Colourful annuals

Ginger lilies

I have a mix but some beds are dedicated to just roses. I've been working on making all the beds strictly perennials though. Annuals just got too expensive besides being to labor intensive each year. Now I only do annuals in the few pots I put around the patio and house. I'm trying to get to a point where there is something always in bloom through out the entire season. Easier said than done, lol! Some of my all stars are my peonies, iris, hibiscus, hydrangeas and hollyhocks. I can't seem to get azaleas or rhodies to grow in my yard for some reason. I've also had little luck keeping bleeding hearts alive. I also have tons of bulbs, both spring and summer, that I've planted over the course of many years. I like the look of a mixed garden best anyway. I never felt that a garden should be rigid and formal. IMHO, a garden needs to be big and over full and a little bit wild looking, lol!

I have about twenty roses in my small cottage style garden, all in mixed beds with perennials. If I had more space or a more formal style I might do rose only beds.

My garden is very new, some things planted last summer but many were only recently planted. Can't wait for everything to fill in.

Some of the perennials I'm using include larkspur, gayfeather, daisies, walkers low, may night salvia, lavender, clematis, candytuft violets, phlox, pincushion flower, coneflower and beebalm. Not many annuals but I do have a few zinnias and cosmos.

I would love to have the cottage garden look, but many of the flowers (annuals) that I like are for zone 8 and below. So I don't really get to grow them. I do have a butterfly garden, and unfortunately I get volunteer milkweeds growing in my roses. I let them get medium size and them pull them up and put them in a pot of potting mix and keep them pretty damp. I found I can transplant them that way. If I leave them in the rose bed, I get black spot like crazy. Probably they don't let enough air to flow threw them.

I love everybody pics.

roses, almost all old teas, day lilies and herbs that's about it (along with 36 live oaks and 3 cypress trees and 12 citrus trees)

Here is a couple pics from last year when I had some petunias mixed in with Marigolds...

My small city lot is crammed with 73 roses, 17 trees, shrubs, perennials & annuals. With annuals I buy just 1 plant & collect the seeds from it, I have poppies & nicotiana everywhere. I find that with all these plus herbs it's very inviting to all the good bugs that I need on patrol in my garden. Perhaps my garden style could be called Jungle Cottage!

Jane

It's great to see the roses with the different perennials & annuals that grow in different zones!

I love hydrangeas too, however, I don't have a lot of shade yet. Yard is in a newer subdivision. No decent trees yet :(. I planted a northern catalpa in the back corner of my yard, in 3-5 years I'll have a shade garden! My limelight hydrangeas love the sun & have doubled in height since planting last year. In another month they should put on a good show. The macro hydrangeas are iffy here. They usually lose their buds over winter.

This is one part of my side fence of my backyard. Planted 5 columnar hornbeams, then planted 4 limelight hydrangeas in between. Next year I'm going to plant drift or carpet roses at the front of the bed.

@fragrancenutter - you are so lucky to live in a warm climate to grow such tropical exotics! Love all the colour!

@reesepbuttercup - your fence is a perfect backdrop for the roses & cottage look!

Did I mention that I like peonies???

And a few hostas...

I also like delphiniums

and foxgloves

And coneflowers, phlox, daisies, and lupines. The coneflowers and phlox haven't bloomed yet this year. Soon though...

I don't mix other plants with my roses BUT I grow a few other things around the house for different textures around the house.

Roses are a passion and my gardens in the beginning were mostly roses mixed with delphiniums. As time passed and my tastes changed and evolved, I've mixed more perennials into the beds and also now grow lots of clematis.

In the past few years, I've been rather enchanted with Japanese Maples and have been adding them to the garden, sometimes at the expense of roses that were in marginal areas to thrive fully, but that are rather ideal locations for Japanese Maples.

@hcarnevale - peonies are beautiful, but I find they bloom so quickly & fall down even with support rings. Are the itoh's better? Do they last longer? Also you have many of the same perennials I have or know. I'm also loving the coneflowers. There are so many kinds now & you can't beat their bloom length. I have a few just starting.

