Bordering On A Summer

Borders are tricky, they can put out lots of color and then take a rest.  That's where annuals come in keeping things interesting and colorful until the next big display.

Blue Paradise is one of my favorite phlox introduced by Piet Oudolf.  It is not as sturdy as say David Phlox, but it is well worth staking for the continual summer and fall display if deadheaded.  Note it is blue in the morning.

And Magenta in the afternoon

The Knockouts are taking a break and the phlox and shasta daisies are filling in the display.

 

The border is anchored by annuals impatiens, snapdragons, coleus and allysum.

Impatiens Wild Thing

I started this from seed and only had eight out of twenty-five seeds germinate.  It is a wonderful impatiens, compact, strong and very floriforus, probably not in the nurseries because of its germination habit.

I also grew La Bella Snapdragon that I saw at the Chicago Flower and Garden show.  It was difficult to find the seeds but finally did at a Chicago based seed company called Germania.

Red Rum Daylily will be cut down when done blooming to make way for the impatiens Wild Thing and the Lime Coleus to take over.

The secret to effective borders is to have many plants peeking out to keep the interest up in down flowering times.

Jack Frost Brunnera peeks out all summer with its lovely foliage, a gerber daisy, roses, snapdragons and a shasta ready to bloom.

Peeking out is really the secret for an effective border, but this is where it becomes tricky to just have something leaning forward rather than being smothered by other plantings.

Blue Sunshine Geranium is my new favorite, much more delicate than Rozanne and allows everything to peek out!

Rozanne is a great geranium but it tends to climb over other plantings rather than weaving around and through.

Intensia Blueberry Hill belongs in the garden.  I had it in my containers and it looked messy and flopped, so I took it out and let it peek out behind other garden plantings, just lovely.

Keep the borders tight with plantings, verticals help keep the eyes moving along looking for patterns.  Obelisks, trellises, fence planters and arbors keep the garden interesting.  The irises on the bottom right keep the eye going upward even though it is only foliage.

Another thing that keeps a border interesting is the use of tall and short plantings in succession.

Some plants in a sunny border are banished to the back where shade takes over.  Here is Maggie Daley astilbe with Ghost Fern very happy even though everything in front of them is part of a sun loving group.

Giving Up The Garden

Many years ago in my earlier gardening days I would be complaining about the heat and my garden that seemed to be giving up.  I have come to find out in subsequent years that it was not the garden it was me!  I very rarely took into account the various blooming times of each plant, if I liked it I planted it.

My extra early, early and some mid-season daylilies are all blooming at the same time like a musical concerto leading up to a crescendo.

Eileen Clymer is an extra early daylily that has been blooming for over a month.  I have never had a first year daylily like this with scape after scape arising from the soil with multiple blooms.

Happy Returns an extra early bloomer is in two areas of my garden, reblooms very little for me and is not as floriferous as my other daylilies.

Mary Todd is early, heavily scaped and very showy in the garden.  You might have to divide it every three or four years but the display is worth it.

Hyperion is an older variety that I brought from my last home.  I have moved it a few times but I think it has found a home on the south side of my home.  It is classified as early to mid-season.

Red Magic Daylily also came with me from my last home and blooms the same time as Hyperion.  They are together again and hope they will like that hot side of the house.

Miss Amelia is my see through daylily as you can actually plant shorter plants behind it and they peek through.  This is an early to mid-season daylily.


I love huge flowered daylilies but have to remember that the large flowers go with large scapes and leaves which can become unsightly in the garden bed.  I try to pull out the leaves that yellow before bloom and always cut them down to the ground after the entire plant has finished blooming.

Daylily Chicago Weathermaster is rainproof, blooms early to mid-season.

Arnie's Choice early to mid-season

Named after Arnie Morton Chicago Restauranteur

Red Rum is a shorter early to mid-season daylily, larger flower.  What's great about this daylily is that when you cut it down other plants in the border take over.

Dark Ruby early to mid-season has always been a problem for me as far as color and where to place it.

I am trying it with the white Becky Shasta this year.

Maybe I will try it with yellow or lime green!

I don't know what I was thinking that July was the end of my garden!  I now know that it is just the beginning for daylilies alone.  They have become the backbone of my garden from May through September!

The Ultimate Train Garden

While over at my brother's and sister-in-law's garden, she brought me across the street to see her neighbor's train garden.  Little did I know that this was not just your average backyard railroad engineer!

This is a big time railroad with the initials of the owners done in black iron and mounted over the railroad grounds.

His name is Brad Bennett watercolor artist and professional photographer www.chicagogifts.com/bio.htm

December on  Michigan Avenue

The building of the railroad is a hobby that has become a passion and put him in place as an expert among his colleagues.

Brad has built all of the trestles, track and buildings.

There is full landscaping throughout the railroad areas with evergreens and flowering plants.

The houses he builds look so lifelike with attention to to every detail.

Even the automobiles are to scale and vintage!

You are probably wondering where are the trains?  They are all stacked neatly in Brad's office, shelf after shelf of colorful and shiny trains.

Enjoy Brad's website his diversity as a watercolor artist and photographer, producing wonderful sports posters and beautifully framed artwork for homes and offices. 

A Collectors Garden Revisited

I was back at my brother's and sister-in-law's garden to document some of the changes that have been made since last year.  The pond is still beautiful in this 1930's home, not a plastic pre-formed pond but poured concrete.  Their children when young used to try to skate on this pond, must have been very tricky!

The Persicaria is in the background and being held up with a vintage headboard.

My sister-in-law is always out in front regarding what is going on in regard to garden art.  Take a look at some of the ideas that can be incorporated into the garden.

This old faucet is not going to spill into this cup.  Plates collected from the antique store with vintage cup attached.  Note the crystal as a drop of water under the spout.

A vintage crystal bowl with a vase and plate attached at the top, bird added to make an unusual birdbath.

Places to sit and then some places you can't sit!

A remembrance garden for Barb's mother, engraved stone and Addie Branch Smith Daylilies donated by me.

A couple of her mother's birdhouses

Another remembrance garden for my mother with her favorite saying on the fence.

The car is now part of its own garden.  These were placed throughout the downtown area where they lived and then auctioned off for charity.  Various communities have done this through the years with cows, penguins, snowmen, etc.  Large glass blocks are holding up the planters.

Everything you can think of using in a home is used in Barb's garden.

Everywhere I looked there was Autumn Joy Sedum like frames around the picture of the gardens.  Mine flops but Barb says hers do not and are like a sea of pink in the fall.

There is room in the back for the veggie garden.

The old wooden compost bins were dismantled and new resin ones put in their place.

We all have different ideas about how our gardens should look, but the most important thing is that the garden should be you!