I don’t know how anyone who looks after a garden can have any sort of ego. Just when I think I know what plants need to grow, I quickly find out how wrong I can be. At times, I’ve given them “perfect” growing conditions and watched them wither away. And yet this year, with its ridiculous excess of heat and appalling lack of rain, the gardens have somehow managed to survive with almost no help from me. I’ve spent much of this summer moping around indoors, whining about the weather and wondering why I even bother trying to garden. But now, I remember why.
First, some closeups, starting with a new favorite: ‘Profusion Yellow’ zinnia (also a favorite with cabbage white butterflies) with ‘Profusion Fire’ and ‘Serena Purple’ angelonia. Below, heat-bleached ‘Cherry Brandy’ rudbeckia with ‘Bronzilla’ sedge (Carex flagellifera).
Above, ‘Oakhurst’ pineapple lily (Eucomis comosa); below, ‘Jade Princess’ millet (Pennisetum glaucum).
Above, white African foxglove (Ceratotheca triloba ‘Alba’); below, golden lace (Patrinia scabiosifolia) with ironweed (Vernonia).
Above, Japanese burnet (Sanguisorba tenuifolia) with golden elderberry (Sambucus nigra ‘Aurea’); below, false hemp (Datisca cannabina).
Above, ‘Hopi Red Dye’ amaranth; below, ‘Cassian’ fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides) with orange coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida), ‘Morning Light’ miscanthus, and ‘Lemon Queen’ perennial sunflower (Helianthus).
And now, a quick trot around the gardens, starting with the arc borders…
…the courtyard (above and below)…
…the front path, left side (above) and right side (below)…
…and two other random shots from the front garden (above and below).
Heading around to the side, there’s the pink-and-yellow border (below), with patrinia, ‘Fireworks’ globe amaranth (Gomphrena), ‘Cassian’ fountain grass, and orange coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida).
In the white area, there’s chastetree (Vitex negundo) with ‘Swift Creek’ privet (Ligustrum) [above]. Below, snow-on-the-mountain (Euphorbia marginata) with ‘Silver and Gold’ yellow-twig dogwood (Cornus sericea) and not-yet-blooming aromatic aster (Symphiotrichum oblongifolium).
Below is another view, with pony-tail grass (Nasella tenuissima).
Heading around back, there are ‘Red Noodle’ beans and cardinal climber (Ipomoea x multifida) on the arbor to the orchard (above) and the now-filled-in Happy Garden (below).
Outside the fence, the grasses are looking better than they ever have (above): ‘The Blue’ little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora) in front of ‘Dewey Blue’ switch grass (Panicum amarum). And below, the meadow is full of color from goldenrods (Solidago), compass plants (Silphium perfoliatum), and Joe-Pye weeds (Eupatoriadelphus purpureus).
To see what else is blooming today in gardens all over the world, check out the Carol’s Bloom Day post over at May Dreams Gardens.
Love it, love it, LOVE IT! Just discovered your blog and I’m blown away by your color and free flowing style. It’s very inspirational, and has motivated me to take another look at my own gardens.
Where would I get seeds for those foot-long Noodle beans? Never saw them but they sure are striking!
Hi there, Brenda! I’d be glad to share some seeds of the noodle beans. I’ll e-mail you directly.
-Nan
Nan, Happy Bloom Day! Your gardens are as lovely and inspiring as ever, regardless of this crazy summer weather. Gardening certainly is humbling at times. I also find gardeners are a hopeful bunch – always looking forward to the next season, assuming they can right whatever wrongs might have happened in their gardens. And then along comes Mother Nature and reminds us she can take care of herself with or without us!
“Humbling” is exactly the word, Debbie. But I think that’s what I like best about gardening for fall: there’s no choice but to give up control and simply enjoy whatever happens.
-Nan
The Gardens look great!
With hopes of getting better, if the rain we’re promised actually arrives!
-Nan
Very, very nice!
Thanks, Craig!
-Nan
I’m always amazed at your garden! The colors and combinations are so inspiring. Your use of burgundy and orange is superb! I need to expand my vernonia (I’m testing one variety) for sure. Glad the summer is ending on a positive garden note!
I find that once you have one vernonia, it doesn’t take long to end up with a lot of them if you leave the seedheads on for winter interest. I hope the kind you’re trying works well for you!
