Happy Friday GPODers!
When we celebrate our gardens we’re not only praising the plants we have cultivated, but also the time and energy we spent creating the outdoor spaces that bring us joy. For Carol Gibson in Quarryville, Pennsylvania (Zone 7a) the past 20 years have been spent creating a landscape of her favorite plants from the completely blank slate that she began with. She has acquired a beautiful array of plants that are interesting and inspiring, but it is the vision she had and the love she put into the landscape that makes it special.
My home was purchased in 2005, having a totally clean slate. Most of the gardens surround my house, affording privacy. The style is predominantly a free-flowing cottage garden, filled with my favorite trees, shrubs and perennials. Mother Nature, quite clearly, rules my gardens!
The lupines put out a show starting in May, along with the weigela shrubs, in an upper bed where there once was a fence line filled with scrub trees and poison ivy!
Wildflower seeds cast 3 years ago have created this prolific sea of sweet William (Dianthus barbatus, Zones 3–9), so many colors and a lovely scent!
Behold the fringe tree (Chionanthus virginicus, Zones 3–9) accompanied by a happy weigela.
This bed was created in memory of my parents. It is filled with hellebores, a young photinia, several sizes of Hinoki cypress (my favorite evergreen), a red-tipped Japanese pieris (Pieris japonica, Zones 4–8) and too many perennials to list all of them!
A view of the bed in front of my house. Notice the silvery leaves on the evening primrose (Oenothera biennis, Zones 3–9). The bee balm is surrounded by purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea, Zones 3–9) and yellow loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris, Zones 4–8). The invasive plants may make you cringe, but I keep them in check and have very few weeds!
I love this holly fern (Cyrtomium falcatum, Zones 7–10) in a bed of lush green foliage.
This bed has gone through several revisions, but now has a star magnolia (Magnolia stellata, Zones 4–8), ninebark shrub (Physocarpus opulifolius, Zones 2–8), turtleheads, ‘Silver Mound’ artemisia (Artemisia schmidtiana ‘Silver Mound’, Zones 3–9), salvias and a very cool ‘Little Redhead’ Indian pink (Spigelia marilandica ‘Little Redhead’, Zones 5–9)!
The heuchera in this bed were removed from an arrangement in a funeral home outside urn 10 years ago! (Much happier here, ha!) There will be magnificent color when the lilies bloom this summer. You can partially see an easy care ‘Soft Touch’ holly (Ilex crenata ‘Soft Touch’, Zones 5–9) on the right side of photo.
The ‘Major Wheeler’ honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens ‘Major Wheeler’, Zones 4–8) will attract hummingbirds if my dog stays away long enough!
Final view of the upper bed, created by first planting the evergreens, then the shrubs, and lastly, casting wildflower seeds into several central areas.
Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful garden with us, Carol! With so many stunning vignettes and mature plants it is hard to even imagine this space as the blank slate you started with.
How did your garden’s journey begin and how has your vision for your landscape changed since then? Large spaces or tiny city lots, we would love to hear the story of your garden and while enjoying photos of what it looks like today. Follow the directions below to submit your photos to Garden Photo of the Day!
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, fill out the Garden Photo of the Day Submission Form.
You can also 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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