I just found my design inspiration! What's yours?

I was just perusing the Garden Design forum and came across this post:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1231503/

A DGer who used to live in England found that the current owners of his old house have transformed the garden! Here's the website:
http://lowfold.net/default.aspx

I want to make my garden look like this! Those climbing roses and clematis are absolutely gorgeous. I started this year with the easy knockout roses and hope to graduate to the climbers next year. I would love to have every wall covered in flowering vines! And how do I get my conifers to look this green? I've already killed 2 arborvitae :-/

I hope to use this posting to remind me to update this group as I transform my nothing-but-clay-and-weeds garden to something that resembles this beauty! Mid-At, what's your inspiration?

It's that path in the photo that I love

I'm not sure what my inspiration is...other than beating the wildlife at their games, meshing the design with a wooded setting, and making various metal sculpture pieces look natural to the setting. So I guess a rocky mountain garden would describe it.

This message was edited Dec 3, 2011 9:36 AM

Yes, that's a lovely curve to that path. I've read about curves and I'd love to incorporate them into my garden, but I get so indecisive that I just end up sticking with generally straight lines

"Rocky mountain garden" sounds beautiful!

What a great photo tour of a gorgeous garden! Lots of different inspirations there -- good texture combos, and I also love the curves!

Even if you mostly "do" straight, you can incorporate some curves, as with an L-shaped bed that's got an inward curve rather than a square corner between its 2 legs... Or, if you're putting a bed along a fence, imaging having it 3 or 4 feet wide along most of its length, but then add outward "bulges" every so often where you might like to incorporate a larger shrub, or even a tree with several shrubs around its base. It can be helpful to sketch the bed shapes on paper so you get an idea of what you find pleasing, or use an old garden hose to run along the edge of where you want to dig the bed (once you adjust the hose so the edge is "just right" -- mark the edge with landscape paint or whatever!).

That is a beautiful picture!
I love the clear delineation between grass and beds- partly by having such lush grass. mmm. I did learn some years ago that an edge is an instant help to a bed. Most of my garden is too mushed together and unclear- TOO natural.

I'd be with 'missingrosie" My mother grew up in Cumberland, edge of the Appalachians, and 'mountain' is where my heart's at. Natural rock, a waterfall (I wish!!!), trees.

Yes you CAN add curves- Just do it!! LOL. Do you have sun for your conifers?

start with the placing of a path - can be large flat stone, crushed gravel, mulch, brick, - whatever --- let it go where you want it to go --winding and curving from point A to B. The path will make its own nooks and crannies --every bend forms a hollow -- and you can plant in those. Pretty soon you will expand the plantings begun in the nooks and crannies and hollows and the garden will start to come together -- I have a new computer and transferred all the photos but not sure where!!! I will try to figure it out and upload some photos of our flagstone path (with nothing but mud and dirt as adornment) and some with the plantings nestled in the crooks and bends and nooks.

I too like the curves in the photos. I am wondering how one gets such clear definitions between the garden and the grass - does anyone have any tips?

Carolyn--

I can tell you that HD (and Lowes too--I am sure) sell a 10" wide edging
made of rubber--but it looks just like brown mulch. Not sure of the length of it--
maybe 10'--comes all rolled up--but it costs a lot of $$$. Maybe $12 or $15.

It looks wonderful and lasts forever (?)...Hose it down--and it is good as new.

Look for it in Outside garden where all the edgings are.

Gita

I'm going to try and transform my sort-of-straight pathways to something curvier!

I wish I knew how to have such clear grass/gardenbed definitions. I have bermuda grass, so I literally have to dig a trench and put down a thick layer of mulch. Otherwise, the grass/weeds start creeping in towards the amended soil.

Oh Sally, I wish I had a waterfall in my teeny backyard! I'm going to blame my clay again for the conifers' death. When I dug up one of the dead trees, there was no integration between the soil that came with the tree and the soil around it. There were no roots coming out of it whatsoever. I'd read that arborvitae do well in clay soil, so I didn't amend the area much... just the 2x the root ball size that they recommend. Definitely not enough!

Gita

I have looked at them and would like to go that route - unfortunately I have at least 80 feet in length for my garden in the backyard. Just a bit pricey for that.

SS -

put the waterfalls in if you can - there is nothing like the sound of moving water. I do have waterfalls in my pond and I also have a fountain that hangs on the wall that makes a lovely trickling sound. It is so soothing and calming to hear the waterfalls....

The other part of the grass-bed boundary is really lush grass. That I really stink at.

