The other week, sitting in the back yard with my sister who was visiting from Victoria BC, it suddenly became clear to me that I needed to switch my attention to the back yard, after all we are spending a lot of time there once the dwindling daylight forces us to shelve our gardening tools for the evening.
My sister brought fresh eyes with her and because she did not know that the backyard did not have the same priority for me as my other gardens, she suggested moving the gorgeous Calla Lilies from the front into the back where they could have a highly visible place of honour, right beside the seating area.
I never would have thought of it but they look smashing, holding court between the two trellis.
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Prior to this moment almost all of my planning has focused on the front and side yards: the Sun, Moon & Monet gardens I have been so busy writing about. In fact readers of this blog might wonder if I even had a backyard!
The plan for the backyard garden is to have no plan.
To move plants here when there is no room for them anymore in their original bed, to put gifts from friends that do not work in my other gardens and to incorporate the daylilies, Asiatic Lilies, and chives that were already so plentiful here.
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Given the symmetry of the trellis and windows I have so far been repeating plants in a balanced way, however I am wondering if I should not just go wild and abandon principles of balance in both colour and form and see what appears...a place to put plants that are not working where I had initially hoped they would thrive could come in handy, and undoubtedly I would learn from seeing plant combinations that I would not otherwise have planned.
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Let me know what you think, do you have a bed for mismatched plants from tests, gifts or overflow? Do you ever stop and think how well it is working, or does it always look like an "unmade bed" to you?
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Sharing with Home Sweet Garden Party, Garden Tuesday, Tuesday Garden Party,
Green Thumb Thursday,
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Sharing with Home Sweet Garden Party, Garden Tuesday, Tuesday Garden Party,
Green Thumb Thursday,
LOL - had to laugh because most of my garden, young as it is, is an unplanned bed. We moved into this house last fall, and there were large mulched flowerbeds but no flowers! So I spent the spring and early summer visiting the nurseries and the farmers markets, and buying plants just kind of willy-nilly, without much of a plan at all. I bring them home and do the classic "Hmmm, where should this go?" So yeah, I guess you could say I have a bed for mismatched plants. :-)
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't buy random plants on a whim per se, I do buy plants that fit with my garden plans without thinking about how much deer like to eat them and I am finding that a lot of the plants that I am going to move into this garden are ones that the deer have eaten two years in a row in my front gardens. The lilies for example will never bloom if I can't get them into a fenced in yard.
DeleteThanks for stopping in and commenting!
There's no shame in having a nursery bed or test bed or whatever you want to call it - it's really useful in my book and if by chance you find some great plant combinations among the mix there then so much the better!
ReplyDeleteI am quite excited - not having to plan as much and simply having plants to put put in here is making it very fast - look for a follow up post soon!
DeleteI personally would balance the symmetry of the building with a nice cottage style garden - all wild and carefree!
ReplyDeletePam that sounds like a great idea and the direction I am headed. Let's see how much I can fit in there!
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