The Gardens

The Front

The garden in the front of the house is just a narrow line along the sidewalk.

In 2015 it looked great.
May 22 and May 30, 2015

7/3/15

7/16/15

7/16/15

8/28/15

10/29/15

Here is the history of the development of this garden:

Originally the builder put in a row of azaleas that were too gaudy, too boring the rest of the year, and prone to disease in this  full sun, south facing, hardscape-reflecting strip.
April 12, 2006

I tried to keep them going for the first years, and added some small green buns of miniature chamecyparis in between, but by 2009 I took them out, added tulips and flowering onions, and was really happy with the more complex look of the narrow strip.  The chamaecyparis filled in and became lovely soft accents.  Later, I put in a dwarf gingko tree at the corner by the driveway, very cute.  In fall, deep garnet iteas looked good.

On the other side, toward the front door, a weeping Japanese maple 'Crimson Queen' anchors a spot in front, and the spirea planted by the builder kept getting bigger and bigger.  By 2010 I took the spirea out.

2009
April 23, 2009



May 25, 2009


 2010
May 21, 2010
October 29, 2010
November 18, 2010

In late 2010, the whole planting along the sidewalk had been destroyed by root eating tunneling voles and almost everything had to come out.  I put in gaura, a long row of sedum 'Angelina' in the dry sand under the garage overhang, and some irises and annuals, but it all looked chaotic, too horizontal, and I was not happy with the look.


2011
May 25, 2011

July 13, 2011


2012
In 2012 I added two metal trellises to get some height along the front.
A white flowered clematis grows against the brick wall, and I need to find something for the other trellis

4/25/12  I also added structure with some pots along the front walk

7/2/12  It all got billowy with the gaura and spilling sedums

7/8/12

9/25/12

2013
There isn't much winter interest along the front when there is no snow. Here is a long shot of the whole front of the house.
2/7/13

In earliest spring it gets weird. Now that the sedum 'Angelina' has filled in, it provides a big sweep of golden color in late winter and into spring. Add the magenta blooming heath and it is a strange tapestry of deep golds and autumn hues.
4/10/13

Later the pink dogwood blooms just as the golden flowered and bronze-leaved epimediums underneath it come out. Again, it gives an odd pink-and-gold fall look at the front of the house in spring.

The colors soften up a bit in late May and into summer. A ton of pink rosy garlic blooms, even though I tried to take most of it out. What a spreader.
5/28/13

The white Henryi clematis on the star trellis is doing well and adds a pretty, white point of interest on the brick wall.
6/21/13

I planted what I thought was a 'Kintzley's Ghost' honeysuckle on the rounded metal trellis at the corner of the garage, but it turned out to be a common red flowered honeysuckle! So I took that out and bought another Lonicera reticulata that I know this time is really 'Kintzley's Ghost'.
8/4/13

8/16/13

In fall the colors of spring return  -- the deep golds and dark pinks and red.
11/1/13  Coming up the walk . . . .

. . . . and going back down the walk  11/1/13   

11/2/13  Amsonia hubrichtii and 'Crimson Queen' Japanese maple


2014
The 'Angelina' sedum is bright gold in early spring. In 2014 the pink flowering heaths were badly winter burned and did not bloom, in fact they looked brown and dead.
4/20/14

But they did green up and looked okay by late May when the amsonias and tiny garlic were both blooming.
5/28/14

The white clematis looked great until it didn't. It bloomed beautifully in June and then suddenly succumbed to clematis wilt.
6/14/14

I cut it back to the ground and then put a pot of blue plumbago there to climb the trellis.
7/25/14

The biggest change to the front in 2014 was the addition of solar panels!
10/30/14