Simply stunning! Your garden pics are always amazing! Love that patch of Lady's Mantle. It doesn't grow down here, but I planted some in my mom's Indiana yard years ago. I never saw it in bloom, so it was a treat seeing yours.

wow - I'm sure you have every shade of puprle imaginable!! What great photos, TFS :)

~Andrea

Absolutely STUNNING!!

It"s all just so lush and colorful.

I know what you mean about things going so fast this year.

Due to mid April temps in the 90's, the daffs came and went in less than a week (their foliage hasn't even had enough time to ripen yet).

May was no less different. Again, unusually high temps in the 80's and 90's brought on the blossoming of the irises and peonies early in the month (normally just starting their blooming now) which also came and went in the same week. I can barely recall the spring flowering shrubs.

My July garden is already starting to bloom. Achilleas are full of color, daylilies are ready to burst (including those of late August), shasta daisies are ready to pop, etc.

It has been abnormally cool for the past 5 or 6 days which has helped to slow things a little bit. The temps are expected to return with the sun on Tuesday or Wednesday and with them, I expect the garden explode with the blooms usually expected around the 4th of July. Even Joe Pye weed (a mid August bloomer) is already 6 ft tall with developing buds.

I like seeing all the flowers in bloom--but, I would like for it to last a little while. It's all just moving too fast this year.

Liz

Always a magnificent feast for the eyes, I so look forward to seeing photos of your garden every year. Can you tell me which variety of Snapdragon that is in your red bed?

Annette

I don't have the appropriate words for how truly beautiful this is. As always an absolute joy to see and a true inspiration.

Your daughter is adorable! Does she help at all with the gardening? How old is she now?

Some plant questions. Is that Max Frei geranium or something else? In the very first photo, what are that purple thing kind of above and behind the rose campion? 5 from the bottom is what I suspect is the red bed and I definitely have questions about that! In the left foreground is a beautiful bright red plant and a very dark flowered plant next to it. What are they? And what's the red flowering plant in the background. Is it a shrub? It's certainly pretty.

I love your peonies. It must smell like heaven as you walk by!

LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! And your little girl is beautiful.

If I had that amount of space, I'd be filling it up with similar flowers. How big is your space? Do post more photos when the next set of blooms come out.

The snapdragons were planted from a 6pack last year, I'm so amazed they overwintered! I heard that they might, but they are just gorgeous this year. I think they are "rocket red" but will try to look for the tag tomorrow.

My daughter and son both love the garden, especially the butterflies and caterpillars. She is 7 now, hard to believe she is getting so big.

Yes, that is Max Frei geranium

A2Zmom - behind the rose campion is clematis jackmanii.
In the redbed, on the left is a snapdragon, and the very dark smoky red is "Sooty" sweet williams. The shrub in the back is a weigela.

Gardengranny, yes the gardening year is way ahead of schedule this year. I've looked at photos from last year and we are a full 2 weeks, and sometimes 3 weeks ahead of last year at this time. Incredible! Everything is going so quickly, I try to take photos so I can look at them in winter, it's almost too fast to see as it happens.

Beautiful pictures. Even though everything is absolutely
gorgeous. I really like the first and third pictures.
Thanks for posting them.

Those are snapdragons! Mine have never looked that good!

I have never seen "Sooty" in person. Quite dramatic and seems quite a bit taller than some other dianthus I have grown.

WOW, that's a statement in purple! I love it! You have made me wonder if I can create completely circular arbors with the cement reinforcing wire. I use it some, but I love your structures more than ones I've made.

The littlest flower is beginning to blossom into a big girl!

How lovely! I can see something new every time I look at them again. :) What are the poppies in the fifth photo? I love that color. Thank you!

WOW, I am speechless. Your gardens are GORGEOUS!!! You could totally submit those pictures to gardening magazine and have them published. AMAZING! I love the shot of the long border with the stones in front and also your arches. Did you make those yourself? I love all the yellow foliage mixed in and all the different textures. Your clematis and lupines, wow! okay I need to stop drooling. People must be just amazed when they see your gardnes in person. Just wow. :)

jody

Love the peonie and iris bed! Those ruffly light blue iris are niiice! I had a Sooty once but didnt over winter for me. Nice garden to grow up in! Thanks for the pics!

Let me echo everyone else's comments. Your gardens are wonderful and I love the purples. Thank you for posting and there were not too many for me.

Sue

I too love purple. I wish you would post some more. I loved looking at every picture. Just beautiful. You daughter is a cutie too.
kay

Stunning! Everything is early here too. I just can't believe how you have iris, peony, poppy, baptisia, foxglove, clematis... all blooming at the same time!!! Mine seem to be taking turns and only lasting for a short time. Iris, peony have come and gone; clematis blooming now; and foxglove and poppy not blooming yet. We had the warm April, and then a cool May except for a hot spell around memorial day. Now we've just had soaking rains for days. So that has slowed things down.
Anyway, I'd also like to know what kind of poppy that is. You've maybe shared elsewhere; but I'd also like to know how you made your wire arches. They are great!!

