Today’s photos are from Ellie Gilbert.
This is my fifth submission to Fine Gardening’s Garden Photo of the Day. (See previous posts Seasonal Views of a Special Garden in MA and Making a Garden That Takes the Drought.) I’m located in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and have been gardening on our property for about 18 years, although gardening has been part of my life for over 75 years! The gardens I’ve highlighted here consist mainly of the perennials and shrubs that surround our patio and the ones I’ve planted over the years on a steep and featureless hill behind our house.
As a way to keep busy and entertained during the pandemic and these cold winter months, I’ve been going through hundreds of old photos of my garden. The ones I have chosen have not appeared in my earlier submissions but still show some of my favorite garden views and the plants I especially love.
June and early July are among my favorite times to be in my Zone 6b garden. Shrubs and perennials are bursting with blossoms, exposing an early palette of pinks and purples. As the summer progresses, these give way to more blues, yellows, and deep wine colors. Here are some examples of what my garden has to offer.
The patio garden as seen from the top of the hill.
The hill garden in early spring includes a ‘Rosebud’ azalea (Rhododendron ‘Rosebud’, Zone 5–9).
This close-up shows how the blossoms on ‘Rosebud’ got their name.
The patio and hill gardens in June highlight ‘Karmina’ geranium (Geranium × cantabrigiense ‘Karmina’, Zones 4–8) and ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint (Nepeta × faassenii ‘Walker’s Low’, Zones 3–8).
The garden at the rear of the garage includes ‘Dancing Butterflies’ peonies (Paeonia ‘Dancing Butterflies’, Zones 3–8), lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis, Zones 3–8), and ‘Serontina’ honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum ‘Serotina’, Zones 5–9) on the trellis.
This corner of the patio garden includes ‘Humei’ peony (Paeonia ‘Humei’, Zones 3–8), catmint, dwarf barberry (Berberis thunbergii, Zones 4–8), lady’s mantle, and Heuchera.
In this June photo, the hill garden in the foreground shows ‘Goldflame’ spirea (Spiraea japonica ‘Goldflame’, Zones 3–8), with ‘Sarah Bernhardt’ peony and ‘Blue Hill’ salvia (Salvia sylvestris ‘Blue Hill’, Zones 4–9) highlighting the patio garden.
‘Comtesse de Bouchaud’ clematis (Clematis ‘Comtesse de Bouchaud’, Zones 4–9) climbs up the birdhouse.
On a misty day, here is the hill garden showing ‘Summer Wine’ daylily (Hemerocallis ‘Summer Wine’, Zones 4–11), ‘Nikko Blue’ hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Nikko Blue’, Zones 5–9), and ‘Comtesse de Bouchaud’ clematis.
Looking from the southwest, the hill garden shows ‘Lanarth White’ lacecap hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla ‘Lanarth White’, Zones 5–9) and Astilbe ‘Deutschland’ (Zones 4–9).
Stone steps leading up the hill garden are edged with Spirea ‘Goldflame’, hostas, ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum (Hylotelephium ‘Herbstfreude’, Zones 3–9), and boxwood (Buxus sp., Zones 5–9).
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Comments
Just gorgeous!
WOW, love it, very Lush. love the hill steps, the grassy path, the bench with the bird house, THE Peony is beautiful, your whole place is lovely, thanks for sharing.
You have created your own paradise! Beautiful flower beds!
What a beautiful setting. Thank you for sharing.
Love your misty day photo with the blue hydrangea. I’m always trying to make my hydrangeas blue. The steps leading up the hill are lovely. Beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing.
In my younger days, I would have loved to have a slope to tackle. Now that I'm older it's ok to enjoy vicariously. You've done such a beautiful job, but I can't imagine creating this neatness on my own. I love the color of the day lilies.
Beauticul job. You must be working a lot to keep everything so neatly edged. Lovely gardens. Alice
Ellie - your garden design is absolutely gorgeous!
Your garden is beautiful! How do you keep such a neat edge to the beds? That is always one of my challenges.
I edge all of the gardens early in spring and then apply a layer of mulch. It's really just a matter of keeping an eye out for any grass encroachment and then digging it out.
Welcome inspiration for a snowy day. What a lush, exuberant garden! Thank you for letting us visit via your photos.
Ellie, this is all just totally astounding. I had to go back & look at your other submissions. Lovely!!
Morning coffee and a nice virtual walk through a great garden!
Love those step going up the hill and that pink clematis vine located on the birdhouse post!
I've never seen grass look so pretty as going through your perennial beds near the patio and on the hills side...graceful and relaxing to see.
I'd like to be on your patio right now LOL!
Your garden is stunningly beautiful. Just what I needed on the 4th dreary cold day of rain here! Thank you for sharing!
Echo the comments above. Truly a living work of art. Loved seeing all the garden views. It also appears your neighbours are gardeners too and that your gardens flow into one another...how wonderful!
Your garden is just dazzling - lush and ever so perfectly tended. It's very inspiring. Thank you for sharing!
So lovely. Have you done any garden tours? Looks like a wonderful place to host a wedding, too. Thanks for sharing. I love it.
I really enjoyed seeing your garden. I am on the opposite coast from you, but have many of the same plants! My beds are not nearly as well-maintained as yours, though. Looking forward to nicer weather, so I can get out and emulate you!
That's what I call spirit lifting on this cold winter's day!!! Simply stunning!!!
Fabulous garden ! A gardener after my own heart. Gracious curves and lovely repetition of blues and many of my favorite plants. Your color choices are mine also : blues, pinks, shades of green. Great texture and combinations. Well done !!!!
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