ANATOMY OF OLD SUN GARDEN - 1 of 2

The Sun Garden is broken into two distinct parts. The new garden on the left, which I created by putting in a lasagna garden on top of the lawn within a month of taking possession of our home, and the bed that existed when we moved in, on the right-hand side of this photo and what I am now calling the Old Sun Garden. 

Early spring I noted what was coming up, late spring I transplanted the Iris out, summer I removed the composter and added a tree and in late summer I divided the Hardy Geranium, but I did it all without an overall plan, after all I was mostly just monitoring in my first year.

It turns out that there was lots in there, but as with any garden that has not been kept up it required some maintenance. The blackberry bush needed to be kept in check to give the lilies on this side enough light  -

and this substantial Phlox Paniculata which was hidden on the other side.  

In September I removed both and transplanted them to my Corporate Guerrilla Garden, because they were pink. 

While some people recommend a hand's off approach to learning about existing garden beds in a new home for the first year, I say "why wait?" if you identify key changes. Getting these plants in to their new bed with enough time to settle in and put down roots was the first step in figuring out what I wanted this bed to look like next season.

Obviously it had to work with the new Sun Garden to make one harmonious experience, though to be honest I had not really thought of that when I put the new bed in.

My preference is for lines of colour rather than clumps in a long and narrow bed such as this. In the photo above you can see how I dug up both the Peony and Heliopsis which were large, healthy and perfect candidates for dividing, and spread them about along the side of the house.  The Peony in front of both window wells and the Heliopsis all along the wall under the windows where it will serve as a vibrant, long-blooming backdrop.  

(The blackberry bush came out and went into a box in my garage where it sits to this day.)

In the newly-created, empty 'front' of the bed I planted 80 purple Liatris that I had to move from the Monet Garden, where they clearly had not been getting enough sun.  Among them I added three Phlox Orange Perfection.  I have been striving to find more orange plants, and purple is the contrast colour in this otherwise sunny-coloured bed; hopefully the bloom time of these two will overlap in a gorgeous purple/orange display.  

Also under the windows are 50 Darwin Hybrid Tulips (a bulb I tried once without luck but not in as sunny a spot), and a dozen or so orange Hyacinths under the Cherry Tree.

There are no low growing plants at the front of this border, it is filled with big, tall plants because I want those walking along the path to feel immersed in it.

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TUCKED AWAY

I've mentioned before that I like to take my cues from the garden itself - an example of this is with the bench in our Moon Garden.

When sitting on the bench looking at our home there is a lone branch hanging down from the large Blue Spruce between you and the house, and believe it or not, as slight as it is, it serves to create a vague sense of separation.

When combined  with the Peony it creates almost enough of a barrier that you feel sheltered from the bright lights of the house.

Intimately close, yet at the same time set apart. 

It is an illusion I am trying to enhance by adding five new peony Festiva Maxima

I am also dividing the existing lightly pink-tinged Peony into three and planting them along the border and the pathway. New and old have been inter-planted and odd roots that fell away from the transplant were thrown into the same holes as the new plantings. The more blended these two are, the better.

While I have read that Peony do not like to be transplanted  I have personally had luck with it before, so I am willing to try again.   My hope is that the increased size of the Peony border between the house and bench will enhance the sense of separation and increase the feeling that one is tucked away in a forest.

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YARD ART - location, location, location

We had a bench on our front porch in Toronto but have no porch to place it on in Winnipeg.

What to do, what to do? 

Under these circumstances I think of the bench as 'yard art'; putting it directly in the yard means it has to look as fashionable as it does functional.

 Before I plant plants I first place them where I think they will go (and generally always make adjustments). It was no different with this bench.
The first place I thought of was on the lawn outside the garden proper but after a few short weeks the lawn under the bench started to die back for lack of sun.

Next I plunked it down in the middle of the Bishop's Goutweed.

While it is not quite a field of poppies à la Wizard of Oz, I liked the sense of being completely surrounded this spot created. There was even already a rudimentary "path to nowhere" curving in that general direction.

My parents had some large paving stones they needed rid of and so a platform for the bench was quickly and inexpensively made to keep the Goutweed from completely engulfing the bench. 

According to Better Homes and Gardens "A curving walkway provides more visual interest than a straight path -- and accents the garden around it." Plus it minimizes how visible the concrete blocks used for stepping stones are; you can make a beeline from the house to the bench without having to stare at the functional concrete stones and then you get to travel through the garden and around the Peonies to get to it.

Next year there will be Peony growing on both sides, hiding the path even further.

Eventually we repainted a portion of our home's exterior and painted the bench the same colour with leftover paint. Love or hate the orangey-brown (we still flip-flop ourselves), it is a nice touch that they now coordinate.

