Stan Hywet's Three-Acre Great Garden ~ Part 1

Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in Akron, Ohio

The Great Garden at Stan Hywet in Ohio encompasses three acres to the north of the Hall. It includes a Cutting garden (for fresh and dried flower arrangements for the Hall), a Rose garden, and Mixed borders that surround generous lawns. The Birch Allee acts as a loose background along one side of the Great garden. Also, it provides some wonderful views of the Seiberlings' Tudor-revival hall.

Garden Bloggers' Foliage Day ~ November 2011

Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snowflake'

For Foliage Day, I saved up all of the photos I have from this month that display the changing colors in our zone 5 Pennsylvania garden. We have had a particularly dry November, which has meant that the leaves have stayed on the trees and bushes longer than normal. Once the frost hit, the leaves began into their color change and we had the opportunity to enjoy it step-by-step over a couple of weeks instead of in a few days.

Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snowflake' (above) is newly planted in the Shade Path. It has wonderful autumn color. It can be seen in its diminutive size at the very right in the photo below.

One thing I am really enjoying is seen how the evergreens around the house begin to pop when surrounded by the yellows, reds and oranges. The small rounded green bushes in in the pachysandra are actually forsythias, which have kept their leaves much longer than the other deciduous bushes (note the mock orange, Philadelphus, on the right in yellow leaf).  I have been clipping them hard to retain their shape in this small area, which I know is a horror to some gardeners. But at the time of planting their price was right (since they grew from cuttings tended on our apartment window sill for years), and I really like the added yellow they give to the spring display in April. So, I will probably go on clipping until we are no longer tending/living at this garden; then we will have to do something drastic.

View across the Front Walk with the fluffy seed heads from Japanese Anemones

I love the Spirea 'Goldflame' in all seasons. It has red/orange buds nearly all winter, explodes with color in May, and still looks good in the Front Walk in November with the fluffy white seed heads of Japanese Anemone. 

Topiary Alberta spruce in front of blazing Euonymus alatus, a known invasive

Spirea 'Goldflame' and Japanese Anemone

Gray skeleton of Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Little Spire') and seed heads of purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

A glimpse of the foliage on the Hill Garden, which is still looking very alive this month (see more in GBBD).

Euonymus alatus, a known invasive, drops its leaves for the year

Yellow vibrancy of the weeping cherry (Prunus) in Cherry Corner

Just days later, the Prunus is stripped of its leaves for the year

Hydrangea quercifolia

The differing purple tint of this native oakleaf hydrangea bush contrasts with the one planted at the other end of the Shade Path garden. 

Native aster turning with Geranium macrorrhizum 'Bevans Variety' by the fence

Forsythia under planted with wood spurge

Lastly, a punch of color from our forsythia in the Front Woodland. It looks great under planted with Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae, know as Mrs. Robb's bonnet.

Happy Garden Bloggers' Foliage Day! 
Thanks to Christina at Creating My Own Garden of the Hesperides for hosting on the 22nd of each month.

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day - August 2011

 I am happy with the gains I have made this year in our summer season at Gilmore Gardens.
(A look back at August 2010.) Not satisfied yet, but happy with the progress.  I have had little time to write about it (I have started five posts on the subject!), but I am in the middle of figuring out what tricks I need to add to my bag to make the gardens be show-stopping at this time of year.

Hill Garden ~ First Week of August

An August update on the Hill Garden succession planting. 

The last update was in mid-July, with Rosa 'The Fairy' in full swing.
Very soon after the daisies were finished (see July), they were cut down to their second or third set of leaves. Cutting them this way might encourage them to make a second flush of bloom later this month.

Soon the Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) started bursting on top of the Hill.   I have had success in sowing it myself from seed, probably since it is one of the easier plants to grow. It has really filled in this year. It was given the "chelsea chop" (or herbaceous pruning to those of us State-side) around the end of June to encourage it to bloom a bit later and have mulitple stems. It worked great this year!

Hidden amongst the coneflowers are half-a-dozen very small Russian sage plants (Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Little Spire'). So far, I am not thrilled with this plant because it is so slow growing. Maybe all Perovskia are slow growing? (Christine, any help??)  Perhaps it is just because it is a dwarf? Or maybe because it is part of a succession and therefore has to compete a little bit for its sunshine earlier in the season?


I do love how its blue flowers look in front of the large leaves of Canna 'King Humbert' (rather funny name, huh?). These cannas were potted up in my basement in April, sat for a while in their pots on the Hill while I thought about adding them (ok, they sat for a couple of months), and were just officially planted last week. I like them a lot here.

 That is it for now. The roses are recouping on the hill side; the lambs ears are regrouping from having their languidly lolling flower spikes cut down to stubs (a good mulching was needed after that yucky job).
Waiting to see what the rest of the summer brings!