Bed 4

When we moved in to this house 25 years ago, I made a lot of perennial beds but had no hardscape structures or mature trees. Over the years we have renovated sections of the garden and of course the plants have matured and grown. I am pleased that each bed seems to have taken on its own personality lately. I have "names" for each bed so I know where I am planting what but even those have changed. Originally they were Beds 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 whereas now they are nicknamed the Front, the Elaine bed, the Gnome bed, Bed 4, The Oak tree bed and the Vortex bed. (!!)
Bed 4 is halfway down the southwest side of the yard beside the pool pump. It's the only one that has retained its original name. Certain plants such as the spruce tree and the shrub rose have exploded in size. Many of the perennials are the originals, others are new. But there is great camaraderie among them so I thought I would show these successful combinations to you.

I have attempted to keep the gentle curved shape by edging sharply in the spring. I actually need to carve it out wider under the spruce because it's so hard to mow the grass under there. The main large plants are (from right to left) a spruce tree that was brought as a sapling from Northern Ontario, a shrub rose that's gone berserk this year in size, a graceful weeping Norway Spruce that still retains its elegant shape, a very ordinary do-nothing Rose of Sharon ( but it was a gift so I keep it) and a common lilac shrub, that bloomed its head off this spring!

The lilac in bloom

A close-up of the Weeping Norway Spruce

In the spring came a lovely group of bright red Darwin tulips. The stone fish wasn't yet being smothered by the Coreopsis 'Moonbeam' so it's still deeper in. I had already planted 3 of the succulents: Sedum and Sempervivum.

When the tulips and muscari faded, in came the Siberian Iris and small yellow Allium moly.

As the Hosta emerged ( 3 clumps of Blue Wedgewood and a transplanted chunk of 'Great Expectations') and the Coreopsis 'Moonbeam' filled out, I moved the Fish to a more prominent position. I also bought several more drought tolerant plants. They are now starting to bloom.

This is a new one that caught my eye: Sempervivum x hybrid 'Commander Hay'. It was big, interesting and cheap. I bought 3 in total. Extremely drought tolerant once established. They are easy to propagate - just remove the small baby rosettes and replant in a new location.

I thought this neon yellow sedum would fit nicely with a bed that is mostly green, stone blue and fall hues. This is Sedum rupestre (reflexum) 'Angelina'. It has a long, lanky habit.

Once I became totally enamoured with these succulents, I just ran right out and bought another one! Above is Sempervivum arachnoideum - Spider Web Hens and Chicks. Before it started to bloom, the rosettes seemed to be covered in spiderwebs.

Here are a few more shots of how well they blend together.

The daylilies are ready to bloom and the huge shrub rose will start to develop hips.

Helianthus are starting to bloom and in August the Red and Gold Fall Helenium will emerge (new this year).

Bed 4 has turned into a great 4 seasons show that has unusual plants that somehow co-exist well and even show each other off really brilliantly.

Please check my food blog - the latest recipe posted is Spinach Cavatappi Gratin.

Garden Design 1

Between the years 1994 - 2001, I used to run a hobby business that I called Astrid's Garden Design. Local landscape contractors would contact me about doing a design for clients who wanted their front or backyard landscaped. I would plan out the overall design and suggest planting material, and then the contractor would install it.

I combined my love of drawing with horticultural knowledge and had a grand time designing gardens!
Let me show you one of my projects from the year 2000 and I'll explain what I did and why.

This customer had a brand new house that had a blank palette front yard and backyard - there was nothing there but grass. He and his wife wanted a large patio off the back kitchen sliding doors where they could sit and entertain. They also requested relatively low maintenance plants because they were new to gardening and often away a lot in the summer.

Here is what I designed for them. I apologize for the lack of focus especially with the print and names on the first diagram but I wanted you to be able to see the overall design and how I tried to create a flow using curved lines. I will blow up a portion of the design to discuss it - then you should be able to see the plant names more clearly.

