Hi GPODers and Happy Thanksgiving (happy belated Thanksgiving to all of our Canadian GPODers)!
Another year is quickly coming to an end, and I would like to take this day to share my gratitude for all the gardeners that continue to keep this blog and community going. You might recall when I did this last year (Check out last year’s post here: Giving Thanks to the GPOD Community), reflecting on my first six months as the Garden Photo of the Day editor. A year later and I’m feeling equally as sentimental and grateful for this generous community that makes this job such a treat.
We’ve showcased and celebrated the gardens of several frequent contributors as well as many brand-new gardens featured on the blog for the very first time this year. I appreciate immensely everyone who feels compelled to continue sharing or start sharing their special outdoor spaces with a bunch of plant-loving strangers on the Internet. It is also a testament to the community that has formed here, as the overwhelmingly positive and supportive comments welcome all gardeners with open arms.
With all that being said, we can always use more contributors, particularly this time of year, so I rounded up some great submissions from the past year that will hopefully provide as much inspiration today as the day we originally shared them.
January 6th: Tingshu’s Garden in Winter
First up we have some seriously stunning winter scenes from Tingshu Hu and her husband Philip Zhao in Dunstable, Massachusetts (Tingshu’s Low Maintenance Garden in Massachusetts, Deedee, Lulu, and Luke in Tingshu’s Garden, Summer in Tingshu’s Front Garden, Summer in Tingshu’s Back Garden, etc.). Tingshu’s garden is full of vibrant color from the earliest days of spring straight through to the end of fall, but she kicked off the new year on the blog with a different perspective on their lush designs.
Looking from below an apple tree, with a bare branch hanging overhead, the crabapple tree, the blue spruce and a false cypress stand on the left. A magnolia tree, a Japanese maple (Acer palmatum and cvs., Zones 6–9) and a few azaleas stand above a stone retaining wall. There is a yew at the bottom of the photo.
February 25th: Lizzi’s Front Yard Veggie Garden in Washington
I regularly make calls for GPODers to submit a wide variety of different types of gardens, and in February Lizzi Gualtieri in Walla Walla, Washington (Lizzi’s Walla Walla Garden, Walla Walla Backyard, Lizzi’s Springtime in Walla Walla, and Lizzi’s Fall Garden in Walla Walla) answered that call by sharing her stunning front yard veggie garden. This submission included some fantastic progress pictures, which made these “after” photos that much more impressive!
And finally the view looking south with the pig fence arches in the foreground. The arches allow for so much more to grow in this relatively small space. We grow more that we can eat or preserve, sharing with friends and neighbors with the exception of the garlic, you can never have too much garlic!
March 20th: Cherry’s Small Space Garden and Greenhouse Experience, Part 4
We also started the year with a fabulous series from Cherry Ong in Richmond, British Columbia (Wreath Making with Cherry, Cherry’s August Garden, Cherry’s May Garden in British Columbia, A Cold but Colorful November, Cherry’s Amaryllis, and countless GPOD on the Road submissions), where she gave us incredible details in the step-by-step process of installing a greenhouse in her small garden. From the removal of the beautiful beds that needed to be removed to make room to the accessories and styling that finalized the project, these posts still have me brainstorming about my dream greenhouse.
Hubby added a spot light for inside the greenhouse right after installation, but I wanted to add something pretty. I love the way the Europeans decorate their greenhouses with a chandelier. Our greenhouse has a lower ceiling with not much room for one, so we got creative and strung a long mossy branch with electric LED fairy lights and hung the lit branch with zip ties.
April 19th: Cindy’s Spring in Dallas
Things really started to heat up in April as spring submissions began rolling in. One of those early submissions was from Cindy Bolz in Dallas, Texas (Spring in Dallas and Collecting Japanese Maples) who celebrated the range of bright and colorful foliage in her garden as much as she did her beautiful blooms.
This photo shows purple oxalis (Oxalis triangularis, Zones 6–10) with white-veined pipeline (Aristolochia fimbriata, Zones 7–9). Each summer I get at least two full cycles of the beautiful black pipevine butterfly (Battus philenor) laying her eggs in these leaves. This is shortly followed by a tribe of little black caterpillars munching their way through every single leaf right down to the roots. Then the leaves grow back and the full cycle repeats.
May 7th: So Much Spring in Angie’s Arkansas Garden
We always see lots of fabulous plantings on Garden Photo of the Day, but we also saw some really amazing garden art on the blog this year. A piece of art that really stood out to me was this happy metal shark shared by Angie Caruthers in Arkansas (July in Arkansas and Dogwood Season). Two great photos showed how a baptisia coming into bloom during the season gives the shark a “sea” of plants to swim through.
Continuing the violet, lavender, and white color scheme, my Decadence® Sparkling Sapphire baptisia (Baptisia ‘Sparkling Sapphires’, Zones 4–9) is showing mega growth in just one week. The above photo is from Friday, April 18…and here they are on Friday, April 25. Side note: I love how the baptisia makes it look like the shark is swimming through an ocean bed of seaweed!
