Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ October 2013 GBBD

The Hill Garden with Canna 'King Humbert', Echinacea purpurea, Berberis purpurea, and glorious yellow maples (Acer) leaves for autumn.

Welcome to my small town Pennsylvania garden in October!

I would be delighted to show you around our corner here in US zone 5. The foliage colors are intensifying this month, though they have not yet reached their climax. Our first frost is still on its way this year. Hurray for a few more weeks with tender plants in the garden! The begonias, cannas, dahlias and annuals are still adding their pretty bit to the mix. Come talk a walk around...

Yellow foxgloves in the Shade Path Garden

Digitalis grandiflora and Clematis 'William Kennett' in our garden this week.

Along the Shade Path garden this week, the perennial yellow foxgloves (Digitalis grandiflora) are in bloom. They are a favorite every year, and seed themselves happily around our dry shade garden.  After they have bloomed for about a month, I trim back their spent blooms to the first set of leaves. This deadheading helps them to re-bloom again in September, which is a real treat!

The Shade Path succession planting started out in January with snowdrops and a few Hellebores in February. It was a really cold spring, so things did not really get going until the Iris reticulata 'Katherine Hodgkin' covered the path in April, followed by many more Hellebores orientalis. Then, the shade garden was covered in blue and white for May. Oh, and there was quite a display of pink columbine in there too.

Color for the Weekend... all along our fence!

The colorful, clematis-filled scene in our Fence Garden today.

Red Clematis 'Earnest Markham' and blue Clematis 'William Kennett' hover over the pink flowers of Geranium 'Bevan's Variety'. Pink columbine (Aquilegia) bloom in the distance in the Shade Path Garden.

Hope you have a restful weekend in your own garden!

~Julie

Iris Combinations for May

A pale yellow iris with pale pink neighbors by our backyard gate.

I am loving our bearded iris this spring! They had a dry, hot summer last year, and so they are rewarding us with some beautiful flowers in our zone 5, Pennsylvania garden.

The irises by the back gate (above) were a gift from some family friends a few years ago; we invited them to dinner and they arrived with a trunk full of plants! After getting settled over the past two years, growing roots and cooking in the heat, they finally revealed their flower color this past week. I am enchanted by their pale yellow, sweetly scented blooms. And the combination here could not be nicer: pale pink dame's rockets (Hesperis matronalis) and Granny's bonnet-type columbine (Aquilegia).

Garden Bloggers' Foliage Day - July 2012

Potted red Japanese maple (Acer) on our back steps, which are becoming nicely clothed in ivy. This was one of the first turf areas to be planted with ground cover.

I am joining in very late with a foliage post this July. Here are a few green scenes from Gilmore Gardens, which are truly carrying the garden until the fall flowers begin.

Red Clematis 'Earnest Markham'

Red Clematis 'Earnest Markham'

The red-flowering Clematis 'Earnest Markham' has one of the longest bloom periods in our garden compared to our other clematis. This year it lasted over 5 weeks, beginning in early May and still going strong in early June for our garden party. It is planted near the back yard fence and with some help in the first year to make it up the fence with a small stake and some fishing line, it was soon covering the pickets in pretty rosy blooms.

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ GBBD May 2012

Our picket fence covered in a red Clematis 'Earnest Markham' and heavenly-scented dame's rocket (Hesperis matronalis). Potted Allium 'Purple Sensation' on the steps.

There are tons of late spring blooms for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day in our Pennsylvania, Zone 5 garden. We are at least three weeks ahead of schedule, with many plants blooming now that usually do not have their day well into June. Most of the tulips are gone as of about a week ago, though the late single Tulip 'Cum Laude' is just dropping its petals this week. The phlox scents the whole yard right now.

One of my favorite large-flowered Clematis, C. 'John Warren' on the flower trellis in the Driveway Garden.

Geranium macrorrhizum 'Bevan's Variety'... with a Christmas wreath on the gate

Red-leaved Geranium 'Bevan's Variety' and browned hydrangea blooms by the fence.

I am enamored of how the line of Geranium macrorrhizum 'Bevan's Variety' along our fence turned red after I hung our Christmas wreath on the back gate.

This beautiful geranium has long-lasting fall color, but it is usually not visible in December since there is often a foot of snow covering everything. (See it here last year in the snow.) With its bloom in May, its terrific foliage the rest of the year and its easy rhizome propagation, it is definitely a winning geranium. It is also useful as a ground cover, even in dry shade areas.

It is also mounded in one of the squares by our sidewalk at the back of the house.

Geranium macrorrhizum 'Bevan's Variety' in autumn color with the strappy fall Muscari foliage

I love how the red bow calls to this geranium through the gate.

Adds a festive spirit! ... even with no snow.