Cindi Jacobs has created a garden that ignites her senses and offers space for relaxation
"Wayland, MA has been home to my family the past 19 years. Our town is all of 6 miles round, with no sidewalks, and lots of conservation land. Texture, variety, and hardscape are my constant cravings. After that I’m trying to create color for each season. I call my garden style “English Eclectic”.
The area is 1 acre with about 2/3 landscaped and 12 beds. We had to leave room for kickball, whiffle ball, an across the yard pulley, badminton etc. Pictures show spring and summer blooms, but many times I have a lot of just varied green, purple and white shades. My yard is mainly shade, except near the black fence/pool area which is sun. Challenging for sure, however I have grown accustomed to it. My favorite plants are Hosta. With so many varieties and little care, I gravitate towards them especially the large leaf ones. I also love paths and places to sit. Maybe not as often as I like, but I enjoy sitting and having a cup of tea, wine, or a snack. Feeling relaxed and welcoming is the mood I want to create as we entertain a lot and enjoy time with friends. The fire pit area has given me a sense of pleasure and pride, building and revising it over the years.
Even with my love of perennials, I must confess though I consider my specialty containers and window boxes. After helping friends and long time clients with their outdoor containers, I was encouraged to add the service to my organizing and design business, “SimplyDone”. There are many pictures under the gardening section of my website, www.simplydoneathome.com if you would like to see more.
I hope to enjoy my gardens for a few more years, however, I look forward to the day a have just window boxes and containers- and yes they will be lush."
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Comments
Marvelous garden, Cindi. Really digging the full beds surrounding the pool - I like that it doesn't look like endless concrete. Love your comment about brief episodes of sitting for a rest, never long enough it seems - guilty myself - too much to do and see elsewhere in the garden. I too love hosta but have the relentless scourge of voles - not a problem for you? If not, how fortunate.
In the second photo, what is the chartreuse yellowish small tree in the distance to the left?...so bright.
Really pleasant garden. Thank you for sharing.
Good morning, Cindi. I think it would be pure heaven to float around in your pool, mostly submerged, and have that beautiful array of flowers to gaze upon and get mentally lost in...heck, I feel extra relaxed just thinking about it. Your spring bulb and iris display is outstanding and very well done with the repetition of the blue from the irises and the pops of more vibrant colors from the tulips. Do you happen to recall the name of variety of the iris?
Cindi can correct me if I'm wrong, but the Siberian Iris look to be 'Caesar's Brother.' I think the other flowers are peonies and poppies which would bloom at the same time as the iris. It's too bad the photos can't be seen at a higher resolution but I understand bandwidth and storage become a big issue for companies like Fine Gardening.
I think you are totally right, Chris. Because I mistakenly thought the bright spots of color were tulips, I then thought the iris must have been dutch iris because of the bloom overlap. Now that you've turned the lightbulb on for me to see the peonies and poppies, 'Caesar's Brother' is probably the answer for the iris variety. Hmm, maybe I need to make a vision checking appt.
One of the reasons I read the comments is because people are always saying "oh those such and such are so pretty," or "what is that so and so?" And then I have to scroll back up because, invariably, I either missed whatever they saw or misidentified it. I have great fun going back and forth to see what sharper eyes than mine have found. And since your comments often make me look back at a photo, I think your eyes are probably fine.
Ahh, you're sweet to let me off the hook. Ha, I just did some cleaning in my rarely used living room and I did my best not to notice how thick the dust was!
If your house is perfectly clean it means you're not gardening enough!
Well, based on that entertaining standard, I am getting in plenty of gardening!
My, my, my! I love all the flowers on both sides of that fence. Just gorgeous!
All very nice, Cindi. I also like the sunny border near the pool. The fire pit area looks like a very pleasant place to sit on cool evenings when it's just getting dark. Then it's still light enough to see the garden but too dark to be trying to weed!
Love the flowers around the pool. Perfect balance of blue and warm colors Nice height on the coneflowers and Rudbeckia. Did you select shorter cultivars? I'm curious about the red daisy. What is that? A Gaillardia, a coneflower?
Cindi, I don't know what I could add to the comments- everything is so pretty. Do you have any problems with leaves, etc. blowing into your pool? Where are you in Mass? What zone are you? Thank you for reminding us that our gardens do not look like this all of the time. Sometimes after I finish reading a post, I wonder why my garden doesn't measure up, but then I remember that all of our gardens look best in the spring! Thanks for posting. I will be looking up your other posts!
Lovely! Your yard and gardens are beautiful. I too, am quite taken with your poolside plantings.
I so enjoyed your photographs Cindi. Your seating area was well planned and inviting, the flower beds surrounding the pool bright and cheery and the shade garden serene and peaceful. A very beautiful setting!
Cindi, what a beautiful oasis you've created for your family. Love the pool area. When we had a pool, I think that I loved sitting and looking at it as much as I did swimming in it and you've made yours a thing of beauty, both spring and summer. Now I'm off to check out your website. Thanks for sharing.
Just gorgeous, Cindi! The coneflowers and rudbeckia are so nice. And I love hostas, also. I only have a few, because most of my shade is in the woods. I'm afraid I'd just be setting out a buffet for the deer!
Beautiful! Love your open woodland, and especially the gorgeous flower beds around the pool. Great job.
Late to the party here, but really love the colors and the great spaces for relaxing!
Love the idea of beds on both sides of the pool fence. Coloring is fabulous, great job!
Beautiful! What a lovely spot! Your gardens are delightful!
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