Garden Photo of the Day

Spring in Kristen’s garden in Virginia

Distant view of pool. Photo/Illustration: All photos courtesy of Kristen Rembold

Today’s photos are from Kristen Rembold in Virginia. She says, “I have been a fan of the daily garden photos for a long time. Yesterday, inspired by a beautiful spring day, I got outside to snap some pictures with my phone.

The pool garden with old ‘Bloodgood’ Japanese maple, ‘Alta’ magnolias planted along fence, serviceberry, cranberry viburnum, ‘Annabelle’ hydrangeas, and Cornus ‘Elegantissima’.

“I garden on about an acre, and have concentrated more on the gardens since our children have grown. My husband helps with the hardscape, creating stone paths, building arbors, installing lighting, etc. We always have some new project going.

This is the view out my study window toward the front. A Japanese maple and a hickory are just leafing out, but the crape myrtle is still sleeping.

“One part of the garden I did not photograph was the vegetable beds, because they don’t look like much so early, but you can see that our greenhouse is filled with vegetable starts waiting for the warm weather. There are so many because I also grow them for our church food bank. I’m also raising some plants for our Master Gardener plant sale in a few weeks.

This is the view from our front porch. We have planted a hedge and many trees between us and a busy road. The symmetrical plantings seem to work best right in front of our house.

“Apologies that the beds aren’t in ‘open garden’ shape quite yet. It’s a busy time of year with much yet to do, but oh so beautiful!”

Looking out the back window with dogwood in foreground, showing the garage and steps up to the pool garden.

You said it, Kristen–oh so beautiful! We definitely need to see more of this garden throughout the season, please.

A peek behind the scenes at the greenhouse filled with plant starts, mostly vegetables. To the left of the picture is our blueberry house, built to keep the critters out. And, yes, I’m in the picture, too, if you look carefully.

Seems like you guys liked yesterday’s mashup post, so now all of you who have been too intimidated or bashful to send in photos have no excuse! Get on out there and snap some shots. Even one or two will do! But we still love big batches of photos, too……

A look over the stone perennial bed to the roses just coming out, the formal lawn and hedge, and dogwoods off in the distance.

**** Share your garden story…. Email me with photos and words at [email protected]. ****

A woodland path with rhododendron, hollies, and shade perennials. This will be at peak in a few weeks.
Stone perennial beds to right, roses and boxwood to left, our big hickory, and general spring frippery. Forgive the as-yet-unweeded path!
The front walk, which is planted with lavender and roses as it’s the hottest, sunniest spot we have.
Path beyond the hedge with dawn redwood, ‘Ogon’ spirea, dwarf evergreens, Amazonia hubrechterii, and other perennials, plus the distant haze of redbuds.
Out the back door. We trellis climbing roses up the garage.

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Comments

  1. wGardens 04/22/2014

    What a lovely home and garden! I am envious of your large area to create- and the privacy that it provides. Beautifully done, in all aspects. I would love to see more photos as the season progresses. Thank you!

  2. Sunrosa 04/22/2014

    What a beautiful garden Kristen! You and your husband are truly blessed. I especially love your dogwoods. I would also love to see your summertime blooms. Keep up the good work and happy gardening!

  3. User avater
    meander_michaele 04/22/2014

    You have a beautiful property, Kristen and have done such a wonderful job with your layers of interesting plant material...such a wonderful diversity of bushes...the birds must love all their berry choices.
    I'm so intrigued by your "blueberry house"...yes, when it comes to healthy, antioxident rich blueberries, doing something to protect them from the birds is a wise thing. Sometimes, we humans have to be just a little bit selfish!
    Compliments to your husband also...I know what a huge contribution a willing hardscape enabler can be!

  4. Annesfirst 04/22/2014

    Can't seem to bring up any of the pictures when I click on them (only the first one is viewed). Anyone else having that trouble?

  5. greengenes 04/22/2014

    Nice bones, Kristen! What a good time of the year to see this. And like everyone else so far... We want to see it in bloom! The pool area is my favorite. You have a great place and your husband has helped to do all the hardscape! That's wonderful!Well happy digging! Thanks for sharing with us!

  6. user-1077740 04/22/2014

    Like UCMG2000, I can only bring up the first photo. Please fix the link. The thumbnails look so beautiful...

