Gottagarden,

Your stonework and the plantings are beautiful. It must have taken a lot of planning for both the layout of the paths and then the plantings. You have a great way with colors and plant combinations. Thanks for sharing - you have much to be proud of!

bloominganne

That is one of the most stunnig series of photos I have EVER seen. What a beautiful place to be. Caroline

Lovely! Simply lovely.

Thank goodness I already have purple beds, or I'd work myself to death hurrying to finish the Red-Bed-with-arbor-and-tuteurs to start a purple one, LOL.

Note to southeast gardeners -- Salvia leucantha for fall purple haze, hardy in zones 8-9.

Nell

Simply amazing, your color combinations are spectacular, you are, a true artist. Thank you for sharing.

A......

Hey, I'm still working on my red bed!!! That purple combo is lovely. As are your "garden sprites".
I think the walking/working path through the bed before you plant is brilliant. Have to show that part to DH.

Happy Spring!!
georgeanne

Okay, this is the last straw! Please tell me how you always manage such STUNNING combinations and beds. If it is one of those things you just have a talent for....will you at least visit this spring and tell me what to plant where?!

;)

Gorgeous work-I love the wall, I love the flowers you chose, and I love the way it looks all together. You really need to write a book.

WOW, Gottagarden, that really is stunning!! I would love to know a lot of the plants you have in there. Those purple chairs would really look awsome with that garden! The stone work the flowers it is all so beautiful. Thanks for sharing!
Meghan

Breathtaking! What fabulous combinations of color and foliage you have put together! Would you PLEASE tell us what those plants are, I only recognize about half of them.

Fabulous colors!

Beautiful! Drooling over the combo's and stonework.

Thanks everyone. This is the first garden bed where I actually planned where things would go right from the start, rather than just where ever there's room.

Last year I started planting after spring was over, so I am looking forward to next month. I planted crocus, tulips, alliums, anemone coronaria, violas, iris, icicle pansies and creeping phlox. Do you think I should add forget-me-not?

The gardening year is about to begin again. It's always such a whirlwind of activity, I'll almost miss the respite of winter.

Gottagarden - just beautiful..and the stone wall - wow! Tell the DH that he does fabulous work. The purple flowers are my absolute favorite. You could really sell your photos to a gardening magazine.

gottagarden, again I must say your gardens are just breath taking! I was looking at the rest of your album and I just wished I lived closer to so I could stroll through it! Very inspiring indeed so keep those pics coming.
Meghan

I agree- I am always amazed by your plantings. You seem to have acres and acres of gardens!
I would always add forget me nots to everything- I love them.

absolutely beautiful.Could you please tell me the name of the white flower in Picture no 3.The one with spires on the left,maybe astilbe? I too would love to know your plant list..lol.You are inspiring alot of us here and we have to know what plants to use.Maybe a layout..? Plans..? lol.Love the wall.I wish I had layed rock paths before I planted my cottage garden.It is so hard to get around without stepping on something.
moonphase

DUH! I could do that now before everything shoots up,just move what is in the path.Thanks so much.Brillant idea you have.Tell me about the side garden, where you store plants.Do you plant all your seedlings there first before you plant them out in your beds?
moonphase

Beautiful gardens and absolutely fantastic stone wall.Do you have to buy stone or do you find it? In my part of Florida I pay dearly for rocks.I thought I could find someone with rocky,clay soil to trade with.... a truckload of sand for a truckload of stone!

I'm just catching up because I've been in the garden all week...

Just gorgeous! I love your colors and the wall. Isn't it great to plan and plant instead of finding a place to stick a new favorite?

Inspiration! thank you!

The white plant in photo 3 is actually 2 plants. Variegated miscanthus grass (silberfeder) in the back and variegated sedum morning light in the back. If you look in the second photo you can see that the whitish foliage really makes a big statement in the garden. I love that sedum and am propagating more to put all over.

I figured out to put a stone path in BEFORE I planted. This after years of putting in a stone here and there to step on that always seemed to be in the wrong place. It's visible and acessible in spring, but by fall is quite overgrown and hard to see.

The stone, I LOVE stone! I saw an ad in the Pennysaver when we first moved here - "Field stone - $60 per truckload, you pick and load". Like most farms around here, farmers take the glacial stones and pile them on the perimeter of the fields. We had just moved in, and didn't know what we would do with it specifically, but I loved stone and knew this was a great price. It's about $200 a pallet at Home Depot, and a pickup truck could hold almost 3 pallets. So by doing the labor of picking, loading, and delivery ourselves, it cost a tenth as much. DH suggested we do it another year when we knew what we would use it for, but I told him that we would be lucky to find an opportunity like that again. So DH and I spent many summer evenings picking through rock piles, loading up the truck (18 truckloads, to be precise). I was pregnant when doing all this lifting, and I got a nasty, nasty case of poison ivy from the rock field. Never sure how heavy the truck was, but it was a full size pickup and definitely overweight. When going home overloaded, we would drive slowly with the flashers on. I would hold my breath and cross my fingers on the drive back.

