The Garden in the first days of June

Is it just me, or is June passing by at lightening speed? 

With a second chest cold keeping me from my garden, I found that the early summer flowers came and went before I had much of a chance to take any pictures. Already the peonies are almost finished and I have very few records of them.

Let's take a look at what I did manage to document in the first days of the month.

Baptisia nicely anchors the corner of the front garden.

As you can see, it is quite a sizeable perennial.

In the center of the front flowerbed, there is a pretty clematis that only reaches 4' in height. 

I like its small size so much that I have decided to collect more of these shorter varieties.

I have two clumps of Oriental poppies. I find their vivid, orangey-red color clashes with the blues, pinks and purples that dominate the garden in June.

So next year, I am going to move them to a new spot in the backyard and replace them with these soft, pink poppies that I saw on a recent garden tour.

One of my favourite plants of the moment is this Penstemon.

And just behind it I have a delpinium.

The Korean Lilac by the white picket fence was spectacular this year, but all the other varieties of lilacs were a bust! I had very few blooms in the back garden, so I had better do some pruning to renew them. 

This year I had more peonies than ever. 

As always, they look amazing for a few days. Then rain sends them sinking to the ground.

Gas Plant, Dictamnus fraxinella

The gas plant in the front garden.

The shrubs along the driveway have put on a nice show this month.

This one has a lovely honey scent. 

(This shrub and the previous one were here when we moved in. 

Sorry, I do not know their names. If you do, please be sure to let me know.)

A John Cabot Explorer Rose overhangs the driveway as well.

In the back garden, there is Dame's Rocket that has self-seeded itself everywhere. 

(That's Beauty Bush in the background.)

It get a bit messy looking and is prone to mildew when it finishes flowering, so I yank most of it out. I always manage to miss enough plants for the Rocket to reseed itself for next summer.

Beauty Bush

There are several shades of Spiderwort including mauve and white.

Tall, feathery Thalictrum Aquilegifolium in half-shade.

Tiny Epimedium in full shade of the back garden.

The geraniums are almost finished flowering.

Last year, I was so excited to have one foxglove. This year I have almost ten! 

So what's blooming in your garden? I will be around to visit and see.

I am going to link this post to May Dreams Gardens Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. 

I will also link to Fertilizer Friday at Tootsie Time. 

To see what is blooming in other gardens around the world, please click the links. 

And the Winner Is...

 

Many apologies for the delay in this announcement! To help with the draw for a copy of Free-Range Chicken Gardens by Jessi Bloom (read about the book in this post) I kindly had the assistance of Melissa, who works part-time in the floral department of our local grocery store.

And the winner is Tammy at Casa Mariposa. Congratulation Tammy! I will be in touch shortly to get your address so I can get your copy of Free-Range Chicken Gardens off to you in the mail.

Part 2 Gardens with an Uneven Terrain

Today, I am going to show you two properties where each of the designers had the challenge of creating a beautiful garden on two steeply sloping ravines. In the first garden, the ravine literally cuts the property in two on the diagonal. 

As you can see from this first image, the property falls off dramatically just off the back deck. The task was then to link the back garden with the other side of the ravine. 

This is a very quick, not-to-scale plan of the garden just to give you a clearer 

idea of the problem the designer faced.

A pathway leads you to the edge of the ravine.  From this angle, the native Ostrich ferns in the middle foreground somewhat conceal the significant slope of the land. 

In the far distance, you can see the other half of the property. The plantings here include a Japanese Maple, euonymus, heuchera, Siberian iris, and rhododendrons.

As we round the corner, a bridge presents itself. 

Looking back the way we came.

This view best shows the bridge crossing the ravine.

A set of curved steps leads you up to level ground again and over to an inground pool.

Garden #2

In this second property, I will show you both the front and back garden, which again was designed around a steeply sloping ravine. Neil Turnbull did the design work for this lovely garden.

The artful front garden is sunken and almost invisible from the street. A set of steps lead you past a water feature and down into a beautiful courtyard garden.

Vines including hydrangea and kiwi envelope the walls of this sunken garden.

The sound of water nicely masks any street noise. On the right is one of the three still pools.  

The front garden is lush and yet restrained. How do you imagine the back garden must look? For me, it was a wonderful surprise. 

I am showing you this shot, not because it is a great picture, but because it best illustrates the dramatic slope of the back garden. The set of stone steps leads you down the steepest part of the ravine. From there, a series of paths wind the rest of the way down the slope.

