April showers bring March flowers...

Crocus tommasinianus at Gilmore Gardens April 1st

... at least that is how the song goes for us this year.

We are just now enjoying our crocuses and snowdrops during a few days of warm sun. I hope that those of you in more northern places in North America will feel encouraged to know that your flowers are coming soon as well!

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ GBBD August 2013

Pink Anemone japonica, Spirea 'Goldflame', red Canna 'King Humbert' and white Cosmos fill the Front Walk garden this week.

Welcome to August in Pennsylvania! We have quite a few flowers this month since the Japanese anemones and meadow rues have started their long season of bloom and the black-eyed Susans are prettying the curb. Come take a walk around!

Three Large-flowered Clematis by the Circle Lawn

Clematis 'Madam Julia Correvon' on one of the trellises around the Circle Lawn, with Clematis 'Fairy Dust' and Clematis 'Perle d' Azur' in the background.

Our garden has so many clematis this month, that I still have not gotten to post them all. Here are a few more for your viewing pleasure!

First Snow at Gilmore Gardens

Snow on the Circle Lawn and Shade Path.

After a week of beautiful weather at the end of November, we finally had our first snow of the season at Gilmore Gardens.

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ GBBD November 2012

Sedum 'Autumn Joy' with its bright autumn foliage around our Circle Lawn.

Welcome to November in Pennsylvania!

The Shade Path Garden in Early October

The Shade Path Garden in the first week of October.

October is here and has brought some chilly temperatures in Pennsylvania. It seemed to come on us all at once this year. It was quite warm and rainy, but not truly cold until this week which makes it feel a bit shocking, though we all knew it was coming. We have missed a true frost twice in the last couple evenings. Some tender leaves are browned around their edges, but most of the plants are still standing tall. Very soon the annuals will greet the morning as a puddle of mush and will need to be removed post-haste.

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ GBBD Sept 2012

Pink Dahlia with Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' in our Front Walk Garden.

Welcome to Pennsylvania in September! My garden has definitely perked up for fall. We finally had a normal amount of rain for the month, which is the first month since last year. The plants are putting on new growth, looking greener and flowering a bit more. Here are some highlights from around our two-tenths of an acre at Gilmore Gardens.

True Red Clematis 'Madam Julia Correvon'

True Red Clematis 'Madam Julia Correvon'

Clematis 'Madam Julia Correvon' is a beauty which is hardy from zones 4-9. It is a taller clematis, reaching to 10 feet and beyond, which makes it a great candidate for pairing it with a climbing rose, like the famous, Rosa 'New Dawn'. She has a truer red color than does the more pink Clematis 'Ernest Markham'. She usually blooms in mid-summer, but is early this year as the rest of my flowers are also.

Red Clematis 'Madam Julia Correvon' is on the first trellis, and two earlier-blooming clematis are on the other trellises surrounding the Circle Lawn. You can just see blue Clematis 'Perle 'd Azur' on the tree by the Shade Path garden.

Clematis 'Nelly Moser' near the Circle Lawn

Clematis 'Nelly Moser'

Clematis 'Nelly Moser' (sometimes spelled Clematis 'Nellie Moser') is blooming profusely this week in our Pennsylvania garden. I thought I would share a few of the photos of this Clematis, which is quite common but still a beauty.  

Clematis 'Nelly Moser' is hardy from zones 4-11, blooms in June and sometimes a re-bloom in August. It flowers on old wood, so do not prune it in the springtime like I did last year. (oh, well... live and learn.) Like all Clematis, it is happiest with its feet in the shade and its head in the sun. This one tops off its growth at 6 to 10 feet tall and 3 foot wide, making it ideal for a large sized trellis.

This trellis is free standing along the edge of our Circle Lawn. This view looking to our Shade Path Garden with a foam of blue forget-me-nots.

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ GBBD May 2012

Our picket fence covered in a red Clematis 'Earnest Markham' and heavenly-scented dame's rocket (Hesperis matronalis). Potted Allium 'Purple Sensation' on the steps.

There are tons of late spring blooms for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day in our Pennsylvania, Zone 5 garden. We are at least three weeks ahead of schedule, with many plants blooming now that usually do not have their day well into June. Most of the tulips are gone as of about a week ago, though the late single Tulip 'Cum Laude' is just dropping its petals this week. The phlox scents the whole yard right now.

One of my favorite large-flowered Clematis, C. 'John Warren' on the flower trellis in the Driveway Garden.

GBBD April Flowers in Pennsylvania, Zone 5

The Circle Lawn on April 15th, 2012.

 Welcome to GBBD April at Gilmore Gardens in Pennsylvania, Zone 5!

