Wow! I'll bet it smells like heaven there tonight! I like the color on Orania very much- will have to keep an eye open for that one. My Stargazers should start opening tomorrow, so I'll get the virtual scent here. The rest of your garden looks so pretty too, and I like the shapes you've created for the flower beds.
-Nan

Lime: Wow! You have a beautiful yard. I took the liberty of posting a pic for you. I copied the "tag" line and then pasted it in my message. (Oh, and I downsized it just a little)

Lisa

Here is a link that might be useful: Limequilla's Garden

Very pretty limequilla - I am slowly adding more and more lillies to my gardens. They are so regal looking.....

Lynne

very nice!
Love the shape of the beds.
Thanks for sharing with us.

Haziemoon

I got so distracted and frustrated trying to post the pictures that I forgot to type in my questions.

The one thing all the pretty pictures on the CG forum seem to have in common is arbors and climbing plants. My garden is too flat. F L A T.

I took the picture from the only decent vantage point, but I wondered if anybody could suggest a good place to put an arbor? I have walked the garden dozens of times looking, but each logical place has a very big pitfall - mostly too much shade. Or the arch is going the wrong way...you expect to see the arch, and all my paths are going off at 90 degrees and in such a way that you'd see the side of the arch and that isn't nearly as pretty!

I could have a very large, very grand arbor -- about 11 feet wide -- at the end of the driveway as an entrance to the back yard. (The reason large and grand is because it would have to be big enoough & tall enough for a large pickup truck and a garden way cart and a riding mower....and still hold itself upright on a 9 foot span.)

Now the trouble with that idea is I don't really have a grand backyard...it wouldn't go with the style. I would be limited to painted wood or iron by dh, I think, and that sounds really expensive.

I have lilies towering over everything and little 3'0 plants -- I need some 5'0 high plants with some bulk to them, too.

I need, I need....what does it need?

Thanks,

Lime

Oh wow - you've inspired me. I love these forums - people have such beautiful gardens. Seeing the way your lily's tower over the garden makes me think that I will have to find some area to "scatter them". As far as height, have you considered a planter with an obelisk? I don't have much space in my postaage stamp yard but wanted something to add some substance and found this really neat black metal square [diamond pattern] container [15 inches] with an obelisk [black metal diamond pattern]. With the obelesk attached the entire thing stands about 6 ft and I have a glorious Mandevilla vine growing in it. Everyone "ohs and awes" over it. Anyway - an idea that isn't too "grand" but definately adds a pressence.

Fern

Lime, in my yard, the two plants with the bulk you talk about are hardy hibiscus and an ornamental grass.

{{gwi:226590}}

This one doesn't show the grass at full height, I took the picture in May, but you should be able to get the idea. You can see the hardy hibiscus starting to shoot up too.

{{gwi:648430}}

Lisa

Lime, how about hollyhocks and delphniums (SP) for added height. I love the picture that was posted for you. Haven't gone into your album yet. I love hollyhocks and wish I could get them to bloom more robustly for me. They have some beautiful colors also.

I like Fern's idea of the obelisk too. Maybe you could put two at the entrance where you would normally see the supports of a trellis or pergola? It would still signal some "mystery" beyond and certainly give some height interest- and best of all easy to move or modify to adjust for the garden cart, etc.
-Nan

Lisa, Your place looks ultra-fab -- I bet the neighbors love it! Yes, I can get both of those you mentioned,,,all it takes in money, right? No, really, you know what the problem is? I will go to the garden center for grass or hibiscus. They won't have exactly what I want at the price I will pay, BUT they will have somehting else I've always wanted. LOL! I know it has to happen to other people, too!

echoes,,, It's historically been too hot for Delphinium and the Hollyhocks get rust here. BUT, the weather here has changed, big time, and I possibly there are better hybrids out there than from when I last tried 20 years ago. I think it's time for a new test. Sooooo........ Does anybody in the midwest, zone 5, grow either hollyhocks or delphinium succussfully? Can you save me some seeds of those that do best for you? I have TRADES of GREAT lily bulblets!

Fern & Non, I got an obelisk and a 1/2 price clematis, 'Miss Bateman', at Lowe's yesterday. She stays pretty small for a clematis. Plus, I have another obelisk which is being swallowed by Sweet Autumn Clematis right now, but I can fish out from underneath this winter. Thanks for the idea.

Now I have to decide where to put it (them)! You guys make it seems so easy, but I plunk it down, wait a while, decide it's wrong, heave it up, unplant the plant, and start over again and again!

Lime

Lime your yard is lovely. I am admiring your queens promise lily did you buy it as a bulb and if so who has it. That is simply a must have lily. Beautiful!!!

Jackie

Jackie,

Thanks! It's fragrant as all get out, too!

It was $10.00 from www.thelilygarden.com last year, and I assume they'll have it again this year, but don't know for sure. If you place an order without calling them (and taking up their time, is what I think they're after, but are too polite to say LOL!) they'll send you a free bulb, too. You can request a catalog or shop online.

Their new catalog comes out very soon, and that photo, plus one from a fella in Pennsylvania have hit some large mailing lists and it could sell out this fall.

(All Northern Hemisphere Lilies are harvested late Sept -early October for delivery in fall of the year. Then they are held in a similar fashion to apples and sold again in the spring. Like apples, they are better in the fall than in the spring. I expect them to sell out in fall on 'Queen's Promise' and not have any for spring shipment.)

Lime

Hi Lime,

I face your dilema with where to place things in the garden all the time - I'm kind of anal retentive. My solution is that I set stuff out - obelisk included and live with it for a day - sitting in the little garden and moving my chair around to all angles - seeing how the cat [Mocha] feels about the "new" area and then if all seems right, that is when I plant. It works for me - mind you I have a postage stamp yard so I don't have that many large objects that I need to live with for awhile before I decide on the location for the year

Fern

Oh, Lime, we need to introduce you to seed/plant exchanges! I grew my hardy hibiscus from seed I harvested in my mother's cousin's yard. It makes tons and tons of seed. In fact, hardy hibiscus seeds are usually quite plentiful on the seed exchange.

The grass came to me as three little itty bitty stems, a bonus from a plant trader. I no longer remember what I originally traded for, but this baby has loved its new home.

P.S. Thanks for the compliment! I do get a number of people who slow down as they drive past :)

Lisa