The wildflower and grasses garden, I made this for Hubs who loves all ornamental grasses more than anything in the garden, well, maybe with the exception of the tomatoes.

The other side of the grass and wildflower garden.

The pathstones are flanked by two planters, at the base of one is a patch of self-sown calendulas.

This is the fence garden, it is dominated by huge spiderworts--they're the size of shrubs.

A bright patch of mixed gaillardias grows in the corner of the rectangle garden. The seeds for these came from a planting at the Jones Beach Nature Center. They have a butterfly garden and I was able to obtain these seeds before it was cut back for the winter season when the center is closed.

The loop--it's a long bed which originally was a hedge planting with tall miscanthus. It was a beast to dig out all the clumps, but it gave me a new planting are where I could put in my seed-grown crepe myrtles. It functions as a divider between the sunny and shady sections of this part of the garden.

A shady section of border. As the sun rises the daylilies will be in sun for the rest of the day, the purple phlox are always in full or part shade.

This is the back corner shrub garden, it has several shrubs which produce nectar, fruit and shelter for birds.

A more central view of the shrub garden.

The other side of the shrub garden.

Hostas remain an addiction, the large blue and gold hosta in the center of the photo is Paradigm.

On our 20th anniversary Hubs and I went to Montauk for the weekend, on the way back we stopped at an east end nursery and bought this lovely lacecap hydrangea. It is thriving in its location because of the mulch there, but even nicer, the neighbor has his compost heap on the other side of the fence and to the left of the hydrangea is my own compost heap.

This is the long border by the back fence...it's sparse right now as it was a total redo this spring. It is planted with more crepe myrtles, a row of echinacea seedlings and is dotted throughout with annuals. Its border has a planting of orange profusion zinnias and geraniums.

Opposite the fence planting are determinate tomatoes, they're interspersed by annuals and holding beds for perennials.

More tomatoes, flowers and planting beds.

Same garden but other side of the beds. There's an A-frame for cukes. You can see some of my huge compost heap which is behind the garage and along the stockade fence.

Backview of the bench garden is always a riot of reseeding color. Every year it looks different as particular annuals or perennials take on dominance among the others.

Front view of the bench garden. Mixed echinaceas dominate the view. The bulk of the plants here will attract butterflies for nectar or act as a host plant to feed their larvae. An Oklahoma Redbud is starting to fill out, it it now four years old. I love the bronze color in the new leaves.

A close-up of some echinaceas--they're petals go up and down like horses on a carousel, the flowers are about five inches across.

Along the large wooden fence is another redone bed...this one has annuals and perennials to attract butterflies. At the rear you can see a planting of aslepius. They are in their third summer and only two of them are blooming, maybe next year they'll all bloom. Monarchs have been resting on them so perhaps they'll lay their eggs too.

This section of border is destined for a redo, it was smothered with almost a foot of clippings and leaves last winter and only the hardiest of the perennials emerged. I may tackle this redo later this year or leave it under another foot of leaves in winter and redo it next spring after the hardiest perennials emerge again.

Ahhh...that was a long walk through the garden, time to take a rest in the shade.

P.S. Is that a Purple Loosetrife?

VJ, it has a huge variety of flowers. I think that's been the most important aspect for attracting beneficial insects to the garden. It's very rare to see any bug damage here because it's so dispersed. Earlier this year some green aphids were sucking on the new growth of a plum tree, but I patiently waited amd Ma Nature sent LadyBugs to the rescue.

Alberta, thank you kindly. I was inspired by all your borders and put in many more after I visited your lovely garden. My backyard is a bit bigger than most here, but I'm on the inside of a curve making the garden wider in the back than front.

Pit, it's an infertile hybid loosestrife which does not produce seed capsules. It's quite pretty and makes lovely bouquets.

It is a labor of love and sometimes though it does seem like more labor than love. Finally this year, the garden is at the point where I won't be adding any more beds. For now I'm content with the amount of planting areas I have. I've been here ten years, starting with a completely blank canvas. There was nothing here but lawn and a few tall pine trees in one of the corners. I have never hesitated at purchasing a great shrub or tree on sale when there's been the need for them, but otherwise, 90% of the garden has been created through Winter Sowing--including many of the shrubs and trees which are in it.

