Gardens

Deanne's Gardens, 1999

This page features photos from Summer, 1999.

Click here for images from Summer 2000!

Big Garden 1999

The photo featured here is of the largest of my several perennial gardens. We come from the "Granite State" and every place we’ve planted something we’ve had to dig rocks first. All the rocks in the walls came from the gardens where the flowers are planted!

The large garden was built over the course of many years. We started with the first terrace and one row of rocks. We took out the grass, added some loam then planted a bunch of annuals. This was about 20 years ago when we first bought our home and I’ve been addicted to flower gardening ever since. In the beginning I mostly planted annuals but over time have switched over to all perennials. We added the second terrace around 1990 and finished the garden with the third terrace in 1996. The garden is roughly 35 feet long and each terrace is about four feet deep.

Cimicifuga 1999

This picture was taken at the end of July when the Stargazer lilies are all in bloom along with the mid-season day lilies. The tall white flowers in the middle terrace (they look like they are in the back terrace because they are so tall. This year they got to be over 7 feet.) are called Cimicifuga. The common name is either Black Snakeroot or Bugbane. It is probably my favorite perennial in the garden. The foliage is lovely and carefree and at maturity creates a 3’ x 3’ mound of foliage that looks great all season. These two clumps have been in the garden for six years now. They remain vigorous without dividing and continue to make more wands of flowers each year.

In the front corner and toward the middle of the first terrace I have clumps of late blooming astilbe. The rock wall has hen’s and chickens tucked in between the crevices. There is also thyme, summer savory, perennial candytuft and ground phlox spilling over the edge of the wall. The first and middle terraces have clumps of shasta daisies that usually are just about finishing up for the year when the Stargazers come out. The upper terrace, which is part day shade, has two large clumps of light yellow daylilies and ligularia that are blooming at this time. This year I planted a climbing hydrangea on the oak tree and am looking forward to having the glossy foliage and white flowers climbing up the tree in years to come.

I don’t have to weed very much as the flowers have completely filled the space but the major chore is deadheading, which really isn’t a chore. I love to go out in the early mornings just as the sun is coming up and spend the time in the garden tending to the flowers.

Casablanca 1999

This photo of the left side of the large garden was taken about a week later than the previous picture. The tall white lilies in the middle background are a wonderful Oriental lily named Casa Blanca. They generally grow to 5 ½ feet tall and each stem is covered with 8 or more, ten-inch diameter flowers. They are extremely fragrant and when in bloom their scent fills the entire back yard. The other flowers blooming in this photo are daylilies, purple coneflowers, shasta daisies, Stargazer lilies and a lovely pink astilbe in the left foreground.

Casablanca Lillies 1999

Sundial 1999

I call this the "Sundial Garden". It is a triangular shaped island to the left of the large terrace garden. There is a five-foot path between the gardens and we installed a wrought iron arch at the foot of the path this summer. The sundial is a lovely bronze piece that actually tells the time on sunny days! This photo was also taken at the end of July and features heliopsis in the right background (yellow flowers). The pink flowers to the left are blooming on a double rose of sharon shrub. The white lilies next to that are another oriental named "Arena". The white flowers to the left of the lilies are white coneflowers with blue-violet veronica in front and behind them. I also have "Moonbeam" coreopsis, variegated sedum and perennial foxglove.

Rose of Sharon 1999

This is a close up of the Rose of Sharon.

Yellow Lillies 1999

This is a close-up of some of my Asiatic lilies and delphinium in the "Sundial Garden" that bloom at the end of June and the beginning of July.

More Yellow Lillies 1999

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