Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
woodyoak

Local Garden Tour today.

I'd rather have seen Deanne's garden.... The garden on the tour today were pretty unexciting for the most part. We didn't even take pictures at two of them! It was a VERY hot day too so We ended up coming home for 2 hrs. in the middle - to cool off, have lunch, and take a nap!

Two of the smallest gardens on the tour were of the 'pack in too many trees' type that looked quite interesting at this stage but in 5 years would need to be severely cleaned out to start again. Which is fine is that's what people would actually do, but I suspect what is most likely to happen is the current owners sell and leave the problem for the next owners! Also, there seems to be a big trend to using rough fieldstone on paths. I HATE that stuff! Very dangerous for me to walk on. OK - I'm decrepit so that's probably not the usual reaction. But a young and otherwise healthy person who broke a leg or foot and was on crutches would also have trouble, as would a parent of a baby in a stroller. If you want a rustic path, make one from bark mulch so it's safely walkable! Nice, properly laid and level flagstone is great but that wasn't used an any of the gardens. Fortunately there weren't any peastone paths in the gardens this year - that is the other material that is virtually unwalkable for me.

Enough complaints... There were some nice things in the gardens. These glass flowers were very attractive:

{{gwi:164254}}

{{gwi:164256}}

We got a chuckle out of this gargoyle that was carved by the ower of one garden:

{{gwi:164258}}
He had also made a rather unique water feature, piping water through a twisting copper pipes that flared out into two spouts slashing the water into a big bath-tub-shaped galvanized container. It rather looked like an outdoor shower at first glance, but I assume it was a tongue-in-cheek water feature :-)

{{gwi:164260}}
Just beside it was a VERY tall stand of bamboo that was 'caged' with a spiral of copper that ended as the lamp that you can see by the 'bathtub'. We asked if the bamboo was a clumper or a running type. The guy said it runs! I suspect the next owner of the house might need to hire a backhoe and excavate the whole property to a depth of several feet to get rid of the bamboo! But it was interesting at the moment... (There was also a New Dawn rose scaling the top of trees and shrubs nearby.) Interesting folk but I suspect the house will be hard to sell when they decide to move on :-)

Check out the height of the bamboo relative to my 5' (it's the stuff that is continuing out the top of the picture...):

{{gwi:164262}}

GB - this is for you... This was a clematis arch. I really liked it. It was not in flower although there were both buds and seed heads. The lady did not know the name of the clematis. She said it was blue and white, with large, open flowers (not a dangling bell type). I liked the height and shape of the arch and the two sentinal cedars. The cedar hedge in the background was a good 20' tall - and clipped! I have no idea how you could clip it at that height.

The shape of the arch reminded me of one of the nicest iron arbours that I've seen. An old church on 'the main drag' had an arbour installed maybe 10-12 years ago. It's a series of gothic arches that match the church windows. There is wisteria started on it but I've never seen it bloom... It all gives a very cloister-like effect, which I assume was the intent. Randy stopped to take some pictures of it:

{{gwi:35183}}
{{gwi:35185}}

All in all, a good day out but the tour was not up to it's usual staandard.

Comments (10)

  • gardenbug
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Tell me Woody, is the last garden you showed the manse of the church or the church garden itself? The arbor makes a great unifying theme regardless! I'm of course trying to guess which clematis it might be that is growing there: Venosa Violacea? Oh...both buds and seedheads would mean it has already bloomed and will rebloom because it was a deadheaded group 2..perhaps. Hard to believe that with the main feature being the clematis arches the obvious question could not be answered! Perhaps you could send the organizers a follow up note and get the answer that way.

    I like the courtyard in the last picture...though personally I'm not up to finicky pruning any longer.

    I have a friend in Germany who planted bamboo some 10-12 years ago and last year needed to hire the backhoe people to remove it. What a horrid job that was! Her husband loved the bamboo...until the neighbors all complained.

    OK, bed time for me~. Too much fresh air for me today I guess, but not too hot because of the breeze.

    Bonsoir!
    'bug

  • dodgerdudette
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Bamboo is a container plant here !

  • woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
    Original Author
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    gb - the garden with the clematis arch had nothing to do with the church - it's a mile or two away in suburbia while the church is in the center of town on the main street, closely surrounded by businesses. The garden arbour just reminded me of the church ones so we stopped on the way home to take some pictures of the church arbour. (Actually, I never even realized there was a garden in there! You can see the arbour from the street but the garden isn't visible. Until I saw the pictures Randy took, I had never seen it - now I need to go take a look myself! The local Horticultural Society has its meetings in the church hall. I'm not sure if they had anything to do with having the arbour built or not.)

    We spoke to the owner of the clematis arch when we were in the garden - that's how I knew the color etc. She said she lost the tag so didn't know the name but did know it was a type that you weren't supposed to prune hard. I don't know if it'll help any but the leaves looked like this:
    {{gwi:164264}}

    Kathy - I've heard so many scary bamboo stories, I would dare plant it even in a pot! I'd hate to be the neighbours of the garden with that huge bamboo - I'm sure they'll eventually have problems...

  • gardenbug
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I feel as though I am missing the picture of the clematis arch with sentinel cedars and only seeing the church one...

  • woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
    Original Author
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You're right gb - I'm sure it was there when I previewed! Here it is:
    {{gwi:35181}}

    The vines on the church arbour are wisterias.

  • veronicastrum
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for bringing us along on the tour!

    Your comments on the bamboo reminded of a recent column in our local paper. The writer lives in a house where the previous owner planted Japanese knotweed. The current owner figures it will survive nuclear warfare.

    V.

  • deanneart
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Nice shots Woody, thanks for taking us on the tour. Love those arches!
    Deanne

  • gardenbug
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    No clue what clematis it might be...there are very few blue and white clematis that bloom early and repeat. Hmmmm. It certainly looks healthy. Now I'm curious!

    I think it might need a bit of attention because you don't want clematis straying onto the cedars because they would kill off green growth on them.

  • michelle_zone4
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You did find a few interesting things on the tour. The gothic arbors remind me of my new trellis with a gothic shape. It was a gift last year. I put clematis 'Pink Fantasy' and 'Brocade' on it and I'm amazed at the vigor of both and how much bloom I have for such new plants.

    The church garden is great and not something normally found by a church but it makes sense. Hopefully, there was a bench to sit in the solitude of the garden.

    Michelle

  • woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
    Original Author
    13 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Michelle - I can't remember if I saw your gothic trellis before or not - what's on it? Post a picture?

    I actually haven't seen the church garden up close - I just sent Randy over to take pictures while I waited in the car. Next time we're 'downtown', I'm going to have to check it out myself! All you can see from the street is the arbour. I didn't realize there was a garden there too...

Sponsored
SK Interiors
Average rating: 5 out of 5 stars49 Reviews
Loudoun County's Top Kitchen & Bath Designer I Best of Houzz 2014-2022