Everything is perfect! I love grasses that are used so well in a garden!
Is that your Cotinus Golden Spirit in the top right of the first photo? I'd like to see how big yours is. My tiny one has turned orange and red this year.
Lovely lovely lovely photos, Thank you!
You reminded me that soon I must prune back my raspberries though...

Wow!Wow!Wow! What a gorgeous planting of colors! And so very differant than anything around here.
I have so wanted a sourwood, and planted one but it never survived. I have seen such lovely ones in Harrison.
I wonder if I could grow a cornus kousa like that...it 'is' special.
The doggies snacking on berries is 'neat'...I love it.

Are all these the current view? Haven't you had a killing frost yet?

Monique...if I had to chose just one garden as my favorite-- it would be yours. The size, the variety of plants, the colors, the textures, the curvy beds ;o),...everything is superb! Thank you for sharing the photos. It is wonderful to see you posting.

My kind of gaudy, Monique. Which grass is that in the last photo?
I don't know which is my favorite, the Daphne ÂSummer IceÂ, Itea and Clethra or the Callicarpa dichotoma ÂEarly Amethyst with Allium thunbergii ÂOzawaÂ.

They are all pretty. Norma

Oh Monique! I believe you have the most fabulous fall gardens I've ever seen anywhere! Just incredible! They were incredible when we were there a week ago and they are even more incredible now. I just can't get over how beautiful everything looks right now. The scope of what you and Les have accomplished blows me away. Thanks for sharing these.

Deanne

WOW! You have the best garden for fall color that IÂve seen! Such fabulous color combinations!

I love the snacking dog pictures. What kind of dog is the first one? That pose looks so much like Misty. Misty is supposed to be a Shih Tzu x Lhasa Apso but I think she looks like thereÂs terrier somewhere in the breeding.

I wish my garden was so "gaudy" LOL You guys have certainly mastered the fall garden. Thanks for the tour. Rick enjoyed it too. He's enjoying the Idyll pictures much more now that he has met some of the Idylls.

Michelle

OK Monique, where can I buy the book? Might need these Pics while sitting by the fire this winter!
Kathy in the Napa Valley

Monique is it Ok if I say I hate you? LOLOL just kidding! YOu're garden is perfection: ) One thing I can say at least is that my Callicarpa looks as good as yours! It was just a phenominal year for fruit on that plant.

I have to take more time to look through your combos there's so much to consider.Do not take these down anytime soon! I like the Leucothoe with the Acer-I love every inch of ALL your plantings.

"Wuff-wuff!!" to the pups(they know what that means)

~Babs

Glad so many of you are enjoying the pictures!

Marie, the Cotinus ÂGolden Spirit is in many of the photos. It is in the top right of the 1st, 2nd, 6th, and the last photo. I didnÂt cut it back at all and the foliage was all golden until midsummer, when it turned somewhat green for a few weeks. Then, new growth started up again which was golden. So, from the front of that bed it was golden b/c only the tops of its branches peeked out over the other plantings, but if you looked at the plant from the side it was green at the base and gold on top. IÂll try to locate some photos and post them later.

Marian, weÂve had a few mild frosts here already, that is why some of the foliage colors are looking so nice I think, but we still have some flowers in bloom such as Aconitum, Gentian, Anemones, roses, mums, Aster Fanny etc. The photos I posted are from the end of Sept until now-theyÂre all mixed in.

Norma, the grass in the last photo is Miscanthus ÂPurpurescensÂ. It actually is a bit less coral in person, but my camera seems to add an orange glow every year, sort of like the Aconitum is purple but looks blue in the photo.

Deanne-we had a couple of frosts since youÂve been here and I went out one morn that was extremely cloudy and took a bunch of photos. The camera wanted to use the flash, but I overrode it and the photos had a nice "glow" to them.

Woody, I noticed that your Misty had a terrier look to her. BTW, so sorry about that dog bite she got and hope she recovers quickly. Both of my dogs are Glen of Imaal Terriers.

