Spring Flowers for April ~ GBBD April 2016

Welcome to Havenwood!

It has been such a roller coaster spring, as I am sure you know or have heard from many other eastern US gardeners. We had more buds in January than ever before, as our true cold did not arrive until February. Then a especially mild March, with more snow and cold in the first two weeks of April. And now it is 70 degrees again today.  This is not totally abnormal for our zone 5 garden, but the high temps have been much higher than usual. This has brought the garden further along than it normally is at this time of year.

Many flowers that were doing so well, so soon... too soon... did meet a cruel end with the frost.

The star magnolia blooms were blackened after one day of blooming all around our town. The taller daffodils did not stand up as well to the snow that covered them soon after they were full out, but the shorter ones have stood the test. The pretty star of Bethlehem, that I recently posted, were soon snuffed out with cold. But still, the garden and the gardener marches on...

There are still a few pretties to see today for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day in our western PA garden.

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!)

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ September 2013 GBBD

Blooms and foliage in my zone 5 garden for September.

Welcome to Pennsylvania in September!

We have had quite a variety of weather in the past weeks. One day it is unbearably hot and dry with the temperature over 86 degrees F (30 C). The next day we are all in winter coats at the damp morning soccer game in 40 degrees F (4 C). Despite all of that drama, the garden is still blooming on...

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ GBBD August 2013

Pink Anemone japonica, Spirea 'Goldflame', red Canna 'King Humbert' and white Cosmos fill the Front Walk garden this week.

Welcome to August in Pennsylvania! We have quite a few flowers this month since the Japanese anemones and meadow rues have started their long season of bloom and the black-eyed Susans are prettying the curb. Come take a walk around!

While we were away...GBBD May 2013

Full of tulips at Gilmore Gardens in May!

As excited as I was to be touring Chanticleer and Winterthur last week, I was a little sad to be missing the over 200 tulips we planted last fall in our front garden! So, while we were away on our spring trip, I asked my friend Melissa Ellen to take some photos of our tulips. Melissa did a great job! I knew she would, as she does a wonderful job with photos of everything beautiful on her own blog, Melissa Ellen's Loft. If you are in need of some pretty ideas for your home, give her blog a look. Thanks to her for all of the beautiful photos in this post!!

Muscari 'Ocean Magic' and Anemone blanda 'White Splendour'

Muscari aucheri 'Ocean Magic', Anemone blanda 'White Splendour' and Sedum 'Acre' in our curb strip this weekend.

 I just had to share this pretty combination from our curb strip this week! The spring woodland windflower, Anemone blanda 'White Splendour', is a beautiful flower to plant to add with daffodils or under tulips for your spring displays. (See A. 'White Spendour' with Tulipa 'Prinses Irene' last year in our garden.) 

Or it really draws out the white tips in the grape hyacinth, Muscari aucheri 'Ocean Magic'. Add a covering of Sedum 'Acre' underneath these tiny beauties for best effect!

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ April 2013 GGBD

Blooms for April along the front of our house at Gilmore Gardens.

Spring seems to have finally arrived here in western Pennsylvania, zone 5. Temperatures will be in the 60's this week (18 C) and the sun is shining.... and I have the sunburn to prove it! oops.

Yellow is the theme color this week with the forsythias and daffodils in full bloom. And our pet bunny, Bella, is enjoying the fresh new dandelion greens that I am pulling out from the lawns and borders. (Hint: Now is the time to get a jump on those weeds!)

Chanticleer ~ Oak Bed Woodland

Chanticleer's Oak Bed filled with spring delights!

I had lovely weather and lovely company on the day I visited Chanticleer last April. The sunny, warm spring excited hundreds of plants into bloom on the estate grounds all at once. It was a beautiful time to visit!

Here are my photos of the Oak Bed. I found the planting in this area captivating; so many woodland treasures were all nestled together. It had the effect of a patchwork quilt which the gardeners had been knitting together these past years.  Each plant so quietly beautiful, supporting one another. I hope you enjoy the view!

