Last week my husband and I hosted a garden open for the members of the Fall City Garden Club.
In my opinion, garden opens are the best incentive for getting your outdoor projects done! Just put yourself on the calendar to host a garden open and you'll be amazed at how your list of garden-related to-do's gets taken care of.
Being English I put on a cream tea for everyone who came..... little sandwiches without the crusts, other savory nibblies, cookies and of course the scones, cream and jam - all home made!
About 30 or so people showed up.... some stayed for just a while and others lingered 'til well after dark. By then admiring the garden had been replaced with a good chat by the firepit!
Garden opens are great ways to get free advice, share success stories and failures, discuss problems, ponder plant selections, show off your prized petunias or whatever, and just plain share in the glory of your efforts. I'm convinced that only gardeners really appreciate another gardener's garden because they can see, through their own experience, the work and care that went into it.
So, for those of you who were unable to come pay us a visit, let me take you on a brief virtual tour........
We live on about 6 acres - 4 1/2 acres of which are natural PNW woodland with all the usual flora and fauna... the rest consists of the house, a carport/workshop, and two sheds (potting and wood) and landscaped gardens. We have no lawns... got rid of them when we re-landscaped everything, and except for the deck and about 300sq ft of garden, nothing is level anywhere. Technically speaking we're a shade lot... no one spot gets more than 4 hours or so of continuous sunshine.
My Lewisia's have been spectacular this year. This is their second blooming since early May! I had a few of them out in the front garden a few years back, but the deer ate them, leaves/roots and all (pulled them right up out of the ground!), so this time I put them in pots on the deck (the deer don't like walking on our deck so it's a safe haven for all things green!) and they're thriving! Happy happy!
The deck on the back side of our home houses our container garden. I'm getting much better at container compositions. Attended a VERY good demo during a plant sale earlier this spring and learned a lot. The big terra cotta pot in the upper photo I'm particularly proud of.
This lace-cap hydrangea's in a cobalt blue pot... great color contrast!
This past spring I transferred all of our hostas in to pots, and they're thriving! The slugs and deer were brutal on them when they were in the ground, so I gave up trying to protect them and just put them in pots. I have a variety of them ranging in color from lime green to deep blue.
Except for the hanging baskets, I'm turning away from putting annuals into pots because, like many of you I'm sure, I'm looking for ways to lower the maintenance - namely less watering and daily/seasonal care. So far my new plan is working..... I'm spending much less time babysitting the containers and I still get a heap of pleasure out of all the plants I've chosen for our container garden.
Speaking of hanging baskets...... here's one of this year's efforts..... not bad for what is technically speaking a shade garden!
Moving on to Moon garden, on the side of our home..... the Astilbes have been especially happy this year...... the color on this one knocks my socks off!
Beautiful burgundy stems and a very eye-catching neon purple bloom. Sorry I can't tell you the cultivar... I lost the label a few years ago, but I have another one with a pretty similar, but not identical color/form and it's an Astilbe x arendsii 'Fanal' if that helps. The Astilbes have plenty of company in the Moon Garden.... Dicentra spectabilis 'Gold Heart' (Bleeding Heart), Corydalis leutea, Pulmonaria officinalis (Common Lungwort), Centranthus Rober (Red Valerian), Tiarella cordifolia (Foamflower), assorted Heucheras, Phygelius aequalis (Cape Fuchsia), Cimicifuga atropurpurea (Bugbane), Fuchsia magellanica 'aurea', assorted mints (I keep them under control), Tellima grandiflora (Fringecup), Alchemilla mollis (Lady's Mantle) and Euphorbia purpurea.
I've managed to keep the deer at bay by spraying the plants with an egg wash (1 egg, beat it with a fork, mix with water, pour through a sieve into an industrial-sized spray bottle, top up bottle with water and shake). Without it, my garden would be salad-central! An irritating, but small price to pay for getting to enjoy our woodland home and a pretty garden too.
Beyond the Moon Garden is the Wall Garden......
The Wall Garden consists of two D-shaped, walled beds (about 2 1/2' high) separated by a granite bench. I focus on small-scaled plantings in these beds along with trailers that love to hang over the edge..... Primulas of all kinds (Primroses), Lysimachia nummularia (Creeping Jenny), Convallaria majalis (Lily of the Valley), Tricyrtis Tojen (Toad Lily), Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost', a variety of Saxifrages, Iberis sempervirens (Candytuft) and more.
Moving around to the front side of the house now and here's the herb garden. Rosemary, sages and lavenders of various descriptions, chive, salad burnett, mint, marjoram and oregano and Gallium Odoratum (Sweet Woodruff)..... all happily growing among companion perennials and shrubs with minimal maintenance.
Beyond the herb garden and up the hill to the Upper Garden is where you'll find our firepit. Framing the right side along that back berm is a big swath of Lysimachia nummularia (Creeping Jenny) which really brightens up this shady corner of our garden, and behind it a row of Japenese grasses to frame out the circle. On the other side of the fire pit, and further into the Upper Garden and beyond, we have an assortment of evergreen and deciduous shrubs and groundcovers........
......... (Sedum 'Autumn Joy', Pachysandra terminalis (Japanese Spurge), Polygonatum odoratum (Solomon's Seal), Achlys triphylla (Vanilla Leaf), more Astilbes and some Hellebores, Cornus Alba (variegated red twig dogwood), Digitalis purpurea (Foxglove), assorted Barberry's (columnar, purple and golden), Myosotis sylvatica (Forget-Me-Not), Vacinnium ovatum (Everygreen Huckleberry), and many more.
At the top of the Upper Garden is a stone wall with two sets of steps leading up to the potting shed. I've got some lavenders that are not happy (getting very leggy due to lack of enough sunshine) so when they finally give out on me I'll need to find something else that's more shade tolerant. Two Korean boxwoods frame each corner so I have nice evergreen structure during the winter.
That's a pair of well worn hiking boots given a second life as a sedum container.......
.... and here's a birdbath that was too deep for the birds to enjoy, so I drilled holes in the bottom and filled it with an assortment of sedums, giving it a second life as a micro-garden. 99% maintenance free and adds a nice architectural detail to the garden.
So, there you have it. A quick tour of our garden. Not a comprehensive list of plantings, but hopefully enough to give you an idea of what I've got growing here. Hope you enjoyed yourself..... sorry you didn't get to indulge in the cream tea. It was delicious!
