Shrubbery Garden - Elegant and Easy

I get to my local library often, and the elegant shrubbery garden that surrounds three sides of the building is always changing.  The garden was donated by Dorothy R Yeck and named after her.  The design was created by Craig Jaynes who is a talented landscape designer.  The ever changing garden caught my eye this week.  It was a mild gloomy day here in South West Ohio, and the Woodbourne Washington-Centerville  Public Library caught my eye as anything but gloomy. 

Evergreens, like these Gold Thread Junipers, sometimes referred to as False Cypress, set off the lovely red fruit of the Ilex verticillata , “Red Sprite”. 

The Ilex “Red sprite” stays small and grows only to three and half feet high and about four feet wide.  Nice plant in this border because it stays within its boundaries.

The Rhassus Frangula, “Fine Line” is the tall thin shrub here.  It will spread to about two – three feet wide, and it’s delicate leaves give this plant a wispy appearance.



This bright blue shrub is a Picea pungens glauca “Globasa” – a compact shrub with blue needles.  



Juniperus ‘Gold Cone’, is a columnar evergreen that will not grow more than two feet wide.  The leafless shrubs around the Juniper, are Caryopteris, ‘Worchester Gold’ and Caryopteris ‘Longwood Blue’ Even thought the Caryopteris is a deciduous shrub, the seed heads remain for some winter interest.


Featured at the front door of the library are Hydrangea quercifolis “Sikes Dwarf”.  Again, this deciduous shrub holds onto the dried seed heads that rustle in the breeze.


Pinus nigra “hombrookiana” is the round pine on the right.  Staying small in height of about 3 feet, this shrub can spread to 6 feet wide. The ‘army’ green needles make this a good backdrop for this shrubbery border. 

Syringa “Prairie Petite” is a dwarf lilac that has ‘large panicles packed with tubular, purple flowers’ as described by Craig Jaynes in his plant summery of this garden.


Aronia, melanocarpa “Viking” has shiny black berries from September through December.  (These few are hanging on into January.)

Beautyberry has these wonderful purple berries.  Callicarpa D “Early Amethyst is the botanical name for this plant.  I’m told that Beautyberry will bloom with small, pink blossoms and will produce more berries if planted in groups. The stems of this shrub make great winter decorations in planters and holiday decorations.

Liriope and an ornamental grass grouped at the entrance of this library garden, are not in the original shrub garden, but they certainly add texture to the winter landscape. The liriope is a grass-like plant that gets spikes of berries in the fall and is sometimes called lily tuft, or border grass.  Just to the rear of the liriope are Oak Leaf Hydrangea, a native shrub.

As these photos show, the shrub garden is in a narrow border surrounding the front three sides of the library.

All the plants chosen are dwarf or columnar so that the maintenance is minimal.  Ask  questions when you are planning a space in your landscape, and choose plants that 1) have color, 2) have texture, 3) have seasonal features like blooms or winter berries, 4) will grow to mature size that will fit into the space.
Do you have a space where the plant material outgrew the allotted area?  I’ve learned this lesson the hard way on several occasions. Envision the look you want, plant the right plants, and above all, enjoy your garden. 

Garden Ideas for September Color

September Colors That Pop

"I've been looking at so much dirt and mud I forgot to look at why I garden in the first place ... pretty flowers in bloom!"




The variegated liriope is sending up lovely purple spikes in the September garden. And this stone has moss that is blooming from all the crevices.  Quite lovely.



Asters in shades of lavender are just coming on. I find asters are more reliable than mums in my garden.  I wouldn’t want a September garden without them.




The clematis has never bloomed this late in the season, and I saw several more buds yet to bloom.  (Hoping the weather doesn’t get too cold before they do.)




The few roses I have left are getting in one more show.

Eupatorium rugosum ‘Chocolate’ is a real bright spot in the garden and it has dozens of bees visiting. This is a relative to the native known as ‘Joe-Pye Weed’.

The yarrow, Achillea, is a ferny perennial that held up well in full sun, and little water.   After cutting it back by about half in mid-July, it is full of buds and color again.





Japanese Anemone (varieties unknown) are in full sun and are 4’-5’ tall.  They typically bloom in autumn and, they too, are loaded with bees.

  
 Sedum, Autumn Joy is simply gorgeous.
 
 The blue of the plumbago is not as full as previous years.  This is one plant I severely cut back in the garden renovation.




Black-eyed Susan are adding color here and there.  The Caryopteris is a shrub with a dainty blue blossom. It is getting more sun now that we took down a big ash tree, so I’m hoping that next year is will bloom more. 




Chelone lyonii, Hot Lips, or Turtlehead has a bloom that reminds folks of a turtle’s head and resembles a snapdragon.  Preferring moist locations, I am happy to see ‘Hot Lips’ looking so well after this hot, dry summer.  The spirea was quite satisfied with the summer sun., however.  I pruned about a third of the plant off earlier in the summer, and, as you can see, it is a  show-off!



The plant world never ceases to amaze me – this weigela ‘Wine and Roses’  a spring bloomer, is reblooming in mid-September.



Fading blooms of hydrangea are elegant and a beautiful shade of mauve.

Trictus, Toad Lily is tiny, about one inch in diameter, but I’ve seen humming birds hit on them all week. Dainty blooms are very pretty, and the foliage holds up nicely too. 

I really needed to see the garden.  Too often I get bogged down in the chores, and forget about the payoff of all the work – the flowers!
Thanks for visiting my September garden.  What is blooming in yours?

Adam and April’s Landscape Project

New Homeowners Start Landscape

Adam and April have a lovely home.  But the overgrown shrubs and low limbs of large trees in the front yard made it difficult to see.  Soon after they moved in, Adam set out to limb up the pine trees in front, and remove several other trees that were damaged.


 

  Adam and April asked for my help in getting a ‘plan’ together.  The design process was on hold until we determined what they wanted their yard to reflect.  Did they want a formal garden, an English garden, a high maintenance garden, or something in between.  We also talked about the time frame in which they expected to have this project finished. 
This timing issue also is important because a budget needs to be set up.  Lets face it, if you want a lot done next month, you may have to hire some help.  If this plan stretches over 3 – 5 years, then you may be able to do most of the work yourself. 
So Adam and April decided they wanted a casual, colorful garden that was low maintenance.  No maintenance gardens for the homeowner usually requires a gardener, since there is no such thing as a ‘no maintenance garden’. 

 
Adam and April removed the taxis from the front corner and added a compost soil mix to the planting bed.  April also set out to remove some of the border stones that were three high, and spread the extra soil around the roots of the tree.
 
During the deconstruction process, I had April and Adam over to see some plant material that they might want.  They chose some hostas, and other shade plants that we could divide when they were ready to plant. 
Extra watering was needed before we divided some of the plants, as we have had no measureable rain here for months.  Finally, April and I set out to dig!

An ornamental Zebra Grass is taking center stage in the front corner.  Surrounding the grass, we put a variegated liriope.  The green and yellow of both the grass and the liriope really played off of each other in the sun.  The bright purple bloom of the liriope accented the planting nicely.
Next we tackled the base of the pine tree.  Here we planted five green and cream hosta, H. Abba-Dabba-Doo.
We took divisions of  6 – 8 daylilies.  Unfortunately, I could not recall the colors, or the names.  We will try to name them in the spring.  Consequently, we divided out about 40 or so fans, and randomly placed them under the tree.

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I plan to follow Adam and April’s project over the next season or two.  Can’t wait for spring when the new beds will come to life. Follow the basic steps to plan your project and thanks for visiting today.