Wildflowers in the Birch Walk

Our Birch Walk is starting to fill up with wildflower, some that I have seeded there and some that I have allowed.

See more about what I am up to at Havenwood on Instagram.

~Julie

The Potager

Dill flowering in our kitchen garden this summer.

We enjoyed mixing in some flowers among the veg and fruit this summer. It creates such a beautiful atmosphere in this productive garden and attracts beneficial insects too.

End of the Month View: One More Path...

Pergola Garden with our new pea gravel walk this week.

Our new Pergola Garden (so called for the invisible pergola... see it on the plan) was in need of some major changes with the walks in order to accommodate my new gardens. In July, I posted photos of this garden with just the hedges in place. We had a friend volunteer to come over and show my husband how to manually remove the sidewalks by using sledge hammers and wood jacks, which worked like a charm. Amazingly, he removed the long curve from the large yew bushes in a week... see below to compare.

Projects Around Havenwood

Filling in the lily pond for the year...

Autumn is in full swing in Pennsylvania... the last of my children's soccer games are on this Saturday, the leaves are all looking a bit less green and more yellow, there is an urgent need to get some garden pots washed and stacked before snow is here, and we have had our first light frost so the counter is stacked high with green tomatoes and tiny watermelon that might be worth a bite or two.

Bulbs are going in at a terrific rate around here, with 100 per day as my goal. We had 2,500 on our order this year, as I am excited to get many different varieties naturalizing around Havenwood. Only the tulips will remain to be planted after today, which need to wait until the ground temperatures become lower (after a hard frost) to discourage early growth before spring. I did chose many of the varieties that I posted on my How to Chose a Tulip Combination post.

How to Choose a Tulip Combination

Tulip 'Princess Irene' and Tulip 'Cum Laude' at Gilmore Gardens in May 2012

I have put much thought this week into what bulbs we should start at Havenwood for our first official spring season next year. There are crocuses, snowdrops, rock irises, daffodils, fritillaries, grape hyacinths, anemones, summer snowflakes, camassias, allium and - not least - tulips to think about. That is a lot to hold in ones head!

When it comes to choosing tulips in particular, I have found a trick that really helps me have a good idea about what the finished planting is going to look like: just Google it. (Isn't that the answer to many of life questions in our modern world!) Any browser (Bing. etc) with an image search capability will do.

Progress in the Knot Garden

My daughter stepping up our newly cemented steps at Havenwood.

Greetings garden lovers! We are certainly not done with the gardens yet this year, but I thought you might like a look at where we are right now with things.

360 "Before Flowers Tour" at Havenwood

Laying out the Pergola Garden this week.

I am working between rain showers this week to layout the Pergola Garden, which I posted original before photos of last week. I realized that a certain window upstairs would give me a really nice view to look at the developing proportions of my design, and I thought you might like seeing it too! So out came my camera. Then I realized that I could get good views of most of the garden by walking out on one roof and looking out other windows...

So, ta da! Here is your (almost) 360 degree, aerial tour around Havenwood Gardens this week.

Knot or Parterre?

So I am still trying to decide what design to go with for our Knot Garden... see my progress here.

I am planning on using green boxwood and variegated box for the central design, and then lavender or catmint around the edge. It is a longer, rectangular space, so many of the traditional knot designs will not work, as they are square. And I do not like the typical overlapping squares in a long row.

Beginning the Knot Garden

The first month of the Knot Garden at Havenwood

Now that we have finally reached spring, work has definitely picked up on the garden as we race to get as many plants in the ground as possible before summer brings its hotter, drier weather. The Knot Garden began as an empty slate in April....

Havenwood Final Garden Plan

I promised to share the Havenwood Final Garden Plan, so here it is... at least for this spring, before I start changing it again! :)

Designing a Large Garden Class ~ My Garden School

Survey of our new garden

Besides being incredibly impatient for spring to begin, I have also been working diligently this month on a new garden design for our new home, Havenwood. I enrolled in an online class at My Garden School with John Brookes, Design your own Large Garden.

Beginning Our New Garden...

Havenwood covered in snow this February.

