Garden Photo of the Day

Sisters’ Gardens

Three gardens from three sisters in three different climates

North Beds

If you’re searching for garden inspiration, go no further! On this GPOD, we take a look at three sisters’ gardens.

Hello, my name is Joanna and I’m from Minnesota. Several years ago, my former Minnesota gardens were a GPOD feature and a garden makeover was a GPOD feature last August. Since winter is still trying to wrap up in the Upper Midwest and many other places in the States, I thought it would be fun to share some pictures from mine and my sisters’ gardens – three sisters in three gardening zones. We all have different styles, but we all love digging in the dirt and creating a beautiful space with flowers.

 

We’ll start first with my sister Susan’s Colorado Garden in Zone 5:

Asiatic lilies (Lilium hybrid, Zone 3 – 8), daylilies (Hemerocallis, Zone 3 – 8) delphinium (Delphinium elatum , Zone 2 – 7)

Yellow and orange marigolds (Tagetes patula, and Tagetes erecta, annual) mixed with cooler colors for a high-contrast garden design.

 

 

Next up, my sister Becky’s South Carolina Garden in Zone 8:

Swallowtail butterfly on zinnia (Zinnia elegans, annual). Zinnia flowers are at least as attractive to butterflies as they are to us!

Asiatic lily, variegated whorled loosestrife (Lysimachia punctata ‘Alexander’, Zone 4 – 8), red geum (Geum sp.) provide a bright mix of red and yellow, behind a daylily bloom.

 

 

And last, a few shots of my Minnesota Gardens in Zone 4:

Bee balm (Monarda didyma, Zone 4 – 10) garden phlox (Phlox paniculata, Zone 4 – 8), oriental lily (Lilium hybrid) all provide fragrance, and echo the same colors through the bed, while bright yellow from a container of annuals makes for a dramatic centerpiece.

Peach dallies and purple bee balm make a combination of colors good enough to eat, with their colors reflecting in a sculpture of recycled glass dishes. The blue-green foliage of baptisia (Baptisia australis Zone 3 – 9) makes a great backdrop to the entire scene.

 

Have a garden you’d like to share?

 

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

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Comments

  1. User avater
    treasuresmom 03/27/2018

    What a great idea to show all 3. Everything is just beautiful!

    1. JoannaAtGinghamGardens 03/27/2018

      Thanks so much!

  2. User avater
    Tim_Zone_Denial_Vojt 03/27/2018

    Fun post. It's cool to see both Lilium and Hemerocallis featured in all three garden zones.

    1. JoannaAtGinghamGardens 03/27/2018

      Thank you, Tim!

  3. User avater
    meander_michaele 03/27/2018

    Hi, Joanna, your GPOD sharing definitely put a smile on face. I imagined lively conversations, fun plant swaps and garden walkabouts during family visits between you and your sisters. I realize other topics are equally as important (yes, I really do) but it has to be a lot of fun to have the shared interest of gardening to chit chat about.
    Seems like all 3 of you love colorful flowers and enjoy using the contrast of hot and cool colors. The final photo from your garden is particularly appealing...such a gorgeous daylily and it is set off so beautifully by the purple bee balm.

    1. JoannaAtGinghamGardens 03/27/2018

      Thanks a bunch, Michaele! Our visits usually include a visit to at least one local garden or nursery. The daylily in the final photo is called Something Beautiful and the monarda is Purple Rooster.

  4. Vezpasia 03/27/2018

    What beautiful gardens, you should be called the green thumb sisters! Hope you get to visit each other often

    1. JoannaAtGinghamGardens 03/27/2018

      We were born with green thumbs. We do not get to visit each other nearly enough, but when we do we make up for lost time.

  5. sheila_schultz 03/27/2018

    What a fun post Joanna, you and your sisters must have the best time chatting about plants when you get together! You each have playful gardens filled with lots of color... so much fun! Did your parents garden? Were you and your sisters interested in gardening as children?

    1. JoannaAtGinghamGardens 03/27/2018

      Sheila - Thanks for your kind comments. We inherited our gardening gene from our father. Gardening was one of the summer chores, so none of us liked it then. Age certainly brings about positive change. ;)

  6. JoannaAtGinghamGardens 03/27/2018

    Thanks for all your compliments. 3 Sisters in 3 Gardening Zones was recently a very popular post on my blog https://ginghamgardens.com. There are lots more pictures of our gardens and my gardening makeovers and pursuits if you'd care to stop by.

    1. User avater
      meander_michaele 03/27/2018

      The post on your blog titled ' 3 sisters in 3 Gardening Zones' was very entertaining and I really enjoyed seeing the additional pictures. Thanks for the heads up about it.

  7. mjensen 03/29/2018

    beautiful, some of my favorite flowers

    1. JoannaAtGinghamGardens 04/02/2018

      Thanks so much!

  8. carolineyoungwilliams 03/29/2018

    Hi Joanna, I love all 3. They are absolutely beautiful. Your combination of bold bright colors really captured my attention. My compliments to you all for doing an amazing job. Thank you so much for sharing and being an inspiration to others.

    1. JoannaAtGinghamGardens 04/02/2018

      Thank you, Caroline!

  9. User avater
    bellarosa009 03/31/2018

    Great idea! All are beautiful gardens.

  10. JoannaAtGinghamGardens 04/02/2018

    Thanks a bunch!

  11. User avater
    AnnaMartinez 07/29/2020

    Thanks for this information!

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