The Hot Border

Coreopsis is a great choice for a perennial that pumps out the color for a long period in the summer and fall.

Things were warming up this week in the Hot border!

August Gardening ~ Garden Blogger's Bloom Day August 2016

The Hot Border in August

    Hello all! August this year has brought some much needed rain, which has largely improved the garden.  Yes, there is more blight on the tomatoes. But everything else is really greened up and looking less tired than it did in July. The big pruning/dead leafing in July has done its job to create a nicer garden picture that will carry us through the autumn.

Purple Coneflower, Clary Sage and Joe Pye Weed

In the Rose Garden this week is the beautiful plant combination of Echinacea purpurea, Salvia sclarea, and Eutrochium purpureum.

Summer is here at Havenwood. :) 

Geranium 'Orion'

A favorite hardy geranium here at Havenwood! Geranium 'Orion'

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day ~ July 2016

Lily 'Honeymoon' shining under blue skies with the blue larkspar

Welcome to Havenwood! Our one-acre garden in Pennsylvania zone 5 is bursting with all the high summer favorites for July. It has been a beautiful summer around here! It has been unusually dry, but it is hard to complain as the temperatures in the 80s everyday make it perfect for pool going with the kids. :) I need to get out and do a bit more watering, but this is surely one of the most pleasant jobs in the garden.

Pretty Peonies

Peony 'Coral Charm' in the Knot Garden at Havenwood.

First roses of the year...

David Austin's Rose 'Albrighton Rambler' just began in the Rose garden.

Last year, I posted about all of the new English roses that I put into our new gardens at Havenwood. Here are the first couple to start out our season of roses for the year...

Lavender to Remember

Lavender from the Rose Garden at Havenwood

They say that scent triggers the most profound memory centers in our brains... That scent is the key to recalling moments in our lives. 

I was out picking some lavender on Sunday morning as a reminder of our fading summer Rose garden. Next year it will return and with more roses too! But I am going to hang on to these pieces and treasure them up for the next six months until spring comes to save the garden - and me - again. 

The Potager

Dill flowering in our kitchen garden this summer.

We enjoyed mixing in some flowers among the veg and fruit this summer. It creates such a beautiful atmosphere in this productive garden and attracts beneficial insects too.

The Rose Garden

Cosmos 'Sweet Sixteen' and blue Agastache in the Rose garden this week at Havenwood.

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Topiary Ivy

Beautiful vintage patinas for this shot thanks to our still-unpainted shed and old wheelbarrow :)

I am finally making another go at my topiary ivies this year! I potted these pretty containers up on our long holiday weekend just passed and hoping they will overwinter well this year for more enjoyment next year. 

Follow me on Instagram or Twitter to see more of what I have been up to in my gardens and my garden designs.

Butterfly on Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea

one warm and sunny moment in our Rose Garden this summer...

Follow me on Instagram or Twitter to see more of what I have been up to in my gardens and my garden designs.

Mexican Sunflowers, Tithonia rotundifolia

Mexican Sunflowers, Tithonia rotundifolia

The Woodland in August

Blue and purple hydrangeas in my Hydrangea bed. Only ericaceous mulches for these lovelies! (pine needles... oak leaves... no mushroom compost.)

July at Havenwood ~ GBBD July 2015

The Rose Garden

Hello all! Welcome to our Pennsylvania garden in July! Come take a look around...

Sunflowers...

Red and yellow for July.

While I am hard at work on our Garden Blogger Bloom Post for July, I thought I would share these cheery flowers with you...

Scenes from Havenwood, June 2015

The Rose Garden at just 9 months old.

Welcome to Pennsylvania in June! Flowers are popping out every moment, so it is hard to even keep up with seeing what is new, let alone sharing it. (Though I have been doing a better job on Instagram / Twitter !) These are the days when every walk through the garden reveals new delights... everything growing like crazy.

This is RHS testing week for me, so I am busy reviewing my list of 300 plants that I am supposed to know backwards & forwards. :) But I could not let this week get away without share a little of what is blooming here at our new garden, Havenwood....

Gilmore Gardens in September 2014 ~ Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

The Hill Garden is still full of color this month: Allium tuberosum & Sedum 'Autumn Joy'.

Welcome to Gilmore Gardens in Pennsylvania, zone 5!

There are still quite a few blooms over at Gilmore, even though we have not been living near it or caring make for it at all. About once a month to month-and-a-half, I do a big cleanup of weeds and deadheading the flowers.... That is it! That is all it takes to keep this garden going right now. It really has confirmed to me, though many people just do not believe it, that a garden on this scale can be plannned to pretty much take care of itself by having well designed planting schemes.

(Note to newcomers: This is our previous garden, which is a small town lot about a half mile from our new garden at Havenwood. Read my 'about my gardens' for more info!)

Progress in the Knot Garden

My daughter stepping up our newly cemented steps at Havenwood.

Greetings garden lovers! We are certainly not done with the gardens yet this year, but I thought you might like a look at where we are right now with things.

Helleborine orchid at Havenwood

Epipactis helleborine

While I was out moving some bark mulch this week on to our new yew hedges, I noticed something under one of our mature yew by the front walk...