A Tour of My Garden

We'll start in the front. I live in an end unit, so my garden wraps around three sides of the building. The front of my garden faces east. Here, looking toward the garden, we're facing southwest.

The two trees are magnolias, though they're done blooming (the magnolia to the left is actually my neighbor's, but gardening books always talk about borrowed landscape, right?). The tall pink thing is Joe Pye weed, way taller than me. The tall blue-gray flowers in front of the Joe Pye weed are globe thistles (echinops ritro). Other things in bloom are black-eyed Susans, daylilies, balloon flowers, beebalm, lilies, clematis and several varieties of yarrow. Sedum 'Autumn Joy' is almost in bloom -- not quite pink yet.

Turn to face the building (facing west). You can really see the lilies and the clematis from here. Lambs' ears are in the foreground. They really do feel like lambs' ears. Sometimes I have to just come out here and pet them. Very soothing. An ornamental oregano is growing just to the left of the lambs's ears. I don't know if it would be good for cooking or not, and I'm not much of a cook. Bees and butterflies really love it when it's blooming though. (I took this picture a few weeks earlier than the first one, so the Joe Pye weed and globe thistles aren't blooming yet.)

The black cherry tree is poking up behind the house. It provides quite a bit of shade in the afternoon.

If you come up the sidewalk to the front porch, you'll walk past the lilac. Stop at the lilac and look through the branches towards the front of the garden (facing southeast). It's a dogwood to your left. The purple coneflowers and beebalm attract lots of butterflies, and I can see them from where I sit at the kitchen table. That was intentional. (The white stick with the yellow tip is a "garden marker," signifying that I participate in the "garden marker program." This means that the hired groundskeepers know to stay out of my garden.)

Daylilies, coralbells and virginia creeper are in the space under the wren house.

Continue past the front porch. The beebalm and hanging birdbath (strategically placed so I can watch birds in it from the front door or from the living room window) are right next to the end of the sidewalk. The tall shrub is a viburnum. The light, almost glowing green is false indigo (baptisia australis). In the spring it gets really cool purpley-blue flowers. Though it looks like a shrub, it actually is a perennial that comes up each spring as new growth. When it first comes up, it's so dark, it blends right in with the soil, so it's easy to miss. Then it lightens into the fresh, glowing green color that you see. Very cool. To your right is the back yard. If I actually owned the land, I wouldn't even have a lawn, but it's not my land. Facing southwest.

I bought this barberry to provide cover and fruit for the birds. And I confess, I fell in love with the color. Each year, it gets more beautiful. I have stopped in my tracks while walking past this shrub, stunned by its beauty. I have had to stop to tell it out loud how beautiful it was, lest it feel unappreciated. I confess, I have kissed this plant.

The coreopsis is such a cheerful plant. Salvia 'Purple Rain' is a really nice salvia; it's more massive than a lot of the other salvias. The purple linaria in the foreground looks delicate, but it blooms non-stop and thrives on neglect. The butterflies and bees really like it. Facing southeast.

Continue around to the back. A stand of goldenrod in front of the deck isn't quite in bloom yet. An assortment of bird feeders hangs from the black cherry tree. Portulaca is growing in the strawberry pot.

I built the trellis/privacy screen so I could sit out on my deck without feeling like I was being watched. It marks the edge of my "property" (it's not really my property since I don't own the land, but it's as far as my unit goes). I planted clematis along the trellis. The privacy screen has been a good solution in close urban quarters. A small Rubbermaid storage shed on my deck houses all my tools, and I store my clay pots in it over the winter so they don't freeze and crack. Facing southeast.

It's a callicarpa in front of the trellis that the clematis is climbing. In between the deck and the trellis are milkweed (with monarch eggs!), butterfly weed, yarrow, goldenrod, lilies, purple coneflowers, daylilies and artemisia. Purple fleabane, gaillardia, purple coneflowers and butterfly bush are in front of the deck. Facing east.

I hope you enjoyed my garden!