Today we’re visiting the garden of Cindi Jacobs, whose family just sold their home.
This is our home in Quechee, Vermont. With a nostalgic heart and bittersweet feelings, we had to sell sell our place after 19 years. My husband and I, along with our now two young adult children, spent many weekends and summers in our woodsy spot. The garden was created with the mindset of minimal maintenance and watering provided by Mother Nature.
The pots are filled with hearty plants—ivy (Hedera helix, Zones 5–10, depending on the variety), ornamental peppers (Capsicum annuum, annual), marigolds (Tagetes erecta, annual), and annual grasses (Pennisetum glaucum, annual)—that feel at home against a split rail fence.
At the entrance of the driveway, I planted a small beach rose (Rosa rugosa, Zones 3–9) shrub, which is now the backdrop of this bed with perennials in the front.
Cranesbill (Geranium) in front, yellow-flowering ligularia (Ligularia dentata, Zones 4–8) in the rear. The gardens are mostly shade with lots of rock. Since we have no grass, segregating each area with different “flooring” helped. Here we used gravel, bricks, stone, black mulch for the path, and brown mulch inside the beds.
In the window boxes, I repeated the containers’ themes of marigolds, ivy, and peppers, and then I added coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides, annual) and ornamental cabbage (Brassica oleracea, annual).
I built this firepit and laid the patio many years ago—and ended up seeing a massage therapist after being unable to turn my head. Bluestone is heavier than it looks even when you are rolling it!
Finally, a grouping of winter planters by the front door. I used a few small evergreens for anchors and then added pieces of cut branches/foliage to fill in for color and texture, as I feel winter doesn’t have to be all white.
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Comments
What a beautiful setting. I’m sorry you had to sell this property but I’m sure you have lots of wonderful memories to take with you!
Thanks for sharing them.
I absolutely love the arrangements in your pots...and the rest of your garden as well. It's always hard to leave a garden you love behind, but I'll bet that you're planning to begin a new one that will also bring you much pleasure.
Love your pots. And I love ornamental cabbage, and you are right winter does not have to be all white. Alice
Take lots of photos to remember your garden!
So pretty, a beautiful place!
Love your arrangements in the pots.
What a lovely setting and garden. I hope the new owner will appreciate the beauty and you will get to enjoy gardening in wherever you land.
Sounds like this was a place of retreat for you and your young family. You did a masterful job of adorning the property in ways respectful of nature and consequently relatively easy to maintain. What wonderful memories you have given your children and your family. What a great gift you have given to those lucky people who purchased the property. We wish you the best in creating new memories for your changing family.
Beautiful - I hope the folks who purchased this property from you will continue to maintain it and enjoy it as much as your family has. Thank you for sharing and a Happy New Year to all!
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