@ken & hcarnevale - both of you have lilies, they look great. Do you have issues with pests on them? I like lilies but was under the impression that they had a lot of problems?

@rosewhisperer - Japanese maples are beautiful. I see your zone; have you had any issues with winter damage? I'm scared to invest in one, I find they are pretty pricey. It's one thing to lose a $20-30 rose, but $300 or more for a tree makes me nervous, haha!

Halloblondie,

No major issues with winter damage. Just tip dieback mainly. Planting location is the key to give them a bit of micro climate effect. Here they thrive well on an eastern exposure near a wall or fence line. I do have some that tolerate a southern exposure like Seiryu, Kamagata, Tamukeyama and Fireglow. It helps to know also the conditions that the individual Maples will tolerate and thrive in. They are all very different.

I've never paid $300 for a Japanese maple, I grow 3 red ones in memory of my husband, they were his favourite. They seem to grow quickly but I am in z8. The most I've paid for a tree was $169 & that was a Venus Dogwood last year, beautiful tree with huge white blooms.

Jane

Maybe because you are in a zone where they go quickly, they are cheaper? Here they are slower growers & to get a nice sized potted one I find they average $300. Venus dogwoods I've seen here starting at $100. The Venus dogwoods can be iffy here as well. They have to be planted in a sheltered area. The blooms are beautiful though.

fragrancenutter(Zone 10b), I live in zone 10a and was told that peaches don't grow here because they need to have a winter chill. What are your winter temps? I would love to have a peach tree. Everyone tells me just to get a mango tree, but I really don't care for them. I remember my father growing peaches in Missouri when I was young and nothing was as good as a nice juicy fresh picked peach. Very envious, but in a good way :)

fragracenutter - don't believe everything you are told. Peaches grow fine here - we are in Nor Cal, zone 9b/10a. My MIL (4 blocks away) had 3 peach trees, and did not like peaches. After my FIL (who did like peaches) died, those of us in the younger generation were invited to take all we wanted. Being the ones who lived 4 blocks away, that was great!

They grow peaches commercially in the CA central valley, which is zone 9. So, it might be that finding the right kind of peach is important. If you do some research, you might find one you can grow where you live. I agree, there is nothing better than a tree ripened peach. My MIL's house is sold, but every summer when we drive up to our cabin, we pass Red Bluff, and you better believe that on the way home we stop and load up on peaches. I make pies, etc.

Jackie

What you need is low chill varieties. There are many from Florida. In fact my favourite is Flordagold which needs about 300 chilling hours. Some other varieties like tropic snow and tropic beauty will even fruit well with 150 hours only! The tree in my picture is Flordagold which is large sweet and juicy and has been fruiting since 18 months old. It is now 10 years old. I'm now even growing low chill cherries! The trees are only two years old. They flowered well last year but no fruits yet. I was told the cherries will take longer. I'm giving them another two years to perform. I spend more time on my fruit trees than my roses. The peach tree will produce about 50 kg of fruit per year. I give a lot away and eat till I drop and I freeze and bottle and juice the rest. Same with grapes, guavas, mulberries, papayas, nectarines, figs etc. Tree ripened fruits are the best!

I have NO problem with lily's in my area. Everyone grows them. Day lilies grow wild on the side of the roads. I also have a couple of Japanese Maples. Manyo No Sato' and 2 Bloodgood. Really enjoy them. I might get a Midget Japanese Maple next year and grow it as a Bonsai tree in a special pot. I have to research that really well before jumping into that.

@ken - I was referring to the Asiatic lilies. I have one left by previous owner with no issues other than it is kind of short & sparse for their age.

