I received a couple new garden books that I referred to the other day in one of my posts. I particularly am enjoying 'The Layered Garden' by David L. Culp. While I realize that I will continue to garden within the boundaries of my style preferences (in many respects there are similarities to the info that Mr. Culp shares), I am gaining a bit of perspective and encouragement to do more with extending the seasons within any particular area of my gardens. My favorite part of the book, however, is the photography showing the lovely gardens at Brandywine Cottage. It is indeed a truly beautiful two acres.
I enjoy looking into my photo archives every so often to see how the garden has been growing and changing over the past few years. It's always hard for me to find topics to post about during the winter so I thought I'd go into the photo archives and resurrect some favorite photos from the past. The photos in this post are from the 2009 garden season. Sometimes I wonder why I make the garden changes that I do when I look into the past and question whether those changes were improvements at all. In most cases there are very good reasons for the changes, often because of plant growth, sometimes because of a predisposition to diseases... whatever the reason, I can at least look through my thousands of pictures and recall the gardens as they once were. Join me in looking back four years.
The sweet autumn clematis on the south side of the arbor (below) is no longer there because it grew too large and didn't bloom well. It has been replaced by a Clematis viticella 'Betty Corning' which has a much longer bloom period and size-wise will be more appropriate to the site. Many of these roses have been removed as well and replaced with conifers. It will take a few years for my vision regarding this change to develop, giving me something to look forward to down the road...
The site in the photo below has been totally redone with the June perennials removed and a number of trees added. This past season several varieties of ferns, trilliums, and astilbe were planted for in the future this promises to be an area with lots of shade from conifers, magnolias, and dogwoods...
I love oriental poppies but haven't always had the best luck with them. I suspect that the reason is our rich, heavy loam. I have found a couple spots in the gardens that the plants seem to favor and I've added a great many over the course of the past few seasons... I caught these two in juxtaposition in the 2009 season...
Conifers are becoming a bigger part of the garden design at Oak Lawn with each passing year. Two varieties of Pinus strobus are featured below... on the left is 'Torulosa' and on the right is 'Pendula'.
The cottage garden was very much that in the 2009 season, but I've strayed farther from that concept with each new year. I've added more and more conifers behind the fences with a goal of mixed plantings that are grounded to the site through all twelve months of the year...
I really like this clump of trumpet lilies but it is one of only a few aurelians that I grow since I much prefer orienpets since they generally don't need staking. This particular trumpet was divided a year ago this past fall after over twenty-five years in the same spot. I was able to replant over thirty bulbs and look forward to their developing into a massive clump eventually... this color is a real eye catcher.
The orienpet collection continues to grow in several areas of the gardens. This season will be no different as I have 110 orienpet bulbs on order from England. Robina is in the forefront in the photo below.
I especially enjoy the long enduring cones of Pinus parviflora 'Glauca', the japanese white pine. I originally ordered a half dozen of these but five of the six turned out to be Pinus sylvestris 'Fastigiata' or fastigiate scotch pines.
For years I kept this tree pruned to within perhaps 18" of its trunk... I'm now allowing the top to spread so as to create an umbrella of shade in the garden.
I have played with the idea of changing out the dark blue on Oak Lawn Cheese Factory for a number of years. The concern is that it frequently needs fresh paint because the color fades within 2-3 years. Thankfully there are no peeling issues, as I used vapor barriers to good success when I redid inside walls as well as when I applied the cedar siding. For now it shall remain blue as it works quite well with the gardens, in fact repainting is on the 'to do' list for this summer. My concern is my right shoulder which is far from perfect since my rotator cuff surgeries a year and a half ago. I think I'll experiment with using a small roller on a long handle which will hopefully allow me to keep my right elbow close to my side.
The area of the gardens pictured below has issues. The irises appreciate how dry it is but other plants do not. I hate to admit it, but I've given up on trying to maintain this area and end up mowing it back once its spring bloom has past. It's too far from my water supply for watering and I just never seem to get here to weed. I have been playing with the idea of turning it into a juniper garden with a heavy mulching. The little Emperor Oak (Quercus dentata) in the center of the picture has finally started to take off after many years and shows promise of being a wonderful specimen in time. I must say I'll miss this color if I do end up changing the area out... it won't be an improvement but will involve a whole lot less maintenance.
The entrance to this part of the gardens has long been one of my favorite garden views. Not a lot has changed since 2009. I did move out at least part of the Ruby Spider daylily this past fall (can't recall if I replanted a division here or not) and added a Gold Cone Juniper for its tight growth and lovely color. The Betty Corning clematis was too large for its spot so I've replaced it with the exceedingly long blooming Clematis 'Roguchi'. The Robina orienpets have really matured in this location and were over seven feet tall this past year.
For several years I planted a great many Camelot series foxgloves. They are something that I have really missed for the past couple years and I feel they are a great fit for my new vision for the gardens... they will be coming back this season.
A perennial that I have enjoyed off and on over the years are the lupines. They are pictured here with Cotinus 'Grace'. My issue with lupines is that in many years they fall over under the weight of wind and rain and I am not willing to stake them. The obvious solution for this is to get into some of the dwarfer forms. This spot was actually quite well protected and they generally stood up well here, but I have problems with a stoloniferous thistle coming from the neighboring field into the area which demands a shot of round-up. Even that only works for a while and digging does no good what-so-ever.
I'll end this post with one of my favorite garden combinations. It is Fagus sylvatica 'Roseomarginata', Dictamnus (gas plant), and old fashioned hostas with the white edge over crisp green... it's such a fresh look in my opinion.
That's it for the 2009 review... 2010 will be one of my upcoming posts.
Take care,
Larry
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