Red pine needles add a note of colour to the plantings which include native trees and plants, ferns, azaleas, rhododendrons, hosta and hellebore.

At the bottom of the garden, there is a seating area and two ponds connected by a stream. Unlike the front garden, this area feels wild and unrestrained, but make no mistake, it is thoughtfully considered and executed.

A hosta with blue-grey leaves breaks up all the green. The white flower in the left image is Goat's Beard, Aruncus dioicus. There were also a number of lovely Japanese ferns (right).

The little stone bridge crosses the stream connecting the two ponds.

Adding color were these big, purple alliums.

What do I suggest you take away from these two gardens? 

If your property presents unique challenges, don't fight them, embrace them. A problem feature is just an opportunity to get creative.

Ideas for Gardens with an Uneven Terrain

Not everyone has a yard that is flat as a pancake. 

For fun, I thought I would show you a series of back gardens where the home owners had to contend with the challenges like hillside slopes and deep ravines. Most of these beautiful gardens were designed and installed by professionals. We'll look for lessons from the designers and affordable alternatives to hiring a crane and a crew of burly landscapers.

Garden #1: Hillside back garden. In this first backyard, the land slopes steeply up and away from the foundations of the house. The professional designer's solution? Add a series of curved terraces into the hillside. 

A stone pathway and staircase leads you around the side of house and down into the garden. This first picture is the view from the stop of that stairway. 

More affordable Alternative: I actually think this may even be a little bit of a case of boulder overkill. I personally would have gone with fewer big stones and more plantings in the nooks and crannies. Sometimes not having tons of money and a crew of professional landscapers can actually make you more creative. Imagine instead an old fashioned rock garden set into the slope here.

A curved hillside of boulders in that last shot, leads your eye around to another set of steps that take you up to first level on the hillside terrace.

Note that the grid lines of the large flat stones in the foreground draw your eye in the direction of the stone steps. Affordable Aternative: Concrete pavers instead of cut stone.

This has got to be one of the most tasteful presentations of a hot tub I have ever seen. There is even a space heater incase things gets chilly. What luxury!

If the hot tube doesn't take the edge off a long day off the office, the soothing sounds 

of the splashing water probably would.

Did yo notice that the designer has cleverly placed the botanical equivalent of a waterfall 

beside the real waterfall?

The designer has also done a really nice job of mixing foliage shapes, colors and textures.

This garden has another nice feature we must admire while we are here. It is just behind the cedars that you can see in the near-distance on the right.

What a great space for relaxing around a campfire! Imagine sitting fireside and toasting marshmallows on a cool, late summer evening. Bliss!

More affordable alternative: What is the most important design feature of this part of the garden? 

Did you answer the elaborate stonework? It is certainly statement making, but I don't think it is the most important element. 

What is more crucial are the shrubs and evergreens which surround and enclose the area, sheltering it from the noises of the busy city surrounding it. The greenery functions like a cocoon, enclosing the space and making it an intimate gathering place.

Once you release this design secret, recreating this area becomes doable. Create a semi-cirlce of shrubs and evergreens. Lay down a flagstone or pea gravel patio area in the center. Then, place some adirondack chairs in a semi-cicle around a store-bought fire pit.

Garden #2: Steeply sloping property. Next, we are going to look at second garden at the side of a house, where the land slopes toward the back of the property. There are two ways to get down the slope. 

You can take the more direct route and go down a set of stone steps. Here we are looking back the way we came.

Or you can meander down a snaking path of grass and walk in among the plantings. Here, we are looking back on the grass path we have taken down the slope from the front garden.

But before we go further, let's take second and go back to that first view down the slope. I want to make a point about the design function of the arbor.

The arbor is a destination; a Pandora's box if you will. I beacons to the visitor and invites you to come further. Let's test the theory by looking at the view with and without the arbor.

Suddenly there is nothing encouraging you to go any further. The doorway says, "Come in."

And what a shame not to visit the lower more woodsy section of the garden!

The rhododendron is beautiful and there are lots of woodland plants to admire as well.

Before we go, let's take a second, and admire the skill of the gardener who managed to grow something this pretty and exotic in a northern garden, where the late summer is often dry.

Part 2 will be up next. 

I also promise to post the winner of the Free-Range Chicken Gardens book draw as well.