Hello Lady,

I am so glad to see you posting again and to see the return of your annual garden photos. Unbelievably beautiful! All your plants have really grown and fill each garden place. The little trees are now so big! Geez!

I have never seen so many different varieties of flowering plants in any garden, bot even at Botanical Gardens. I am so proud of you. I know it is not easy for you to do all that you do. My goodness, how do you do it?

You must have just the perfect combination of soil and moisture, in addition to be a fantastic, hard working gardener. Nothing grows that big and that lush here, nor flowers that well. I feel fortunate to have all the colors of green in my gardens with just dabbles of color here and there. But your gardens are filled to the brim with colorful flowers and plants of all kinds...everywhere!

How do you see to plant them like that so that they turn out so artistically combined? It just blows my mind!

Your pretty little pixie flower baby is really growing into an angelic little young lady. She sure looks like her Mother. How quickly they grow up! In not too many years she will be aghast at the pond photos (which are among my favorites, along with the Dandelion pics).

Please do post more photos.
Your friend and shirt-tail cousin.

~Annie

Beautiful gardens and your daughter is a doll!
Cher

That's "Patty's Plum" poppy. Very unusual color but would prefer some shade. Full sun makes them crispy after a very short time.

Annie, thanks as always for all your kind words. I am blessed with good soil and regular rainfall. I help the process by mulching with aged horse bedding. The reason they coordinate so well is that I am constantly moving them. Constantly. It's a sickness. I keep thinking that eventually I will find the right combinations, but they elude me.

The arches have been discussed before. The link below will take you to that discussion. As you can see, they are great for clematis! ( and look at those delphiniums!) Wisteria would be too heavy.
{{gwi:703451}}From The Garden in June

GGG - I have thought of making completely circular arches and setting them a foot or so into the ground. Not sure how well they would keep such a rigid shape, since they bend with gravity. (my downhill side is quite apparent.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Wire Arches

Absolutely stunning! While i was reading the posts, I was trying to take in all the flower names. I winter sowed a lot last yr and have quite a few things in the non blooming stage. I want my beds to look as full and lush as yours do.You have a beautiful little blonde flower too.
Tammy

Brenda - you can never have too much purple! :-)

I cannot believe how your daughter has grown! Seven, already! WOW! She's adorable.

The length of that peony and iris bed is mind-boggling. I don't think I've seen such a continuous display anywhere. You have quite the collection. You must cut a lot of flowers for the house?

Love the new hosta bed! Have you tried pulmonaria? It is my replacement for hosta (deer food) and while the blooms were beautiful, I'm loving the foliage in summer.

Of course, the redbed is always a winner! I'm glad you mentioned the Sweet Williams as the dark blooms caught my attention and I was going to ask.

I'm starting small on the reds -- I have a trio of redheads in bloom together right now and they are BRIGHT -- monarda 'Jacob Cline', crocosmia 'Lucifer' and salvia greggii 'Navajo Bright Red'. When a visitor came last week, she was drawn to the red more than anything else, I think!

Thanks for posting (I went to your album to view the slideshow at least 4 times!)

Cameron

Brenda, your garden looks really great and I also love all things purple! It's interesting, I have so many of the same plants as you but my soil is heavy clay and it is dry here with many years in drought. I used horse manure for 20 years until my horse died a few years ago and you can really see the difference in my garden. Looking forward to seeing more summer pictures. Regina

I can't even begin to describe how much I enjoyed seeing your garden...

Have a couple of questions- do you happen to know the name of that wonderful white peony with yellow centers in pic #6? And is that purple Malva in pic #19? Is it perennial for you?
I am truly enchanted by your garden. Would love to see more pics by the way ;-)
CMK

Absolutely gorgeous. My favorite plants and colors, all in one garden. I, too, would like to know about that prarie mallow/malva. What a stunner! Also, what is the yellow fringey plant to the left in the first pic? And, do you plant in "drifts"? I'm wondering how you get such a nice layered effect. **stunned**

Megan

Keep coming back to look, thanks for sharing.

OMG.i think i've died and am in Heaven!! What beauty,and all in one place,i don't even see that much beauty in the nurseries or the botanical garden.It's truly a feast for the eyes.Now i know what i'll be looking at for the next few days.

So Full,so pretty and a lot of my favorie colors as well,PURPLE,wouldn't have a garden without it.
TFS
Kathi
PS,do you have an album on line we can drool over???

Is your garden on any local garden tours? Your garden never ceases to amaze me. I have been to many gardens abroad as well as here in the states and your pictures rival a majority of the gardens that I have seen. Your use of color, shape and variety of plant material is just perfect. I found myself saying "WOW" over and over again as I moved on to each photo. Thank you so much for sharing. I'm bookmarking this thread so I can always refer back to your photos. You are truly a brilliant gardener.

