garden open day today: a mini virtual tour
T ODAY IS OPEN DAY AT A WAY TO GARDEN, THE FIRST THIS SEASON. It’s been a little hectic (understatement), but I’m as ready as I can get. In case you can’t make it, here’s a small peek at some of the goings-on. Enjoy your “walk” around.
Click on the first thumbnail to start your tour, then navigate from slide to slide using the arrows beside each caption.
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- The front garden in spring.
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- Japanese maples in big pots by the driveway always look good, even though it’s been too up-and-down weather-wise to get other pots to fill out and look good yet.
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- One annual I have my eye on this year: Anagallis ‘Wildcat Mandarin.’ Wow. We’ll see how it shapes up, but those orange flowers!
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- My favorite of all the Allium relatives is in peak bloom now, Nectaroscordum siculum, which sows itself around (including in the lawn lately, oops).
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- I don’t know how I’d garden without Heucheras, especially my favorite, the well-named ‘Caramel.’ (Guess which one it is in the photo along the front path?)
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- I just took the fancy-leaf begonias out yesterday from the house finally to sit beside the two big ceramic water troughs by the door, but there hasn’t been enough heat yet to make the Azolla (pondweed) spread into a velvety green covering for the surface.
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- Nearby in the shady area near the water troughs, two favorite bold-leaf perennials (and genetic close cousins) are Rodgersia…
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- …and Astilboides.
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- Around the corner in back, where it’s sunnier, the hot-colored honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens is going at it. No clematis yet, though.
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- Half-planted pots waiting by the back shed for some heat to get them up and growing.
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- Next to the shed, the larger of two frogponds…minus the bullfrogs who moved away unexpectedly two weeks ago in a giant rainstorm. Sigh. Only some smaller frogs remain to keep me company.
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- One of my favorite views is from the field up above the house…the sheds would be to the right edge; the bigger of the frogpools just at the center, the smaller one at the left, with the terrace beyond that.
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- The smaller of the two little ponds, just across the backyard, flanked by a giant old rhodie, a dwarf white pine and the Japanese umbrella pine (left of rhodie).
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- Turning the corner past the rhodie, you come upon the gravel terrace installed last year after a giant tree fell and left a mess…and an opportunity. Still haven’t sat on it yet, but at least I put some pots out there.
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- Looking back at the house (and the barn in the far distance) from the new terrace.
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- Just beyond, the old raised-bed vegetable garden, where the garlic is looking good. Those are the top decks from my Texas Tomato Cages…not needed yet, but at the ready.
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- One row of tomatoes inside their big Texas cages (lower half only).
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- On the side of the house above the terrace, a hardy male kiwi vine, Actinidia kolomikta, shows off.
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- Way beyond the yard proper, the Chionanthus or fringetrees, are in bloom.
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- Proceeding downhill from the Chionanthus, the long shrub borders that form the west side of the garden.
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- Down the long shrub borders apiece from the fringe trees, Primula japonica are having a field day.
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- No big bullfrogs remain, but a few loud and cheeky adult male green frogs are here to welcome you.
So enjoyed your Mini Garden Tour. It is 25 degrees, not considering wind chill, in Lutsen, MN on the North Shore of Lake Superior this morning. So, how wonderful to see another season so beautifully displayed in gorgeous color, creative landscapes and practical ideas for best use of space. We have a zoom board meeting of our West End Garden Club today, and I will surely recommend your site to them, if they haven’t discovered it already.
Thanks so much!
Rae Piepho, W.E.G.C. Chair
Love, love, love your new terrace!!! The pictures from your Open Days event were fantastic!! So many new plants for me to check out.
Margaret. You have a great site here.Ive enjoyed visiting it. I have a acre and a half. Alot of shade and mature trees. The back of my property is occuppied with a leach bed. So I have to plant along side. I would love some suggestions on how and what to plant. The property is lined by woods so is mostly shade. Any ideas? Thank you so much for the wonderful inspiration.
Welcome, Colleen. Start with the shade category of stories here to see some ideas of things I enjoy growing in shady areas. Then let me know what you think.
Margaret,
I particularly enjoy the combination of heucheras. They are really quite lovely. I was wondering what it is next to them with the golden foliage that just sings “come over here for a look?” I recognized the creeping jenny, but there is something else, too. Lovely photos.
Welcome, Liisa. That is the dreaded barberry (a small gold cultivar I cannot recall the name of). I have had them for so many years, and though now we are supposed to toss them all (because barberries are declared invasives in many areas) I have not. My favorite gold thing actually is ‘All Gold’ Hakonechloa, which you may also like (or already have). See you soon again.
@Melissa: Info is here.
You mentioned that this was the first tour of the season. Do you have more scheduled? Where are your gardens located?
What a treat to see your beautiful garden in these pictures
Quite lovely! I love all the rock walls and the color of the house.
Welcome and thank you, Chiot’s Run. Yes, I am happier with my more vivid colors these days, too. Nice to see you here (and to visit your “garden”) and hope to see you again soon.
I meant — I really, really meant — to get my poor tomato plants into the ground yesterday. But I spent too much time lying on the grass looking at clouds instead of kneeling in the dirt, for a change. I consider this my “slow” year, so another few days won’t hurt, will it? And yes, you were right: I do love it, Margaret.
Just looked at your beautiful,beautiful garden. Your book has been a bible in the last several months.My husband and I bought 3 acres in Mendocino County, Calif. last year. Recently put in our first vegetable garden. Yesterday, we drove over some irrigation with our mower and things sort of went downhill after that. But, at the end of the day i sat on the ground, gazed at the amazing lettuce, chard, and upcoming plants..watched the quail (eating our strawberries) and it made the hassles of the day definitely worth it. I sure wish you lived nextdoor. Keep those pictures coming!
Thanks and welcome, Rebecca. Mendocino certainly is a beautiful place to be, perforated irrigation lines and all. I was watering yesterday and thinking the same thing as I looked at the kale and Brussels sprouts and salad greens and peas and all of it: amazing. See you soon again I hope.