Friday, May 16, 2014

My Friend Angie's Garden

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Garden tours are hot and heavy for me this time of the year and I love to share them with you all so here is one of my favorite gardener's garden--Angie. Many of you know Angie as she is a kind spirit with a gentle, loving, and giving heart and has an awesome Facebook page. She is a very special friend who cheers me when I am down and supports me no matter what. Her kindness during rough times for me will never be forgotten. I have many friends and I am very fortunate to have them as no matter how many beautiful flowers I have, none can really be personal and cheer me the way my friends can--so thank you to Angie and all my friends who choose to be kind and share a word of encouragement or two.
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Angie is not, I repeat, not a plant collector. She is by far a designer with an eye toward beauty, practicality, endurance. She plants plants that do well and look good. Her garden always has something in bloom and when one perennial is done, there is another waiting in the wings to take its place. That being said it would appear that Angie is a plant collector because when she finds a plant she likes she has a lot of them. Irises are a favorite for Angie but simply because of their beauty, charm, and their ability to look good (with some maintenance) even when out of bloom.
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This time of the year irises shine in Angie's garden.
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Japanese peonies (single) are another favorite of Angie's. She likes them because they do not droop like the heavy double peonies favored by so many (including me). How smart is that? For sentimental reasons I will always gravitate to the double peonies but I do have a lot of these Japanese peonies and like them too. Check out how Angie has effectively used the hundreds she has in her garden. Massing is the name of the game in Angie's garden. You all do know to design a good garden you should mass the plants right? Onesies and twosies just don't work. Always try to plant in groups of three, fives, sevens, etc. Using one of something should be reserved for a specimen plant. These might include things like trees, shrubs, a prime perennial like baptisia, or even a peony--if there is a good structure of garden flowers around the specimen to highlight the oneness of it all.
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Irises in Angie's garden are used to great advantage in their own bed. Irises need excellent drainage and need space. Planting irises in a bed all of their own makes sense and allows for ease of maintenance as all plants have the same requirements.
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Here Angie under planted an evergreen spruce with her Japanese peonies.
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The backyard of Angie's house is nearly all garden. She uses paths, art, and plants to great advantage to create beauty, functionality and seasonal delights.
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Siberian irises are quite a focal point in Angie's garden.
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A concrete path through the garden.
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More peonies backed by bonsai evergreens. 
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A true red peony--'Red Charm'. Love it!
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Angie herself. The sweetest flower in her garden.
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Views of the front perennial beds. How lucky are these neighbors to have such a good gardener next door to them?
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Japanese peony.
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Phlox, 'Rolly's Favorite' silene, and a path in the garden.
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More phlox and Japanese peonies....

in Angie's Garden....


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

8 comments:

  1. What a treat it would be to live next door to this lovely garden. Thank you for sharing Angie's lovely gardens and blooms with us.

    FlowerLady

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  2. I see why you ♥ Angie's garden :)

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  3. Tina,
    I am continuing to lose my irises in the garden. I wish Angie could tell me what I'm doing wrong. They've been fine for years and now... I hardly have any left. I've been treating them for borers, I've kept the mulch raked away and they continue to fail. The rhizomes are getting smaller as well. Please feel free to share my email address with her if she has any suggestions.

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    1. Randy, I can tell you a few tips-some of which are passed on to me from Angie. #1 make sure the irises are in raised beds and the stems are not covered. They need to bake in the sun. This will also help with the borers and as you know-no mulch! When you get borers you need to cut the infected rhizomes away and throw them in the garbage. Treating is not much help. Once the infected stuff is gone the rest should recover. In the fall cut your foliage down to a few inches (Angie does this). This helps to prevent borers as well. Also, get a soil test. Make sure your irises are in full sun. While they will bloom in shade they are less hardy and prone to problems. Keep good spacing of all of them too. Angie uses generic Preen to keep weeds down around her irises. She treats once in the spring and once in the fall. Other than that I can't think of any more tips but if you make sure good drainage, full sun, no burying the rhizome, you should have no issue with your irises. Good luck!

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  4. Beautiful garden. Lovely gardener. Sure wish I lived closer.

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  5. Thanks for sharing Angie's garden. I love the mass plantings and am doing more of that myself. Nice to see sweeps of color. It is prime iris time. Seems Angie has every color.

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  6. I must get to Angie's garden with you some time when I am in TN. I would love to have her as a neighbor then I would not need to do so much myself as I could enjoy Angie's garden! Love the idea of mass plantings and I need to work on the myself as I like to move color around to all gardens. Love those single peony! I brushed up against one of my double peony and the entire bloom of petals fell to the ground as if snow melting....

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  7. What a blessing to have. Friend like Angie. She truly is some gardener. I like mass planting too, it has a better impact. I would like to try planting that Japanese peonies. Interesting and looks easy to grow. Thanks for sharing.

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