View of the Driveway Garden this morning...

October in the Driveway Garden at Gilmore Gardens.

While we were getting ready for homeschool this morning, I galnced out of the kitchen window. This pretty scene was perfectly lit by the morning sun. I thought I would share it with you today as well! :)

Pink Rose and Purple Clematis Combination for June

In our Driveway garden, an old pink rose bush makes a wonderful host for purple Clematis 'Etoile Violette'.

June is underway and the roses are blooming here in Pennsylvania. Our Driveway Garden is covered in pink and blue this week, with a bit of white thrown in to lighten the color palette.

When we bought our home, we inherited an old rose bush by the back corner of our house... and one to match it across the driveway. It blooms its socks off once and year, and then needs quite a bit of pruning to keep it in line. A newer rose would give more for repeat bloom, but the light fragrance and pink color make it worth keeping. And even better yet is the combination that happens when Clematis 'Etoile Violette' blooms along with it. The clematis it is planted at the roses feet and it appreciates the cool shade the rose provides. It easily grabs a hold on to the rose brambles and pulls itself to the sun.

Around the perimeter of this rose, which is 5 feet high and 6 feet wide (1.6 m x 2m), there is ground cover of variegated deadnettle (Lamium maculatum), evergreen moss phlox (Phlox subulata), and yellow-blooming Sedum 'Acre'.

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!!

Chanticleer ~ Bell's Run Creek in April

Fothergilla gardenii in Bell's Run Creek planting for April

Chanticleer's spring show includes formal tulips displays, but it also extends to every stretch of their woodland. Here near Bell's Run Creek, spring gets its color from woodland Phlox, Fothergilla, Primula, Camassia, and pretty shade plants and trees of every kind.

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 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.

Edging and Removing Turf for more Garden: Fall Gardening Task #7

Adding another foot on the front of the Hill Garden

I did one of my very favorite and hardest gardening tasks in November:  
tearing out sod to create more garden.
I staked a cord at the point of Cherry Corner and unraveled it down the front of the garden. I like to step back and look it over, and readjust to fit where I want the garden to meet the grass. Then I cut with my flat spade as close to the line as possible, always checking to make sure it is still straight. Winding the string back up, I move on to the hard work of prying up the turf which is made much easier after a day of rain to soften it. I like to use the pieces flipped over to make more garden beds, throw it on the compost pile (which has very limited space in our town lot), or in this case, gift it to my garden-making friends to make their own gardens (thanks Angela!).

A wheel barrow and industrial garbage bags were necessary this time around

I planted more creeping phlox (Phlox subulata) all along the front edge of the gardens because it makes a nice low-growing edging plant, is evergreen through our zone 5 winters, is covered in purple flowers in May, and matures quickly.  All of the creeping phlox on our property is the same color because it has all been divided from one plant that started as a tiny piece in a four-inch pot from my nursery working days. I am most happy about adding the extra space to the Hill garden because the silvery lamb's ears (Stachys byzantine) have taken over this year, so the balance will be restored (temporarily) by adding more room for phlox.

Planted up before the last leaves fell

The biggest reasons for the extra fall-season labor are because I enjoy a nice clean garden edge for the winter months, and because it gives the plants a head start on their root growth before next season.

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 

# 6 Planting Spring Bulbs

The Hill Garden ~ First Week of May 2011

   Continuing our First Week of May postings at Gilmore Gardens...
     On the Hill Garden we first had the pretty Tulipa 'Ice Stick' in April.  Now in the month of May, the phlox subulata (which has filled in quite a bit from last year) is coming into bloom with the first lily-flowered tulip that I have grown, Tulipa 'China Pink'. They still are not full out, so I will put up more photos when they are at their best in another week or so. 

   Tulipa 'China Pink' in front of the purple barberry bushes.

The fuzzy, softness of lamb's ears (Stachys byzantina) by part of our stream of Muscari armenicum (not sure I can call it a river, Nell_Jean, but pretty none-the-less).  These grape hyacinths has been prolific re-seeders at Gilmore Gardens... even over-flowing into our neighbors grass next door.

When he got the lawn mower out, I quickly scampered around picking bouquets before they were cut down in their prime. 

I am very satisfied with the Hill combinations at this point, though one could always add more tulips. The next tulip bloom set to grow here is Tulipa 'Sorbet'. Succession planting takes some careful observation and coordination, but the fruit is always having something to look forward to!

Check back for our continuing series for the First Week of May all this week! 

See the whole series for the First Week of May:

Driveway Garden

Hill Garden

Trellis for New Heights

Cherry Corner Garden

Shade Path

The Driveway Garden ~ First Week of May/Spring Succession 2011

   I love spring! And the joy of succession planting is that we are nearly on to our third phase of spring in our Driveway Garden, though May is just beginning.  Phase one was crocuses and iris reticulatas, phase two daffodils and hyacinths, and then... see a sneak peek at the end of this post.

   Above is the planting surrounding the entrance to our backyard. Phlox subulata is happy again this year (and makes me happy with its evergreen leaves all winter!).  Narcissus 'Jenny', white Hyacinthus 'Aiolos' and some pink early tulips fill in around the structure of the three ball arbor viteas, lavender, and lilac shrubs.

   Muscari armenicum with a lamium make a great combination at the edges of these boarders.

  Our unnamed pink tulip by the lavender... and a satisfied customer. Anna with her nose covered in pollen from deep-sniffing the tulips.


Sneak peeks of the first May tulips: Tulipa 'Shirley' (left); Tulipa 'Angelique', a popular favorite for good reason! (right)

Check back for our continuing series for the First Week of May all this week! 

See the whole series for the First Week of May:

Driveway Garden

Hill Garden

Trellis for New Heights

Cherry Corner Garden

Shade Path