Favorite Garden Combinations of 2010 (Part 3)

Oh, May! Late-Spring
                      How can so much beauty be grasped?

Continuing through to the height of spring, Gilmore Gardens is full of vignettes to be appreciated and enjoyed.  

On the Shade Path Garden stands Iris pallida variegata with its white and green punctuating foliage among the broad leaved hostas and billowing forget-me-nots (Myosotis).

The pink and purple columbine (Aquilegia) hover above the forget-me-nots and the fresh leaves of annual and perennial foxgloves (Digitalis).  They also contribute their pretty divided foliage to this season.  The leaves will soon be lined all over in circular patterns by leaf-miner larve, but when the time comes to tidy the May garden, just cut the foliage to the ground.  It will re-emerge unspoiled, ready to contribute to the summer shade garden.

  The pecan-colored picket fence that frames the backyard is gradually being covered by climbers, Clematis being one of my favorites.  Clematis 'Ernest Markham' (above) blooms repeatedly throughout the season, its feet happy in the shade of the low-growing pachysandra and Helleborus.  

 On the corner, an unidentified blue Clematis (right) has nearly matched the color of the Iris pallida.                                       

 Another development in the Shade Path is the bloom of Geranium 'Bevan's Variety' (below) which is sprinkled throughout the forget-me-nots, here between the chartreuse foliage of a spiderwort (Tradescantia 'Sweet Kate') and Hosta 'Northern Exposure'.

The Front Walk was beautiful this year, with all new herbaceous plantings and bulbs. This is one of my favorites from the whole growing season;  Tulips 'Shirley' and 'Cum Laude' bloom together with forget-me-nots underneath and variegated loosestrife (Lysimachia punctata 'Alexander'), Heuchera 'Purple Palace' and Phlox subulata in the background. 

    The most commented-on plant in the whole garden was the Allium 'Purple Sensation', which started blooming with the dark purple T. 'Cum Laude' and finished with Dianthus 'Firewitch' and the still-chartreuse foliage of Spirea 'Goldflame'.  This color combination literally stopped the traffic whizzing by our small corner lot.

 

In the Back Woodland garden in the backyard, a young Cornus alba 'Elegantissima' shows off its new leaves to match the tiny white bottle-brush blooms of the woodland foam flower (Tiarella). 


The arching branches of our purple ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius 'Summer Wine') are covered in rosy white flowers to complement the slightly pink-tinged flowers of the nearby masterwort (Astrantia major). White-edged hosta and evergreen christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) fill out the picture.

The Driveway garden was much more balanced this year, with a good sprinkling of blue, white and chartreuse throughout.  Here, illuminated by the evening golden-hour, you see the blue of siberian irises in the foreground and the echo from Geranium 'Orion' in the back.  Lady's mantle (Alchemilla mollis), Sedum 'Acre', and the tall woodland phlox (Phlox divaricata) all add to the scene.

A quiet moment by our patio:
     The honeysuckle bush (Lonicera) in full bloom around the fountain.

Read more about Gilmore Gardens:
Part 4 from 2010: Early Summer
Shade Path Garden 2011- April through December
Map of Gilmore Gardens