Everyone wanted some pictures of Dr. Matthews' Garden and I agree! Afterall, I only posted sun pictures yesterday. Let's look at some of his shade and vegetable garden today.I will be posting 'Garden Tour' photos all this week. I've really been lucky to be able to see so many gardens this year and hope you all enjoy them as much as I have.
The above picture is one from Dr. Matthews Vegetable Garden. Note the cannas paired with the raspberries; which are just now ripening. The vegetable garden fit into the overall garden design wonderfully and was most beautiful.
You'll be greeted by this wonderful sign as you walk to Dr. Matthews' front door. I believe the metal piece is made from garden and farm implements. I loved the whimsy in the garden! Mr. Fix-it and I are working on some projects for our garden which I'll share soon. Metal is great in the garden for the character as it rusts, and also for the great amount of things you can create with it by using a bit of imagination. Dr. Matthews' artwork was the best I've seen.
A shady walkway through the trees. All paths are hardscaped. The garden is quite comfortable to walk through. Everywhere you look there are plants and plant combinations. Nothing was out of place.
Here we have a nice combination of hostas and heucheras backed by some specimen shrubs. While it is most nice to have a sun area, here in the south, you are most smart to spend your time in the shade. As such, plantings heavy on trees and shrubs are, in my humble opinion, the best way to enjoy a garden. Dr. Matthews has a great mix of both as well as marginal areas.
Here is Mr. Fix-it and Dr. Matthews himself. They are discussing grafting fruit trees. Mr. Fix-it is secretly a very big gardener. His favorite fertilizer is 'Miracle Gro' and his favorite plant is tomatoes-as in he dumps the Miracle Gro on tomatoes and hopes for the best.:)
And finally, we conclude with this specimen tree. Dr. Matthews called it 'Variegata' Cornus (Dogwood-sorry I did not get the specific epithet). It looks like my Cornus kousa 'Wolf Eyes', though a different cultivar. Do you see how it literally glows?To my local readers, I cannot possibly do justice to Dr. Matthews' garden in pictures so if you ever get the chance to see his garden, jump on it!
Tomorrow we will view a neighbor's garden.
in the garden....
What a treat indeed to view a very accomplished gardener's private garden. He has a good eye for pairing plants & I love the welcome sign on the old rusted farm implement. :) Shade gardens are my favorite places at this time of the year, we all need an break from the heat. Looks like Mr Fix-it is enjoying his conversation. ;)
ReplyDeleteHow nice to stroll through such beautiful gardens, I look forward to seeing more.
ReplyDeleteYes, give us more, Tina! I can take these tours in my pj and a cup of coffee.
ReplyDeleteLove the hostas and heucheras together. That dogwood is really nice. Let's see more!!
ReplyDeleteIt all looks great! I just found a variegated dogwood on the discount racks for $5, I wonder if that is the same or similar. It was Cornus alba on the label. I like the hardscaping he has.
ReplyDeleteI love that metal scupture greeting visitors to his garden! A beautiful garden; I agree, shade gardens are great. In the heat we're having right now, that's the only part of my garden I care to be in:)
ReplyDeleteI'm planning to go on a garden walk this weekend with Beckie sponsored by the local Master Gardeners. It's an event I always look forward to.
Tina,
ReplyDeleteKeep these garden tours coming. Not only are they beautiful to look at they also provide great ideas for the new bed we are working on. :-)--Randy
What a beautiful place Dr. Matthews has. I'm thinking that either he's an heir to some fortune or he must have done a lot of moonlighting during his career as a professor. He's accumulated a fortune in plants alone. Has he written any books?
ReplyDeleteHow unusual to grow raspberries with hosta. I'll have to think about that for a while.
ReplyDeleteThe variegated dogwood is really a standout. I'd love to be able to grow whichever cultivar that is.
Marnie
What a pretty place! I'd love to have my yard be so nice looking, I can only hope in a lifetime.
ReplyDeleteHi Lola, Nina, Anonymous and Skeeter, you all stay hydrated, we are, since it's the second week of rain here. I do believe I may float away in my moldy condition.
Awesome gardens for sure.
