Garden tour time! And what better garden to tour than a good friend's beautiful garden you designed yourself? Such was the case when my garden club met at Eddie's garden last month. What a fun visit! Besides being very gracious, Eddie and her husband have quite the beautiful home and lovely garden. Today is an update of the now mature garden I designed and won an award for last year from the Perennial Plant Association (PPA).
This garden was designed for a plant lover. Eddie wanted something different, something in bloom all year round, a wildlife friendly garden, and something she could work in. The above view is from her front door.
This corner to the right of the front door showcases her patio peach and some groundcovers. You cannot beat heucheras for year round interest. Here 'Mocha Mint' takes up the job along with some irises and daylilies under the patio peach tree.
One of my strengths in designing a landscape is to combine trees, shrubs, perennials, bulbs, etc, into a complete landscape that flows and provides lots of interest. Here we have a crepe myrtle underplanted with dwarf nandinas. I am not a big fan of the tall nandinas but do like the dwarf nandinas as they can be planted in sun or shade (prefers more sun than shade), and they are evergreen. This is a bonus in a year round landscape.
Walking down her front sidewalk you are greeted by all sorts of pollinator friendly plants. Eddie is lucky in that her home faces east. In Tennessee you can grow just about anything in an eastern exposure.
Eddie's front lawn is bounded by perennial beds. Here we have the 'summer garden' filled with amsonia, brown eyed Susans, dayliles, and coreopsis. The border goes further into the background toward the driveway where 'Knockout' roses are planted along side baptisias and asters.
This part of Eddie's garden is my absolute favorite part due to these beautiful 'Autumn Joy' sedums. I call this her 'fall garden'. This area divides Eddie's home from her neighbors and provides year round interest in addition to hiding a power transformer box behind the grasses. The purple ninebarks like 'Diablo' (pictured here) make a good companion for sedums.
This border garden flows really nicely and is not unfriendly to the neighbor house with the way it was designed to flow. The intent was not to cut off any neighbors but to enhance Eddies gardening views and gardening time.
Now this garden is a garden I had no part of and I tell you I love it! Eddie has done a fantastic job landscaping the end of her cul-de-sac. Just look at all that color! And if you could see this garden in person you'd be delighted with all of the pollinators visiting this beautifully done garden. The textures, heights, and colors all work very well to make this end of the street garden a draw for passerbys.
One last shot of Eddie and Pete's beautiful home....
in the garden...
I am really behind on posting pictures and articles. Hopefully things will slow down for me a bit so I can be more regular but life is hectic! Blogging sometimes takes a backseat. Please stay tuned for more garden tour pictures from my friends gardens coming up-soon!