Where's my brats and wine?

Karen

GGG

Thanks so much for sharing your pictures(I'll never forget that I wouldn't have had any to share here if it weren't for you!).

Linda

And I should have read your opening post before asking my question about whether gallardias can be winter-sown.

WOWSERS!!! So nice to walk through such beautiful gardens. Just sat down with a fresh cup of coffee and this was a treat!

That Spiderwort is to behold as is the Hydrangea. You are going to have to post pics of that new bed you just redid when it starts to get going. Looks like great things to come.

My favourite spot is the annual/perennial sunny spot where I can imagine a flood of butterflies coming to feast around noon. Seems so peaceful.

Oh, and are those Pelargoniums the ones you rescued just a short while ago? Looks like they are doing just great, eh? Amazing what a little TLC can do for a plant in need. I just picked up two dying ones today too. They'll be going in a whiskey barrel tomorrow.

Thanks for your note on my post. I was writing at the same time you were. :O) I do hope those Blue Poppies do well for you. I have mine in am sunshine with dappled shade the rest of the day and I never let them dry out. You might try that. Let me know how they do!

Nicole.

I didn't take any photos of my planters but on my front deck I've got some with red geraniums in the center, flanked by colossus marigolds and purple wave petunias. They're certainly not subtle but I love them ;-)

Love the way you have those tomatoes in with the flowers. I
used to do the same thing, then went to the pots in the back yard for more sun.

Now the big huge oak tree is coming down before it lands on the house, so may put those tomatoes back out front next year with the flowers. Then again, I might just leave them and dig out the area that had a burning bush we took down. That would make a perfect bearded iris bed, edged with ?

Trudi, got any suggestions for the edging?

OK, rested enough, time to take another stroll through your gardens. Think I'll do it in reverse this time.

Fran

Great gardens, Trudi! Would not have expected anything less from you, but it's an absolute pleasure to stroll thru anyway!

Love the shrub garden, love shrubs, period (me with no space and and the affinity for lush, LARGE plants!). That hydrangea is glorious, and I can picture myself relaxing in that hosta garden! Beautiful. If my bones were a few years younger, I could picture myself in the crook of that tree!

Thanks so much for the njoyable stroll - um, strolls!

I have a question - in the upper left of the rectangle garden (5th pic), what is the plant with the rusty-colored flowers? I see them all the time in the gardens around my office - like it, but don't know what it is? I keep eyeing them for seeds ....

PV

Bearded Iris spread out with their leaves pointing away from the center of the clump...if you look at a silhouette of the clump it looks like a big vase. In front of bearded iris you need something low and creeping because the iris leaves are going to lean and crush down over whatever they're near and above.

An easy and simple annual edging could be portulaca. It has fleshy, creeping stems which are a visual opposite of the tall sword-like leaves of the iris. Portulaca thrives in full sun and well draining soil just like the bearded iris, and also like bearded iris they'll do well in droughty weather. The plant makes a zillion flowers with no work other than weeding them as needed. And they are good reseeders too. Nowadays portulacas come in single colors or mixes so you will have a lot of choices.

Another good annual choice is nasturtiums. In my garden they rarely reseed and they can sometimes attract aphids, if you don't have aphids then they might work nice in front of the iris.

For perennials, because they're not in bloom all the time, you need to concentrate on their leaves being a focal-point. Look at Mondo Grass, Creeping Sedums and or rock garden plants with grey leaves like Gold Dust Alyssum.

Hope this helps or gives you some ideas...

T

I like the portulaca idea. I love them and they are so easy to WS too. Guess I'm going to be making some trips to the local mall this year just for seeds.
They plant tons of portulaca in their containers and I just can't help myself when all those seed pods are calling me.

Last year between my well trained daughter and myself, we collected about 1/8 cup of seeds.