-Nan
Nan,your astonishing garden just blows me away. Everything looks simply gorgeous. Thanks for the inspiration!
I can say exactly the same back to you, Yvonne!
-Nan
Love the Bloom Days. I get to see what the heat can do with Hopi Red amaranth compared to my little ones. And I’ve been stubbornly resisting the Profusion zinnias, and they’re everywhere on the bloom day posts. And the size of your African foxgloves! Apart from all the comparisons, let me simply say your garden floors me every time you post. The textures, colors, the health and exuberance of the plants. Happy bloom day.
Those ‘Hopi Red Dye’ are the biggest ones I’ve ever had, Denise; they are amazing. Same for the African foxglove: the ones in the pictures are self-sown seedlings from last-year’s plants. Those that I started indoors and transplanted are not even half that size.
I hope you’ll rethink the ‘Profusion’ zinnias. Granted, they’re so strongly mounded that they can look a little blobby, but that’s not so much of a problem if you mix them up with some trailing or weaving companions.
-Nan
You have a stunning garden. I love your grasses and your ornamental use of yellow chard. Happy bloom day!
Thanks for visiting, James. The chards have performed beautifully this year, even without supplemental watering – once they recovered from being munched by bunnies soon after planting. These suckers are tough!
-Nan
All of your color and texture is marvelous Nan. I read your article in Fine Gardening this month. I knew it was your garden as soon as I saw a picture or two. Good article too. Happy GBBD.
Hey, thanks, Lisa! Happy Bloom Day to you too.
-Nan
Your garden is absolutely wonderful. That small section of purple fence works very well with those less imposing plants. Did you hand paint?
Mom did the purple base with spray paint, and I did the yellow accents.
-Nan
It does look full and lovely, Nan. Words are inadequate! Those grasses are stellar. The Blues has never looked like that here. I need better plant material! Is the stipa perennial for you? Such a workhorse. The really like that Patrinia as well. Looks like another plant order in the making! :-)
Frances
Frances, ‘The Blues’ has never been so tall and so upright here either. Now I know what it’s *supposed* to look like, I love it even more. The Stipa didn’t used to be hardy but has been squeaking through the last few winters. I use the volunteers to thicken up the two patches each spring. And yes, do try the patrinia – it’s a beauty, and a nice change from the goldenrods.
-Nan
How can you mope when you have a “Happy Garden”? Even the little fence makes me smile. Your garden is wildly exuberant this summer. As always, I just love your Sanguisorba, especially with the golden elderberry. I’m really into the ruby/chartreuse color scheme at the moment.
When it was baking in the midday sun, it was a Not-Very-Happy Garden. But things are seem to be improving weather-wise (meaning cloudy and drizzly), so we’re all a lot happier today!
-Nan
Nan, I study your images on every post you write. Your plant combinations–and photos of them–are simply magical.
Aw, thanks, Pam! That means a great deal to me. I’m glad you enjoy the pictures.
-Nan
What a great garden. I like the mixture of flowers, foliage plants and grasses. Your plants look amazingly healthy and lush. A great achievement!
Thank you, Anja. I can’t take much credit for its lushness; by all rights, it should have been all brown and crispy by now. But I’m more than willing to enjoy it in its current state. Thanks for visiting!
-Nan
Awesome, Nan. I’ve been losing most of my Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ (and all helianthus) blooms to black weevils. They are small insects that make a perfect cut on the stalk just beneath the bloom, like someone came by and snipped them off with scissors. I’m guessing you don’t have this issue out east?
Gee, no, I haven’t run across that problem, Benjamin. Let’s hope they stop deadheading your plants in time for you to get some fall bloom.
-Nan
Wow, your gardens really do look like they weathered the weather without looking back! You’ll have to teach me some of your secrets someday – my own gardens are so sadly decimated that I’m too embarrassed to walk through them many days. Luckily, the dreary coolness of the last couple of days has reawakened the inner gardener in me, and your post inspires me to see what it could look like one of these years :-)
Rob, if I understood myself how it survived, I’d be glad to share. I’ve given up trying to analyze it and am just having fun now.
I hope you got some of the rain too!
-Nan
nan, i think i said “wow!” to every photo you posted! the colors and textures of the plant combinations you featured are STUNNING! i think you’ve earned the rest of the summer off… enjoy!
Thanks, Andrea – I intend to enjoy every minute from now on. I hope you have a great fall too.
