Today we’re in Maryland, visiting Mary Spencer’s garden.
May is my favorite month of the year and is when my shade garden comes to life. I have lived here for 23 years and have taken out just a single rhododendron and added hundreds of plants. My love of hostas shows no evidence of waning. I don’t know what I enjoy more—the plants or the many different birds that show up in the yard. I lost my husband of 42 years last August, and the garden is what keeps me going.
Yellow archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon, Zones 4–8) with silver-marked foliage and yellow blooms is a beautiful plant, but it spreads rapidly, so it needs to be sited where it won’t smother other plants.
The woodland garden is lush with plants, with huge ostrich ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris, Zones 2–8).
A flower-covered dogwood (Cornus, Zones 5–9) presides over the garden.
Spigelia marilandica (Zones 5–9) is a wonderful native perennial with incredible red-and-yellow blooms, here showing off in front of a hosta.
From low ground covers to taller growing perennials to shrubs and trees, every layer of this garden brings different textures and shades of green.
Bright color for the shade is provided by a variegated hosta and orange and white impatiens (Impatiens walleriana, Zones 10–11 or as an annual).
A container planted up with annuals and Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra, Zones 5–9) adds height to this shade planting.
Flower buds from a mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia, Zones 5–9) are in their wonderful balloon stage before popping open.
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Comments
So beautiful, so peaceful. I love your gardens!
Thanks for sharing.
Oh, my. How lovely!
Outstanding creativity with great balance & impressive coverage. Your passion for nature, color, & landscape beauty shines from every angle! Surely the work of a 'Master Gardener'!
Amazing!!!! What a lovely lovely place you have created!!!!
Oh my, your woodland gardens are so lush and lovely, they create a lovely calming atmosphere for home. The blooms on your Mountain laurel and Spigelia marilandica are beautiful!
So lovely Mary. That spigelia is special. Thanks for sharing.
I love your garden style, it's what I aspire to have my garden look like.
Gardens are healing places- to sit in or to work in....so sorry to hear of the loss of your husband, and I'm glad you have found solace in your gardening.
I'm so impressed with your accomplishment in design and plant choices- just beautiful!
Mary, condolences on the loss of your husband of 44 years - I know that your gardens have been both the recipients and the givers during this time of mourning and healing. I love your plant combinations. I'd never thought of combining the lamiastrum with oakleaf hydrangeas, but I JUST LOVE that look! And your orange and white impatiens in front of the variegated hosta are remarkable. Thanks so much for sharing. And blessings on your healing.
Oops it isn't an oakleaf, it is viburnum (?plicatum?) that the lamiastrum is fronting. I'd already decided to try to replicate that look in front of an oakleaf, so my mistake! Sorry!
First - my deepest sympathy on the loss of your dear husband. Second - isn't it wonderful how we find grace and healing in our gardens, no matter what the source of sadness. You've created an absolute sanctuary. I'm going to look for that spigelia marilandia - stunning.
For those of us who love gardening, our gardens do indeed bring us peace. Yours looks like a lovely place to spend some healing hours.
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