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SOMETIMES

It works just like one imagined!

                                                                          

It has taken some years but finally the Variegated Aralia (Acanthopanax sieboldianus  ‘Variegatus’ now called  Eleutherococcus sieboldianus) is sending it’s graceful arching canes into the Viburnum dilatatum.

                                                                                                                                                       

Later these viburnum flowers will become clusters of red berries, many will grace the Thanksgiving floral centerpiece.

                                                                          

Somewhere in there is planted a white clematis. It has not been seen yet this season. Although the earlier viburnums have a delicious  fragrance, these do not…

© All photos & text 2010

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TRANSITION SPACES

There are several types of transition spaces. The first would be the porch or veranda. Here the veranda unites both indoors and out, creating a continuous living space.

                                                                            

My veranda outfitted for a long hot summer of outdoor living. (above & below)

                                                                        

Below, the sweeping  lawn and the trees on either side anchor the house to the landscape, strengthening the relationship between architecture and site.

                                                                       Other transition spaces that create interest in the garden are pergolas, trellised walkways  or arbors.

                                                                     

Here one passes through a dark shaded area into a pool of sunlight.

                                                                       

                                                                       

The above arbor was created using only plants. No Money? No excuse!

© All photos & text 2010

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PLANTING GONE AWRY

Sometime, no matter how much thought goes into companion planting, It just does not give the results anticipated.

On a Variegated Tea Olive (Osmanthus heterophyllus ‘Variegatus’) I planned a creamy white Clematis to peek through Tea Olive’s foliage.

 

                                                                            

 I did not plan on the green foliage of the Clematis!

                                                                      

So… variegated leaves peek through clematis foliage to pick up the creamy white flower!

Not exactly what I had expected. Pretty still.

© All photos & text

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MONDAY MUSINGS

After the last post I got to thinking about how fortunate we are to have the  paintings that record the gardens of a vanished age and lifestyle.

As Lanning Roper* so elquently stated, “Gardens are so personal and poetic in their conception that their spirit dies with the owner.”

Jeklly recorded her gardens in the medium of the day. That new fangled invention… the camera.

Below, Jekyll’s photograph of the break in the flower border punctuated by Yuccas.

*Lanning Roper was an American landscape architect, commisioned by HRH Price Charles to help with the design of  Highgrove, the Prince’s garden in the Cotswolds.