Our garden is still a month ahead of where it normally is in spring.  It looks much more like May from last year than April.  We are located on a corner lot in our little town, so we have lots of passersby with which to share our spring celebration. Our location contains gardens in shade, semi-shade and lots of full sun. See the map of Gilmore Gardens to link these areas together in your mind as you look around.

GBBD at Gilmore Gardens ~ March 2012

Crocus tommasinianus in our backyard at Gilmore Gardens

Welcome to our small-town garden in Pennsylvania, zone 5. We are so pleased to be welcoming spring earlier this year, and are thoroughly enjoying the temperatures in the upper 60 degrees F (16 C) this week! I am sure that we will have snow again, more than one more time. But we are not going to think about that right now.
Everything is popping around Gilmore Gardens. Here are a few shots that I captured this week:

This Crocus vernus in a hot place near our back door is the first of its kind this year. I planted a couple hundred in the front borders, but I expect them later since it is quite a bit colder on the north side of our house.

Another photo of Crocus chrysanthus 'Goldilocks' in the Driveway Garden. This one show the striping on the side petals.

Moving around to the slope outside of our fence, you can see what I have called the "Tapestry Garden." This is an area where we killed off the turf (mowing on this slope, ugh!), and then planted hardy ivy, which has proven to be incredibly slow growing here. So, other easily divided plant alternatives have been added: Geranium macrorrhizum, Ajuga reptans, Stachys byzantine.

Crocus tommasinianus has found its way to a nice combination on this slope with Ajuga reptans and moss.

In the Circle Lawn, Crocus sieberi 'Tricolor' is starting to bloom.  And in the back of this photo you can see the Shade Path, which has a few little pretties also...

Crocus sieberi 'Tricolor'

Galanthus elwesii on the Shade Path

A beauty that I have been waiting for since I first say it last year in Rosie's bloom day: Iris histrioides 'Katharine Hodgkin'. Just a few are blooming now; such delicate markings.

Galanthus 'Flore Pleno' stands out with the fresh compost already in place for the season.

As I walked down to the Front Woodland to check for some crocuses, I was accompanied by my little photography buddy. She soon had spotted what I was looking for and set to business getting the shot:

My daughter in proper garden photography style!

After I waited for my turn, I was able to take this photo:

Crocus biflorus ssp. isauricus 'Spring Beauty' with beautiful purple flames on alternating petals.

We are a homeschooling family, so this is what we call Botany class. :)

We also found this vivid moss sending up its flowering shoots. Such a green delight in March!

Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
Check out what is blooming in other gardens around the world at May Dreams.

Clematis 'Fairy Dust' in November

Clematis 'Fairy Dust'

Clematis 'Fairy Dust', was added to one of the trellises around the Circle Lawn in May. It, with help from the four other new vines that month, brought the total Clematis count at Gilmore Gardens to eleven.

Clematis 'Fairy Dust' on trellis closest to Shade Path

I sited it as best I could to suit a baby Clematis: rich, well-drained and well-mulched soil, its roots in the shade and narrow bars to grab a hold of with its wrists as it reaches for the full sun over head.

Clematis 'Fairy Dust' is expected to reach 10-12 feet, hardy zones 4-8 and usually blooms in early summer...
But this year, it has given me flowers in November; a rare treat indeed!

Autumn light on the Circle Lawn

Looking from the front sidewalk over the Circle Lawn

We have been enjoying beautifully warm weather at Gilmore Gardens just on the heels of frost.  The perfect time for getting my bulbs in the ground. They are all in as of yesterday afternoon!

My kids and I had a fun day yesterday morning playing hooky from our homeschool to shop for new pots for tulip planters. We even had a picnic in November! Fun memories.

The photo above shows the very end of Dahlia 'Heat Wave' in the Front Walk. I forked them up and hosed them off for storage last Friday. It was hard to move on to the next season, but so encouraging to be tucking more bulbs in their place for spring. (Tulip Princess Irene should make a really punchy combination with Spirea 'Goldflame' on the Front Walk in April.)

Happy fall planting!

Fall Gardening Task #3: Move and Thin Perennial Seedlings

Oh, what a wonderful sight!

Columbine (Aquilegia) seedlings around the Circle Lawn

Baby flowers everywhere. But we want them all to thrive, instead of smothering each other.  And there are some areas in the garden that are void of these Columbine (Aquilegia) beauties. The solution is simple: pluck them out with a japanese knife (my favorite tool) or a trowel and set them to growing in the bare areas.

This is my favorite kind of gardening. Leisurely.

Here, there and everywhere amongst the geraniums, sedums and turf.

Firstly, it is always better to transplant little babies like these on cloudy or rainy days in spring or fall. 