Even with over 1000 roses now, I couldn't grow just roses. There are too many times of the year when they are primarily resting, and I need splashes of color year round. Also, roses don't make much of a main dish though you can eat them, so I need a lot of fruits and vegetables to fill that need for the family to eat and snack on fresh items. In addition to all those roses, I probably have 200 named daylilies, 20 named hostas and heucheras, 10 types of phlox, 50 types of clematis, 5 kinds of perennial geranium, 10 peony and tree peony bushes, 6-8 hydrangeas (including some BIG ones), 3 lilacs, a large Black Lace sambuca (elderberry bush), two large Rose of Sharon, a red smokebush, goldenrod, lots of daisies and delphiniums, catmint, several kinds of asters and mums, multiple kinds of agastache, salvias, sedum, lavender, columbine, lots of lamium/lamiastrum, around 40 kinds of asiatic/oriental lilies, about 20 kinds of shade perennials (e.g. toad lilies, bloodroot, sundrops, perennial forget me nots), astilbe, moonbeam coreopsis & another low coreopsis, prairie groundcover (forgot the name), a japanese maple, 3 yew bushes, 5 pine trees, a huge burr oak, 5 honeyberry bushes, around 15 blueberry bushes, countless strawberries under the roses, a raspberry patch, dwarf apple (2), cherry (2) and plum trees, a modest room-sized vegetable garden with around 15-20 types of vegetables. Not to mention edging with annuals like salvia farinacia, impatiens, snapdragons, Persian Shield, and the occasional surprise. And all of this fits on a moderate 2/3 of an acre, including a house and enough grass in the front and back yard for croquet (front yard) or two person soccer (back yard). Needless to say, everything grows on top of everything else.

Here are some samplings of roses mixed in with non-roses:

Here are a multitude of spring bulbs with 100's of roses waiting in the wings throughout the entire bed (but you don't notice them yet). You can see some perennial geranium popping up toward the bottom left of the photo too:

Here's my mailbox bed in summer with daylilies, clematis, salvia, and asters visible, as well as about 20 roses that are resting at the moment (hence the need for other bloomers):

Here's mid-summer with some roses, early mums, persian shield and annual salvia:

Here's a relatively early part of a shaded bed with climbers, impatiens and the lovely Beacon silver lamium:

Here's further down my back shade area with hybrid musks, hydrangea, hostas, perennial forget me not, impatiens, arum and the intrepid Darlow's Enigma:

Here's the same part of the shade bed with late late fall anemones and monkshood:

Here's a different corner of the mailbox bed later in the summer with aster Purple Dome taking the lead along with the annual salvia edging:

WOW

I'm lovin' everybody's beautiful plants!! I have some underplantings that I'm digging out now. Some have become too invasive. My formerly "other" obsession was irises. After over a decade of collecting hundreds of beautiful tall bearded irises, I recently decided I'm done with them. They are too much work, and they only bloom for a short time. Oh there are some re-bloomers, but still not enough to rival the roses. I'm gradually digging out many of them, but of course they often leave babies that re-grow, so they aren't being annihilated by any means. I also grow quite a few Japanese maples, altho I lost several in the last couple of yrs that were in pots due to some being over-watered and some under-watered. I wasn't paying enough attention to the drippers. I have lotsa other plants around the yard tho as well.

TB Iris MYSTIE'S AUDIENCE:

TB Iris FIVE O'CLOCK WORLD:

Japanese Maple PEACHES 'N' CREAM:

Daylily DESTINED TO SEE:

Clematis - not sure of the name but something like "VITTICELLI PURPUREA" or something like that:

Echinacea SUNRISE or was it SUNSET? Can't remember!:

Oriental Lily PURPLE PRINCE

Halloblondie, I'm in zone 5 WI. I have an obsession with lilies as well as the roses. I have a few Asiatics, but my favorites are the Orienpet lilies (aka OT lilies, aka Lily Trees). They are a hybrid between Oriental lilies and Trumpet lilies. They get massive sized flowers that are extremely fragrant. They grow quite tall (some 7-8 feet). I do not have a problem with lily beetles in my area. I have a bunny problem.... They are probably my easiest plant I grow. I usually throw a handful of organic bulb fertilizer once or twice/year and they get new mulch. I rarely water them. Usually rain is enough. The Asiatics that you were referring to usually bloom a lot earlier in the season that do the Orientals and OT lilies. The flowers are not fragrant and the flowers tend to be quite a bit smaller. My Asiatics are just starting now and the OTs will be starting soon. Some of mine from last year and this year.

