Garden Photo of the Day

Yvonne’s New Garden in Virginia

A new space through the seasons

beautiful round rose garden

Today we’re visiting with Yvonne Tsikata.

My old garden was previously featured in GPOD. In 2017, we moved from that house to a new one. While sad to leave my old garden, I was excited at tripling my garden space and receiving the opportunity to start a new garden from scratch. Retiring a couple of years ago gave me even more time to garden. I had spent a lot of time thinking about what I liked from many visits to gardens in the UK, Ireland, and France. I realized that I actually like a little bit of everything: formality and symmetry, woodland shade gardens, meadows, and Japanese gardens! So the garden has lots of “rooms,” with a different feel in each one. It’s still a work in progress and will be five years old in March. After doing some of the hardscaping in the old house, I got professional help with the stonework and walkways in this one, as it was beyond my capabilities. This set of pictures shows some early summer and winter scenes to contrast three of the “subgardens.” I love structure and stone and have used lots of evergreens. Roses are a huge passion. In the growing season, I spend a minimum of four hours in the garden every day. It’s truly my happy place.

blank slate of grass waiting to be turned into a gardenThe new garden in the early days—truly a blank slate

fountain center piece in the middle of a round rose gardenFormality in the rose garden: Buxus ‘Green Velvet’ and ‘Green Mountain’ (Zones 5–8), climbing roses (‘Eden’ on left and ‘Zepherine Drouhin’ on right), assorted David Austin roses (‘Geoff Hamilton’, ‘Darcy Bussell’, ‘Princess Alexandra of Kent’, ‘Charlotte’, and ‘Golden Celebration’), Nepeta ‘Cat’s Pajamas’ (Zones 3–8) and phenomenal lavender (Lavandula ‘Phenomenal’, Zones 5–9) under the fountain.

wider view of the pathway leading to the center of the rose gardenA wider view of the formal rose garden

snowy covered rose gardenThe rose garden dressed in white for the winter

green and white garden with a sphere centerpiece The green-and-white garden: Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ (Zones 3–9) and Salix integra ‘Hakuro-Nishiki’ (Zones 5–8) standards, underplanted with Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ (Zones 5–9), Mazus reptans ‘Alba’ (Zones 5–9), Dicentra spectablis ‘Alba’ (Zones 2–8), Agapanthus africanus ‘Alba’ (Zones 7–10), Hosta ‘June’ (Zones 3–9) and‘Mount Hood’ daffodils (Narcissus ‘Mount Hood’, Zones 3–8) and Galanthus elwesii (Zones 4–7) in the spring.

white and green garden covered in snowIn winter, it becomes the white-and-white garden.

Japanese-inspired GardenJapanese-inspired garden: Hollywood juniper (Juniperus chinensis ‘Torulosa’, Zones 5–9), Spirea ‘Candy Corn’ (Zones 4–8), Acer ‘Orangeola’ and ‘Red Dragon’ (Zones 5–9), Hakonechloa ‘Aureola’ (Zones 5–9), Nandina (Zones 6–9), and mystery hostas (gifts).

Japanese-inspired garden in winter.And the Japanese-inspired garden in winter

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Comments

  1. User avater
    vanhatalosuomi 01/27/2022

    Lovely garden. Would love to see more photos, before and after, or anything really! thanks for sharing :)

    1. fromvirginia 01/28/2022

      Will do though I’m not the best photographer:)

  2. sandyprowse 01/27/2022

    Just amazing, loved every photo and the story behind the grand gardens. Thank you.

  3. User avater
    user-7007816 01/27/2022

    What an amazing and beautiful job. I particularly enjoy the Japanese inspired area.

  4. gardendevas 01/27/2022

    WOW! Splendid! Like seeing the seasonal contrasts. Would definitely like to see more.

  5. User avater
    cynthia2020 01/27/2022

    Hello, Yvonne.
    Thank you for sharing!
    I really like the roses and the the Japanese inspired stream (and the lighting).
    I can imagine taking a chair out to various areas and enjoying the different scenes on my own, and also having family and friends over - and maybe with children - seeing what creatures are around the stream.

  6. User avater
    cindijacobs 01/27/2022

    beautiful rose garden and love how you used focal points. Amazing vision to create this all from scratch. You can see how much you love your gardens and taking care of them. Thanks for sharing.

  7. User avater
    simplesue 01/27/2022

    Wow what an amazing garden! It's so big and perfect that I at first thought it was a public garden!
    Just gorgeous what you did with all of your land!
    Such a place of interest and beauty!

  8. User avater
    treasuresmom 01/27/2022

    Love seeing the evolution of a garden. Please share more.

  9. user-5117752 01/27/2022

    How truly fabulous! You created such beauty from a flat field of weeds and grass!!! Hope you'll treat us to more!

  10. blondie3 01/27/2022

    I love everything about it! I love structure, paths, boxwood, well done! Enjoy your beautiful space!

  11. wildthyme 01/27/2022

    Gorgeous! I love the use of garden objects. They create so much winter interest. Keep posting progress!

  12. fromvirginia 01/27/2022

    Thank you all so much! I have a newish instagram account (@rosemama20) ) that has a few more garden pictures. I hope to do a better job this year documenting progress in the different sections of the garden, especially the native plants meadow and woodland area.

  13. busybee4 01/27/2022

    So beautiful! Love the different garden rooms!

    1. fromvirginia 01/28/2022

      Thank you!

  14. colleenak 01/27/2022

    Stunning garden, Yvonne! I was sad when I got to the end of the article :-( As others have requested, please show more of your garden spaces seasonally. Love the contrasts! My garden is going on 12 years old - and I've been steadily adding plants and metalwork (mostly trellises and obelisks for my clematis) made by a local metal artist (she also made my two garden gates that open to the backyard on both sides of the house). But now I'm inspired to do something with gravel and pavers :-)

    1. fromvirginia 01/28/2022

      I love using metal and handcrafted sounds wonderful. Good to have a small blower for the gravel in the Fall:)

  15. btucker9675 01/27/2022

    Wonderful - everything is wonderful!

    1. fromvirginia 01/28/2022

      Thank you!

  16. PattyLouise 01/31/2022

    This is my kind of garden! Love it! Love all of the hardscape also! Magazine worthy!

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