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ GBBD Sept 2012

Pink Dahlia with Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' in our Front Walk Garden.

Welcome to Pennsylvania in September! My garden has definitely perked up for fall. We finally had a normal amount of rain for the month, which is the first month since last year. The plants are putting on new growth, looking greener and flowering a bit more. Here are some highlights from around our two-tenths of an acre at Gilmore Gardens.

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ August GBBD 2012

Sedum 'Autumn Joy' and Mandevilla 'Pretty Pink' in PA zone 5 for August.

Welcome to August in my Pennsylvania, zone 5 garden! It is not what I had hoped that it would be, but the garden is perking up after having some much needed rain in the past two weeks. I took these photos last night after another rain came.

Large-flowered hardy hibiscus (Hibiscus moscheutos 'Pink Elephant') in our Driveway Garden is blooming away this month.

More in the Driveway Garden: Hibiscus 'Pink Elephant',white Miscanthus 'Dixieland',  a tall blue Buddleia and Agastache foeniculum 'Golden Jubilee'. The ground cover in front here is Sedum 'Acre' which is a much used cover plant in our gardens.

Visit to Carolyn's Shade Gardens in Bryn Mawr, PA

View of Carolyn's Shade Gardens

Pam and I had a wonderful visit to see Carolyn at her gardens in April. What a beautiful garden! And certainly a plant lover's delight.

One of the defining characteristics of Carolyn's garden are all of the amazing, old trees around her property. No wonder she has found a love for shade gardening! The trees act as a luxuriant setting for everything else. Other people may have cut trees down for more sun exposure, but I am thankful that she instead created gardens that fit her surroundings and even added many more beautiful trees. Creativity is sometimes best displayed when we learn to work with a seeming "garden challenge." 

Anemone multifida 'Annabella Deep Pink' ('Rubra')

Anemone multifida 'Annabella Deep Pink' (also known as Anemone m. 'Rubra') in our Back Woodland Garden.

Here is a new little Windflower this year, Anemone multifida 'Annabella Deep Pink' ('Rubra'). She is blooming amongst the dying Crocus foliage from our early spring carpet in this garden, and mulched with leaf litter. A Christmas ferns (Polystichum acrostichoides) stands behind her. She is a bright gem to add to the front of a woodland garden. And her foliage is divided and therefore looks more like a tropical Anemone.

Tulip 'Princess Irene' and Tulip 'Cum Laude' with Spirea 'Goldflame' in the Front Walk Garden

Tulip 'Princess Irene' and Tulip 'Cum Laude' with Spirea 'Goldflame' and forget-me-nots (Myosotis)

We are living in decadent color these weeks at Gilmore Gardens in Pennsylvania. I cannot seem to keep up with taking photos enough to capture all of the changes. Here are a few vivid photos of the tulips in our Front Walk garden, which is situated in full to part sun.

GBBD April Flowers in Pennsylvania, Zone 5

The Circle Lawn on April 15th, 2012.

 Welcome to GBBD April at Gilmore Gardens in Pennsylvania, Zone 5!

Our garden is still a month ahead of where it normally is in spring.  It looks much more like May from last year than April.  We are located on a corner lot in our little town, so we have lots of passersby with which to share our spring celebration. Our location contains gardens in shade, semi-shade and lots of full sun. See the map of Gilmore Gardens to link these areas together in your mind as you look around.

The Front Walk ~ May through December 2011

May 10, 2011

May 20, 2011

June 4. 2011 (path-side view)

June 14, 2011 (street-side view)

August 12, 2011

September 7, 2011

November 8, 2011

November 11, 2011 (just days later)

December 1, 2011

See the map for the location of the Front Walk at Gilmore Gardens.

Since our current view is a snow one (which you may see in my photostream of "Current Views of Gilmore Gardens" in the right-hand column), I am posting these succession planting pretties instead for Carol at May Dreams. 
Happy GBBD!

