Today’s photos are from Lee Ann McAlpine, who is looking at her Ohio garden this year and determining what worked and what didn’t.

My husband and I moved to our 90-year-old house two years ago. I’m having lots of fun restoring the garden and learning what works best in my semi-wooded backyard.

I thought I’d create some exotic drama along the walkway with tropical cannas (Canna hybrids, Zones 7–10 or as tender bulbs) and elephant’s ear (Colocasia esculenta, Zones 7–10 or as a tender bulb), but I almost needed a machete to use the path, so after overwintering, these plants will go elsewhere next year.

This was an already established bed of black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia fulgida, Zones 3–9), with boxwood (Buxus sp., Zones 5–9) and an urn filled with begonias (Begonia hybrid, Zones 9–11 or as an annual). I’ve added, and will continue to add, other perennials so this bed has more year-round interest.

Pumpkins volunteered on one side of the gazebo. I thought “How big could they get?” They have climbed over everything in their path and then some, with some smothering my daylily bed and boxwoods. At least there are a lot of pumpkins, so I’m not sure if this is a success or a failure.

The daylily bed with Rudbeckia maxima (Zones 5–9) before the “attack of the pumpkins.”

On the other side of the gazebo, the garden includes ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris, Zones 3–7), purple clematis, roses, boxwood, and burning bush (Euonymus alatus, Zones 4–8). A Japanese maple (Acer palmatum, Zones 5–9) looms in the background.

Have any successes or failures in your garden this year you’d like to share? We’d love to see them! It’s always fun to look back at the spring and summer past and learn from what worked or didn’t work.

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