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On the Cover of Issue 127

by Eve Thyrum

DESIGNER: Eve Thyrum
LOCATION: Wilmington, Delaware
LIGHT: High, filtered shade
SOIL: Loamy, moist, well-drained soil due to an initial doubledigging with compost several years ago. The bed is now regularly mulched with chopped leaves and given supplemental water during dry spells in the height of the summer.
SIZE: A misshapen triangular bed roughly 25 feet (back) by 30 feet (left side) by 37 feet (front)

"This bed was designed to welcome and to make one feel cozy and enclosed by being surrounded with interesting, unusual plantings. I just don't like the feeling of traveling along a barren walkway to the front door-it's so cold and boring and definitely unwelcoming."

WHAT TO LEARN FROM THIS PLANTING:
1. Make your guests feel cozy and welcomed before they even get to the house.
2. Use a diagonal line from the driveway to draw the eye right to the front door.
3. Embrace shade. Shade-loving plants are more textural and require less dividing, deadheading, and staking.
4. A bench along a path acts as both an ornament and as a place to pause and absorb the garden.
5. Containers within a bed offer different heights and textures.

For plant IDs, click to enlarge. Click to enlarge image For plant IDs, click to enlarge. Photo/Illustration: Michelle Gervais

PLANTS:
1. 'Rose Bud' azalea (Rhododendron 'Rose Bud', Zones 5-9)
2. 'Aureomarginata' hosta (Hosta montana 'Aureomarginata', Zones 3-9)
3. Heritage® river birch (Betula nigra 'Cully', Zones 4-9)
4. Chinese wild ginger (Asarum splendens, Zones 5-9)
5. 'Eternal Flame' hosta (Hosta 'Eternal Flame', Zones 3-9)
6. Epimedium (Epimedium × warleyense, Zones 5-9)
7. 'Cinnamon Sticks' hosta (Hosta 'Cinnamon Sticks', Zones 3-9)
8. 'Little Honey' oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia 'Little Honey', Zones 5-9)
9. 'Choo Choo Train' hosta (Hosta 'Choo Choo Train', Zones 3-9)
10 'Paradigm' hosta (Hosta 'Paradigm', Zones 3-9)
11. 'Erythrocladum' striped maple (Acer pensylvanicum 'Erythrocladum', Zones 3-7)
12. 'Sundowner' phormium (Phormium 'Sundowner', Zones 8-11)
13. 'Yellow Wave' phormium (Phormium 'Yellow Wave', Zones 8-11)
14. 'Blue Shadow' hosta (Hosta 'Blue Shadow', Zones 3-9)

From Fine Gardening 127