Each Little World

The white garden

It's the rare gardener who has not been seduced by Vita Sackville-West's famed White Garden at Sissinghurst Castle. Certainly I count myself among their numbers. But though I love white flowers, I like too many other colors to be disciplined enough to limit myself to a one-color garden. Instead I let my white flowers act as dramatic accents. 

A recent article in The Guardian newspaper about The White Garden mentioned that many of its plants are too large for most modern gardens. This full-size, almost 60-year-old McIntosh apple tree is my equivalent. It's huge and scents the entire garden when covered with blossoms as it was this week.

The view of the tree from our neighbor's garden.

Equally fragrant, equally beautiful and even more dramatic in bloom is the diminutive crabapple, Malus sargentii 'Tina'

Tina has red buds which open white. She was blooming in the front garden while the big apple was in flower in the back garden.

I do have one small bed that's mostly white flowers including a white bleeding heart, Pulmonaria 'Sissinghurst White' and this Korean azalea, Rhododendron yedoense poukhanense 'Alba'

This Paeonia rockii from Seneca Hill has buds like giant marshmallows and massive ruffled flowers.

I've had good luck with foxgloves and just added this one, Digitalis purpurea 'Pam's Choice'

Primula sieboldii invaded by self-sown Trilliums

This massive Trillium grandiflorum was in the garden when we moved here.

One of the tiny "bells" from our Carolina Silverbell tree, Halesia tetrapetra. The falling petals carpet everything around the tree when they come down. We've surprised a lot of visitors with our "flowering" pine tree.

 

Spring green

Spring Green is a name familiar to most Wisconsinites as the location of Frank Lloyd Wright's masterful creation, Taliesin. At this time of year one can easily understand why the town fathers gave their community that beautiful, evocative title. Here's some of my own personal favorite Spring greens:

 

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: 04.15.2013

I thought that in the month from March to April, I would have Hellebores in bloom for GBBD at the very least. But April continues colder and wetter than average. A dusting of snow on the ground greeted us on Saturday morning and more of the same on Sunday. Though it melted by mid-day my April flowers are still hiding.

But The Capital Times newspaper here in Madison ran a photo essay of 13 brightly colored houses around town to help brighten our spirits. So I am sharing this bouquet taken by photographer Michelle Stocker as my offering for Bloom Day. The houses are located on 8 different streets and Mark and I have actually lived on 5 of them, though only once in a painted lady that we decorated in multiple hues.

To see what's blooming outdoors in gardens here, there and everywhere, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens, the host of the monthly meme: Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. 

"Inside the Gardener's Head in Spring"

My concept for a fall silhouette using pine needles, seed pods, stones and other natural materials from the garden proved so frustrating that I gave up on it — and decided that maybe my winter silhouette was going to be my lone fiber project. Then, a book I'd placed on hold at the public library came in and changed everything.

"The Art of Embroidery: Inspirational Stitches, Textures and Surfaces" by Francoise Tellier-Loumagne is the most inspirational embroidery book I've ever looked at. It is less about technique and more about how to interpret your ideas in fiber. Great photo illustrations (also by the author) including stitch samples all done on heavy white paper making for the clearest instruction I've seen.

I was so excited by Tellier-Loumagne's book that I sat down and started another textile silhouette. This time I focused on Spring with all the greens pushing through the snowy winter detritus. I cut two silhouettes out of dark green net and then cut them into pairs of puzzle-like pieces. I experimented with a number of techniques for stuffing, stitching and attaching them to the black background. 

They're filled with felt, fabric, ribbon, threads pulled from assorted fabrics, and bits of green plastic bags. Some pieces have small pieces of white lace inside them but most of that fabric is melting across the large silhouette image, held in place with beads and sequins.

I've started a summer silhouette but my concept involves more preliminary background stitching than the first two pieces, and it feels more like a chore than creative work. Hoping to be ready to move on to the fun parts soon!

You can read about my winter silhouette, the first work in this four-part series, here.

Bright berries and seeds

The drought doesn't seemed to have affected seed and berry production on these trees.