I am very tempted to try at least a huge water pot in the garden, with a solar fountain.

ss- the arborvitae may have been abused and neglected before you even got them. Some thing crammed in pots too long, they say just will not root out. Or, the effect I have seen in my potted plants is that the two different soils do not allow moisture to move one to the other, and the roots end up drying out.

Wow, Sally, that's very interesting information about the different kinds of soils. You know, the Maryland government site for tree planting actually advises you *not* to amend the soil when planting a tree!
http://www.trees.maryland.gov/plant.asp

Carolyn, I really want some sort of a water feature in my garden, but someone told me water attracts racoons, because they like to wash their food before eating it. Yuck! At a minimum, I'd like to set up a birdbath for the many, many birds in my neighborhood. I spotted a red-bellied hummingbird for the first time the other day! That felt awesome!

This message was edited Dec 6, 2011 9:14 PM

SS -

We have not seen any raccoons yet, but I do know is not uncommon for raccoons to visit water features. We have seen other things though.

I have heard the hummingbirds love to fly through the spray of a waterfalls, but have not seen that yet.

SS--

I have lived in my development home now for almost 43 years. I have seen a raccoon twice. They are SOOO beautiful!
Developments do not, really, attract wildlife. Too many houses jammed together...not enough places to feed or hide.

In my case--at the boundary of my back yard and my back yard neighbor's yard is a County Storm Drain.
I believe that Storm Drains are like the "Underground Railroad"......a means for wildlife (IF they like water)
to come and go. ALL around the development.

In the 43 years. I have seen ONE rat and the two Racoons.
Chipmunks and squirrels and the occasional mouse in the house is all.
If I I hear a mouse--I set a trap--and it is gone! Usually under my stove top.

I keep a bird bath going all year.....just forget to clean it as often as I should. I
n the winter--I also keep 2 lg. plastic saucers on the ground for the birds and other critters.
I store the top to my concrete bird bath in my shed so it won't crack.
It is hard, and expensive, to buy just the top bowl of a concrete bird bath--IF you can find it!!!

I really miss "Franks Nursery and Crafts" as you could always buy a new top, or bottom, to a concrete bird bath.
It still cost $20+ to buy one! Can't find them any more--anyway....

Gita

Our water feature attracts snakes. I have been standing on the edge of rock and looked down and seen two baby copperheads looking along with me. Did not see mama.

Another time I saw a huge rat or black (think it was rat because it moved so darn quick) slither into the water. It took about 15 seconds it was so long! It was the froggies (which serenade beautifully) that invited the snakes over. No raccoons. I have seen deer trying to break through the ice in the stream on a winter's day.

If you like the sound of the water - you could install a disappearing waterfall. Can cascade off the birdbath into a hidden basin underground and then be pumped back up again. The top of the basin would be covered with a mesh and then with gravel for decoration.

THat reminds me---Oh, everybody who has not seen Holly and RIc's blue egg water feature, must. I hope one of them pops in here with a pic.
It's a huge blue egg with a hole on top, sitting on a hidden reservoir. Water flows gently from the top hole, down over the egg, trickles into the reservoir to be pumped back up (if I remember it all correctly) Unique and so pretty! No standing water to particularly attract wildlife.

I've tried to trade her for that 'egg' --but she won't budge. I even have the rooster to go with it.

Here you go girls, sorry I don't have the shot of the robin perched on top. LOL :-} Ric

That would be one bag a$$ robin !!!

WOW, that is one beautiful egg!

Missingrosie, and I thought raccoons were gross. I don't think I could handle rats!

Ric

Pretty egg.

SS - I always thought raccooons were cute - hate rats and bats though

That's some egg...

SSGardener, Beautiful garden for your inspiration. I have found a lot of inspiration here in DG. Some times in pictures posted by other gardeners and sometimes in the discussions just getting different ideas and a new perspective will start me in a different direction. Make me look with a different eye at some area of the gardens. Much of my front yard really came from talks right here in the Mid-Atlantic Forum.
Sally I agree I like edged beds. I like to have a definite line, this is garden bed and this is lawn.
The picture of the egg that Ric posted is pretty old you can see the old front flower bed and those stepping stones were just laid on top of the grass while I moved them around coming up with the pattern spacing and arch of the walk. Here is a better and more recent look.

Here is a closer look. The sound from the egg is quite nice to listen to while sitting on the front porch. I can tell when the well under it needs to be refilled by the sound of the water dripping back into it. We have quite a few water features around the yard and I expect to have more over the years. Can't have too much water.

The infamous Robin. LOL

priceless!

Holly

I love the robin photo!

I spent sometime just browsing around the gardening sites today. Finding things that I like and new plants I want to order. Thinking about how the beds look and the flow of the gardens. Winter is a great time to think and design.