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Thursday, April 14, 2011

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day ~ April 2011

Daffodils at Gilmore Gardens!
(Alt. title: No more mowing the curb strip!!!)

  For the past year-and-a-half, I have been hard at work getting rid of the grass monoculture that occupied the wide strip between our sidewalk and the road. (Here is a great article on all the fun you can have in this unappreciated area of your garden.)

  After I lasagna-layered it with cardboard boxes and leaf litter, most of the sod smothered over the previous winter.  Last spring, I intensively planted it - actually my darling husband lent most of the muscle for this root-filled area - with extras from the rest of the yard.  Hemerocallis, artemesia, pachysandra, Sedum 'Acre', hosta, forget-me-nots... anything I could throw at it on a short budget.  Some mulch on top gave it a nicer look. 

   I ended up adding a forsythia that I rooted myself a few years ago when still living in our College Ave. apartment, and the daffs (Narcissus 'Topolino') were added last fall.  And here it is for its first beauty show!

   Narcissus 'Topolino' flanking the walkway to our back entrance.  Everything is already (and purposely) green in the Driveway garden - a trait to be sought after, as suggested by C. Lloyd himself (read more in Succession Planting for Year-Round Pleasure).

   Tulipa 'Ice Stick' is new to the Hill Garden this year. Wonderful to have such an early tulip, especially since we are running behind by a couple of weeks this year. Last year in April we were already enjoying our main tulip show!

    View from the tulips on the Hill Garden to the forsythias and pachysandra in the front of our home.  I love how the little purple in these tulips is picked by by the red barberry stems.
    
   Hellebores orientalis hyb...  a new one to our garden and I really like its soft pink color on the Shade Path.


  

Hellebores orientalis hyb. with it first buttery blooms.









   On to the blues: Scilla siberica in the backyard creates such a fun scene in our little rock garden by the maple tree and in the cracks of the patio.


  Surrounding our Circle Lawn, Anemone 'Blue Shades' is in full bloom now and looks lovely coming up through the loosestrife shoots (Lysimachia punctata 'Alexander').

Thanks to Carol at May Dream's Gardens for hosting 
Garden Blogger's Bloom Day!

23 comments:

  1. Kate/ Beyond the BramblesApril 14, 2011 at 11:00 PM

    Good for you for planting up the boulevard. There are so many lovely things to look at- beautiful moss, anemones and hellebores.

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  2. AnonymousApril 14, 2011 at 11:15 PM

    You did a great job planting your 'hell strip' area. I agree with Kate, so much to look at. I have to get some blue anemone, it is a plant I like. I have white ones, but there have been less and less each year. I like your blues.

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  3. IsabelleApril 15, 2011 at 1:34 AM

    Hello Julie, The Scillas on the cracks is a great idea !

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  4. BernieHApril 15, 2011 at 8:00 AM

    Love what you've done with the area in front of your sidewalk. I also just love those little Scillas popping up in between the patio cracks ... how lovely!

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  5. Nell JeanApril 15, 2011 at 9:36 AM

    Good job of planting up the hell strip. No mowing for you, attractive view for passersby. Happy Bloom Day.

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  6. James D. WitmerApril 15, 2011 at 11:07 AM

    Hooray for less mowing!

    Love the daffodils, as you know, and they look especially fresh with the new bright-green foliage on the sedum and day lilies.

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  7. Christine @ The Gardening BlogApril 15, 2011 at 1:00 PM

    Hi Julie, Love your Hellebores and the Scilla siberica!! Happy GBBD!

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  8. Dee/reddirtramblingsApril 15, 2011 at 1:33 PM

    Ah, Julie, my first visit here, and I'm so glad I came. Beautiful, beautiful. I am also a big fan of Christopher Lloyd. Have you read his book of letters with Beth Chatto? Happy Bloom Day!~~Dee

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  9. AnonymousApril 15, 2011 at 2:31 PM

    I have really enjoyed looking at your Blog, Julie, since I'm not over at your house every day. You have such a beautiful selection of flowers.
    ~Olivia

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  10. MashaApril 15, 2011 at 2:50 PM

    Gorgeous! You did a great job on the streetside plantings. Those little blue scillas look wonderful between the pavers, that shot should be in a magazine. Did you have to lie down a lot to take these awesome pictures:)?