We still have a lot of stone left (piled behind the barn), and I use it for paths, edging, etc. DH was not thrilled with doing the stone wall work, and I'm not sure he'll be willing to do that again. It took most of the summer working nights and weekends. But it sure does look nice and should last forever.

My "working garden" probably deserves a separate posting. ( another day . . .) It is where I just stick plants in the ground wherever I find room. I propagate my favorite plants, have a little tree nursery, try out color combinations, and learn what a plant is really like. I buy stuff on clearance and get stuff in swaps and it all goes into the working garden. After I learn about the plant from having grown it a while, then I move it to a new home. It's all just an experiment and I don't ever worry about whether this bed "looks good". Although it does look pretty, in a crazy, unorganized, overflowing kind of way.

Thanks for listening to this garden addict.

Planning the garden was harder than I thought! I take tons of photos of my garden so I know what blooms when. I try to do layouts so that things that bloom at the same time are near each other. Then I have concentrated bursts of color. I also plant very densely, so I can get at least 2 seasons out of every space. So I plant spring and late summer plants right next to each other, the one taking up space in spring is cut back hard so the late summer bloomers have room to spread. I found drawing it on paper was difficult, because I wanted to rearrange things so much. I came up with my own system (don't laugh!) of labeling coins and then it was easy to rearrange. Here's a photo if you really must see how I got carried away with my planning. The pennies were my stone path. I drew an outline inside a gift box to hold all the coins.

{{gwi:648106}}

Gottagarden, Your work is very inspiring. I've kept lists of all of your plantings from your very first posting at your former home through this, the purple island.

I have thought and thought of how and what I would use to enclose my potager and have changed my mind many many times. I think now that I will try some solid color beds on each of the four sides of the potager. I'll be putting in a hoophouse in which I hope I can start seeds, and will concentrate on using seeds in single colors. It will never look as lovely as the beds you have created but it will be a fun experiment for me.

What delightful sort of garden will you be/are you working on this year?

Thank you, for your generosity in sharing your techniques.

MeMo

Well as ALWAYS I'm again in total AWE of your gardens. They are just so beautiful!!
I have one huge question..how the heck do you keep the weeds out of such large gardens?
Again, thanks for sharing your advice and your pictures...I just keep going back and looking and looking again and again at your beds
Wow!!
Dena

Gottagarden - I JUST LOVE that idea! I am so impressed! I've been drawing on graph paper and redrawing and redrawing... that solves the problem!

That is gorgeous! I'm just getting started and your pictures are so inspiring!

Gottagarden, thank you so very much for sharing this info.Your ideas are awesome.Now how to derive at a plant list.Could you tell us the list you used for this one?.Do you just list all the ones you have of say-purple then pink then blue and go from there? My mind is racing here.I have never really used but one design and that was one from the garden gate mag.I also did not stick with their list of plants.I am now having to go back and re-do the plants but the plan itself,I love.There is still so much I want to ask.Hope you share more with us.I am definately using the coins,maybe tape small photos of plants on them and group to see the colors.How long and how wide is this bed?
I thank you so very much for your help.
moonphase

Gottagarden, as with the red bed, your purple island is just beautiful. I love your style with regard to combination planting, you've got a real eye for it. I did notice your coin box plan when I went to your link. DH had commented on it too. I rarely plan in the garden, but I rarely make plant or seed purchases, either. Maybe one or two a year. I'm instituting a "working garden" as you have, too. It's great to get to know the plants you're using before you go to the trouble of doing a major area, like you have. I've always loved your implementation, but reading about your preparation makes me appreciate your work even more. You're philosophy is much like mine...beg, borrow, save and self propagate...

Thank you for sharing your lovely, and obviously dedicated work.

-S

P.S. You say you've got some of those lovely white stones left...how much do you think shipping would be...? :)

Beautiful.

In the upper right of the third photo, it looks like you have some variety of vibrant magenta dahlia. Am I right? Can you tell me what that variety is?

Thanks!

Kristin

A plant list, hmmmm, maybe next week when I'm not as busy.

Kristin, the magenta dahlia is Formby Royale. It's my favorite, the color is always perfect and they have long, strong stems. I hope I never lose it one winter.

Moonphase, the bed is about 50 feet long and 9 feet wide. I actually started by placing some small trees and dwarf conifers for winter interest. Then I made of list of whatever plants I had in dark purple, rose pink, light and dark violet. Then I place them starting with biggest, then favorites, and then fillers. Then rearrange the plan 10 times. Hopefully this will stop the 10 times of rearranging when they are in the ground :-)

Weeds? In early summer I try to mulch everything once with finely ground wood chips. I never get it all done. That really takes care of most weeds. The second way I deal with them is by being tolerant of them. I always have weeds popping up later, and I do "spot weeding" if things get out of hand. (like spot cleaning) But mostly I just don't have time to keep my gardens immaculate, and a few weeds here and there are part of my gardening style.