It will be quite exciting to see the plants grow up and around the bench with it already in situ next spring.

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CLOSING UP SHOP

Short of getting my order from Van Fleur with literally still dozens of things to plant and freezing temperatures creeping in, I am done and ready to finish closing up shop.  

Thank goodness the weather has been hospitable.

I grew lots of plants in the Sun Garden this summer I had never grown before so I had to learn about their pruning procedures and it turns out they almost all get severely cut back:

Blanket Flower

Monarda

Bearded Iris

Helenium

Peony

Crocosmia

Lilies

Echinacea is either/or.

Asclepias should stay up "until spring".

Rudbeckia laciniata 'Goldquelle

Rudbeckia wavers from keep the seed heads up for the birds to trim almost to the ground.

I will leave them until last and see how I am feeling...

Let us hear it for tomorrow, one of the season's final days to be spent outside.
Hip hip hooray!

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ANOTHER ORDER PLACED - $$

Last year I found tons of great deals at the Friends of Gardens Manitoba Fall Sale, but I knew generally what I wanted and allowed opportunity to influence my specific purchases, i.e. I knew what colour palette I wanted in the Sun Garden, but was not necessarily attached to specific plants.   Now that I know more precisely what I want in order to complete my gardens, I have placed a order online to get exactly what I want.

Our first year here is our most expensive in the yard and each year should be subsequently less so. At least, that is what I am telling my husband.

 Below are the details of an order I placed with Van Fleur, to arrive possibly next week and for which I have already started digging holes.

		50 CHIONODOXA LUCILIAE ALBA ($6) These small early bloomers will likely be used to highlight the stone paths in the Moon Garden.
		25 ALLIUM ATROPURPUREUM ($25) These will find a home in the front garden with the rest of the purples and blues. They may mix with Delphinium or Iris; please, weigh in if you have an opinion.
		25 ALLIUM GRACEFUL ($17) These white flowers actually have flecks of purple in them which makes them the perfect continuation on the graceful transition I have between my white and purple gardens. They will go at the east end of the Moon Garden adding height and substance to a under-developed, sunny area.
		10 PHLOX DAVID ($21.50) Deer resistant, these can be on the front lines: in front of the dining room hedge, both along the front and side given it can make do with both sun and partial shade.
		5 PHLOX NICKY ($13) I really hope these get enough sun under the front lilac. They have the height and the colour and if I can just get some blues and mauves to interplant. Wow.
		5 PHLOX ORANGE PERFECTION ($13) I have been looking for more orange for the Sun Garden and these are going to look amazing inter-planted with purple Blazing Star.
		10 TALL BEARDED GERMAN IRIS QUEEN OF ANGELS ($27.50) Around the base of the lilac tree; these are going to have to be at the front of the Moon Garden despite their height in order to have enough light.
		5 RE-BLOOMING GERMAN IRIS ENGLISH CHARM ($19.50) These tall creamsicle-coloured beauties will rise above above their white & purple bi-coloured cousins at our front stairs.                     25 DUTCH IRIS BLUE & WHITE BLEND ($7.50) A perfect colour pallet for the front garden, specifically where I will be removing the Blazing Star from.
		10 RE-BLOOMING GERMAN IRIS ORANGE HARVEST ($39.00) Half will reinforce the oranges already mixed in with the purples in the Sun Garden and the other half will join the herons (and the Iris below), behind the hardy Geranium in the front garden.
		5 RE-BLOOMING GERMAN IRIS VICTORIA FALLS ($19.50) These intense blues will join the deep orange (above) in a row parallel to the front sidewalk.
		1 TREE PEONY SHIMA-NISHIKI ($27.50) A tallish shrub at up to 150 cm, this will add a splash of colour for a short time in the Moon Garden where I recently cut down a Japanese Lilac that had volunteered and would never have reached its potential.  A shrub with gorgeous peony blooms?  I am in.
		50 HYACINTHOIDES HISPANICA BLUE ($20.00) The blue will sit beside the iris at the front of the front garden where Lamium will take over in the summer. 25 HYACINTHOIDES HISPANICA WHITE ($13.00) The east end of the Moon Garden should get enough sun for these spring bloomers.
		25 HYACINTH DELFT BLUE ($12.50) To mix with other similarly shaded varieties.
		25 HYACINTH PETER STUYVESANT ($12.50) I will mix the four blues, purples and a handful of whites together randomly.
		25 HYACINTH BLUE ICE (SKY JACKET) ($21.00) They will most likely be in the front between path and stairs; 111 + another 30 mixed purple/blue I had forgotten I had already bought when buying these.
		25 HYACINTH BLUE JACKET ($21.00) It remains to be seen how much space 141 will take up.
		25 HYACINTH CARNEGIE ($12.50) In front of the white Iris in the Moon Garden.
		25 SPLIT CUP DAFFODIL CENTANEES ($23.00) Absolute stunners.  There is room somewhere.
		25 SPLIT CUP DAFFODIL TIRITOMBA ($19.00) I will find a place. Just look at it, how could I not?
		25 JONQUILLA DAFFODIL KEDRON ($14.50) I had great success with these sweet smelling beauties at the Ontario cottage. 50 TAZETTA DAFFODIL GERANIUM ($24.00) Somewhere in the Moon Garden, not sure exactly where yet.
		200 SPECIE CROCUS BLUE PEARL (CHRYSANTHUS) ($32.00) While I did not have much luck with Crocus in general last year and I can find the early-blooming species rather small, I could not pass up this shade of blue for the front garden. 5 DOUBLE PEONY FESTIVA MAXIMA ($29.50) I have already dug the holes for this beautiful peony with red flecks in the Moon Garden, lining the stone path to the bench. 25 HYACINTH GYPSY QUEEN ($12.50) Somewhere in the original portion of the Sun Garden since the newer part is now reserved for orange, yellow and red bi-coloured Darwin Hybrid Tulips. **** Sharing with Weekend Flowers, Today's Flowers, Floral Friday Fotos