You are actually pretty lucky living in Canada because you have some very well known lily growers there. I often order them from Canada

I used to grow lots of asiatic lilies many years ago until an army of rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks and who knows what else ate everything. Not a single plant is left. I try to replace them with new ones but it only encourages their extended families to dine at my backyard. I haven't grown any since then.

For nearly 20 years, I planted perennials with an occasional hybrid tea here and there. Then I woke up one day and said, "I want to grow roses." As a result, about 70 roses have elbowed their ways into beds of perennial plantings. I love all of them mixed together--plus flowering shrubs to add more drama. Here's a few different views, though I think I've shown many of these pics before. Excuse the repetition.

Berolina (yellow hybrid tea) plus other roses, couple different types of iris, peonies, and coreopsis in bloom in the early springtime.

Moving to the south of the above pic is Braveheart (red shrub) and other hybrid teas (Elle and Double Delight) with white hardy garden geraniums growing at the feet and red hanging geraniums (pelargonium). (Probably a late May or June pic.)

Same general area, midsummer, when the monster paniculata hydrangeas (white) and golden Brown-eyed Susans (growing wild) take over the scene. That red rose in the bottom right corner is Braveheart, and in the upper left quadrant, you can see one yellow Berlina bloom. Several other hybrid teas are also blooming (Red Intuition, Memoire, Elle).

The triangular bed towards the back of the lot features wild-growing purple larkspur during the month of June. Some yellow yarrow in bottom left corner.

Here's the same general area earlier in the spring--looking a bit wild (needs weeding) but you can see dark burgundy Munstead Wood, behind it a pink Austin climber (Wedgwood), to its right one of 4 white peonies (Festiva Maximus) in that bed, and further to the right hybrid musk Jeri Jennings, and right next to Munstead Wood, two daylilies (yellow).

Same general area: Molineux (yellow-gold/apricot) with light blue iris and white peonies (Festiva Maximus) to the left and (if you squint) some jewell-toned blue Siberian iris in the background.

Here's a better view of the jewell-toned blue Siberian iris (indestructible beauties).

Elsewhere, here is a big clump of light blue-lavender iris forming a backdrop for Double Knock Out.

I also stick a few annuals in periodically to keep the scene colorful. Here purple and white petunias next to the pastel-colored Easter Basket rose.

Another annual--blue and white lobelia in hanging basket--next to pink Pretty Jessica.

I also stick mums into any empty spot I can find--mums scattered all over the backyard. Makes quite a show in autumn, but unfortunately, I don't have a picture. Must remember to take some this fall.

That does it--10 pics of some mixed plantings. In my next post, I'll include some close-ups of my "other" flowers.

Kate

Awesome photos eveeryone! :)

Back again--with some close-ups.

Here's Scarlet O'Hara Peony--a real show-off!

Cora Stubbs Peony (or might be Bowl of Beauty)

Edith Wolford iris

Iris--light blue (name unknown)

Iris--name unknown

Daylilies (tetraploids)--names unknown

Princess Diana Clematis

Pansies--anywhere I can manage to sneak them in. Love these purple beauties.

Purple Clematis (Jackmanii and others)- - I probably have 6-8 of them scattered around the yard. This one is Venosa Violacea.

Have several hosta gardens also--here is an older bed expanded to accommodate the new Rainforest Sunrise (gold) and the mini Blue Mouse Ears.

Well, that's another 10 pics--so I think I better leave it at that--though I meant to show you some of my bulb lilies also, but they can wait for another time.

Hope you enjoyed these.

Kate

Lots and lots of lavender. Need the smell to fend off "my" deer

Fragrant Camellias, flowering cherries, violets, a fruiting quince (the fruits have an intense fragrance that wafts through the garden), citrus, pomegranate. Many of these edible fruit trees can still have very ornamental flowers, or be very fragrant. People may not realize this.

Thanks for all the pics so far, Your gardens all look amazing. Thanks for also making me want to try different lilies now too! Way to enable.