ShaSha - I buy lots of seed started plants in tiny 4-packs, 4 for $1. (delphiniums, lobelia, hibiscus, etc) Then I grow them out in my working garden, so that after a year I will know what color they are, and can place them accordingly.

Memo - what am I working on this year? Too much!!

Peony bed to line the front driveway. I actually prepared the bed and moved the peonies last fall from my working garden. But I still need to give the bed edges - brick mow-strip on the lawn side and low stone wall on the driveway side. And of course I need to plant all around the peonies . . .

circular veggie garden I prepared the soil last year by adding and tilling truckloads of manure. Now I'm laying out paths with the same fieldstone and going to plant it up. It's more than a veggie garden, it will also be a cutting garden and tree nursery and propagation bed. I'm moving some of my working garden to here.

barn bed Flowers to be seen from a bit of distance. Yellows and whites, golds and oranges. I've got a plan, just need to find time to implement it.

front bed Last fall I finally decided on the shape of the front beds and laid a brick edge for mowing. ( a tedious, laborious job that took a really long time and one that I need to repeat for the peony bed, heavy sigh ...) Now I need to completely rearrange that bed, and plant it up. I don't have a plan yet, for some reason the front of the house stumps me.

Too many projects. . . and then I need to maintain them all! Next winter I should post photos of these new flower beds.

I just wanted to pipe in and say "WOW!". That is really inspiring, and your in my zone too so it's even more so. Amazing garden, and it really makes me want to get out into mine even more - tomorrow can't get here fast enough.

tess

GottaGarden,

You are a naturally artistic person as your gardens demonstrate so clearly. You have an eye for color and design. I am totally impressed every time I look at your creations. There are no words to describe them. Just amazingly beautiful.

I love that rock and the stone wall! Stones just make a garden - any garden. Stone walls are practical and add not only structure & dimension to a garden, they add long lasting beauty as well.

Your children are beautiful. It is obvious that you tend and care for them just a well.

Thanks for posting and sharing your natural talents and knowledge. I will be going back to look at those photos again and again...and be amazed over and over!
~Annie

gottagarden: I've bookmarked your photo album so I can look at your gardens again for inspiration...they are all so beautiful. And your children, too. Your husband didn't do a bad job on that retaining wall, either!

Will you tell me what you used to make the arbors in the photo captioned 'side garden in June'? It looks like wire mesh. Have you reinforced it at all? How does it hold up in the wind?

Tia,
Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: arbors

Annie, thanks so much for the compliments, I guess that's why I keep posting here!

Tree lover - I love my arbors, I love climbers! They are fine with the wind and snow, etc., because they are so open. I started with morning glories, but now I have clematis on every arbor. They've been in the ground one or two years, so this summer they should be a bit more full.

We discussed my arbors last year on the potager forum. Here is the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: arbor discussion on potager forum

It's a beautiful space!

I looked at your photo site and saw something in the last photo of the section named "Backbed - Purples"... can you tell me what the tall spikey magenta-purple flowers are on the right of the photo? It's a beautiful color! and I'd love to try something like that.

gottagarden,could you tell me how long is the pig wire you used for your arbors?I showed this to a friend that will make me one but needs to know the length needed.Thanks.
oh" also a few days ago I asked what was the name of the white plant.I said in photo 3 but it was photo 4 that I really should have said.it is on the left wire spires?
Thanks so much
moonphase

partymusic - those flowers are lobelia. I think they are actually lobelia cardinalis. I bought them in 4-packs and they were a seed mix that came out different colors - red, pink, blue purple, and violet purple. They're just like the common red lobelia, but a gorgeous purple that lasts long and the plants are bulking up nicely. Loved by hummingbirds.

Moonphase, the pig wire is 18 feet long. The rebar is 20, because there are foot long "stakes" at the bottoms.

Moonphase - not sure which white plant you are talking about. In photo 4 on the left - the little ones at the top are cosmos, the one in the middle is actually variegated obedient plant, you are seeing the foliage not flowers. On the right is annual white mallow, a beautiful, clean white plant that looks much nicer in person than any photos.

gottagarden: Lobelia cardinalis?! oh my, the color is fantastic. I searched all over the net and found mostly red, some pink, a hint of orange, ... but no Lobelia cardinalis that had that magenta-purple tone. If you ever let it set seed, please consider trading with me so that I can try to get that color! :)

I'm not positive it's cardinalis, but I bought 4-packs and the ones that were red look the same as my other lobelia cardinalis. I have lobelia syphilitica (giant blue lobelia) and it's definitely not that one. If I see them for sale again this spring, I will check that they are cardinalis. If you email me in the fall to remind me, I will save seeds for you. They are gorgeous plants and bulk up nicely without being spreaders.