A garden can change quickly when the light around it changes. When nearby trees come down, beds that once received shade can suddenly be exposed to hours of direct sun, forcing both plants and gardeners to adjust. Today we’re visiting Candice’s garden in New Jersey, in Newton (Zone 6a), which went through exactly that kind of shift last fall.
I started these gardens in May 2018, when the property was pretty much a blank slate after removing a large five-trunk maple in the backyard. I tracked the sun for a year to see what would fit where.
Last fall, my next-door neighbor removed three unhealthy trees, including one that could have come down on my house, so the amount of sunlight in the garden changed dramatically. Some things burned, while others thrived. One thing about gardens—you need to be able to adapt to what nature brings.
This year, I shared my garden with the Sussex County Garden Club on July 16. The beds use several types of edging, including manufactured concrete block, branches, and a path made from tree-trunk rounds. It’s still a work in progress. Lots of work and lots of fun.
Volunteer sunflowers (Helianthus annuus, annual)—which Candice credits the goldfinches with planting—tower over this part of the garden alongside ‘Kwintus’ pole beans (Phaseolus vulgaris ‘Kwintus’, annual). The beans appear to continue up the archway in the background, drawing the eye deeper into the garden. It’s such an inviting view that I immediately want to know what’s waiting on the other side.
This densely planted border is packed with color, but the variety of textures and flower forms is what really makes it stand out. Purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea, Zones 3–9), roses (Rosa cvs., Zones 3–9), southern globe thistle (Echinops ritro, Zones 3–8), garden phlox (Phlox paniculata and cvs., Zones 4–8), and foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea and cvs., Zones 4–8) bring everything from rounded blooms to tall flower spikes. The spiky globes of the globe thistle and fine-textured ‘Mops’ Sawara false cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Mops’, Zones 4–8) add even more contrast to this perennial bed.
A wider view shows how the same mix of flower forms and textures carries through the garden around the shed.
Red-hot poker (Kniphofia cvs., Zones 5–9) adds a vivid orange accent in the foreground, while Candice’s dwarf ornamental peach (Prunus persica, Zones 5–8) contributes deep burgundy foliage farther back in the planting.
Candice’s heirloom white hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus hybrid, Zones 5–9) reaches about 8 feet tall, making the enormous white flowers especially dramatic. Nearby purple smoke bush (Cotinus coggygria cv., Zones 4–8) provides contrast with dark foliage.
Bee balm (Monarda cvs., Zones 4–9), Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum × superbum and cvs., Zones 5–9), and red daylilies (Hemerocallis hybrids, Zones 3–9) carry the same red, white, and pink tones seen elsewhere in the garden. Repeating those colors in different flower forms helps the beds feel connected even as the plant combinations change.
Crocosmia (Crocosmia cvs., Zones 6–9), coneflowers, and the towering white hardy hibiscus come together in another view of the garden’s midsummer abundance.
Thanks for sharing your garden with us, Candice! I love how much you’ve created from the blank slate you started with in 2018. It will be fun to see how the garden continues to evolve under its new light conditions. I hope you’ll send us another update!
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