The residence is the large blank in the middle. I tried to balance the backyard by making the patio a large curve, whose shape was echoed in the large sugar maple on the other side of the yard. Both circular shapes were balanced by a large evergreen in the opposite corner.
Shrubs, perennials and vines filled the space across the back fence as well as small pond in the upper right corner. The backyard faced north so I chose the plants that could tolerate shade - hostas, daylilies, and hydrangeas.

Viburnum opulus (Cranberry bush)  tolerates sunny or shady conditions

Daylilies and Hostas are good in partial shade

I always tried to mix trees and shrubs in with perennials to add structure. (I'm using my yard as an example - I rarely got to see the finished product of what I had designed).

I liked to add boulders and rocks to a border as well, but remember - do it only in proportion to the whole picture. Don't add too many or they look unnatural and lose their focal impact.

My Dad's garden is a great example of how curved garden beds enhance a square yard.

And evergreens in a corner add a strong sense of stability as well as year round colour and structure

Please visit my recipe blog : the latest post is Warm Fennel Salad with Olives, Pine nuts and Orange.

Triangles, Circles and Squares - oh my!

Math was never my strongpoint. In fact, my attempts to understand math in school were dismal failures.
Art, on the other hand, was my favourite class! When I started gardening, I realized that I liked to compose "pictures" using plant shapes and colours. Had someone pointed out to me that math was involved there too, I would have denied it, but it's true.
The most successful landscape design is based upon proportionately combining mathematical shapes - triangles, rectangles, squares and circles.
While on vacation this summer, I couldn't help but notice the evergreen placement beside the greenhouse of a friend's property that we visited.

Across the front area they have an upward curving mugho pine, then a low-growing golden juniper and then a lighter coloured shrub.
Across the back there is a large triangular spruce and a smaller triangular one.

Once you start looking for geometric shapes, it's easy to identify them and see how they fit together in a well balanced way.

This probably just "happened" (because the building was constructed long after the garden was planted) but the 2 triangles in the garden are echoed by the triangular roof of our friend's cottage.

Many formal gardens are designed using geometric shapes.

The allee of trees are like lollipops. Their rounded tops echo the curves in the castle windows. This is Rundale Palace in Latvia.

Arched half circles add a soft elegance to the garden area.

Look at the shapes here - so easy to spot when you really look.

It's also fun to look at scenic spots and realize that Mother Nature has an innate sense of design and proportion.

This is Ventas Rumba (the Venta river waterfalls) in Latvia - hardly Niagara, but it is famous in that it's the widest waterfalls in Europe.

Take a look at your own garden and see if adding a circular shrub or triangular evergreen would not add accent to your perennial border.

Mother Nature as Design Teacher

It's interesting to look at peoples' front yards and backyards. Some have been designed by the owner, others professionally landscaped. Many are great, but others somehow look "wrong".
Perhaps the proportions are incorrect: too few small plants in a sinewy shape clinging to the edge of a large house. Other times it's big boulders and rocks just plunked near the driveway, attempting to make them look natural.
So the question is: how do you make a landscape look as if it just "happened"?
Sometimes you need to observe how Mother Nature did it and the ideas are right before your eyes.

This past weekend we were at up at a friend's cottage and the more I looked around, the more I saw rock formations and plant groupings worth photographing.

Large rocks only look natural if they are buried at least halfway if not two thirds of the way into the ground.

Groups of trees in a front yard look very tidy and formal but here they look very good too, growing where the original seed landed.

Another example of how deeply rocks should be into the ground.

This grouping of a large rock as focal point, with smaller rocks scattered nearby, would probably work best in a rural setting. I loved those little round pockets of vegetation.

Due to the lack of rain, the water level of the lake is down 16"!! I have never seen this many rocks exposed at the end of the Point. But just look at the fabulous composition!

Here are some grasses on the slope of the shore.

The view down the shoreline.

It's amazing what nature can teach you about landscape design. But when I wasn't shooting pictures like crazy, it was lovely relaxing in the summer breeze just gazing out over the lake…...