Thanks, pirl -- On your suggestion, here are some pics of my gardens over the 2011 season! I sure enjoyed choosing them -- it's easy to forget just how beautiful our gardens are during these quiet months. Would love to see pics of other gardens too -- just putting together ideas for next year's beds -- Dax
The first is the falls in mid-summer --
The woodland in the spring --
Part of new conifer bed -- on edge of meadow -
Close-up of fairy garden --
Early summer stream
Mid-summer color in Windmill bed -
Street bed in early summer -
Patio herb containers
Front patio bed in late summer -
Roses and coreopsis in mid-summer
Mid-fall beauty -
Patio containers and beds in fall -
Love this fall combo
The fall windmill bed -
The fall longview -- ah -- love the grasses -
Looking forward to next year!!
Beautiful. Your photos look like you advise Fine Gardening but your dog is the tell-tale sign that it's your gardens. I love each and every photo. You've achieved that dreamy look we gardeners cherish.
Your big sweeping curves are perfect!
Very well done! I'm so glad I asked and you posted.
Wow, Thank you, Dax! Very very beautiful! How many acres do you have?
Questions:
on the "street bed in early summer"---what is the yellow blooming background planting?
on the "patio containers and beds in fall"---what variety of coleus is that in the center (bronze/orange/red)?
on the "love this fall combo"---what is the huge white blooming shrub/vine/plant?
I love how your dog appears in so many of the photos---so cute.
Beautiful! Thanks again!
How gorgeous! Well done!
WOW Dax thats really nice.
Absolutely stunning!
Thanks so much for your kind comments -- the gardens are my church, and you can see I spend alot of time there -- what a blessing to be retired! To answer your questions, kosk--, we have 3 acres, of which I've put in about an acre and a half. So there's plenty to play with in the future.
The sunny yellow plants with the Baptisia are called Sun Drops - Oenothera tetragona - a midwestern native. It needs no care, is drought tolerant, and blooms for about 3-4 weeks beginning in early June. It reaches 2-3 feet, and naturalizes, which is why I have large banks of it. It needs sun, and I do keep it in line by pulling out the stragglers in the fall after it has gone dormant. Here's a close-up pic --
I'm sorry, but I just picked up about 10 different kinds of coleus at a local sale last spring, so I don't know it's particular name -- but here is a better photo -- maybe you can find it on-line, is there a coleus thread?
And the brilliant white blooming vine is a Clematis "Sweet Autumn." Unbelievably robust if it likes where it's planted, that is 1 year of growth -- I cut it back to the ground each spring. It also has a sweet fragance that is heaven. Here's a pic from the front in August -- it's actually growing over an arbor seat --
Thanks again for the interest and questions -- it is much appreciated
Dax
Gorgeous plants, super excellent combinations and such a wonderful sense of gardening!
We still have more than two months to wait for spring, dax, so if you just happen to have more photos please post them. You can see we're all enjoying them so much.
Kosk - that's Alabama Sunset coleus. Here's DG's shirleyt's photo of it: (right front)
Oooh, thanks, pirl. Looks like it can only be propagated by cuttings, rather than seeds. I'll have to try and find one this season and propagate it to get more. I love starting coleus from seed---so easy, very gratifying.
Dax...wow, such great photos. What a lovely garden. Just love your pix of chelone, I hardly ever see it, is it easy to grow? And which aster is that in mid-fall beauty, so pretty. Is that the fragrant oenothara? (pretty pretty pretty). Thanks for posting your photos especially when it's so dreary outside. Kathy
Thanks again, everyone -- pirl, you always have SOO much knowledge - now I know which coleus to look for next spring -- and kosk - WOW -- I'm haven't attempted to propogate - I admire your expertise --
Per your questions, Kathy -
The chelone is a native here in Iowa, and so incredibly easy -- likes partial shade - gets to about 2 1/2 feet - regular moisture - deer avoid. I divided those two in the front bed last year, and here is a pic from this fall in the "Abandoned Farmstead" woodland with a Great Blue Lobelia (another native) in front of it.
The aster is "Eventides," (although the light makes them kind of rose, they are really a bright violet) and is also easy. However, the pic is of 2 plants, and the blooms are so heavy that they need to be staked to keep them up. Here is a close-up - my favorite part of them is that they will attract dozens of butterflies to them during the fall. There are at least 6 butterflies in the pic, but most have their wings up so are difficult to see -- very COOL!
And no, these oenothara aren't fragrant - or not that I've noticed -- here's a long shot from the street in June -- can't believe, looking at the empty beds now, that such a full garden was there just a few months ago -- ain't nature amazing?
Dax
Nature IS amazing! I just love your yard, Dax! I wish I had 3 acres. Only have 2. I want more, more, more. Dream of buying neighbor's horse pasture some day adjacent to our lot. However, it's completely flooded right now, so might not be the best thing to buy. Flooding in Oregon, might get a whole lot worse unless this torrential rain backs off.
Kosk- Flooded land should sell cheap! Take a picture tomorrow, then when you go to negotiate whip it out and ask for a discount. Then plant Calla Lilies, Bog Rosemary, and Trollius, and Bog Sage. All gorgeous flowers. Blueberries should do well there too.
dax, Absolutely beautiful g. arden and great photos. I too hope you find time to send more. We have had a warmer than normal winter until this week.Got down to 3.8 degrees a couple of nights and only up to 4 or 5 degrees in daytime,with a north wind most of the time. Today is much warmer now at 10;30 am it is above 32 degrees for the first time this week. We have now about 7 or 8 inches of snow, 3plus inches of new snow last night. I only shoveled a small space on my deck to scatter some bird seed and wheat for the quail. So now that it is a little warmer I better go shovel some more space for my puppy to go outside. at least it has been cold enough so that the snow is dry and light to lift.
Donna
Dax...gosh, didn't realize that Chelone and Lobelia were native there, lol, guess they have to be from somewhere. And I just love the Oenothara pix, is so inviting. And all those large trees, if there are any extras please send, lol. Only have 2 blue spruce. Who ever lived here before me didn't bother to plant any, can't figure that one out, you think some would have been planted to block that summer sun. Got a few ready to go into the ground this spring and will get more bt I love the pix of yours. Thanks for sharing your photos, got any more? Kathy.
Pix is lupine.
Well, it's another day not fit for outside moseying, so I'll send out a few more pics from last year -- and I'm looking forward to trying lupine next year -- I'm hearing a range from large beds to no luck growing -- we'll see if I have any luck -- thanks for all the advice!
Anyway, we were so blessed to have a previous owner that loved gardening, and put in lindens, oaks, ash, cherry, spruce, and arborvitae, as well as lilac shrubs. So they are all beautifully mature - 80 - 100 feet. I don't know what I'd do without the trees. You can see them (or their trunks) in almost all the pics. But the 1 acre meadow also gives us a great area of sun.
I've added all the new conifers and trees, as well as the perennial beds and water feature --
Here's a pic of the cold winter!
I'll try to show pics of areas you haven't seen --
Here's a pic of a cimifuga that I grew for the first time last year. It was lovely, but fragile. Against the woodland background -
This is a heuchera, hosta, lamium, and creeping sedum bed -
This is ligularia "Desdemona" in the woodland -
This small area right across from the door is my attempt to still have greenery where my two bassetts regularly pee every morning. Hence the cement rhino and chair --
Surprise lilys are a great favorite of mine. Their foliage grows before the hosta grow, and when they bloom, they just push up right through the hosta -- lovely --
This patio bed is just below the area of the bird and squirrel feeders. So I like to have low plants so I can see the wildlife more easily. This is in September --