MACRO MONDAY - peony revisited

As you may know, I am not a fan of pink in the garden, so I have been carefully monitoring the four Peonies the previous owners left in my garden to see how they will turn out.

Last week they were still looking red but as they get closer to blooming they are looking more and more pink. But a deep pink, not a light and frilly pastel pink.  The kind of pink I will be able to live with. Considering there are four peonies all the same, that not many other plants that came with these gardens, and how long these plants can live for, it would be a shame to give them 'the old heave ho'.

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I THINK THEY ARE NOT PINK

It may be too early to tell for certain but I am getting confident that the four peonies that were here before us are all the same, and that they are red. 

I will wait to be sure but then move them after blooming to the South Lasagna Garden where they will be perfect.  Another example of grouping - why on earth are the four peonies each in a different garden? By simply grouping them (in the best location) I will dramatically increase their overall presence.

 It could turn out still that they are pink, the one colour I do not want them to be.

As each day passes and the red does not fade I get more excited and more hopeful. 

I planted the Red Charm peonies I bought at last fall's local perennial sale right across the path from these existing peony without even knowing it, so even their placement will be perfect if they remain this dark.

Wish me luck.

INSPIRATION STRIKES - hosta fountain

There are times when I am working in the garden when things just come together. 

When I am on a roll.  

When I am feeling particularly creative and inspired.

Last night was one of those times.

You can judge if you think what I did s inspiring or not, but it felt that way.

Oh, and if you are willing to give feedback, let me know what you think the Allium should go when we get to that part.

The Hostas and Peonies in my parents back yard garden are grouped closely together, but not in any particular pattern - yet close to one.

The large peony in the centre is almost fully surrounded by the variegated hostas.

And wouldn't you know it, there happens to be a spare matching hosta elsewhere in the same garden!

So I decided to encircle the peony and mimic the shape of a garden fountain.

Can you see the potential?

In order to do that I had to remove the Daisies in the red circle and the Allium in the blue circle. I am going to group the daisies in the garden on the west side of the backyard.  

(Grouping like-plants to increase their impact is one of my favourite tricks for making your garden have more impact without spending a dime.)

But I am not sure of the Allium, and they remain planted in a box for now, I picture them around the hostas, and a bit in and out of them as well - or around the trunk of the Oak tree.

In the purple circle is the 'extra' hosta from the other side of the peony.  All by itself.  Lonely.

Behind that  in the blue and red circles we have daylilies, and while they repeat elsewhere in the garden which is important, these two in particular  feel a bit lost to me there.

They will not have been divided in years so I am going to break them up and use them to flesh out  around the hostas - in the red (and teal) circles.  

In the purple circle, another daylily clump is already partially covered and ready for a break up.

And finally, I discovered some very small, very unhealthy looking Iris.  You can just see them in the yellow circle.  I doubt they get enough sun here and will look for another spot for them as well.

Oh, and the hosta in teal?  It is getting moved to the opposite side of the yard to join a few others I planted last week to create some colour near the patio, under a large oak.

Phew.

So I split the 'extra' hosta in two and even though the two newbies are drooping a bit from the effort,  I can see how it will all work together to create quite a centerpiece over time.  

Heck it may look great as early as next spring.  

I will report back.

Now on to the Allium, which I have split into 7.  They will have to get planted tomorrow.  

Will having them interspersed amongst the hostas put this over the top like I think it will (i.e. in a good way)? 

Or will it make it too cluttered?

I'd love your thoughts.

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