  7. User avater
    gringopeligroso 04/22/2014

    VERY nice! Am very envious of all the privacy y'all have created with so called Garden Rooms! We have virtually no privacy here at our new place, (former horse ranch with pastures.) but are planting it as fast as the pocketbook will allow!! Really love how y'all have incorporated such a rich variety of conifers and evergreens amongst the colour (both present and yet to come,) and will use your results for ideas on how to install them, here!
    Looks like the Dogwoods are very happy there in Virginia! They are absolutely spectacular this year in the Western Ozarks after last year's generous rains, and the Easter Freeze last week didn't seem to phase their glory!
    Thanx for sharing!!

  8. tractor1 04/22/2014

    I truly enjoy seeing all the different wide angle views you provided of your entire property, gives me a much better perspective than just seeing narrow vignettes and individual plantings. Kristen, I envy your blueberry house, I built one similar only here in the Catskills with the first heavy snow it collapsed under the weight. Now I net individual plants and remove the netting when the berries are finished... and still the crows aren't detered, they are big and strong so can flatten the netting enough to get more berries than I. I have a dawn redwood too but it looks different from yours, maybe in your zone they grow differently. Thank you, Kristen, for sharing your garden and I hope to see more as the seasons progress.

  9. GrannyMay 04/22/2014

    Kristen, congratulations to you and your husband! What a lovely garden you have created! I love the variety of trees and shrubs that keep you private and bring beauty throughout the year. I am especially intrigued by your design of the swimming pool - having one side of it be the edge of the raised area is something I have not seen before. What a great idea! And I love your greenhouse! Please do send summer and fall photos so we can see the garden in bloom, especially the roses.

  10. GrannyCC 04/22/2014

    Beautiful Kristen. I admire how you have made all the individual rooms. Lovely to see the Dogwoods blooming. The pool area even looks inviting to sit and have a coffee in the sunshine. Love to see more.

  11. GrammyGranddad 04/22/2014

    Your garden is an absolute delight. Kudos to you for your volunteer work.
    I am intrigued by your greenhouse. Grammy has been looking for one just like it for her vegetables. Would you mind providing some details on it? Who makes it? Are you pleased with it?, etc. It seems to be perfect for what she wants. Thanks!

  12. NevadaSue 04/22/2014

    Kristen, Your garden is beautiful. I love the dogwood and the steps going up to the pool garden with the taper( nothing at one end and wide at the other). Your eye for beautiful design is apparent as I look at these pictures. I'm anxious to see more pictures as the garden comes to full life. It is so fun to watch the new buds burst open and see leaves and flowers come to life. I can tell you have fun in your garden. Your husband has done a great job on the paths and hardscape as well. Looking forward to more pictures. :)

  13. Gardenpatch 04/22/2014

    Thanks all for your generous comments! The blueberry house is new. I hope it doesn't collapse, though it already has made it through a couple of heavy spring snows here. We have other berries elsewhere for the birds.

  14. Gardenpatch 04/22/2014

    GrammyGranddad,

    I ordered this small English greenhouse from Charley's Greenhouse and my husband and our friend Bob built the foundation and installed it. I believe the exact same greenhouse is no longer available because the manufacturer went out of business. It is a small 8 x 10 size and we fitted it with a small heater and thermostat which works well for growing out seedlings and extending the season by a couple months. I also grow beds of cool crops in the shoulder seasons--lettuces, spinach, herbs. We chose glass for the looks but polycarbonate comes in double and triple-wall versions that insulate better. I germinate the seedlings inside and they go out once they graduate from community pots. We don't run or heat the greenhouse in Dec/Jan/Feb. Hope that helps!

  15. cwheat000 04/22/2014

    I can see why you were inspired to take some pictures. What a gorgeous day and what gorgeous spring beauty you have to work with. That blue sky is so wonderful. I am surprised tractor 1 didn't comment on that. He usually is a sucker for a gorgeous sky. You have created a fabulous outdoor oasis. The greenhouse and the pool are such nice designs. I also envy the blueberry house. Please send more pics.

  16. tractor1 04/23/2014

    cwheat000: I did notice the lovely blue sky, but I didn't want to bring attention to the photography... I don't appreciate photos taken with a cell phone, they are greatly lacking in resolution nor are they capable of focusing, so all the detail is lost. And I didn't want to be admonished for mentioning how those photos were taken at about noon so much of the plantings are lost in their own shadow... folks are still breaking the number one cardinal rule; sun to ones back, which means not directly overhead either. So instead I talked about how much I enjoyed the wide angle veiws of the entire property that enabled me to get a perspective of how all the elements fit together to make up a garden that I can enjoy on a more intimate level than just a slew of plant nursery catalog photos.

  17. User avater
    simplesue 07/21/2023

    I didn't know about GPOD 10 years ago- nice to look back at this older post- super nice flagstone paths and love everything about this garden!

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