I have to say I'm very envious of the maturity of many of these gardens. We moved into a house 1.5 years ago in a newer subdivision. The house is 7 years old. So all I had for plant life was the city boulevard tree, a decent porch front garden bed & 3 overgrown shrubs & clumps of ornamental grass at the back. The shrubs are invasive, 2 false spireas (too big for the area) & an overgrown dappled willow shrub (14 ft). Which I have pruned up to a sort of multi trunked tree. I think it will have to go soon, there are a lot of bug holes & cracks in the branches. As close to a blank slate as one can get for resale. The plus is I choose the trees & plants. I also get to make garden beds where I want. The downside, no mature trees or plants. I can't wait until some of my plants grow into their potential, like some of the pictures you guys have shared.

So glad you started this thread, halloblondie! Everyone's roses and flowers are just gorgeous, loving it! I wish you the best in creating the look you desire. Your yard looks beautiful already!

Aw thanks, that's nice to hear! I'm finding this thread to be very informative too. It's really nice to see the different style of gardens & plants mixed with the roses. I'm also amazed at the amount of plants some of you have in your gardens & that many of them are medium sized yards! I guess when I read that someone has more than 100 roses, I pictured some large estate with hired help, lol! But in reality it just hard working, flower loving gardeners!

Halloblondie, your daylilies and iris look great, and you're well on your way with your gardens if you've only been there 1 1/2 years. Heck, I'd still be unpacking boxes at that rate! I agree - thanks for staring this thread.

Of course, now that means that we get to ask advice about non-rose plants. Beth, I'm curious - how are iris a lot of work for you in your warm zone? Do they get the borers a lot or need constant division? I find that iris are a plant and forget plant for the most part, but you're right that they need their own dedicated space that's not underplanted with anything else. You know of course that if you need homes for those wayward iris you're digging up, you'll have tons of volunteers after those breathtaking photos (wink - my hand waving madly in the air). I've also never seen a Japanese maple in those colors - just awesome.

Hcarnevale, you have some exquisite lilies that are clearly worth the work you put into the importer's certificate. How do you keep your OT lilies from flopping everywhere? I have some 5-6' OTs as well as Asiatic and Orientals, and they do this Dying Swan act all over the plants around them. They could get their own individual plant stake with a circle at the end, but that gets expensive. I have plenty of bamboo stakes that I try to cross in front of them (being cheap, i.e. free), but they refuse to stand up even with the crossed stakes supporting them and still melt to the ground.

Kate - how on earth did you get such a lovely stand of larkspur started? I've tried various seed combinations in spring to absolutely no effect, even in the vegetable garden around the lettuces where there's little competition and no mulch. They simply won't grow from me, and they're supposed to be mindless. Ditto your wonderful Siberian Iris. Do you find them reliably winter hardy? I can occasionally get a handful to bloom if I plant a hundred or two, but they don't like zone 5 I guess. And is your Princess Diana clem a thug? Mine wants to eat substantial real estate, but will settle for every plant in a 3 foot radius. She needs taming with a pitchfork I think.

Cynthia

I have stuff on top of stuff, and sometimes it does get pretty crazy and overgrown. It's probably what the inside of my head looks like. haha.

Here are some pictures from this spring when everything looked nice.

@nippstress - my husband & I are doers, when something needs to get done, it gets done. In 4 years we have owned 2 houses - Fully painted or wallpapered, decorated & landscaped. I've waited 10 years to have my own gardens. Last house we had 1 season of garden. I went straight to it. Unfornately, we had horrendous neighbours. Our "forever" home came up for sale (485 meters from our last place), we made a quick move. I now love my home & yard space. I spent all last summer, digging, planting & mulching (8 yards of mulch for new beds). But it is the thing I enjoy the most. I'm a stay at home mom of a 3 year old. Free time to garden is my me time!!! Forget bubble baths, reading, watching tv, etc. I would rather be outside with pretty things! A friend of mine recently asked me if I even stopped working long enough to smell the roses I'm growing! The answer was nope.