Portulacca it is around the edges of the new iris bed. and maybe some livingston daisies too. I just love those neon electric colors they put out.

Do you think some annuals should go in the bed as well? Something tall like cosmos? I usually don't have any reseeds as I use lots of mulch, except for the burning bush.
That thing reseeded everywhere. After 10 years of trying everything to stop them from reseeding, 8 years after we cut the original plant down, I resorted to roundup for poison ivy and that did the trick. Now have this big naked spot in the side of the front yard for 2 years and it's time to fill it in.

Fran

The hosta ring is my summer office ;-) It's under the 30' canopy of an ancient dogwood.

That plant with the rust blossoms is likely a Dart's Red Spirea Shrub. It's over three feet high and is about five feet wide. The rust colored blooms are the old flowers that are fading away, when the flowers first open they're the color of Cherry Sucrettes, they hold on the shrub for a long time and then fade to rust and then dull grey-brown...at that point I'll shear the plant so it looks nicer.

Probably seven or eight years back I traded for unrooted cuttings of this plant and was sent a fistful of them, but only just a few did manage to root. I planted them all as one clump and had them in two other places before settling into this spot where it has been for about five years.

T

This year I'm growing "Dancing Petticoats" from Renee's Garden which is a blend of all sorts. They germinated very well and so far the Versailles are the first in the blend to bloom, the other plants are setting buds now and I'm looking forward to seeing what they'll be. The butterflies like their flowers a lot.

I want to see the bed off the deck. I read once where it's the place where the chaff goes when you clean your seeds. :))

Lime

Vera

Sandy

Thanks for sharing your gardens - I especially loved your gaillardias - one of my favorites! Thanks

carrie

Melba

The crepe myrtles are mostly about a foot tall and very thin little sticks. After transplant many of them dropped their leaves in a heat wave that soon followed, but they've since sprouted new leaves.

Crepes are annoyingly erratic in when they begin to bloom, a rare few have bloomed their first year, but most of them started to bloom in year three of four here.

T

My husband (just a "tomato man" in the garden - the rest is "all your's sweetie")has purchased many special plants and garden items for me for Mothers Day in May and My birthday in July over the years. When I am out there I am reminded that he is a keeper! Nothing says I love you better than a beautiful, living plant.

Nancy

I do pay attention to leaf shapes and I try to plant different types of leaves next to each other. I'll do a clump of pointy leaves next to a clump of round leaves, next to a clump of strap leaves, etc etc.

Plants are never in flower all season long, but they have leaves all the time; at dusk all the colors fade to grey tones, so all you see are silhouettes of leaves. The different shapes and sizes become more noticable and the garden is still beautiful after dark.

My husband bought me a dwarf crepe myrtle ("hopi") for my birthday. It's supposed to be hardy to zone 6. It's still in a pot on my porch waiting for fall planting. I collected some seeds from it. Did you sow your seeds in winter? spring? Since they're basically warm weather plants, when is the best time of year to sow their seeds?

Karen

I probably have two dozen crepe myrtles here, all grown from seed I traded for on the forums. I took seeds from all around the country and mixed them together. The seeds were WS (probably in late January) and they germinated well in mid spring. The seedlings were kept in a holding be their first year--I was surprise to see some lavender blooms. The second year they were transferred to a back fence border where they were another year, after that I started moving them about the garden. I now have two crepe myrtle hedges and some extras still in the back fence border. Crepe Myrtles have a varied hardiness, usually to zone seven but some species can do zone six quite well. If you want to increase your crepe myrtles then trade for seeds from around the country and WS them all together. After a couple of years you will know which of them are hardy for your garden. It's three years time between sowing and seeing a blooming and prunable hedge from your crepe myrtle seeds--for me it was a grand experiment to see if I could succesfully germinate them with WS here in zone seven; I am absolutely delighted with my crepes. They're just about to start blooming too so that's really nice to see.

T

Maybe I'll try some this year. I do love crepe myrtle, but a lot of them aren't hardy here. This hopi dwarf is supposed to be though.

Karen

Lynne