Another Garden Tour Post

Are you up for another garden tour? Tis the season for garden tours in my part of Tennessee and I've been having a ball! Sometimes, being an avid gardener with gardening friends, the best garden tours are not on the tour route. This garden is a private garden in the same neighborhood as one of my friends (thanks Helga for the tour). And wow, I must've taken 50 pictures but have chosen a select few for your pleasure today.

This garden is a designer's garden. The gardener (Angie) does NOT have a collectors garden-her garden is what I would call a designed garden. She designs about the best I've seen anywhere. Her plant choices meet no criteria other than they look good and she likes them. This garden goes non-stop all year and I look forward to heading back and seeing her daylilies. Angie divides, masses, and knows what she likes and is not one to jump on gardening trends-you know them-buy this hot plant or garden this way. Angie has no part of trends and gardens to please herself in an artfully designed manner. I'll try to explain what I mean.

This garden has a limited palette of plants-as compared to a collector's garden-like mine. Angie must have hundreds of cultivars of irises and daylilies, yet her plant palette is fairly limited to choice perennials that include not only irises and dayliliies, but peonies (probably over 100 of the SAME cultivar, veronica, poppies, crinums, roses, and topiaried junipers and other evergreens.

The concrete paths in the garden were all laid by Angie's husband. He is the muscle while she designs. Together they are quite a duo and have been married over 38 years.

Just look at the color! Can you see all the spent irises and peonies? We'll get to them soon.

Angie's house sits at the end of a cul-de-sac. Can you imagine having a neighbor who gardens like this? I should be so lucky to have a neighbor like this!

At first glance you would think the topiaries are the main draw but no, they are the framework and serve to add interest to a fantastic garden with lots of great bones, whimsy, and beauty.

The mulch is rock mulch with landscape fabric under the rocks. I just cannot imagine gardening like this but the more gardens I see with this beauty and rock mulch the more I become a believer. This is a pathway right in front of Angie's beautiful home. Note the squirrel on the log in the distance? The surprising whimsy was a treat and totally unexpected.

This picture does the greatest job of showing all the peonies. I'm told by Helga these are all the single pink Japanese style peonies. Wowser!!! Angie divides-a lot. She has lived in her home over twenty years so her garden is a mature garden.

Now we shall move to the backyard-yes-all of that was just in the frontyard! Rounding the corner we run into a beautifully managed vegetable garden. Everything was dress right dress and there wasn't a weed in sight. By the way, did I tell you this was not a planned tour? Naomi, Helga, and myself went out for a bit of plant shopping and upon returning to Helga's home we decided to stop by Angie's house since she and Helga are neighbors. I have posted about Helga's Garden and my friend Naomi's Garden in the past. Just check the links.

One of several pathways in the backyard. There wasn't a blade of grass behind the house.

Here we are moving toward the end of the cul-de-sac area. Due to the odd shaped lots in a cul-de-sac Angie's property is quite large on the side of the house. She has an extensive lawn area bordered by gardens filled with more topiary, perennials, and vegetables such as sweet potatoes.




I leave you with one more picture. Helga had been telling me about all the irises in the 'iris field' at Angie's but I was skeptical. Until now. I will make plans to go and see these irises in bloom next spring! Remember, this is one person and a private gardener at that. Angie is not part of any gardening circles though she has many gardening friends. Can you imagine? At the beginning of this post I said this was not a collector's garden-I stand by that comment. That being said however I would say Angie is a collector just based on the sheer number of irises (about 252 cultivars) that Angie grows in her garden. There is a difference between a collector's garden and a designer's garden but a designer can still be a collector. Here Angie's collection is all grouped together so she can enjoy the blooms in one spot. Can you just imagine the sight of this iris field in bloom.....


in the garden....


I know most of you realize what that prominent peachy/pink dahlia looking flower is that is displayed in these gardens but in case you don't, it is a peony poppy. They make for quite a show. 

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden