Today Bob and Linda Vivian are sharing their Pennsylvania garden with us.
There’s plenty of garden here to keep Linda and me busy. We don’t mind it at all. It’s a labor of love. I think it keeps us young even in our “golden” years. It gets us up each morning.
A morning’s coffee pause before heading out to the garden beyond. That small triangle at the “Y” of the paths is the site of my new Japanese-style garden, completed last fall. Pictures of that garden will soon follow.
This is Paeonia ‘Morning Lilac’ (Zones 3–9), one of the Itoh hybrid peonies. Itohs give you the beauty of herbaceous peonies and the strong stems and bloom size of tree peonies. Just cut them to the ground in fall and they’ll be back late next May.
This is the coolest spot in the garden, even on a hot August afternoon. Would that I could have more time to pause here.
This hosta is electric even after sundown. It made me cringe to dig it up and divide it, but it is doing fine in its new locations.
Here is a short passage between the front entry walk and the perennial garden in back. Itoh peonies and roses, not yet in bloom, reside there.
This is the scene that made me first realize, years ago, that I actually had a garden. Along with the boxwoods (Buxus, Zones 5–9), there is my very favorite tree on the immediate right, the fringe tree (Chionanathus virginicus, Zones 3–9). To the back is a kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa, Zones 5–8), and a variegated Viburnum to the left.
The front walk was years in the making. The stepping stones were a major task. The plantings on either side are a jungle.
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Comments
Awesome garden! Very beautiful.
Beautiful gardens Bob & Linda! Love the plant material & fabulous stonework. A beautiful & just society exists only in a garden. The delicate are nourished, the strong given space, the deadwood pruned away, & the weeds tilled under. Maybe that's why God created a garden before anything else. Yours is a terrific example.
Congratulations on the beautiful set of gardens you have created. The colors and textures all work.
Gorgeous garden! Love the lush layering, enticing paths, artful stonework and beautiful plants.
Lovely! Thanks for sharing. I love the lush, layered plantings and the varied stonework. What is the electric lime shrub on the right in the sixth picture?
Thank you, all, for your kind comments. It warms my heart to share the garden with you.
Joycelaubach, I have 10,000 lf of deer fence around the cultivated part of the yard. Without it, the garden would not exist.
fromvirginia, that shrub is a deutzia of some kind. Sorry I can't be more specific. I've had it a long time.
Stupendous! I would love to take a cup of coffee & sit on the bench in the shade of the tree. Love it all!
Beautiful!
Awesome, stupendous, lovely, gorgeous - yes, all those words, plus magnificent, eye-popping, etc., etc.!! I now garden in SW Florida, but this takes me back to my Wayne, PA garden outside Philadelphia. Judging by the Hosta, I guess you don't have the deer scourge I faced. And yes, the Fringe Tree, what a wonderful tree, not used nearly enough. I will gaze at these pictures as I meditate today. Thanks for sharing.
Such a beautiful peaceful garden. Well done!!
Truly, a beautiful design, beautiful plantings and wonderful photos. I want to walk down each path to see what glories lie beyond
I totally understand what you mean when you wrote: "the scene that made me first realize, years ago, that I actually had a garden", that feeling when you see your garden vision has happened slowly over time!
I just love what you've created here in your garden...it's a masterpiece of work.
Beautiful garden, in the truest meaning of the word.
Every single view of your gardens equals perfection. Wow!
Absolutely terrific garden! Any recollection of the hosta’s name?
I was hoping to find out from these gardeners also. It looks like "Autumn Frost".
I also would love to know more about that hosta. Such beautiful paths and sitting areas- so welcoming.
Marvelous... every single square foot is perfection. Kudos to you both for every minute of hard work I know from experience went into this Eden. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you for sharing your garden spaces! Lovely photos of years of hard work - enjoy!
What a fabulous use of plant textures and colors accenting by stonework and meandering paths!
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