-Nan
Hi Nan,
Your photos are superb, your garden absolutely “something else”and I´m sorry I can´t visit it!
Susie
I think it’s better in pictures, Susie, because that way you don’t see the weeds and the areas that aren’t quite so spiffy (yet).
-Nan
You have a garden heaven, Nan. Well done.
Thanks, Joene. Happy Bloom Day!
-Nan
Gorgeous! Your garden seems to be absolutely thriving in the heat! I love your combination of helenium and Hibiscus acetosella – it’s a great combination of rustic and sophisticated looking plants.
I’m honored to have you visit, Stacey. I’m having a great time with the ‘Red Shield’ hibiscus this year, now that I’ve found that I can grow it from seed and have as much of it as I want. And it sure hasn’t minded the high temps.
-Nan
Nan, your gardens are full of interesting plants and pairings. I especially love the front path beds. Gorgeous color combos!
Your Happy Garden is so much fun. You and your mom did a wonderful job!
Love the red noodle beans paired with the cardinal climber. You’ve given me an idea about how to place my cardinals now. I was drawing a blank.
Great inspiration in every corner, Nan – thanks!
Happy Bloom Day!
That combo of the red noodle beans and the cardinal climber was purely by chance, Kerri, but I’m loving it – and so are the hummingbirds!
-Nan
Oh Nan…the garden is amazing (even with a mind of its own!!! haha) I LOVE your color combinations and your garden art is awesome. It’s beautiful where you are;-)
It sure is, Jan. Aren’t we lucky to have such a great hobby?
-Nan
As always, Nan, your garden is an unbelievable inspiration, you have the most amazing eye for combinations…it seems like every time you post something, I’m inspired to try a new combo, or discover some plant I’ve never heard of…you are pretty much the reason I fell in love with Amsonias and Pink Muhly grass together…keep up the amazing work!
Ow, you’ve touched on one of my big regrets of this season, Scott: the muhly grass didn’t make it through the winter, so I won’t get to enjoy that combination this year. I guess it was time for a change, anyway, but I really don’t like what I ended up sticking in that spot as fillers. I hope I can get the muhly grass back for next year!
-Nan
Loved the rosy shades of the grass and sweet potato plant together. Beautiful gardens and photos.
That’s one of my favorites too, Rhonda!
-Nan
This is about my 5th time through these photos, a great lesson in both photo and garden composition. And at long last, an ID on a plant I saw 3 years ago at Wave Hill ,untagged, the Datisca cannabina, and a Google search reveals they grow it at Annies.. hotcha ! Too bad it gets bigger than I can accommodate at the moment,a common dilemma in my garden.
That’s great about the Datisca, Kathy. I started growing it because Piet Oudolf showed it in one of his books. I can’t say that I’m absolutely in love with it, but I’ve let it stay and seed around. This one plant is a key feature in the view from one of my office windows, and I’ve become very fond of watching it move in the slightest breeze. If you ever find that you have the room (I imagine that some pruning could keep it shorter than the usual 6-8 feet it reaches here), I’d be glad to share some seeds.
-Nan
So very, very beautiful, stunning and always an inspiration. (I spent a few hours this week-end pouring over your book: “Grasses”)
I am amazed – the beds along the featured garden path look so beautiful and full – and if I remember right from a previous blog post – they was just designed and planted this year?
Lene
Hi Lene! The bed that’s right in front of the house does get completely replanted each year. But it’s the Happy Garden in back that you’re probably thinking of – that was the area where I removed my old holding/veggie beds and did a complete redesign.
-Nan
Howdy Nan,
Your gardens look fantastic–they appear to servived better than mine. Love the bottle tree–I have used a large bottle in the front cottage garden the last three years–only colored bottles to match the flower colors are allowed—except for the wayward beer bottle from Jim. I’m out to H2O pots–keep up the great work.
Hey there, Rita! Good to hear from you. Yeah, that rain was skimpy and short-lived, wasn’t it? At least it’s not quite as hot this week.
-Nan
According to what I see here, I think this weather must have been perfect for you.
Far from perfect for me, but ok for the plants, apparently!
-Nan
Judging by the responses to your post and from the images that take my breath away, I hope that you never again wonder why you garden.
Aw, thanks, Allan. It’s still depressingly dry here, but for the most part, the garden continues to amaze me.
-Nan