Today’s photos come from Vanessa Bianchi, who moved from Florida to the Midwest a couple of years ago and had to learn about gardening in a new climate.

I moved from Florida two years ago and purchased a house with a huge garden, but it was kind of empty and just plain green. I knew nothing about gardening in this area, since in Florida we have totally different vegetation. I started to research gardening in Zone 5. It became my number-one hobby! Little by little I started filling up my garden with perennials—some for shade and some for sun or partial shade. I have added more than 40 hostas, hydrangeas of different types, rhododendrons, stonecrop, ‘Purple Chablis’ (Lamium maculatum ‘Purple Chablis’, Zones 4–8) for ground cover, bushes, peonies, and four different trees. In addition, I add annuals in containers to bring up more color to my garden.

Gardening is a long process. I’ve had a few failures but many more successes! There is huge satisfaction in seeing your garden bloom. I make sure to plant tulips in fall so after our cold weather goes away we get to enjoy them first thing in spring. I also design spaces that bloom in different seasons so my garden looks nice during the whole year.

Gardening became part of my life in the Midwest. I love it here!

What is spring without tulips? Don’t forget that it will be time to plant tulips soon for many of us. That means it’s time now to start thinking about a spring display. Learn more about gardening with tulips.

More tulips, and a young garden helper. Mixing short and tall tulips together like this makes a rich, three-dimensional display.

But don’t forget to add other colors for later in the season. After the tulips have faded, other plants and annuals take over.

For this shady spot, hostas, ‘Purple Chablis’ lamium, and annuals make a colorful display.

It is hard to beat panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata, Zones 3–8) for flower display at the end of summer. There are many new varieties of this hydrangea on the market—some tall, some short, and with flower colors ranging from pink to white to pale green. There’s one for every garden!

Spring color from pink rhododendron PJM (Rhododendron ‘PJM’,  Zones 4–8) and white candytuft (Iberis sempervirens, Zones 5–9)

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.

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