Japanese Anemone Seed Fluffs

I was out taking pictures one morning this November and took these views of the Japanese anemone seeds in the Front Walk...

The seed heads of Japanese Anemone

Anemones with a maple leaf they caught on its way down

 Just a couple of hours later,  I happened to be chasing the kids around the house and found them all fluffed out in the sun...

All fluffed out in the sun a couple hours later

Fluffy seeds of Japanese Anemone

Of course, they were soon strew about the place as the kids went to work enjoying how their cotton-like seeds carry on the November wind.  And I over heard my little Anna, as she and her sister grasped clumps of fluff and gingerly tucked it into the nearby soil, "We are just like real gardeners, Grace!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall Gardening Task #6: Planting Spring/Summer Bulbs of course!

I love spring, so I find it hard to turn down just about any bulb. Luckily, since I found these great sister companies, I can afford a lot more than just a couple. (They are not paying me to say this btw).

John Scheepers and Van Engelen sell their bulbs at sometimes half of the price you might see anywhere else. I highly recommend checking them out. And if you go to their websites at this time of year, you can often get some steals on bulb sales. They are also likely to be running out of some of the most popular tulips by November, so it is better to order in September if your heart if set on a certain bloom for spring.

Here is a sneak preview of what will be blooming at Gilmore Gardens next spring/summer:

for the Front Woodland, Curb and Shade Path...

the Hill Garden and Cherry Corner...

the Driveway Garden and the Circle Lawn...

I am working on planting 800 bulbs this week, so good thing it is sunny! I am usually out in the icy rain. 

 I am making another attempt this year of planting tulips in to containers.  My first try was a miserable failure (sorry Bev!). After a little research about bulb pots in zone 5, I am headed in the right direction. I plan on planting them up and putting them in in the garage before the first foot of snow. I am really excited about my combinations: shocking orange lily-flowered tulips (finally growing my first Tulipa Ballerina!) and Tulipa Virichic with white anemones (Anemone blanda White Splendor) and purple violas (which I will purchase in the spring).

Fall Gardening Tasks Series:
#1 Planting Lavender in wet climates
#2 New perennials for fall planting 

#3  Thin Perennial Seedlings

#4 Bring in the tender plants (more whimsy than informative)

#5 Mowing leaves into Turf

Fall Gardening Task #2: New perennials for fall planting

This is the next installment in my fall gardening tasks list and one of my favorite subjects: new plants! 

Fall is a great time to plant herbaceous perennials and shrubs: 
they will be invisibly developing their root systems under the ground all winter;
they require less additional watering in fall than summer plantings;
it does not matter how big a mess you make of the work area around your new addition because everything is about to freeze anyway;
and because in PA in October plants go on sale! Check your local nurseries for some treasures.


For the Shade Path garden: This post is also a welcome to some new, old friends... a celebration in finally owning some plants that I have long admired!

 Purple leaved Cimicifuga 'Chocoholic' to bloom alongside the Japanese Anemone

 A stately purple-leaved foliage plant that takes a while to establish its self, but is worth the wait. 
(Note to Bev: I have one now too!)

Common name: Bugbane

 If you are a forest lover, you might spot the green-leaved bugbane out on an autumn walk. Its astilbe-like foliage is topped by these crazy sweet wand blooms. A great addition to any shade garden for fall! Hardiness zones 4 to 8.

The scent of these flowers is intoxicating from many feet away! Swoon.

Another plant with astilbe-like foliage...

Aruncus dioicus. Common name: Goat's beard

This one is supposed to handle dry shade. We shall see! It gets wonderful while plumes in the summer. Hardiness zones 4 to 8.

One for the Back Woodland:

Anemone multiflida 'Rubra'

This one says sun to part shade, so I am going to try it in a spot that gets morning sun and late day sun... we shall see how it does. I love anemones. All of them. I could not pass up trying this one. The tag says it is hardy to zone 2!

