Garden Photo of the Day

Revisiting Marina’s Garden

A rainy summer made for a great gardening year

close up of dense garden bed with yellow and pink flowers

We’re in Beeton, Ontario, today, visiting Marina. We’ve been to her beautiful garden before (Marina’s Garden in Beeton, Ontario) when it was just a few years old, and we’re back today to see how it has thrived and grown since then.

I just wanted to send you a few pictures of my garden taken this past summer. You can see that the weather was the most favorable for gardening, unlike our usual hot and dry Ontario summers.

My backyard is getting there, with the rainy summer helping a lot. As you see, my garden is pretty wild. I like to collect plants and plant them densely. I also have an ambition to complement the gorgeous self-seeded sea of wild grasses beyond the chain-link fence. I made two geometric beds and am in the process of adding a few tightly clipped topiaries in order to add some structure to the “wilderness.”

early summer garden with pink and purple flowers and tiny pots of plantsEarly summer in the garden. I love the repeated elements of pink, purple, and burgundy from flowers and foliage. It really gives the garden a unified theme.

close up of densely planted garden bed with pink and purple flowersSo many different plants are in here, all thriving and blooming, while the limited color scheme keeps it all harmonious.

close up of lush garden bed next to front porch There are more yellow notes in this part of the garden. Look at that fabulous clematis (Clematis hybrid, Zones 4–9) by the front door!

close up of dense garden bed with yellow and pink flowersYellow, gold, and orange are repeated in foliage and flowers here for a sunny part of the garden.

garden with deep red foliage and pink flowersI love the warm pink color of these foxgloves (Digitalis × mertonensis, Zones 4–8).

orange flower in the middle of deep purple foliageAgainst the dark foliage of a smokebush (Cotinus coggygria, Zones 5–8), this lily (Lilium hybrid, Zones 5–9) really stands out.

close up of a foxglove with fuzzy foliageAn unusual perennial foxglove (looks like Digitalis lanata, Zones 3–8, or one of the related species)

lush green garden bed along a chain-link fenceA rainy summer makes for a lush, green garden. Here it is about to burst into color as the Hydrangea paniculata (Zones 3–8) flowers get ready to open.

bright yellow daylilies in a garden bed along a fenceThese daylilies (Hemerocallis hybrid, Zones 3–8) with long, narrow petals have such an elegant, refined look to them! This flower shape on a daylily is sometime called a spider form.

wide view of garden with wild grasses just beyond chain-link fenceThe contrast between the garden and the wilder areas beyond the fence is apparent in this photo.

 

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Comments

  1. User avater
    user-7007816 11/28/2023

    Love the density and wildness of your plantings.

  2. User avater
    treasuresmom 11/28/2023

    Well done.

  3. [email protected] 11/28/2023

    Love your gardens. I have the same love for selfseeding plants in my gardens.
    Question: I don't see any mulch, do you use some?

  4. btucker9675 11/28/2023

    Love the colors, shapes and textures in your garden - everything works so beautifully together.

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