Do not be afraid to pop them out, even large sections of seedlings. I usually put them in a large pot (steer clear the holes or use a box instead!), divide them apart from each other and then walk around the rest of the garden thinking about where a nice patch of columbine would add some color at the end of May. 

Be sure the soil in their new home is loose, not compacted. Dig tiny holes and be sure that, when you put them in, they are not planted too deeply.  Their tiny crowns need to be just at soil level. If you do not have the advantage of rain after planting, then give them a gentle, tiny sprinkle for their new tiny hole.  I prefer swaths of flowers, so I often plant several seedlings in the same area... some times dozens in a larger area.

Columbine, forget-me-nots and foxglove foliage in May this year.

In the fall, I thin my columbine (Aquilegia), forget-me-nots (Myosotis) and foxgloves (Digitalis). I might also find other little babies that I would like to have more of around the base of their parent plants. Large sections of my garden were covered in just a few years with the extra care in moving these seedling babies around.

You will be richly rewarded for your cold, rainy work come next year!

Read more from the Fall Gardening Tasks series:
#1 Planting Lavender in wet climates
#2 New perennials for fall planting

Bees on a 'Frosty Morn'

 Sedum 'Frosty Morn' that is.

See the plant feature for Sedum 'Frosty Morn' from last week. 

Sedum 'Frosty Morn'

Sedum 'Frosty Morn' in delicate pink bloom this September.

 Sedum 'Frosty Morn' has been a favorite of mine since I first saw it featured in a British garden in one of my magazines a couple years ago. It is a basic, large stature sedum, but its leaves are rimmed in white around the edges and its bloom color is a more delicate pink than the traditional medium pink of the popular Sedum 'Autumn Joy' (see it in GBBD Sept).

Sedum 'Frosty Morn' earlier at the beginning of September

This sedum is easily propagated, as are most sedums. When I cut it back in June by half, which helps with its branching and keeps it from flopping later (see more about herbaceous pruning), I just poked each little tip into the ground around the current plants and -poof!- more plants. I even forgot about a few cuttings, they sat in a pot during the heat of summer for a couple of weeks, and they are also growing right along the with others. Amazing.

Sedum 'Frosty Morn' was the belle of the ball for GBBD September, and is still one of the favored ladies in my mind. It is situated on one corner of the Circle Lawn, continuing the white variegated theme that is started in the Cherry Corner garden by the variegated loosestrife. And it looks lovely in a couple of ornamental grass combinations in the area...

Sedum 'Frosty Morn' with Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola').

Sedum 'Frosty Morn' overhung by Northern Sea Oats (Chasmanthium latifolium).

 Its foliage has been a stellar addition all season. But it does also bloom of course...

Just starting in mid-September.

Above Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola').

The exciting new idea I am looking forward to next year is seeing its summer foliage below the towering white Lily speciosum album. Picture the lilies blooming in front of the right tree on the Shade Path below.

Photo taken from my favorite bulb company, Van Engelen.com

Sedum 'Frosty Morn' on the right in August, in front of a failed attempt at Gladiolas.

Always looking forward to next year! Room for more mistakes and more successes.

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day ~ September 2011

A finishing view from the end of our wrap-around garden walk.

Welcome to early fall at Gilmore Gardens!

For the month of September, I have decided to walk you through the path that I take each morning alone and many evenings with my hubby (read more in my autumn foxglove post). For us, the garden tour begins at the gate, which is rather a romantic/poetic start.

The Shade Path

The bloom in the shade garden is representative of the entire garden this month: like August but better! 
We still have all of the cool green, blue and white-edged foliage to look at and ribbons of annual color, but it also has some nice patches of perennial foxgloves (Digitalis grandiflora) and the toad lily (Tricyrtis 'Blue Wonder') is in bloom.

Left side of Shade Path

I am very happy with the hot pink impatients I chose for the Shade Path this year. It really packs more of a punch, especially at a distance or drive-by, than the pastel shades that I used last year (see Sept 2010).

 With so many natural disasters going on in the weather this month, I find myself more thankful than usual at we have made it into September without much incident... excepting the quarter sized hail that beat-up the hosta and cannas a few weeks ago. Our garden did not sustain as much damage as others in town, though I have removed armloads of broad leaves this month.

Toad lily (Tricyrtis 'Blue Wonder'). It's common name comes from the way each the flowers seem to sit on each leaf along the stem, like little frogs on their lily pads. Do toads ever sit on lily pads?

Layered plantings add mystery and depth

I acquired a sun-stressed baby oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) a month ago. Here on the outside edge of the Shade Path, it looks mesmerizing surrounded by the froth of native aster (Doellingeria unbellata).