I am almost speechless! I LOVE your beautiful gardens. I wish I could see them in person. The smell must be like heaven! You could post pictures every day and I would never tire of them!
Joann

I can't get over how gorgeous this is. I love your combinations and I love purple, too. :)

I wish I could have a diagram or label for all the lovely plants!

Just amazing! What a blend of color and texture. And to think it's mostly purple and green and yet it looks like a million different colors all put together. Wow! I just don't know what to say.

I guess I'll say I'm going to copy you. (if I ever get that good at gardening)

Incredibly gorgeous garden! Love the lupines, they are stunning. Everything looks so healthy too. Your little "gardener-in-training" is very pretty too!

Looking at pictures of your gardens takes my breath away. What beauty you have created! Thanks so much for sharing them with us. I agree, you should send the pictures to a gardening magazine or even BH&G or Garden Gate and let them do a story on you and your gardens. How do you find time to do all that gardening with two children? Is the boy camera shy? Noticed Missie isn't; she's so cute! I'm bookmarking this thread too so I can refer to it for next year.

The lime yellow in the first photo - in front is lady's mantle, and behind is spiraea "mellow yellow", my favorite.

The white peony is Primevere.

The dark purple mallow is malva mauritiana, I love it! It's got a great color, blooms all season, and reseeds gently, not rampantly like zebrina. It's probably a biennial, not long lived, but reseeds just enough.

I do try to plant in multiples, if not necessarily "drifts". Bigger impact that way.

I live in the country and there really aren't garden tours out here. But I do have some garden clubs come to visit every year. That's why I enjoy posting online, I want to share more.

My children both love the garden, but my daughter is more willing to stop for a photo. I never have enough time and there are always weeds, plants needing to be cut back, and other plants that need to move. I've learned to live with it never being quite the way I'd like it to be. It's a ton of work, but so much pleasure as well.

Now THAT is some drop dead gorgeous color..I too like the prettiest flower in the garden..that must be a pricey hybrid model :) Cute!

You mentioned the name of the white peaony with yellow center, could you name the others? One of them, the lighter pink looks like the variety I had at my previous home that I had to leave in the ground in Feb. when we moved. My dear MIL used to say it was Sarah Bernhardt but it doesn't match the photos of that variety in catalogs. I like the darker pink..that's really a beauty.
Can one buy aged horse manure at the garden center in bags?
Do you ever mix shredded leaves with your soil to enrich it? We live in a Sr. Community where there are piles of shredded leaves for the residents to use in their garden plot. I saw two hugh piles this morning and I bet any resident can fill a container of it, whether you rent a garden plot or not.
How about names of your clematis? Where do you usually order your Iris from? Some beautiful colors there in that garden.
Who is the beautiful gal named Grace in the colorful gown? She's very photogenic.

You have a truly magnificent garden! It gets better every year, and the range of purples you have mixed together is stunning. I love the wonderful contrasts of shapes, foliage and textures that you have created. You have an amazing eye for visual composition.

So beautiful!!!! i love it!!

It feels like I am browsing through a garden magazine with lots of beautiful photos...
Great work!!!

Beautiful garden! I especially love the lupines.
Our weather in April pushed everything ahead, like daffodils and tulps, but then May was cool and rainy and June has just been rainy, so now the perennials are growing well,, but annuals and veggies look anemic.
Where do you live that you have so many flowers in bloom alredy?
Truly gorgeous display! Thanks so much for sharing.

It is always a pleasure seeing your beautiful lush and colourful gardens!
I especially love the combinations of purple and chartreuse, such as alchemilla and salvia - they are neighbours in my flowerbeds as well....

Thank you so much for sharing! :)

The light pink peonies are Sarah Bernhardt. The red ones are Karl Rosenfeld.

I get my iris from local iris farms, so I can see them in person. Same for daylilies.

I get horse compost by the truckful from a local stable. You can buy it by the bag, but I would need over 100 bags!

Grace is my niece who sewed her own prom dress.

I don't mix stuff in my soil, I simply put it on top, the worms do the rest. In some of my beds the soil is so soft I can practically dig it with my hands.

The garden is in western NY.

Thank you Brenda, for another set of drool-worthy photos.
I don't think my vocabulary is up to the task, so just- thanks.
Renee

I can't stop looking at these gorgeous pictures!

A couple of additional questions:

I understand that after poppies put on their show, all that's left is a lot of large, basil leaves. What are you planting around them to hide the foliage?

The picture directly underneath the lupines - what is the white flowered large plant and those pink balls that seem to float in space? I love the effect!

Finally, how close together do you plant your dahlias? I've seen other photos of your dahlias and I love the way the tumble right next to your other plants.