Wow...that just makes me smile, wish I could walk through, Helen.

David your photos warm my heart! You're like the anti-HGTV lol.
You know they have all these "garden" and curb appeal shows where someone rips out all the mature old wonderful landscaping and puts in a few drought tolerant landscaper's choice bulk plants.
It's so good to see the opposite and see the plants we love coming to life and growing large and lush.
I look forward to more!

PS - 2004? Has it been that long? We moved into this house in July 2004 and I dug up and moved half my garden. I didn't realize you were doing it at the same time!

David, what a gifted artist you are. Your garden just takes my breath away. If you don't mind what is the purple plant beneath the Cedar, it's such a rich color.

A......

I am still on dial-up, but I knew it would be worth the wait.....and it was! I love what you have done. The house and gardens look like they have been nestled there for years.

I can't believe you could move that large cedar; just looked it up in my Dirr's and find it is something that I could grow here...surprised me. I love the purples and silvers and the grasses here and there. I am beginning to fall in love with grasses and love how you have used them.

What have you topped the path with? I can't tell if it is bark or pebbles. I too think the path curving through the beds is wonderful.

Thank you for the update, please keep them coming.

David, as they always have been, your gardens are an inspiration. So glad you're posting again.

You really have a talent for combinations and layout. I love the purples and silvers together, and am amazed that you got that much growth in a year.

How large (length x width) is this area? I love the 'walk through' feel, that you are IN the garden rather than looking at it.

Thanks for posting, I always love your pictures.

This area is maybe 100' long (maybe 150', not sure, in that range) by 50' wide. There are a couple of other big beds in the front that are not walk through, and a few of these pictures are taken of them. The path is woodchips. I personally love 'walk-through' gardens better than other other kind of planting areas. The dark purple plant is Aster Purple Dome.

More to come....gotta get on to bulb planting first......planted about 1000 bulbs in this area over the past few weeks...

Thanks David, I thought it might be an Aster, but wasn't sure. I've just bought 'Purple Dome' to add to my Aster collection but it's not going to bloom for me this year. Please keep the pictures coming, your garden is totally awesome.

A......

Gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous. David, you should start your own forum here and give design lessons. Really. You should.

That is just marvelous! That is also the way I like to plant my gardens, as a walk through garden, with paths and also places to sit, no grass at all in the backyard and working on eliminating more lawn in the front.
I don't usually frequent the Perennials forum (usually on the hosta forum) but since transplanting my shade gardens a year ago and moving to a sunnier space I find that I need some new inspiration.
I find David's story of his garden very interesting and somewhat similar to my garden move. I also sold my home to "garden lovers". We moved four truckloads of trees, several Japanese Maples and many hundreds of prized hostas and perennials. Like David I left many plants behind only to find that the garden lovers cut or ripped out mostly all and planted grass. The only part I can see of my old garden is the front but that is enough, it is way too depressing so I won't go there again.
Anyway lovely gardens, looking forward to seeing more.

That is just beautiful, David!!!

I just LOVE the swaths of silver/blue in the Cedrus area - so relaxing and refreshing, simply gorgeous!

Okay, when I move to my acreage over Milford-way (if I ever get through graduate school....) I'm coming to find you so I can contract with you to do MY gardens! LOL! (well, not really LOL - I'm kind of serious....)

One more from this big walk through bed. Aster Alma Potschke going by, variegated Arundo donax, and the korean fir 'Horstmann's Silver'

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No the front entry. Still very much in progress. A sentinel paperbark maple moved from my old garden (a bigger one stayed behind, though this one is happy and putting on 18" of growth a year...). There is a little meditation enclosed garden off the entry that is partly meant to be enjoyed from inside the house.

Last year:

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This:

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New entry to the back gardens. A new Fence and gate here separate the work area from the garden and give a sense of entry to the garden. This area goes into a gravel garden, and down below, what we call a "tea garden" (no, I don't drink tea but AM coffee and PM wine are great here). The tea garden is a hummingbird heaven. Yes we have problem here with iron in water, the rust is from an iron filter runoff which hopefully will be corrected next week

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Tea garden path/patio
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July Tea garden
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October

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Oh ...

my ...

stars ...

It's magnificent ... just a feast for the eyes, and can you imagine what it must be like to be there?

Brilliant ...

OMG....I've just been rendered speechless!!!

A......

Very beautiful pictures! Your gardens are an inspiration and I love the meditation garden.

After I have several large Norway maples removed this fall, I expect to have a lot more sun on one side and the back yard. I want to have gardens that you can walk through! :)

This is the kind of garden that would make me whisper if i was walking through it with someone. You know? A sacred space somehow ...

David...this is outstanding!!! You are truly talented and inspiring. Thanks for the updates. Keep adding photos...please!

Man, thats just awesome, and inspirational...although thanks to you, I'll be noticing all the inadequacies in my own garden from now on...hah.
~Mike

Absolutely stunning! W#hat an inspiration! I love the way you've used the grasses and I would love to walk through your garden. I hope to do something of that nature when we build our new house in a couple of years. I can't believe how much you accomplished and how great it looks in only two years.

Beautiful gardens and quite an accomplishment in only 2 years. Thanks for showing us your wonderful photos.

I can only repeat what has already been said ..you have a lot of talent. You have done a spectacular job. I wish you lived near by and were on a garden tour so we could all come and visit your beautiful garden. :-) You could help me with my garden any day of the week..lol.

Thanks very much for sharing your photos. Hope you will post often. :-)

David-I always catch myself staring at the computer screen with my mouth hanging open when you post pictures, lol! Just wonderful! I love the way the spent flowers on Alma echo the sedum..brilliant!
Thanks so much for sharing, it's always a special treat when I see you've posted photos!
Brenda

WOW! You have an amazing gift for gardening. You know exactly where everything should go.
Thanks for sharing!