I am totally in love with the white aster in the shade garden. Weak in the knees. 
It seeded itself here a few years ago, and noticing that it looked like an aster shoot, I decided to give it the Chelsea chop like my other asters and see what happened. It makes the most beautiful froth above the green mounds. Stay tuned for its full bloom this year.
(Note the hail damage in the lower right corner above. So sad. Like slugs on drugs.)

The Circle Lawn

When approaching the Circle Lawn, you might want to take a moment to notice the great color echo from the foxgloves on the Shade Path to the bright yellow grass, Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola', on the opposite side of the circle.

The colorful left side of the Circle Lawn.

Then notice that this same Japanese forest grass is planted on both "corners" where the path meets the circle, and also on a third corner to the right (below).

The green right side of the Circle Lawn.

This garden area is a cacophony of colors. I am rather uncomfortable with it at present, but there are a lot of plants waiting to mature; that alone will create more cohesion next year.

One combination I love, though it is rather pushing the variegated plant limit: Sedum 'Frosty Morn' and Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola').

A look back at the Circle Lawn.

Cherry Corner

The inside of this corner garden has the tough job of being a transition point that should move us on to the next expanse, the Front Walk. I tried to keep the planting simple, yet provide for some succession (which I talked about in GBBD August).

Inside of Cherry Corner

Never too much Sedum 'Autumn Joy' for me. They are wonderful in their green state, and the blush tells me fall is here.

Transition to the Front Walk

The Front Walk

View down the length of the Front Walk from under the weeping cherry tree ("Do not mind me, neighbors").

This garden is much closer this year to what dream it could be. The pink Japanese anemones are gaining bulk, now two years old. Pink cosmos sneak in with their dissected foliage at the lower level. Dahlia 'Heat Wave' and Canna 'King Humbert' tower over the rest, giving it a focal point and some punch.

Dahlia 'Heat Wave'

Dahlia 'Heat Wave' and Canna 'King Humbert'

A peak down the the sidewalk complete with the lazy gardener's wheel barrow.

The Hill Garden

The less-often-seen inner edge of the Hill Garden. The garlic chive, Allium tuberosum, has been putting on quite a show. It adds some restful white the all of the lively red this season.

 Planting layers have been key to creating succession in our relatively small boarders. Here, the white allium falls over Sedum 'Autumn Joy', which leans on the curved hedge of purple barberry (Berberis thunbergii; a known invasive), which helps support the crown on flowers at the top.

The crown of the Hill: Echinacea purpurea and Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

Also: Canna 'King Humbert' and  Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Little Spire'

Here we begin rounding the corner... and a quick look back at the Front Walk.

Looping the Hill garden, we can make our way to see one of the best surprises of September...

Roses! I love them. Rosa 'The Fairy' keeps going until well into November.

Like June again. wonderful.

Front Woodland

 This is a good moment for a few glances at the front curb planting. It is mostly green this month, with a few shots of color.

Lily turf (Liriope muscari)

Liriope muscari, or lily turf, provides strappy foliage from late spring and grape hyacinth like spikes in the early fall. The bees like it too!

Liriope muscari 'Monroe White' in its first season.

At the far corner, I just added some artemesia to bring out the L. 'Monroe White'.

Liriope muscari 'Variegata'

Front Walk - lower view

View of the front steps and Front Walk

 The beauty of having a multi-sided garden is enjoying it! It is rather a challenge at moments to make it work together, but very worth the effort.

 I like this annual planting even more now that these self-seeded verbenas popped up from last years planting. The RHS plantfinder tells me this is probably Verbena 'Homestead Purple', a shorter cousin of Verbena bonariensis.

Verbena 'Homestead Purple'

The catmint, Nepeta 'Walker's Low', is blooming again after its summer haircut, giving a nice mounded front edge to this whole boarder.

More fruit of grueling, hot summer pruning: the rebloom of Spirea 'Goldflame'.

Dahlia, Canna, anemone and Spirea 'Goldflame'.  Verbena 'Homestead Purple' in the background.

Circle Lawn: lower view

More walking, less talking.

Cherry Corner - lower view

 The daylily foliage has filled in quite a lot in the past month. (Read more about pruning daylilies.)

View across Cherry Corner.

 More layers: Annuals tucked in amongst Heuchra 'Palace Purple', artemesia, daylilies (Hemerocallis hyb.) and white-edged variegated loosestrife.

Shade Path - lower view

And finally (whew!) we arrive at the other gate... almost. Take just a moment to look and enjoy the Shade Path again with a better view of the autumn blooming foxgloves (Digitalis grandiflora).

Asters waiting to pop.

That lovely aster again (Doellingeria umbellata).

 Notice the white color echo to the hosta across the path.  So nice.

That does it for the front yard! 
Thanks for joining us for a thorough walk around the place.
Time for some tea and cake. 

A big Thank You! to Carol at May Dreams for hosting GBBD!