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  11. Rosie Nixon FluertyApril 15, 2011 at 2:55 PM

    That's wonderful how you were able to achieve that in a year. You and me both have some similar flowers despite being across the pond from each other and I see that you like to get down on the ground to take your shots like me. You have a lovely bokeh in some of those shots especially in the tulip one.

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  12. Wife, Mother, GardenerApril 15, 2011 at 3:11 PM

    Masha & Leaves'nbloom:
    Wearing old pants is the only safe way for me to go outside :) Even when I tell myself I am not going to get dirty, I always do... even with a camera in my hands.

    Yes, lots of laying/kneeling on the ground. The only way to do it :)

    Dee: Yes, I have read his letters with Beth. Great example of how our gardens can display our different personalities! And they are both amazing (they & their gardens).


    Thank you all for you kind comments. So glad you enjoyed the garden as I do!

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  13. gabrielle@flowerbulbcrazy.comApril 15, 2011 at 3:36 PM

    great plan on side flowerbed! We have ditches and no curb, but made it mass planting of 3000 tulips, 100 oriental lilies and day lilies. It was wonderful until 2 years ago we were flooded and lost all the flower bulbs. Now its day lilies and a variegated grass- both are super hardy to withstand the water and the salt from winter!
    Also- LOVE the scilla in between your flagstone and another favorite of mine along walkway & drive is the anemones too!!

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  14. HolleyGardenApril 15, 2011 at 5:12 PM

    Very nice sidewalk strip! Good job! Your pink hellebore is beautiful.

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  15. Carolyn @ Carolyn's Shade GardensApril 15, 2011 at 6:48 PM

    Your hellstrip looks gorgeous, the hard work was well worth it. I especially like the scilla coming up between the paving stones.

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  16. CatApril 15, 2011 at 11:49 PM

    I love the whimsy of the blue flowers in between the stones of your path!

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  17. LydiaApril 16, 2011 at 12:41 AM

    Charming.

    We need more gardeners who do "charming".

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  18. AnonymousApril 16, 2011 at 12:51 AM

    I love your little spring garden show! It's wonderful to see character in a garden! I'm sure there will be much more to come during the next month. We too have had a cool wet spring that has delayed our spring flowers.

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  19. Gesine SeepferdApril 16, 2011 at 2:25 AM

    Thank you very much for joining GBBT!
    Your little hell look like paradise now, good work! Maybe I should do a post about the lovely little spots in my street and everywhere in Berlin, where people just start to plant flowers around the trees and care about them all summer!
    Wish you a wonderful weekend!
    Gesine

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  20. DonnaApril 16, 2011 at 7:30 AM

    What a gorgeous area that is reborn in beauty...I love your bulbs peeking up all over and between the flagstones of the patio...beautiful!!

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  21. ChristinaApril 16, 2011 at 1:49 PM

    I do like your early tulip, very delicate and restrained. Tulips come all at once here, I try to plant for succession but I get bounty instead! In answer to your question "Thanks Julie, yes today is sunny but very windy, so windy it bent the tube of my washing line! Slide number 8 is Tulip Burgandy Lace and this is the second year it has flowered. It's actually quite red so I'm not sure if the slide show always starts in the same place. Other pink tulips I have are: T. China Pink (Lilly flowered) and T. Peerless Pink (not sure if there was a photo of this - I think it was out of focus)." Christina

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  22. debsgardenApril 16, 2011 at 10:42 PM

    That is much better than a boring strip of grass! Bravo to you! All the passers by must enjoy it, too.

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  23. Tatyana@MySecretGardenApril 17, 2011 at 2:37 AM

    Pink heleborus and scilla are my favorites here!

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