ReplyDeleteI wish we had some of that sun and heat, just for a day even. Like Dawn said, second week of rain and also below normal temps but then again with the exception of 3 hot days early on that broke high tems readings for the day we have had all below normal temps. Even before all this rain. No summer at all for us so far and I heard on the boob tube that the northeast will not have a summer this year. Now that was not encouraging at all.
How nice! I do like the canna and raspberries. It's great to see what other combinations gardeners come up with.
ReplyDeleteI love his metal sculpture too!
Keep the pics coming Tina. What a charming garden he has. Cannas & raspberries? Hmmmm
ReplyDeleteLove that sculpture. You know me & whimsy in the garden.
Hi Dawn, Jean, hope you have a sunny day or 2. Wish I could send you some of this heat to help dry you out.
Anonymous, Skeeter & Nina hope you all have a wonderful relaxing day.
Racquel, Glad you liked it. Yup, can't beat the shade. My husband amazes me with his kindness and I think he did really enjoy himself.
ReplyDeleteDarla, I have a few more. Waiting on approval from one in Nashville. Hopefully that will come soon. But if not, at least two more this week.
Tatyana, The best kind of tours-in the a/c and with a cup of java for sure.
Janet, A couple of more this week. This was such a big garden I really needed two posts.
Dave, It may be the same one. I didn't quite catch the name. Do post on your new find and hopefully it will get big too.
Rose, Gotta love the shade. My neighbor (I'm posting on her tomorrow) told me I could garden forever here. I said, no it's too big. She said yes, but it is in shade. I never viewed gardening that way but the shade sure makes a difference. I am looking forward to seeing photos from your garden walk with Beckie. Take lots! It will be fun and maybe good weather too I think.
Jamie and Randy, Wilco!
W2W, I am not sure if he is published. I would think so but Austin Peay is not such a university that the professors have a great deal of time to publish so I am not sure. I'll ask him though. Yes, lots of money in plants-to bad they weren't liquid assets in bad times. Huh?
Marnie, Yes, those raspberries pair well with the big leaves. His garden is a wonder!
Dawn, Better get out some oars just in case of flooding;)
Mom, hang in there, surely the heat will come and sun too. I hope so! It will be a bummer if it doesn't. Here in Tennessee we are having the best summer yet (my opinion), just last night we got over 1" of rain and while it is humid, it is normal. Rain is good after the last few years we've not had any. I think I'd rather too much rain, than the opposite but that is because we've missed it so much. I would not like weeks and weeks of clouds. Hopefully the sun comes soon.
Catherine, I wish I knew where he got his design ideas and how he makes it all stand out and look unified. A very neat garden indeed.
Hi Lola, You bet on the pics! More all this week then we'll see where we go from there. Blogging is such a neat way to see all the varieties in gardening. Glad you are enjoying it. And you too stay cool.
ReplyDeleteWow! The garden looks fantastic! After my recent trip to Sringeri, I started yearning to garden on land. I see that the plants look more fresh and grow healthily in ground than in pots and I see it in this wonderful garden. I like that prop in his garden - the dragonfly!
ReplyDeleteWhat great pictures of an obviously beautiful garden, Tina! Our local garden club had their annual garden tour last Saturday, and I forgot my camera (what a dolt!). I'm going to mail letters to my favorites and request another visit so I can post on their landscapes. You learn so much be viewing other people's gardens!
ReplyDeleteI was excited to read you were posting about garden tours all week Tina! They're one of my favorite things and you are much better at photographing them than me! I missed yesterday's post so it was fun today to read about both the sun and shade parts of this fabulous garden together. What a lot of work this man has done. The paths alone would take me forever. It's just gorgeous. You're so lucky to have gotten a private tour. Can't wait to see what's next. :-)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful Gardens and I guess to be expected for the Professor of APSU. Funny how some people do not bring their work home with them. he sure has over the years! Such a nice stroll with you all the past few days. Cant wait to see your neighbors gardens as well...
ReplyDeleteWhew, not as hot here today and that is soooo much better on my wilting body. lol. Picked up limbs from my parents yard due to storm last night. Only 4/10 inch of rain but probably enough to make the grass grow again....