Monique I really enjoyed seeing your garden. I especially noticed the conifers after our conversation at the idyllunion. You have perfectly blended the woody and herbaceous. I have a long property too, and I emailed your pictures to my husband so he can become motivated:) Just gorgeous!

D.

Nothing gaudy about these, Monique. It's probably been mentioned before, but I'm really impressed with the colors brought in by structure and containers. I would've never thought that it would work in Autumn, but it does!

You're garden is increasing my plant list .... Rich has threatened to delete this thread. LOL

Congratulations!

Martie

Hi Monique (and Les)! Well everything has been said in terms of kudos, but I would have to say that these are my kind of gardens. The dominance of woody plants is wonderful, just what I would like to achieve in my new garden. I think it really is less work than a purely herbaceous border and has more interest too -- especially in fall as you have shown, with a beautiful element of fall color, berries, much more height and form variation. These are really inspirational. I love the beautiful curved lawn borders, it really sets off the plantings. In the areas without the brick edging, the beds still look really sharp. Are you using steel edging, the 'black diamond type', what?

A couple of other questions. Your Wolf-Eyes kousa is the best one I have ever seen. It looks like it is growing in full (or at least a lot of...) sun. Does it scorch? Perhaps I should try to move mine where it will get more sun like this. How old is that plant? It looks good-sized and has beautiful structure.

I think I see a red crape-myrtle in one of the pictures, and I believe I remember you talking about that plant before. Is it 'Tonto', something like that? Do you grow any other reasonably hardy crape myrtles?

I know you have a fairly big garden from what Sue and others have told me. Do you water all this by hand or with sprinklers, or do you have an irrigation system in the beds?

Simply fabulous....

Monique, I am a bit of a lurker here. Usually my poor old Dial-Up system is so slow I don't wait if there are lots of pictures, but this morning I let yours load while doing breakfast. It was worth the wait!

You have absolutely fabulous gardens for fall! I love everything you have done. Some we probably can't grow well in the midwest, but wish we could. The gardens remind me of David's with all the combinations of woody plants, grasses and perennials. There is a lesson there for all of us.

What was your inspiration? If there is a book out there, I need to buy it!

Thanks again for the additional compliments! I haven't posted any photos in a while, so this is mucho fun.

David, so nice to hear from you. BTW, I'm still waiting for photos of your garden, hint-hint. To answer your questions about my yard: in the areas w/o the paver edging, we use green steel edging that Lowes carries. I don't necessarily like the look but it does the job keeping the grass out of the beds. The strips come in 8 foot sections, but they do rust a bit and I think there is another brand out there that is rustproof. The Kousa dogwood is in mostly full sun-it does get a bit of shade later in the season when the Miscanthus floridulus behind it gets 10 feet high and the sun is at a different angle. The foliage stays very nice-no scorching with nice variegation. It was planted around 2000 or 2001-I cannot find the exact year anywhere. BTW, I do have 'Tonto' Crape Myrtle, but not in any of the photos-photo 3 has two Heptacodium miconoides with their fuchsia calyces in full fall display. I have 2/3rd of an acre-we use soaker hoses and sometime sprinklers. No irrigation system for us yet, however we have hose hookups in multiple places around the yard thanks to an irrigation company, so we donÂt need to drag around 300 feet of hoses. Consequently, we have hosepots near every hose hookup.

Gldno1-my inspiration would have to be all the great photos I have seen on Gardenweb by fantastic gardeners; definitely more so than any one book or magazine.

oh my, i had forgotten you live in eden... just MAGNIFICENT! i remember your lush springs but you have sheer heaven 365 days a year in your chunk of heaven! simply stunning...