All good things start at the very beginning, and that is where we are right now with our new garden and home, though its history started long before us. Professor Myers and his family first purchased this Lot 120 in 1916 for the sum of $1084.00. The large brick house was built by in 1925, after nine years of waiting and saving. They lived here for 19 years and then came six more sets of owners to occupy it. We are the eighth family to live under its slate roof, now nearly 90 years old.

Since we are now the guardians of this property, we have dubbed it Havenwood, a name which encapsulates what we hope to create here on this nicely wooded lot. From the start, it has loads of charm and many needed repairs; but above all the potential to be a peaceful and beautiful place for people to gather.

Welcome to your first walk around the Havenwood Garden! This overhead view from Google really helps to get you oriented...

Tea House Steps at Stan Hywet

Quarry steps at Stan Hywet

Just passed the Birch Allee at Stan Hywet, you come to the Tea Houses. If you venture to look over the railing between them, you will see the most thrilling stone steps down the side of the hill. This was one of the original quarries, and so these steps were part of the Quarry wall.

Birch Allee at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens

Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens was created through a combined design effort by architect Charles S. Schneider and Boston landscape architect Warren H. Manning. This is very clear when viewing the central axis (read more here), and also when viewing the magic of the Birch Allee which extends from the right wing of the Hall.

Curb Strip Plantings with Nepeta, Sedum and Iris

Catmint (Nepeta 'Walker's Low') grows low mounds in our curb strip over ground cover Sedum 'Acre'.

The garden is pulling into summer, which make it time for many of my favorite perennials. In our curb strips (known also as parkways, hell strips, etc), we have removed all of our turf and planted beautiful, low-maintenance plants instead. These areas have required some weeding in spring, but with that little time investment (as compared to spending 20 minutes mowing them every week!) we get something that is even nicer to look at, draws pollinators and help make this outlining area part of our garden. Now, we can walk down the sidewalk and enjoy the changing scene every day.

Plan A New Garden Using Fallen Leaves

Our gardens two months after moving into our new house. The borders consisted of a few newly planted shrubs and raked leaves.

I recently came across these fall photos of our gardens from 2007. We had just moved into our new house and were working hard to make it livable for our family of three. I was expecting our second daughter, chasing our almost-two-year-old and staying up late painting and unpacking every night.

Fall Foliage in Pennsylvania

Yellow maple (acer) leaves and the red-edged oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) by our Shade Path gate.

The leaves are as brightly colored as the remaining flowers in our Pennsylvania garden (see GBBD Oct 2012). Here are a few photos from the post couple of weeks when we have been out enjoying the sunshine and few warmer days remaining in our zone 5 corner lot.

Ways to Use A Garden Journal

My Date Books turned Garden Journals from the past three years.

Do you have a garden journal? Journals are a great idea for furthering your garden education... but then there is the patient work of actually writing in them. Where to begin? How do you scramble to catch-up when you are behind?

One of my favorite garden authors, Rosemary Verey, said, 

"Take note as you go... Learn to build up your knowledge of plants, not only to be able to recognize them but to know what growing conditions they like or dislike, when they will flower, what their leaves will contribute before and after flowering, how they will relate to their neighbors.  This knowledge comes only with familiarity, observation and experience" (Rosemary Verey's Making of a Garden, page 17).

Guide to Common Names of Ornamental Grasses

Japanese forest grass, Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola', shinning with yellow tulips at Chanticleer Gardens in April.

I am learning a ton about ornamental grasses this summer by reading a book called Designing with Grasses by Neil Lucas. While in the middle of the book though, I started to feel that my head could just not wrap itself around all of the new grass names.  Learning the Latin is one thing, and learning the common name is another. Putting them both together was giving me fits!

Designing with Grasses by Neil Lucas

Grasses flowering in a natural area at our local park.

I am beginning to really delve into the world of ornamental grasses this summer by reading a fantastic book, Designing with Grasses by Neil Lucas.

This book covers many topics including: grasses in natural communities; using grasses to decrease garden maintenance; designing pleasing gardens with grasses by using repetition and form; choosing the correct grass for damp, dry, sun or shade; and discussion of sustainable environmental practices that utilize grasses. It also includes a sizable directory of "Grasses and Grass-like Plants," which is so helpful a reference even while reading this book to help you remember which grass Mr. Lucas is describing at the moment. Beautiful and practical photos are throughout the book to help illustrate using grasses in different types of designs.