Landscape Inspiration

My oldest son, who is 7, is into gardening, so when I wanted to tour the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum I decided to give my husband a break, and take Benjamin with me. We had a great time. We ate a sack lunch in the hosta glade, and he ran from water feature to water feature scheming all the waterfalls and fountains he'll have in his yard when we grows up. I took a ton of pictures. Shocking, right? I've narrowed them into categories, including landscape inspiration, container gardens, plants I want, and water features. Here's the first batch.

Whether you're looking for a traditional perennial bed, a flaming hot bed of hard working annuals, or ideas for great shaped shrubs, there are lots of ideas here.

Classic combination of russian sage, black eyed susan, and heuchera.

Fantastic hillside anyone could grow with sedum, coneflower, sage, phlox, and joe pye weed.

Reds and pinks...

So special!

I want to know how none of their tall annuals are tipping over? Like magic!

Still lots of contrast and scale to love here.

Like, whoa.

Favorite part of this combination is the grass, surprisingly.

So much to love about this combination... the height of the cannas, the red from the canna flowers matching the red flower so of the salvia.

Now all climbers have to be against a wall. Love this pillar of clematis in a rose garden.

White nicotiana peace pipe with siberian iris, and lavender petunias. Love how the height goes up and down here.

A wisteria arbor with a beautiful white mandevilla, and all white hanging baskets.

This makes me miss my limelight hydrangeas.

Hope you found some awesome inspiration.

Moving Outdoors

I have spent nearly every waking minute I'm not fully responsible for my kids in the garden this last week. I have all my roses (except the David Austin arriving this week) & new perennials planted, strawberries planted, some seeds including alyssum, penstemon, larkspur, carrots, beans, two kinds of basil, stock, sweet pea outside in the ground. I have a sunburn, callouses on my hands, and a backache, although I could not be happier.

New in the Ground

Nothing previously existing in the garden is blooming (besides the crocus and primrose), but some of the plants I've picked up here and there are blooming. This columbine, aquilegia 'music red and gold' is gorgeous!



I took a chance on the plant below. The label did not specify it's climate requirements, but I had to buy it anyway b/c I have never seen such a bright blue on a plant! Its lithodora diffusa 'heavenly blue.' The internet tells me its a ground cover hardy to zone 6, (I'm zone 4/5) blooms from June-July, and needs a minimum of 8 hours of sun a day. We'll see if I can get this through the winter here.

I can't resist a blue phlox, and this creeping phlox, 'chattahoochee' was no exception.



Containers
Not a lot of color to speak of yet, but most the plants are in place. If temps dip below 40 too far I'll be brining in the real tender stuff, but most of it will stay out there until early October now. Here's a corner of the patio; a bromeliad with snapdragon and lysimachia 'goldilocks' in the basket container. I lined the container with a plastic bag with a few holes poked in it. The candles are not in the candle chandelier b/c the rain water fills them up. I'll pull them out when we use them.







This is my plumbago, which overwintered in a sunny window like a freakin' champ! I fertilized it a month ago, and it's ready to go. I put some heliotrope seeds underneath, and they've germinated, I also put a persian shield and lantana (also overwintered in this pot with the plumbago like a champ). In the the next smallest pot I have the agapanthus I brought home from my grandma's garden, a alternanthera, iresine, ivy, and in the even smaller pot I have a croton. This year I have really made the switch to plants that live a long, long time. Less and less annuals for me. In fact, the only new plant in this picture is the persian shield.



Here's one of my jasmine underplanted with 'vancouver centennial' geranium, a begonia 'batik' and some blue lobelia.



I stole this ladder from my neighbor's trash and screwed these pots into the ladder. This butterfly used to hold hummingbird nectar, but the spout broke, so now it's a decoration. Pansies here are all smilng at me.

I take this picture every year, just so I can see what I start out with. I have some plans to make a few changes in this bed this year. I added some delphinium, divided the echinacea, added more hardy mums, and the second clematis is really doing well here. I am working at getting the mint out. I don't need it all out, but I don't want it overwhelming everything. Oh, and my little sedum decor is hung up here now, too.

This container is by our garage door. It's holding elephant ears, coleus 'sedona,' vinca vine, fuschia 'autmnale.' and non-stop orange begonia.

My kitchen window box, containing coleus 'kingswood torch,' fuschia autumnale,' lysimachia 'goldilocks,' non-stop begonia 'deep salmon,' a snap dragon, and some lobelia.



This container has Red Banana as a centerpiece, surrounded by ivy, fcoleus 'fishnet stockings,' and another geranium. I have it sitting at the enterance to the veggie and herb garden.



The first container of the season looks so good yesterday! Look at this phlox; I can't wait until I put it in the ground and have the beginning carpet of it next spring.


Edibles
Here come the first radishes of the season!

I took a chance on putting my tomatos in also. I think they'll be okay unless we have a freeze. I like how they are set up this year, so the path can get to both sides of them, and none are too far in the middle and out of reach for picking. I'll list the varieties I'm tyring this year later, when I can get out to the garden.






Happy, happy spring!