Garden Tour Week: Bill's Hopkinsville Garden

One of the benefits of being in a garden club--and a fairly active one at that--is the ability to meet new gardeners and to tour gardens. One of our members (Sandy) is from the Hopkinsville/Clarksville region and knows many folks around the area. One of her childhood friends (Bill) happens to be a very good gardener. Sandy had been wanting to visit his garden for a while and wanted to take our garden club (Beachaven). Well, the garden tour finally went on the calendar this year and eleven lovely ladies went for a nice convoy along some country roads to Hopkinsville Kentucky to visit Bill and Linda's garden. What a treat!

I would call Bill's garden a mainly mixed garden consisting of trees, shrubs, perennials, and hardscape. There is a heavy emphasis on trees and shrubs; which is my kind of garden! All of the specimens were artfully sited to titillate the senses with color and texture. Being that it is spring chartreuse was a big color factor so I started this post with a lovely spirea and the spiderwort in the above picture (with blue flowers) is 'Sweet Kate' tradescantia. Blue and chartreuse colors work very well together.

I believe the above shrub to be a 'Tiger Eyes' sumac though I did not ask Bill so can't be 100% sure. 'Tiger Eyes' is a highly sought after shrub that is quite in vogue right now. It and elderberries seem to be all the buzz.

Hardscaping was a major element of the garden. Bill has been very hard at work making numerous paths, formal gardens, a water feature and even a delightful garden retreat. A picture of that will come in a later post. There are three posts on Bill's garden this week. After that I suspect I may take a blogging break or slowdown.

This mock orange was the prettiest mock orange I have ever seen. Maybe because it was growing in full sun it was very happy. I am not sure. The flowers were only slightly scented but did have a nice scent. When shopping for mock oranges always buy them in bloom so you can be sure you get a scent. Even if you buy a shrub with a nice scent, sometimes scented shrubs don't always have a scent each year. I think it depends on growing conditions. I have noticed this with a sweetshrub I purchased last year. It had a good scent then but doesn't have much of one now. This mock orange was unique in that the flowers were really large and it was simply gorgeous!

Bill and his lovely wife were kind enough to set up a little table in the shade with all sorts of bottled water and drinks. It was a delightful little spot to relax and chat about the garden.

Another long view shows some of the conifers mixed with deciduous shrubs. Bill chooses his shrubs for texture and color. Conifers, Japanese maples, and other shrubs fit in nicely together in this garden.

I started this post with a spring picture and I guess I am ending it with a spring picture too. Peonies are a staple of spring gardens. I think Tennessee is getting close to their southern limit but anywhere they can get a good cold spell will ensure your peonies do well. Bill's peonies were bursting with color on this sunny day when we visited....

in the garden....

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