I love the divided, geranium-like foliage.

And lest you think I have forgotten the sun gardens, or the overflow of purple flowers in need of some balance in the Driveway Garden:

Oso Easy Paprika. ahem... Landscape Rose.

I will admit to needing to swallow my plant snobbery when I first found myself seriously considering this plant. Could I sink to the level of a "landscape rose?" But the fact is that I would not be a good gardener if I passed up a plant that will fit the needs that I have: that is, add a serious kick of orange to this bed, add another smallish shrub for structure (tag says 2' x 3' max), and bloom all summer/fall.

If you decide that you too must give in, then know that it surely is hardy where you live, unless it is with the polar bears or in Ecuador (zones 3-9).

Happy plant shopping!

Japanese Anemones

(similar to Anemone x hybrida 'September Charm')
The pink variety graces the Front Walk and are also spotted here and there in some shadier areas.
The bees adore them, as do we.

Anemone with pink cosmos at their feet.

These anemones are one of the flowers that I look forward most to in September. Their foliage fills out the garden nicely with some bulk from June onward. Read more about the place it has in our succession planting in the Front Walk in my article on Allium christophii (one of its boarder neighbors), or with the full September planting for GBBD.

A pale pink reflection...

In the Back Woodland

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day ~ September 2011

A finishing view from the end of our wrap-around garden walk.

Welcome to early fall at Gilmore Gardens!

For the month of September, I have decided to walk you through the path that I take each morning alone and many evenings with my hubby (read more in my autumn foxglove post). For us, the garden tour begins at the gate, which is rather a romantic/poetic start.

The Shade Path

The bloom in the shade garden is representative of the entire garden this month: like August but better! 
We still have all of the cool green, blue and white-edged foliage to look at and ribbons of annual color, but it also has some nice patches of perennial foxgloves (Digitalis grandiflora) and the toad lily (Tricyrtis 'Blue Wonder') is in bloom.

Left side of Shade Path

I am very happy with the hot pink impatients I chose for the Shade Path this year. It really packs more of a punch, especially at a distance or drive-by, than the pastel shades that I used last year (see Sept 2010).

 With so many natural disasters going on in the weather this month, I find myself more thankful than usual at we have made it into September without much incident... excepting the quarter sized hail that beat-up the hosta and cannas a few weeks ago. Our garden did not sustain as much damage as others in town, though I have removed armloads of broad leaves this month.

Toad lily (Tricyrtis 'Blue Wonder'). It's common name comes from the way each the flowers seem to sit on each leaf along the stem, like little frogs on their lily pads. Do toads ever sit on lily pads?

Layered plantings add mystery and depth

I acquired a sun-stressed baby oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) a month ago. Here on the outside edge of the Shade Path, it looks mesmerizing surrounded by the froth of native aster (Doellingeria unbellata).

I am totally in love with the white aster in the shade garden. Weak in the knees. 
It seeded itself here a few years ago, and noticing that it looked like an aster shoot, I decided to give it the Chelsea chop like my other asters and see what happened. It makes the most beautiful froth above the green mounds. Stay tuned for its full bloom this year.
(Note the hail damage in the lower right corner above. So sad. Like slugs on drugs.)

The Circle Lawn

When approaching the Circle Lawn, you might want to take a moment to notice the great color echo from the foxgloves on the Shade Path to the bright yellow grass, Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola', on the opposite side of the circle.

The colorful left side of the Circle Lawn.

Then notice that this same Japanese forest grass is planted on both "corners" where the path meets the circle, and also on a third corner to the right (below).

The green right side of the Circle Lawn.

This garden area is a cacophony of colors. I am rather uncomfortable with it at present, but there are a lot of plants waiting to mature; that alone will create more cohesion next year.

One combination I love, though it is rather pushing the variegated plant limit: Sedum 'Frosty Morn' and Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola').