Have been playing doctor transporter today. Took my dad to get a shot in his spine to relieve the arthritis building up and then took mom for X-Rays to the hopsital to see what is going on with her hip pain. Gee, my mommy and daddy are both falling apart on me! :-(
As we pulled into the driveway a deer was in the lower yard. My mom was "fussing" at her because the deer ate all the blooms on her lilies yesterday! Sigh....
Jean, forgot to say, if i could, I would gladly send you some of this heat!
ReplyDeleteHis garden truly is amazing and is an inspiration. I wish I had space like that.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great garden. Thanks for the tour.
ReplyDeleteJan
Always Growing
Hi Tina --great pictures of a beautiful garden. I hope to one day have a nice garden -for now I will have to make do with my four garden helpers --so more weeds in my gardens than flowers:0)
ReplyDeleteWe had a super surprise today --Miss Skeeter --she is like #1 to the kiddos in this house for her awesome photos of wildlife:) I did have one small Sidekick ask if maybe she could sleepover --but he waited and asked me after Skeeter left, hahaha. Can you imagine the fun these two wildlife fanatics would have??? hahaha He loves to catch anything that moves -and Skeeter could do the photos of those catches -heheeh How does that sound Skeeter? rofl
We did manage cross country running practice for Boy 1 followed by track practice for Boy 2, Girl Model and Sidekick. Ah, it was quite the busy night -now for the fun part. Boy 1 and Boy 2 decided to mow when we got home --yes it was getting dark. I can't wait to see the designs in the yard --or maybe I could???
Hi Jean --this heat will come to you soon --I actually long for the days I could sleep with my screen in the window and a nice breeze --the PA mountains were great for summer sleeping. But, I must admit I love the warmth the south has offered --just have to get up earlier and get things done before it cranks up with all that humidity.
Hi Lola --I know you have some steamy weather down there --but you also have some really great flowers and plants --so that heat is helping at times:0) Stay cool --ice cream seems to help me:0) hehehe
Hi Nina, I hope you are having fun with family this week. I'm sure you are staying busy.
Hi Dawn -hope the garden is doing well. We have been pretty successful with cucumbers:) They are so darn good with vinegar and onions -yum-yum! Only problem is the cucumbers were planted so close to the beans that they are about to strangle them, hehehe. Hubby was the garden guru this year --I was shocked he actually helped so I can't complain too much.
Well, have a great night --I have loads of cleanup --ciao!
all looks so wonderful, I like this differents colours of green...
ReplyDeletean Hosta looks beautyful ! love Kathrin
I had to go through both posts and catch up. I'm way behind with working outside all day and then going up to get the boys for a few days so I'll REALLY behind.
ReplyDeleteWhat beauty - his gardens are just gorgeous. I love going through and looking at peoples flowers.
I love the pathway, the combination of plants and the garden whimsy. Lovely photographs. Can't wait for your next post!
ReplyDeleteOh, what a treat! I would never want to leave this beautiful garden. I see a lot things that I want to implement.
ReplyDeleteDonna
Love the walkway in stone. And that one shade bed is stunning.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun looking into others backyards. Of course lots of land is a great canvas to work with.
Shade gardens with good trees and shrubs are my favorite. What a nice example.
ReplyDeleteWith so many things "out of place" in my garden, it's nice to see one thats so well planned and well-kept. You're right - there doesn't seem to be a leaf out of place.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, a sleep over with sidekick! Oh my, we would have soooo much fun! :-)
ReplyDeleteWOW! It's nice to be rich!! Those paths are to die for!
ReplyDeleteHi Tina - I love the metal welcome sculpture and the hardscaped paths in addition to all the mature plantings and great combos. That dogwood looks familiar - I'm not great on plant ID, but could it be Cornus alternifolia (Pagoda dogwood)? Or there is a variegated one that grows bigger, Cornus controversa 'Variegata' but I don't know if that's it. So many dogwoods, so little room! Thanks for this neat post.
ReplyDeleteHi all,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice comments on Dr. Matthews garden.
Karen, Cornus controversa sounds most familiar! I bet that is it.
hey Tina, wonderful how you have been highlighting the hard work of other gardeners.
ReplyDelete