I am drooling!

David, your garden and home are absolutely beautiful! What joy you must get from it. If it were my home, I would never want to leave! You have such a gift for arranging plants. Everything is so well tended, you can tell it's your passion. Thanks for taking the time to share your pictures.

Lori

David, its just magnificent. Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful talent. I just can't imagine the planning and process that goes into having such marvelous results. And I remember from photos of your other garden, it was similar. You are very blessed.

I have a question about when your plants mature. I see you don't really overplant, yet your plantings are close enough to keep weeds at bay. How often do you divide mature plants or do they find their natural size and tend to stay there?

I'm asking because I wondering if I should rejuvenate some mature phlox in particular by dividing. The clumps are enormous and bountiful in the pink and lavender varieties but my David (grin) phlox only blooms once early on and then fades. It is brown by September. And that is in more than one locaton. But I see other people's photos of David blooming happily at seasons end. Just wondering.

David, its just magnificent. Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful talent. I just can't imagine the planning and process that goes into having such marvelous results. And I remember from photos of your other garden, it was similar. You are very blessed.

I have a question about when your plants mature. I see you don't really overplant, yet your plantings are close enough to keep weeds at bay. How often do you divide mature plants or do they find their natural size and tend to stay there?

I'm asking because I wondering if I should rejuvenate some mature phlox in particular by dividing. The clumps are enormous and bountiful in the pink and lavender varieties but my David (grin) phlox only blooms once early on and then fades. It is brown by September. And that is in more than one locaton. But I see other people's photos of David blooming happily at seasons end. Just wondering.

Love your beautiful photos so much. Looking at your pics is like flipping through a good gardening magazine. Have your gardens ever been featured in a magazine, David? Is that something you would enjoy?

I especially love the first two pics in this thread, because they show a before and after. Makes me think some aspects of your garden are actually attainable! Do you have any pics that show stages in between those two pics? Gosh, we all want such a big piece of you, David! LOL, do you ever feel like a celebrity in here?

David, didn't realize there were 2 posts of yours. You've done a nice job with what I remember from your previous "before" pictures. I see you have my favorite grass...Schizachrium scoparium 'The Blues'. I like the wine and coffee garden, with its walls and adornments (see, no need to call it a tea garden if you don't indulge!).

David, thanks so much for sharing your wonderful garden and home with us. It is a pleasure to return to the pictures again and again to appreciate the diversity and artistry.
Sincerely,
Kathy

David - Cedrus are not hardy in zone 5 - or so they say. How long have you had it?

Great garden. The plants seem quite mature for just 2 years? Did you bring a lot of plants from the old garden?

Love the paperbark.

UNREAL! My hat's off to you, David!

Marianne

The cedrus in the pictures above, C. libanii 'Stenocoma', is a selection from the high mtns of Lebanon that is widely accepted in woody plant circles to be zone 5 hardy. The one I have I moved from my old garden and have had for about 10 years. It browned out the first couple of winters after planting, and one after moving, but by June it is beautiful in new growth and looks healthy as ever. After a few years in the ground, it doesn't even brown needles. There is one near me, at MSU's Hidden Lake Gardens, that is in zone 5a and is about 25 years old and 40' tall. If you want a cedrus in z5, this is the one to plant.

In the other thread, I also have pictures of C. deodora 'Karl Fuchs', one that is about 15' tall and has been in the ground through 3 winters at the new place, through winter temps as low as -15F. That plant is planted in a very wind protected spot on the south side of the house. In the same temps, it has not even shown a brown needle once, whereas the supposedly hardier C. l. stenocoma did brown out some this past winter(but looked great by June).

Though C. deodora is generally accepted as only being z7 hardy, and I have heard of gardeners who had trouble keeping it in NC, this selection does seem to be hardier than average. I know of 2 other plants in this area that have been through 5 or more winters unscathed. And I supect that the longer the plant has been established, the better it will be able to recover from a hard winter. The conifer curator at Hidden Lake told me that the stenocoma there browned its needles in the first five years, and has looked pristine through every winter since.

Your gardens are so lovely. May I ask what is the blue-green plant in your fifth picture behind what I think is an agastache? Also, where do you get all of your plugs from? Thank you for taking the time to post your pictures. Looking at them makes the approaching winter a little easier to tolerate.

I am not entirely sure which plant you are talking about. The plant toward the front in the 5th picture is my favorite plant of the year, Agastache (you were right..) 'Purple Haze'. It is a champion long bloomer, really just stopped being in full bloom with a harder freeze last week. Behind that with the silver gray foliage in a big mass is Artemesia 'Powis Castle'. That one has sprawled and gotten bigger than any other one for me. I think it loves the conditions here, sandy soil which was mixed with some compost bark and old manure, and not too much supplemental water. It sprawled out over about 6'! I am not sure what other plant you might be asking about.

I bought plugs from Bluestone and from a couple of wholesalers that would not be available to the general retail public. But Bluestone has loads of stuff.

What a sight to behold! Very fine work, sir!

Josh

absolutely gorgeous!!!! Wow david, you have the greenest of the green thumbs. Do you allow visitors ever. When i come back to MI to visit my gardens I would love to see yours.

Your garden makes me feel so humble, David. What a beautiful creation. The photos remind me a little bit of my favorite book, Adrien Bloom's 'The Year-Round Garden'.

What kind of stone did you use in the meditation garden? I really like it. Nice pictures too!

The stone work with few exceptions was done by a good local contractor, but I think it is all limestone, and comes from the Thumb area of Michigan or the N lower peninsula up near Cheboygan and Rogers City. There are lots of stone quarries in those areas, and most of the bigger stone pieces in the area come from those 2 regions.