Tag: Combinations
-
Bloom Garden a Gem at Massachusetts Horticultural Society at Elm Bank
Seeking images for a lecture in development I journeyed to several Boston area public gardens. By far the best and most inspiring is the Adrian Bloom Garden at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. MHS can be found at Elm Bank in Wellesley, MA . See http://www. masshort.org . Great planting design and awesome combinations. Go see it and apply its…
-
Dragonfly Visits Favorite August Plant Combination
July’s carnival of Daylilies and Astilbes partying in my garden segues into a quieter reverie. August blooming Daylilies combine with Hosta, Phlox, Beebalm, Veronica, Joe Pye Weed, Astilbes, Hydrangea, Geranium, and more. My favorite combination just now is the tall lavendar scapes of Hosta ‘Krossa Regal’ dancing with the scapes of the yellow Hemerocallis ‘Autumn Minaret’ and the…
-
Shredded Umbrella Plant
Or Syneilesis aconitifolia. How is that pronounced? Try, Genus: Syneilesis (sin-eel-ES-is) Species: aconitifolia (a-kon-eye-tih-FOH-lee-uh). I confess to plant collecting. Like many gardeners I cannot resist some impulse buys. However as a designer I know to tuck these experiments within well-organized plantings so I can evaluate them. This plant turns out to have better foliage than flowers and…
-
Container ‘Make-Over’ Brightens Composition
Remember the dreary rain bedraggled annual flower composition from an earlier blog? In the photo below the nasturtiums saved the day adding cheerful orange and yellow and its pale green leaves to brighten the somber composition of rust coleus and purple petunias. In the revised arrangement above, I’ve tucked in the low growing yellow…
-
Yellow’s Cheerful Complement
Yellow Hemerocallis ‘Happy Returns’ and the yellow-orange Coreopsis brightens the purple spikes of Salvia and low mound of lavender blue Nepeta ‘6 Hills Giant’. A quick look at the color wheel illustrates the dynamic duo as ‘complements’. In the language of color, complementary colors intensify each other like a passionate affair. Yellow reads more yellow in purple…
-
Rainy Sunday Saved by Orange
Donning my tangerine colored raincoat I headed out the door to church this solstice Father’s Day. I needed some cheering and the coat always does it. It’s been raining here in the Boston area for weeks or has it been months? Seems like it. I’m thinking Ken Kesey’s novel set in rainy Portland. It wasn’t the well-known ‘One…
-
A Few Garden Moments
Yellow perennial Digitalis grandiflora and red Dianthus ‘Frosty Fire”? highlight the foliage of Hemerocallis and Enkianthus White Iris siberica, blue and yellow Hosta ‘Francis Williams’, yellow Hosta ‘Sum and Subtance’, pink Agilegia Designed as a journey of garden moments–sometimes at first all I see are the weeds and the plants that need dead heading. Then the…
-
June Bursts
Growing up the house was filled with the sound of Broadway musicals. That’s probably why the refrain “June is bursting out all over” (which may be the title too) that applies so aptly to the garden this time of year serenaded me as I visited my garden. Just that refrain mind you. Have no idea what…
-
Iris Steal the Show this Sunday
Purple Iris germanica with pink Dianthus, pink Rhododendren, blue Nepata, chartreuse Alchemilla in the front side garden Clematis montana ‘Grandiflora’ Adds to Deck View Today’s images were taken from the north west and north east garden areas. I couldn’t get them in the order I wanted so imagine being enchanted by the flowering clematis montana ‘grandiflora’ as…
-
Memorial Day Weekend Favorites
Cerastium fills a corner Allium combines well with Hosta, Iris, and Astilbe Foliage Much to think about this Memorial Day Sunday. Celebrating achievements with graduation ceremonies, honoring the men and women who gave their lives for our way of life, and the stuff of gardens that sustain us through high points and low.