My friend Roger Montague’s garden. My new book discusses the placement of arbors. Here’s an excerpt from my new book:
”Arbors have the ability to set mood. Romantic, rustic, formal, Asian, European, or cottage—an arbor knows no architectural boundaries. The connection between house and garden is extended when the style of the arbor matches the home. Repeating interesting architectural details found on the house, such as a porch railing pattern, gable pitch, color, or even a pattern found in the window mullions, will help add continuity between the house and the garden.”
My new book was released July 18th.
AUGUST
I'm glad July is behind me. The first half was brute, but the rains returned.
I’m often accused of renovating my garden every year. In truth, it’s every five years. This is not a bad idea. I recommend reevaluating your garden every five years for upgrades and even downgrades. As we age, we may not want as much garden maintenance, or you may want to try something new to replace something that never panned out as hoped. Take the hellebores around the Soccer Field out back, for example. They are all gone, and I couldn’t be happier. As I mentioned last month, they always needed maintenance—cutting off ratty leaves, cutting back foliage around Christmas so the flowers would show better, and then cutting off the flower heads once seedheads form so I don’t have even more plants to worry about. I thought of them as high-maintenance filler. See below in Back 40 (ft.) I‘m thrilled about what I did as a replacement.
A crape myrtle was removed from the Front Entrance Garden last year. I left the bed area just as it was. Why, I’ll never know. The area is so visible that I can’t imagine why I didn’t give it more love. Now, I will turn it into a perennial flower garden. I still have the stump to deal with. See below in the Entrance Garden.
It’s that time of year again! It's time to design and begin filling the bed for the NC State Fair! See below in the State Fair Educational Garden. This year’s theme will be adding garden seating, with an excerpt from my latest book. Planning and Designing Your Garden will be shared.
Outdoor seating can be a cheerful, inviting touch that also provides functionality. A bench like my friend’s, for example, becomes a focal point that adds to the home’s curb appeal, makes for a handy place to gather goods, and of course, is a place to sit a spell, either coming or going. When a table and chairs are a part of your garden décor, you can take advantage of outdoor seating by dining al fresco. In general, seating outside can be placed anywhere a respite might be welcome. With the right consideration, you can plan places to sit in your garden that will both look attractive and serve as a place where you will be able to sit and admire the view.
Another area I reworked was the Garden House. The entrance to the House wasn’t symmetrical, and only a few slate pieces acted as steps. I made more of a landing. As my crazy need for symmetry goes, the edging on one side of the house was longer than the other. With an angle grinder, I made both sides even.
The Back 40 (ft)—-This was one area I didn’t need to do much with. The watering had to be kept for the new plantings I planted after the pine trees were taken down. Around July 11th, we started getting good rain. It was welcomed! The area I call the soccer field edges up against the Back 40, and the Mixed Border had an area. This is the area where I took out the hellebores. Before Genya’s 60th birthday party, hosted in the garden, I took out a patch of Petasites japonicus. Hallejuhla!
The Gazebo Corner—Still looking good even without the flowers. The area behind the Gazebor Corner had pokeweed popping up. I hand-pulled it and racked the area so it didn’t look messy.
The Epimedium Patch—I still have rabbits nibble one of my five, but leave the rest alone!
The Mixed Border, South to North—This border did well despite the drought. I didn’t need to water it, but I was going to the next day, and rain arrived overnight.
Spring Ephemeral Patch, formally The Wildflower Patch—I’m refocusing this area off the back patio. While I referred to the wildflower patch, it’s about spring ephemerals. Same with the extension.
The Ostrich Fern Garden—The drought took its toll on the bed. It’s in an Oasis Zone, so I could have watered it but chose not to. I’m hoping for a recovery once the rain returns.
The Front Fountain Garden—I haven’t groomed this area yet. Hopefully soon.
It was a good year for fruit. Lots of peaches, which the squirrels got, the persimmon is laden with fruit. But the Barlet pear is so heavy with fruit, the limbs have bent towards the ground., and few branches even broke. The cucumbers are coming along so fast we can’t keep up. The are many huge and yellow on the vine. My girls (chickens) love them, so not all is lost.
The Food Forest Extension—The blueberries didn’t do well this year. I could blame the drought, but I did water them occasionally. I began to think it was the pH. Blueberries need a very low pH. I tested the soil and found the pH to be 4.2, so it wasn’t that!
The Raised Beds—The lettuce is done for the season. My calendar is already market to sow beets, lettuce, and kale on October 5th. All the tomatoes did well. I’m sharing it with lots of friends. I still need to find spinach seeds.
The Entrance Garden—The area wasn’t showy. It was a time, but again, it was too high maintenance! I have three Mahonias there, and they will stay. The branches were getting gangly, so I pruned them well. There was a lot of mondo grass, the straight species, not ‘Nana.’ It was taking over. I like it as an edge, so I removed all but that. Tradescantia spp. Looked nice, but the rabbits were a problem. And there was Alstroemeria, which was pretty but needed more maintenance than I wanted to provide. I dug out the area and planted to put wildlife becoming perennials in the bed.
The Parterre—I made a good choice for this area by planting it with low-growing thyme. The sections are filling in nicely. No reno needed here!
The Raspberry/Succernongs—I moved the iris from this area to the Chimney Swift Tower area because they needed more sun. The East side of this bed gets more sun than the West side. Still, I added six more raspberries shared by a friend.
Added some mulch.
The River Bed—Big changes are happening here. This bed held hardy mums, ‘Sheffield Pink’, for two decades. I was ready for a change. In preparation, I removed all the mums, shared many, and let the bed be fallow until fall planting. I will order from Brent and Becky’s and turn this bed into a year-round bulb show. This will be exciting all year round, not only in late fall.
The Pollinator Garden—As expected, the Pollinator Garden held up nicely despite the drought. I added milkweed plants and a Red Hot Poker, Kniphofia) spp.
The Rock Garden—I haven’t worked in this area in a while. I’ll get to it soon.
The Girl’s Garden—There have been big changes here. The winter honeysuckle I planted decades ago has morphed into six or more plants. I removed all but one, or maybe it was two. It looks better opened like it is now.
The Mixed Border—North to South
2024 State Fair Demonstration Garden.
Have a Gardening Need? HIRE HELEN!
Glossary
Until soon,
Helen
#WeCanAllBeeBetter!