Clematis Up a Tree

Clematis 'Perle d' Azure' growing near the Shade Path garden at Gilmore Gardens.

This Clematis is the star in one of my most popular posts of all time: How to grow a Clematis on a tree trunk. If you like this look, that post is a great place to start looking at getting one going in your own garden!

It is also popular in our own family, each of us waiting to see how high it is going to bloom this year. It is still doing well! Even though we no longer see it out our windows during the day, we still drive by Gilmore Gardens to check on how things are going. Often, the children ooh and ahh louder than the adults, as they instinctively feel that this garden is still a part of them as well. We look forward to bringing some of our flowers over to Havenwood this fall!

Beginning the Pergola Garden

Hedging surrounding the new Pergola Garden at Havenwood.

Hello all! It has been a full month!

A few weeks ago, we were down in West Virginia to work on a garden I designed for a family there... more on that soon. :) Then we were back down south to Charlotte, NC for the inspiring Inkwell family conference. It was sponsored by all the wonderfully creative people at the Story Warren, including my husband, the gifted author of The Big Old Garden, behind the Big Old House series... humm.... wonder where he got those ideas ;)

Then we ran home (actually, a 10 hour drive) so that I could take three RHS exams to complete their Level 2 Certificate in the Principles of Plant Growth, Propagation & Development. I think that they went well! Now I just need to wait patiently until September to find out for sure. :)

In the mean time, we have been planting up a storm of yew bushes around here to working away at our final plan for the new gardens at Havenwood. We have 50 in the ground as I post these photos today...

Gilmore Gardens ~ GBBD June 2014

Catmint, Nepeta 'Walker's Low', and Geranium 'Orion' beside the road in the Curb strip this month.

Welcome to my little garden in Pennsylvania!

June is here, and we are enjoying it both at our new garden, Havenwood, and at our old garden, Gilmore Gardens. Here are some pretty shots from Gilmore just after the rain last evening...

First Clematis at Havenwood

Clematis 'Fleuri' by Raymond Evison in a pot on our front steps.

 Our first Clematis blooms around the garden this lovely June morning...