Today we’re off to southern New Jersey to visit Laura Boissonnault’s beautiful garden.
Laura’s house is a colonial-style home built in 1920, and her romantic, cottage-garden design complements the building perfectly.
Soft pink hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla, Zones 6–9) and blue clematis (Clematis hybrid, big-flowered group, Zones 5–9) glow against bright white fencing.
Even the vegetable garden is beautiful, with a soft peach-colored calendula (Calendula officinalis, annual) blooming in the foreground. Calendula is beautiful, and the petals are edible as well.
Alternating clumps of salvia (Salvia nemorosa, Zones 3–8) and pink sea thrift (Armeria maritima, Zones 4–8) bloom against a white fence.
This part of the garden is all soft pink from roses and annuals.
Pots of geraniums (Pelargonium hybrid, annual) bloom on the front steps. It is clear that Laura is very thoughtful about the colors she chooses in the garden, leaning heavily on pinks, blues, and purples to a create calm, unified color story.
Is there any more romantic way to welcome people into the garden than a rose-covered arch?
More climbing roses blooming on a white trellis. Climbing roses don’t cling to their supports the way true vines do, so each of the long stems has to be carefully tied into place to create a display like this, and Laura has done it beautifully. The light paint color on the wall and white trellis provide the perfect backdrop for the glowing rose blooms.
Soft pink dahlias (Dahlia variabilis, Zones 8–10 or as a tender bulb) open their huge, many-petaled blooms. The view of the garden beyond shows that this isn’t a huge garden out in the country but a smaller space with many close neighbor houses, but Laura has used that space perfectly to create a magical garden.
What better way to end a visit to this garden than with a view of the glowing sky in soft pastel colors that echo the blooms in the garden itself?
If you want to see more from Laura, check out her instagram: @howsitgrowingnj
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.
If you want to send photos in separate emails to the GPOD email box that is just fine.
Have a mobile phone? Tag your photos on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter with #FineGardening!
You don’t have to be a professional garden photographer – check out our garden photography tips!
Do you receive the GPOD by email yet? Sign up here.
Fine Gardening Recommended Products
Morvat Heavy Duty Brass Y-Valve
Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.
Planting in a Post-Wild World: Designing Plant Communities for Resilient Landscapes
Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.
Pruning Simplified: A Step-by-Step Guide to 50 Popular Trees and Shrubs
Fine Gardening receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.
Comments
Very beautiful!
Absolutely gorgeous. It looks like New Dawn growing along the front of the house. I'm curious what you used to train it. I have a couple new ones that I'm eager to get higher. Also love the clematis and would love the actual name of yours. It's obvious the amount of love and time you are putting into it...kudos.
Love the details, well done, the flower pots, baskets, light pole, vegetable garden wow, thank you for sharing, I love learning from other gardeners.
It's fun to see a photo series with such a consistent color palette. Just scrolling from those peachy pink dahlias to the glorious sunset made me smile. So many of us lean toward a specific color or two by instinct. Using it to organize a garden takes our preferences to a next level.
Such a beautiful house and garden! The house colors evoke the colors on Monet's home in Giverney. Love the dahlias; do I see a Cafe au Lait, or one of it's darker cousins?
I so enjoy seeing a gardeners house in context to the garden, it really gives you a feeling of being there, and you can see the big picture...yours is all just darling!
Gee, I love your choice of plants, fences, details and all of it!!!!!
You really do have a picture perfect garden- I really enjoyed seeing all the beauty you created!
Love, love, love - your house and gardens. Everything is simply beautiful and I'm jealous of your NJ location (although my NJ gardens were in the north east area). Gardening there is such a pleasure but I've been working hard to learn how to deal with the clay and super hot summers here in the Charlotte area. Love the creative use of the basket for your house numbers - perfect with the cottage style! Thank you for sharing this charming space with us.
Love seeing what you have done with your space. Such beautiful color combinations, especially when highlighted by the sunset colors. I want to know more about the clay pots upside down on the dark posts.
Lovely!
amazing! https://www.finegardening.com/
looks amazing! .
Log in or create an account to post a comment.
Sign up Log in