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| June 14, 2006 |
Originally there was open lawn to the west of the house, and three paper birches planted in 2005.
Bluestone installed a raised, irregularly shaped oval in the middle of the three paper birch trees in late September 2007. I had no idea how much mass and how many plants it would take to fill this garden.
The sod was not removed, but the depth of the added soil was enough to smother the grass, and raise this garden to keep it well draining.
Even with the three birches around it, it got full sun.
In 2015 the Birch Garden was full and beautiful throughout the season.
It starts a little bleak in early May, but the orange Japanese maple brightens things a bit. The branchy bare iteas take a while to leaf out, and they were particularly winter damaged in 2015.
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| 5/2/15 |
By late May there was a lot going on, although the iteas in the center were still bare. I had to prune out a lot of deadwood.
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| 5/21/15 |
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| 5/25/15 |
I planted a lot of Star of Bethlehem the previous fall and they look nice scattered about the June garden.
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| 6/6/15 |
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| 6/19/15 |
Love the pop of red from the dwarf 'Drift' rose. I added some red nicotianas to echo it.
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| 2015 6/20 and 6/22 |
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| 7/3/15 |
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| 8/20/15 |
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| 9/28/15 |
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| 10/10/15 |
Here is the history of the development of this garden:
2008
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| August 17, 2008, just the beginning. So much area to fill. |
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2009
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| May 11, 2009 Still pretty skimpy. |
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| May 31, 2009 |
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| September 6, 2009 |
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| September 14, 2009 |
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| October 26, 2009 |
2010
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| May 2, 2010 Aronias blooming. |
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| May 24, 2010 |
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| June 2, 2010 |
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| June 3, 2010 |
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| June 29, 2010 |
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| August 6, 2010 |
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| October 11, 2010 |
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| October 21, 2010 |
2011
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| September 22, 2011 |
2012
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In earliest spring (April 6), the emerging Orange Dream Japanese maple foliage glows
out by the white birch |
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May 31, 2012 Heuchera, pink evening primrose, Beverly Sills peach colored irises,
dark red dianthus, a little clump of wild feverfew,
and in the far background the itea is just starting to bloom |
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June 8, 2012 White spires of baptisia alba, purple May Night salvia,
Husker's Red penstemon sticking out to the left, red carpet roses |
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June 10, Nepeta, yellow sundrops, red dianthus, itea in the background.
Foliage of Caryopteris 'Worcester's Gold' in front. |
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July 27, 2012 - Raspberry colored and white Angelonia, magenta Phlox, spikes of chocolate foxgloves,
and green heads of sedum that is not ready to bloom yet.
The yellow flowers are lettuce that has bolted! |
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| August 27, 2012 |
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| October 7, 2012 |
2013
Some notes on 2013, the sixth year of this garden:
It really is a June and October garden. It flowers beautifully in June, then looks a little blah all summer, but has great color in fall.
For mid summer I added pots of annual flowering tobacco, and I've been moving deep pink phlox 'Nicky' to the middle. I need to redesign the front to have a little more mid summer color.
In 2013 the beautiful irises were nice in spring, but 'Immortality' did not rebloom in fall. The pink evening primrose, Oenothera, at the side of the garden disappeared, despite being an aggressive spreader. It had been so pretty in 2012.
I took out the hot pink floppy penstemon on the left side and that part of the garden is much neater now. The prettier white Husker's Red penstemon remains.
I still struggle with what to put in back. In 2013 I moved the goatsbeard there, both the little dwarf ones and the larger dioicus. They don't look great. Yet.
What does look great is the tall, delicate white flowering aronia, white pendula baptisia, the little red rose, the fountainy itea, the big billowy nepeta. . . . some nice stuff going on in this big jumble of a "cottage" garden.
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| May 17, 2013 - emerging |
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| June 16, 2013 |
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| June 18, 2013 |
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| June 23, 2013 |
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| October 17, 2013 |
2014
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| 5/25/14 |
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| 6/3/14 |
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| 6/5/14 |
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| 6/23/14 |
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| 7/25/14 |
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| 9/22/14 |
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| 9/24/14 |
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| 9/24/14 |