Washington Hawthorne

Burning bush

European spindle tree

It's raining . . .

and has been doing so since some time after midnight Friday. We've had 2.56" so far, including .75" in just a little over two hours this morning. Enough rain that it may have been able to penetrate our bone dry soil. Definitely enough to penetrate our basement where Mark got to try out his new shop vac.

After watching (via the library window) our dry stream come roaring to life (above), Mark grabbed an umbrella and went outdoors to shoot the fall color in our garden which looks beautiful glazed with rainwater (below).

This is the most significant rain we've had since July 18. We're down at least 10" for the year, so it will take a lot more before the garden is in ideal condition for winter!  

Doublefile Viburnum: worth the wait

Fall color comes early

September at ACG

Last week I visited Allen Centennial Gardens on the UW-Madison campus with Julie Siegel, a Chicago-area garden designer, blogger and friend. The garden is a teaching garden for the university but it is also free and open to the public. It was a perfect day for a visit with blue skies and few clouds, evidenced by this shot of the decorative details on the house once used by the Deans of the Ag School. 

On the ground, however, it was a bit sunny for capturing the best photos. I took this shot of Geranium dalmaticum to remind me that mine is planted in the wrong spot in my garden judging by how happy it seems to be here.

Every time I visit ACG I discover something that is completely new to me — like this seedpod of Datura. I've seen this plant growing in many gardens but never at this season when it has these huge pods along with its last few flowers.

Ed Lyon, the director of ACG, always creates exciting mixes of edibles and ornamentals.  

And he's an expert when it comes to color in the garden: whether it's flower and foliage combinations or art objects that he adds for emphasis. Every one of the following images offers ideas for home gardeners looking to do something a little different. (These tubes are painted PVC).

I particularly like blues that have a touch of gray or green as accent colors in the garden, and Ed must also judging by all the ways he employs it at ACG.

When I was at ACG at the end of June, I was taken with the clumps of peachy-pink hollyhocks that picked up the trim color of the Dean's house. This visit, it was the seedheads that matched the Cream City bricks.

Guinea hens among the widows

I treated myself to Ken Druse's latest book — "Natural Companions" — for my birthday last Spring. The scanner photographs by Ellen Hoverkamp are breathtaking, making for a book that is incredibly beautiful, while it's filled with Druse's usual wit and wisdom. While pouring over the images of flower combinations, I discovered this grouping. I quickly realized that while I am growing all three plants — Geranium phaeum, Fritillaria mileagris and Euphorbia 'chameleon' — it had never occured to me to create this particular combination.

ELLEN HOVERKAMP PHOTO

I'm sending off to Old House Gardens where I can buy the dark maroon guinea hens, aka checkered lilies aka snake's-head Fritillaries. It will be easy to intersperse the bulbs amoung my numerous clumps of "mourning widow" geraniums. The Euphorbia self-seeds so I'll just need to find a couple of errant plants elsewhere in the garden and move them where I need them to create my own version of this display. 

It is already late in the game to be placing my first order for spring bulbs. Some of my favorites from OHG are already sold out. But there are still some tulips and lilies that I am lusting after. I love bulbs from OHG because they all come with history and a story. Both are things that are important to me as a gardener.

And I've also had great luck with their bulbs, many of which are not found elsewhere.They are not necessarily the cheapest bulbs but there are discounts for volume and the unusual selections just can't be beat. Among the OHG bulbs I've grown, and can personally recommend, are daffodils 'Daphne,' 'Dreamlight,' 'Pheasant's Eye,' and 'Rose of May.' Tulips are mostly the orange flowered ones, excpept for the intriguing Acuminata, Clusiana (above with grape hyacinths), and the voluptuous 'Schoonoord.'

I clearly seem to be entering a murky purple flower phase because I just edged the bed underneath our Purple Fountain weeping beech with Iris pumila 'Cherry Garden ' (above) which I've been growing since 1990. And I plan to fill the inside of the bed with Black Parrot tulips from OHG and Tulipa humilis 'Odalisque' from Brent and Becky's Bulbs. The latter bulb (below) is a little hot pink number that should provide some pizzazz for the Parrots. 

DISCLAIMER: As a professional garden writer, I receive a discount on my own OHG purchases. But I'd be happy to share my high opinion of their company and plants even if I did not receive a discount.