I (finally) decided to add some photos of my garden this year. :) The first is a photo of the creek bed. (Click any photo to enlarge) This is a large flower bed at about 64 feet long and averaging 12 feet wide, filled with a mix of shrubs, annuals, and perennials and a patio near one end (photo taken at a distance to get a wider shot):
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Stump Bed
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I always grow a lot of mixed coleus in this flower bed, along with hostas, coneflowers and more. We moved the purple obelisk to the top of the giant stump in this bed this year also, and I’m growing Gloriosa Lilies on it:
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Trail Bed
Trail Bed – with hostas, Japanese Forest Grass, fountain grass, iris, melampodium, salvia, dusty miller
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Gazebo / Yard
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Lamp Post and Front Bed
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The Red Abyssinian Banana, Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’, survived being stored all winter and we brought it out in April, potted the crown in fresh soil and it quickly started growing. (We cut the tree down after the first frost last year, stuck it in a bucket and it was stored in a basement all winter with no attention whatsoever!) It’s more than 7′ tall now and thriving in the front flower bed. This long narrow bed also has a mix of perennials and annuals, and is in the front yard along with the lamp post bed. The lamp post bed has Cheyenne Spirit Coneflowers, Celosia ‘Fresh Look’, and an awesome annual I grew from seed, ‘Park’s Whopper’ Salvia. I grew two flats of this plant and will probably have even more next year, I like it that much. It’s fiery red, much taller than other annual salvias, and is sturdy enough to not have to be staked. I have it all over my beds this year.
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Creek Bed
Back side of creek bed, with cleome, salvia, sunpatiens, heuchera, oxalis, melampodium.
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Containers
Veronica in a container, fountain grass, petunias
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Zahara Zinnias, Melampodium ‘Showstar’, Creeping Jenny, mixed containers
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Misc.
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Cleome, perennial ageratum, japanese iris foliage, Pennisetum ‘First Knight’, celosia, salvia
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Patio with mixed plantings (a work in progress), begonias, dusty miller, ornamental grasses, ‘Bobo’ hydrangea
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Whew, that was a lot of photos. :) Happy Gardening!
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Hi Sherry, so good to see you again. My goodness, you’ve had a great gardening year! The stump garden is spectacular as usual. It’s so full and voluptuous! The gloriosa lilies are to-die-for. I assume you’ll dig and store those bulbs, right? Can you overwinter your red fountain grass where you live? Or do you plant as annual. I love the stuff. I really should get one and dig up one giant hosta that I think was variegated and reverted over time. You can only have so many green hostas! Ok, the Red Banana tree is, well, bananas! I recall your 2014 post when you first put it out. I’m not sure how big I could expect it to grow in a season in the Northeast but it might be fun to try. Remember where you got your small potted one that grew so fast? You guys are really warm and humid where you are so that helped it, I’m sure. I assume the deer never touched it, judging by how perfect and beautiful the leaves are! we were gone to England for 2wks in June and pretty much the deer herds made themselves at home. I’ve had no roses this year, no daylilies…..until right about now. No amount of deer repellent kept them at bay this spring/summer. Not sure what is going on. But the mid-summer plants are doing fantastically right now. The deer need to find somewhere else to dine!
Hello Jim, good to hear from you! Yes, it’s been a good gardening year so far, but it has been SO hot and humid here this summer. Even so, I think I have more plants this year than any other. I grew so many from seed this spring, plus I expanded some of the beds a little.
Yes, I will store those gloriosa lily bulbs. That one was new to me this year, and I love it. One thing though, it does not cling very well to the obelisk, so we have to tie it on there. It has bloomed well since spring.
The red fountain grass is annual here. I wish it were perennial! Fortunately, it’s available locally and I get a few every year, use in beds and pots. I know what you mean about green hostas, lol, they seem to multiply so much moreso than the others.
That banana tree! We love it. It’s truly the focal point of our garden, everyone notices it before anything else. I was so happy that it’s so easy to overwinter. I ordered it from either Easytogrowbulbs.com, or Santarosagardens.com. Just can’t remember which place, I order from both all the time (especially santarosa). It’s amazing how quickly that plant grows, and it seems that the hotter it gets, the faster it goes. You should definitely try it! Get one, and water and feed it often and just watch it go! :) (It will get bigger every year you save it.)
No deer damage to to the banana at all, but honestly, we haven’t had any deer here this year (thank goodness!). The woods are so lush and full that hopefully they have plenty to eat up in there instead of coming down to our yard. Sorry to hear about your deer damage. I know how frustrating that is. Two years ago, they ate every single bud off of 19 azalea shrubs that are spread throughout our property, plus a lot of hydrangea buds — so I do know how maddening it is.
Hope ya had a great time in England, and I’m glad your garden is thriving now! If only summer wouldn’t pass by so quickly…
-Sherry
your garden is always so beautiful!!
Michael
http://www.MichaelsWoodcrafts.com