heather]

Lovely Dot, especially the grasses!

 

[SlipperFan]

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....

 

[Roslyn]

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!

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

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.

 

[Paph_LdyMacBeth]

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.

 

[SlipperFan]

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:

 

[Clark]

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.