WARNING! This blog comes with a warning.

 

WARNING!  This blog comes with a warning......if you are a very neat and tidy gardener.....you are going to want to STOP here!

You are about to enter.....my garden and she's kind of a "wild girl".  I'm not certain of true definition of an English garden but, I think, that's where we're headed.  Did I mention I love plants!  I would love to have one of each but I'm trying to constrain myself AND develop some sort of landscape design.

Over the past three years I and my helper son and hubby have removed a large messy tree that was located in the middle of the front yard, done away with the lawn and replaced it all with plant material and paths.

This is from April 2009, we laid out a mound in the center with a stone and gravel path on one side and very wide flower beds to the left and right of photo.  In the background, where you see the blue shutter is a narrow area for growing veggies (best sun exposure).

 

 

Right hand side of same general area June this year, shows the blueberries, blue oat grass (planted last fall) and sedum "Angelica".

 

 

 

 

This is the mound and you can see how much the ground covers have spread in a year, I used Wooly Thyme and a sedum "Baby Tears".  The rose is "Happy Chappy", it looks pink here but it is more salmon with a yellow center.

You get the idea, stuff is growing.  We had such a wet spring but it wasn't that cold, so it has become jungle- like around here.

On the left of the path the yellow is Bayberry, the burgundy and pinkish-coral leaves are Heuchera or Coral Bells with more Blue Oat Grass and Hydrangeas.

 

One of my favorite plant color combos is Sedum  "Angelica", which changes color in the fall and winter to copper, right now it is bright yellow green combined with the blue of Blue Oat Grass and a hardy geranium called "Roxanne".  I'm in loooove with Roxanne.  She blooms non-stop from May to October, requires little water and no other care.

 

Another favorite includes Sedum "Angelica" and heather in a dark mauve.  You can tell I like sedums, but especially "Angelica", easy care and lot of color bang!

White Oriental Lily grows in the wide bed between the

mound and the street, shown below.

From left to right above is the white lily, white Verbascum (the tall white spikes), yellow daylily and a gold one, in the background a rose named "Abraham Darby".  On the right side, with the silver leaves, is a Pineapple Guava.

 

 

This beauty is called Verbascum, it is related to a roadside weed, that tells you how easy care this baby is.

 

 

A little different view of the bed closest to the street, here you can see the lavender, Blazing Star (Liatris), the green flat looking flowers on the right are another sedum called "Autumn Joy".

Clematis "Nellie Mosier" growing on a trellis by the front door.

A yummy coppery-orange Coneflower/Echinacea called "Sunset", along with more yellow "Angelica", blue catmint and miniature blueberry bushes.

Curb appeal, or just too darn many plants, you decide!

For me, I am so enjoying the low maintenance.  I tried to select plants that didn't require a lot of care, I do have four roses but two of those are landscape roses and easy care.  A few plants require cutting back and dead heading and some will need to be divided but pretty easy over all. 

I like color, most of the color comes from the plant leaves, although, I do have several perennials for cutting and for seasonal color.  Hope you enjoyed this rather lengthy blog and feel free to ask questions and leave comments!

Not everyone wants, or could live with this much organized chaos and that's O.K., it is your garden....just enjoy your beautiful version!

I am linking up to Oregon Cottage Garden Shop, Tatertots & Jello's Weekend Wrap Up Party and Rednesday, for the first time you'll find me at Smiling Sally's Blue Monday,Outdoor Wednesday and Bloomin Tuesday !