halloblondie, you've got a nice start to your gardens--and don't worry--one of these days, you'll look around and realize you have a "mature" garden. If it's any encouragement, I like to joke that when I moved into this house back in the early 1980s, all my back yard had was weeds and sunshine. So I immediately planted a couple trees in strategic spots along the western property line--so there would be a little protection from that late afternoon "killer sun" that my zone 6 garden has to endure. However, I have to admit that the previous owner was evidently a talented gardener herself. I still am growing some of the plants (peonies, daylilies, hydrangeas, iris) that she left me, although they have been moved around a half dozen times or so since then. I basically started with the two garden beds she had and kept expanding them a few feet more --a little wider here, a bit longer there--and now, thirty some years later, those beds cover most of my back yard--which is fine with me since I have no use otherwise for a backyard. We will enjoy watching your gardens expand over the years also! : )

Cynthia--I had trouble getting the larkspur started. For two years I threw seeds all over the back garden and would just get a handful of rather pathetic looking larkspur to grow. So I started ignoring them, having given up on that project. Well, that handful of larkspur threw their own seed at the right time and by winter, all sorts of tiny larkspur plants were growing. At first I thought they were a new kind of weed, but getting behind on my weeding, some of them grew large enough that I finally realized they were larkspurs! Since then, I do nothing except when I pull out the plants after they are done blooming, I do shake a few of the plants over spots where I'd like more larkspur next year. They are now so busy re-seeding themselves that by spring, I will have to pull nearly half of them out so they dont' choke out some other desirable plants--but there's always enough left that I get a natural show for about 5-6 weeks in late May and most of June. Here it is July and I still have a handful still blooming out there--but I think this is probably their last week for this year.

Siberian Iris--that's easy. They are tough and super cold-hardy--hardy down to -40 degrees! Gorgeous spring bloomers, no diseases, no care. You might be confusing them with Japanese or Louisiana irises that have greater water/moisture needs and probably don't like the sun as much as other irises do, but other than that I think they are all very cold hardy, but I've never grown Japanese or Lousiana irises, so I cant' say for sure about them. However, my mom grew Siberian irises in South Dakota, so I can swear by their cold hardiness. I treat them like I would any other perennial--no additional fussing at all. You do plant them in full sun, don't you? You must try them again sometimes. Sun and not too much water. That's about it.

Now, as to Princess Diana clem--mine is always just barely making it. I think that western sun tends to boil mine. I had no idea she was a thug elsewhere. Have you got some pics of yours? I was afraid I'd lost mine during an exceptionally cold winter we had a couple years ago, but she is creeping back again--so I'm guessing it is the hot summer that is harder for her to handle.

To all the other posters: I'm so enjoying all the gardens. So many different styles and combinations--and they all look wonderful!

Kate

Brittie - I love the mix of daylilies and roses in several of your shots! I like mixing in daylilies in particular, since they tend to bloom in hot weather when the roses take a rest.

Halloblondie, having as much already planted in your new place definitely qualifies you and your husband as "doers". I suspect that a majority of gardeners, and rose gardeners in particular, are doers since you don't get nice gardens by looking at them unless someone else plants and cares for them (and I agree - where's the fun in that??)

Kate - my trouble with the larkspur was that I can't get the seed to germinate even fresh seed. I thought at first it was all the mulch, but in the vegetable garden that's not the case and it still won't grow there. Bummer, eh? I did indeed plant many kinds of Siberian Iris that I ordered along with my 1000s of bulbs, and it was frustrating because they're supposed to be hardy. I think the problem was how much they're interplanted with other things in my gardens, and they might have rotted out in the moisture. Even daffodils aren't fully perennial and fade after 4-5 years.

As for Princess Diana, she's a thug wherever I have her and I'll throw out a couple of shots of her. Here she's relatively restrained, but still pulling a 6-7' Madame Isaac Periere off center to the right of the photo. You can barely see MIP because of the Princess Diana foliage.

Here she is with another white clematis attacking my mailbox. Again, you have to look at how much ground she covers and how much foliage she has. She extends from far left to far right of the photo.

And here she is attacking a shepherd's hook with Jeanne LaJoie, along with a purple clem I've forgotten (maybe Polish Spirit). She doesn't hold the eye as much as the purple clem because her flowers are smaller, but she's vigorous.