A look back at the Circle Lawn.

Cherry Corner

The inside of this corner garden has the tough job of being a transition point that should move us on to the next expanse, the Front Walk. I tried to keep the planting simple, yet provide for some succession (which I talked about in GBBD August).

Inside of Cherry Corner

Never too much Sedum 'Autumn Joy' for me. They are wonderful in their green state, and the blush tells me fall is here.

Transition to the Front Walk

The Front Walk

View down the length of the Front Walk from under the weeping cherry tree ("Do not mind me, neighbors").

This garden is much closer this year to what dream it could be. The pink Japanese anemones are gaining bulk, now two years old. Pink cosmos sneak in with their dissected foliage at the lower level. Dahlia 'Heat Wave' and Canna 'King Humbert' tower over the rest, giving it a focal point and some punch.

Dahlia 'Heat Wave'

Dahlia 'Heat Wave' and Canna 'King Humbert'

A peak down the the sidewalk complete with the lazy gardener's wheel barrow.

The Hill Garden

The less-often-seen inner edge of the Hill Garden. The garlic chive, Allium tuberosum, has been putting on quite a show. It adds some restful white the all of the lively red this season.

 Planting layers have been key to creating succession in our relatively small boarders. Here, the white allium falls over Sedum 'Autumn Joy', which leans on the curved hedge of purple barberry (Berberis thunbergii; a known invasive), which helps support the crown on flowers at the top.

The crown of the Hill: Echinacea purpurea and Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

Also: Canna 'King Humbert' and  Perovskia atriplicifolia 'Little Spire'

Here we begin rounding the corner... and a quick look back at the Front Walk.

Looping the Hill garden, we can make our way to see one of the best surprises of September...

Roses! I love them. Rosa 'The Fairy' keeps going until well into November.

Like June again. wonderful.

Front Woodland

 This is a good moment for a few glances at the front curb planting. It is mostly green this month, with a few shots of color.

Lily turf (Liriope muscari)

Liriope muscari, or lily turf, provides strappy foliage from late spring and grape hyacinth like spikes in the early fall. The bees like it too!

Liriope muscari 'Monroe White' in its first season.

At the far corner, I just added some artemesia to bring out the L. 'Monroe White'.

Liriope muscari 'Variegata'

Front Walk - lower view

View of the front steps and Front Walk

 The beauty of having a multi-sided garden is enjoying it! It is rather a challenge at moments to make it work together, but very worth the effort.

 I like this annual planting even more now that these self-seeded verbenas popped up from last years planting. The RHS plantfinder tells me this is probably Verbena 'Homestead Purple', a shorter cousin of Verbena bonariensis.

Verbena 'Homestead Purple'

The catmint, Nepeta 'Walker's Low', is blooming again after its summer haircut, giving a nice mounded front edge to this whole boarder.

More fruit of grueling, hot summer pruning: the rebloom of Spirea 'Goldflame'.

Dahlia, Canna, anemone and Spirea 'Goldflame'.  Verbena 'Homestead Purple' in the background.

Circle Lawn: lower view

More walking, less talking.

Cherry Corner - lower view

 The daylily foliage has filled in quite a lot in the past month. (Read more about pruning daylilies.)

View across Cherry Corner.

 More layers: Annuals tucked in amongst Heuchra 'Palace Purple', artemesia, daylilies (Hemerocallis hyb.) and white-edged variegated loosestrife.

Shade Path - lower view

And finally (whew!) we arrive at the other gate... almost. Take just a moment to look and enjoy the Shade Path again with a better view of the autumn blooming foxgloves (Digitalis grandiflora).

Asters waiting to pop.

That lovely aster again (Doellingeria umbellata).

 Notice the white color echo to the hosta across the path.  So nice.

That does it for the front yard! 
Thanks for joining us for a thorough walk around the place.
Time for some tea and cake. 

A big Thank You! to Carol at May Dreams for hosting GBBD!