Hi again Monique. Thanks again for the info. I have one more question too. The Leucothoes that you have look magnificent. And I wonder if they are growing in full sun too? Everything I hve read about these shrubs says that they should do best in partial to even deep shade, similar to where they grow in the wild. Yours look so healthy and luxurious in growth. They are hard shrubs to find around here, I think relatively unknown and a bit problematic for hardiness reasons, also for the prevalent alkaline clay soil. But I have acid sand and some woodland conditions, so they should do OK for me. I have looked around for them, but found only a few Leucothoe 'Rainbow', which I have planted in protected spots in the woods.

And yes, now I see that the tall red "flowered" shrubs are heptacodiums. Just bought 2 on sale myself. I am looking forward to that one. Do you have any other pictures showing them up closer in flower or fruit?

I promise that, once the garden season is really over I will post some pictures from this season. We have done a tremendous amount of work and have more and more of the 'framework' of the garden in -- hardscape, beds, paths, some major trees and shrubs, etc. But mostly, nothing is yet 'complete', since the groundcovers and herbaceous plants and vines that knit everything into a cohesive whole are mostly not there. So mostly I have not yet taken a lot of pictures of completed vignettes. Yours have certainly been inspirational though, and have motivated me to get the specimen woody plants in the ground and going, more than ever.

Hi Monique,

What can I say? You are the mistress of woody plant placement and late season interest. Why oh why though do you keep taunting me with pictures of to die for conifers that I don't have sun or room for? lol OK, maybe I can at least find a spot for one of those Skylands spruce...but where?

Looking forward to next year,

Sue

Well, IÂm finally getting back to this thread b/c I owe a few comments and photos. Sorry for the delay.

Marie, you asked about the size of my Cotinus ÂGolden Spirit this year-here it is in full bloom, about 6 feet tall on June 17th:
{{gwi:184568}}

Same angle, but on August 1st. Notice the flowers are still there but the older foliage has greened up a bit. However the new growth is golden.
{{gwi:184570}}

David, I had 2 Leucothoe ÂRainbow in the eastern exposure of my front yard, but they got too much winter burn (dessication) or leaf spotting by early spring and always looked a bit spindly IMO. I replaced them this year with a new variegated one from Fairweather gardens called ÂDoddÂs Variegated which is L. axillaris instead of L. fontanesiana. The 3 I have in the back bed (also eastern exposure, with sun until 2pm or so) are ÂSilver Run and IÂve been impressed with this cultivar. Some leaves are a bit crispy post-winter, but after trimming those branches off the plant maintains a bushy form. Here is one last January 22nd:
{{gwi:184572}}

Heptacodiums are another favorite of mine; you wanted to see close-ups of flowers and fruit. The white fragrant flowers in September morph into red calyces in October-November.

Flowers (photo from back in 2003-I canÂt find any recent ones)
{{gwi:184579}}

Calyxes (from November 5th this year)
{{gwi:184580}}

{{gwi:184582}}

Bark (2003)
{{gwi:184584}}

Very very helpful Monique, thanks so much!

Monique, thanks for the info about the leucothoes and the hepatocodium. I have never had the latter in my garden before but I now expect great things for next year given your wonderful pictures. I will be interested to see how the Leucothoe 'Rainbow"s do here this winter. I planted them quite late, but sprayed them with wiltpruf too. I know Silver Run is supposed to be a superior and probably hardier cultivar. The problem for me may be finding it. I called Broken Arrow and they have some small ones which they might mailorder. Leucothoes in general are hard to find around here, borderline hardy in this zone, and often the growing conditions are not ideal, though my acid sandy woods should be good for them.

And after seeing the beautiful gold foliaged Cotinus, that will go on my wish list too. I have a 'Grace' that grew to 10' from a small plant, in one season. And I drove by my old garden and noticed that a small 'Pink Fountains' (I think that's it) grew to a 10' high and wide shrub in 2 seasons too. They sure do grow quickly.....

Thanks again. David

Absolutely lovely!!

I remember this gorgeous thread so well. I hope we'll get the '07 update!