June 2nd: Irises and More in Beth’s North Carolina Garden
As spring continued on, more color flooded the Garden Photo of the Day inbox. In June we got an update from Beth Tucker in Waxhaw, North Carolina (Early Spring in Beth’s North Carolina Garden, A Look Back at Beth’s Early Summer Garden, Beth’s Poolside Garden, etc.), a garden we’ve watched evolve and fill with color over the years. Beth is also a frequent commenter who always has something encouraging to say about the gardens featured on the blog, so it’s always a treat when we can return the favor.
Gravel path borders in early spring
July 16th: Lee’s Spring Garden in the Mohawk Valley
Along with all of the gorgeous garden photos we receive weekly, we also get incredible garden descriptions and insights from across the country and around the world. A gardener who always has something poignant to say is Lee from the Mohawk Valley of central New York State (There Is Always Room for More, Chasing Away the Winter Blues with Lee in New York, Lee’s Garden Through the Eyes of an Ant, Lee’s Tulips in Mohawk Valley, Lily Pre-Bloom in the Mohawk Valley, etc.). In this submission from July he had some inspiring words about garden beauty and embracing a bit of the unconventional.
Lee’s ostrich ferns with an incredible weigela in full bloom—potentially the cultivar Wine & Roses® (Weigela florida ‘Alexandra’, Zones 3–9), based on the dark burgundy foliage and bright pink flowers.
August 26th: July in Teresa’s Maryland Garden
I’ve been sharing a lot of frequent contributor submissions so far, but I do want to give ample credit to new gardens we’ve enjoyed for the first time. One fabulous example came in August from Teresa Eutsler in Worcester County, Maryland. This is a newer garden, built from scratch in 2017, but you would never be able to guess from the photos that she shared.
The skies have been generous, so the little ‘Limelight’ is enjoying the moisture, and I’ve been very happy with Milena Fleur dahlia (Dahlia ‘Milena Fleur’, Zones 9–11 or as an annual). It has returned for me despite a very cold winter and is a beautiful color with the Hameln grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides ‘Hameln’, Zones 5–9) as it’s neighbor and the Tuscarora crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica ‘Tuscarora’, Zones 6–9) behind, along with the Casa Blanca lilies (Lilium ‘Casa Blanca’, Zones 5–8) in the background.
September 17th: August in Carla’s Pennsylvania Garden, Part 2
We couldn’t highlight this year of gardens without mentioning Carla Zambelli Mudry in Malvern, Pennsylvania (Roses and Clematis Bloom in Carla’s Garden, Ahead-of-Schedule Flowers in Pennsylvania, A Weird Summer in Carla’s Garden, Hydrangea Season in Carla’s Garden, Carla’s Late June Flowers and Foliage, etc.). Carla has shared her garden many times over the years, but this year she kept the gorgeous photos coming and provided regular updates throughout the seasons. This shot from her late summer submission epitomizes the lush designs that thrive in her woodland landscape.
With all of that gloss, I’m assuming this photo was taken after one of the many heavy rains that Carla’s garden got in August. In her woodland garden, a tapestry of foliage comes together to create wonderful patterns and designs.
October 21st: Judy’s First Frost in Montana
Another fabulous new garden was featured in October, and was an excellent (and stunning) representation of the end of the gardening season. Judy Hessert in the Bitterroot Valley of Western Montana shared some gorgeous photos of her garden the morning after the first frost in her area. The colorful foliage and abundant flowers were picture-perfect coated in a shimmery coating of ice, but I hope we have an opportunity to see this garden at its peak.
‘Indian Summer’ black-eyed Susan in the foreground, Korean spiraea (Spiraea fritschiana, Zones 3–8) on the left, Klehm’s Improved Bechtel flowering crabapple (Malus ioensis ‘Klehm’s Improved Bechtel’, Zones 4–8) with the tree guard, and the Sapphire Mountains in the background.
November 6th: More of Heidi’s Fabulous Flowers in Connecticut
Submissions really start to slow in November, but we were able to keep the garden color going with a backlog of fabulous photos that didn’t make it into previous weeks. Heidi Weirether in Redding, Connecticut (Heidi’s Colorful Garden in Fairfield County, Heidi’s May Garden in Connecticut, Peak Season in Heidi’s Connecticut Garden, Heidi’s Flowers in Connecticut, and September in Heidi’s Connecticut Garden) had one final batch of glorious flower photos that got featured on the blog at the beginning of the month.
Heidi has awe-worthy borders full of fantastic perennials, but her patio garden mainly consists of incredible annual plant combinations. White zinnias and pink cosmos are heavenly against a backdrop of bright pink impatiens.
Thank you again to all of the contributors who have shared their gardens this year and will continue sending spectacular updates through the seasons. If your garden or submission didn’t make it onto this list, just know that I could easily make post twice as long and it still wouldn’t cover all of my favorite submissions from this year.
And please consider sharing your garden photos with us to keep this blog going as we descend into winter and many of us need doses of daily garden color more than ever! Follow the directions below to submit photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.
We want to see YOUR garden!
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5–10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
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