Monday, October 19, 2020

A quick peek at Patricia's garden...

It was late July, 2019, when I popped over to my friend Patricia's garden to snap a few photos, photos I needed (you guessed it) for my book. This is the second garden I've watched Patricia, and her husband Bill, create. The first was largely in a ginormous hellstrip, I wrote about that one here.

This first shot shows the front garden patio at the current place, it's elevated up a bit from the street level, something you'll see better in one of the last images in this post...

How can you not love a sea of Eryngium agavifolium blooms combined with Amaranthus caudatus?

There is a built-in brick planter along the front of the house, which faces north—so it's rather shady—that Patricia has crammed full of all sorts of interesting things, like this bamboo fern, Coniogramme intermedia 'Yoroi Musha'.

Walking along the narrow side yard...

Proof that a planting of all foliage and no flowers is not boring.

Blechnum chilense

Fatsia japonica  'Murakumo Nishiki'

And now we're turning the corner into the back garden, I believe that large conifer intruding upon the path is now gone. 

Patricia's been battling cute furry critters even longer than I have. 

She has such a way with combining plants, they just look like they were meant to be together.

That Nolina hibernica 'La Siberica' moved from her last garden.

The dark berberis was here at the new garden, just waiting for it's perfect companions.

Here's the hard-working and creative couple who own this home and garden, Bill and Patricia. I had really hoped to include photos of the people behind the gardens in my book, sadly the limits of a print photo count meant that wasn't possible.

Looking east from roughly where they're standing above.

That big bowl of horsetail came from the last garden as well. I've always coveted it.

Lobelia tupa

The eryngium kinda steals this photo, but I was really focused on the Acanthus sennii above it, on the right. Such a cool spiky plant that's grown better here than I've ever managed to grow it in my garden.

Of course the eryngium (NOID) flowers are very spiky too.

Symphytum x uplandicum 'Axminster Gold' shines brightly from a shady spot.

The future of that gnarly old apple tree was the topic of much discussion when Patricia started contemplating the garden she wanted to create here, I'm so glad she decided to keep it.

It frames the patio (and the view from the kitchen and dining table) perfectly.

As well as castling a bit of afternoon shade.

Big leaves, little leaves. 

A few patio plant close-ups...

And a couple of final images of the back garden...

Before I retrace my steps back around to the front garden.

And take a couple final shots of that dramatic light...

Thanks, as always, for sharing your gorgeous garden Patricia!

Weather Diary, Oct 18: Hi 67, Low 56/ Precip 0 

All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

19 comments:

  1. A beautiful garden. Love how they created the patio out front. The second to last photo of the backlit grasses and eryngium is stunning. Your book is on my Christmas wish list.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed the garden visit and yay! Here's hoping somebody makes sure you get that book!

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  2. Love this post! Patricia always acts like she has no plan, and that her gardening is completely haphazard. But your post shows me how she's successfully and intuitively designed a knockout garden full of fabulous plants. Stop underselling your skills, Patricia!

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    1. Well, that's how it feels to me. Plants are good at figuring out what to do. I figure if I buy groovy plants, they're bound to look good together. And it usually works. Plus lots of ideas and influence from my gardening pals.

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    2. Excellent point Jane! Her "no-plan" garden style makes a lovely garden doesn't it? And I do think you're right Patricia, the plants do a lot of the work for us.

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  3. Front garden patios should be much more common! I loved the fern shots.

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  4. Love those grasses out front and the succulent bowl on the red table - perfect!

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  5. Hey, thanks. It is always so much fun to see your own garden through someone else's lens. So many of my ideas and the plants themselves come from you and my gardening pals in the community. I sometimes lament my garden's wild ways compared to some tidy vignettes I see around town. At this point, I'm thinking my style is established. Big, bold, foliage-y, with plants-in-waiting I couldn't resist looking for a place to "tuck in." Ain't gardening grand. Cheers

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    1. Your style is indeed very established, and I wouldn't change a thing. You got it going on!

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  6. Just to be clear - I'm tactical support (weeding, moving compost from the street, etc) - the vision is all Patricia

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    1. But where would we gardeners be without tactical support?

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  7. Those last two photos are particularly beautiful! The light was special then. But I love the whole garden of course!

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    1. Dramatic lighting and just the right plants to show it off.

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  8. I agree Loree, a garden can be stunningly gorgeous with foliage alone. The bamboo fern and Fatsia Murakumo Nishiki immediately went on my wish list. So good that the old structured apple tree got to stay; it's fantastic. A bowl of horsetail is an alluring idea: I'm assuming it doesn't try to escape. The touch of fiery red on the patio, echoed in the small planter hanging from the apple tree, is perfect.

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    1. I can't imagine the garden without that tree!

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  9. That is one gorgeous garden and what a great idea for how to grow horsetail. Love everything about it.

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  10. I'm so glad she kept that tree! Beautiful photos, Loree. Looking forward to which you selected to be in your book!!

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