Sorry to hear your Princess Di plants don't do as well! I've discovered clematis loves our loamy soil and baking hot summers, so they may be bigger here than in other regions. Still, yours are lovely and I could actually do with a little more restraint on Di's part.

Cynthia

@nipstress - those clematis are monsters. Thanks for the pics.

Beautiful, Kelly.

Wow, what stunning gardens!!! I'm always amazed how so many get Iris, Peony and Roses blooming together. Usually my roses don't bloom until end of June, beginning of July. What a stunning combo for those who are lucky enough.

I grow a mix, primarily the romantic fluffy Echinaceas like 'Secret Romance', 'Raspberry Truffle', 'Bubblegum', various daisies, Ger. Roxanne, Lamium 'Pink Pewter', Nepeta, Black Eyed Susan, astilbes, perennial foxglove, forget me not, pansies, violas and fringe leaf bleeding heart 'King of Hearts' which seems to love the sun and flowers non-stop with the most gorgeous blue green leaves. One of my favorites.

Cynthia- I noticed what look like whole oak leaves in one of your beds. Do you mulch with these without shredding them? I have read that they mat but your gardens are so stunning. We don't have a lawn, so no mower to shred the leaves, but tons of oak trees on our property and bordering our property. I usually rake them out of the garden and toss them over our stone wall. It kills me to toss so much garden "gold" and would much rather leave them in my garden to nurture my plants.

Sharon

Wow, what stunning gardens!!! I'm always amazed how so many get Iris, Peony and Roses blooming together. Usually my roses don't bloom until end of June, beginning of July. What a stunning combo for those who are lucky enough.

I grow a mix, primarily the romantic fluffy Echinaceas like 'Secret Romance', 'Raspberry Truffle', 'Bubblegum', various daisies, Ger. Roxanne, Lamium 'Pink Pewter', Nepeta, Black Eyed Susan, astilbes, perennial foxglove, forget me not, pansies, violas and fringe leaf bleeding heart 'King of Hearts' which seems to love the sun and flowers non-stop with the most gorgeous blue green leaves. One of my favorites.

Cynthia- I noticed what look like whole oak leaves in one of your beds. Do you mulch with these without shredding them? I have read that they mat but your gardens are so stunning. We don't have a lawn, so no mower to shred the leaves, but tons of oak trees on our property and bordering our property. I usually rake them out of the garden and toss them over our stone wall. It kills me to toss so much garden "gold" and would much rather leave them in my garden to nurture my plants.

Sharon

Hi Sharon - yep, I am wayyyyy too lazy to shred leaves when they arrive in the fall. I save filled leaf bags from the neighborhood to stack around the truly tender teas and line the edges of the beds for windbreaks as winter protection, but there's no telling what kind of leaves will be in there. We have a huge burr oak tree in our backyard though that provides oak leaves for the garden. Oak leaves (and pine needles) are terrific for the garden precisely because they don't mat like other leaves tend to do. I don't know why, but they stay crispy until they break down in late summer after being on the garden all winter.

By all means, save that garden gold for your yard and get free mulch to boot. Just be aware that they'll tend to blow away in the winter unless you have standing stalks to anchor them in the bed. The same goes for spring - I usually sprinkle some bought mulch or shredded leaves that I rescue from the scrounged leaf bags to hold down the whole leaves.

Thanks for the complement too, BTW. Of course I pick the photos that make the garden look nice, not its business as usual look.

Cynthia

Thanks Cynthia for answering so quickly and letting me know of your
experience with oak leaves and pine needles. We are surrounded by both
types of tree. I know oak leaves and pine needles are great for
attracting earth worms and would prefer to leave them in the garden but
was concerned about the matting issue. You tend to get so much
contradictory info. It's nice to hear from someone with first hand
knowledge.

As for pics your gardens always look stunning to me :-)Sharon

Kelly, wonderful mix of perennials and bulbs. You must always have something in bloom!

Nippstress, Don't know what to say about your iris problems--unless you are planting them too deep. Iris rhizomes generally like to "float" on or near the soil-line--like a half-submerged floating turtle, one source claims. Once they get going, they are no problem at all.

Kate