Roses in the Hill Garden

Rosa 'The Fairy' in the Hill Garden.

The finale rose in our garden this month is the classic polyanthus Rosa 'The Fairy'. When we planted our Hill Garden, which started as just a pile of dirt from our new gravel parking area (see before photo), I planted four of these pretty re-blooming rose bushes to ring the hill. They are backed by four purple barberry bushes (which I am not sure I would recommend as they can be invasive in some areas, though they look lovely here). The silvery lamb's ears (Stachys byzantine) and evergreen moss phlox (Phlox subulata) fill in here. There is also a host of perennial flowers at the crown of the hill: Echinacea purpurea, Shasta daisies, Sedum 'Autumn Joy', russian sage (Perovskia), Mallow and others.

I love this garden in all seasons, starting with the bulbs in early spring, then tulips (early tulips and late tulips), roses and daisies for summer, bold foliage in the late summer (Cannas are in again this year!), and more roses and Sedum for October, even til December snow. But for now, we are soaking up July. :)

This garden has crept down the hill as it has matured, but I still like having that strip of mown grass to act as a border around it and the other gardens. It may go someday, but for now, it still gives some calm to all that ruckus color!

The view of the oft forgotten east side of our house. Here you can see the Hill garden, which is at the front of our driveway, the rose trellis, our tiny potager garden (which supplies more food than you would think!), and then our Driveway garden.

I would like to dedicate this post to my hubby, James! 
Today is our 11th anniversary. I have enjoyed all of our years together, through thick and thin, and could not have possibly made all of these beautiful gardens - or begun this garden blog - without him! He is a gifted pruner, planter and encourager.

And all garden lovers will enjoy his writing! Here are a few you will enjoy: his reasons for loving and helping make our gardens, a squirrely tail (ha ha), the beauty of introducing our kids to poetry and why our little acts of kindness matter in life.

Love you forever, honey!
~Julie