Today’s photos are from Alicia Bacon in Connecticut. She says, “My husband and I moved to this house shortly before we got married in 2007 and right before I retired from teaching. The spot is perfect for gardening: 2 acres on a sunny hilltop in Guilford. The previous owners were not gardeners. There were just the original 1970 trees and some foundation plantings.
“The first year all we did was clean up and plant a jaquemondii birch (and get married!) Since then, every year we add new gardens. We are currently working on adding gardens on the west side of the property which goes alongside the road. The white pines there are very old and not in great shape. We want to have some new evergreens in place so as to not lose our privacy. I feel I am blessed to have found something that I totally love doing.”
Yet another adorable garden shed! Alicia, your garden is charming! I love the raised beds, and I covet your alliums. But my favorite thing is the propeller over the entrance to what I think is the veggie garden. Genius! Thanks so much for sharing.
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Comments
When you love what you do, it shows in the results. Everything looks good. Is that a hydrangea in the photo with the roses
Such a nice big yard for your palette! Cute little shed which sets your roses off wonderfully. I envy your raised beds, too! Looks like you have gathered much enjoyment from all your endeavors. Thank you for sharing!
i'm late! gloriaj didn't give me a wakeup call today. nice garden and i like the backstory of this new garden, new home and new life. AND am i the only one who doesn't have a snazzy garden shed and fancy fish? and i agree , that propeller/torii gate is just great
Yes - it's a pinky winky hydrangea that was beautiful later on in the summer. That's a real propeller that we had gotten from a friend and thought it would look good on the gate into the vegetable garden!
I like those raised beds and what seems to be a fenced in area I'll guess is a vegetable garden... but what is that red canopy over the gate, and why... all I can think is a place to hide from a sudden down pour. I keep an umbrella in my vegetable garden, and another in my barn... was either get drenched or be trapped in the barn for hours, and with its metal roof the noise is deafening. I'd have those old white pines removed and for privacy put in a double row of Norway spruce, they grow faster than most conifers, make a fine windbreak, and deer won't eat them. I see no point in waiting to plant trees, they all grow relatively slowly. Thank you for sharing your garden, Alicia.
Okay, now I know it's a prop and not a canopy.
Alicia, glad to read that the real propeller didn't arrive uninvited onto your property during a plane crash...it looks fun and fab as a topper for your garden gate. I was curious to spot your birch and I think I found it in the looking out the window panes picture...all leafed out and in a great position to be seen. What is the generous spiller cascading over the raised bed with the alliums in bloom?
Sounds like we have lots of future sharings to come from you since you are still adding and tweaking. It is a great blessing to have an activity to be excited about planning and doing.
What are the white flowers in the close-up shot?
alicia, i don't want to rock the boat or intrude on your garden but a tree we use with great success here for screening is Cryptomeria japonica 'Yoshino',Zone 5, branched to ground level, flexible enough to shed snow so no breakage and i have had them to put on as much as 5 ft in height in one season. michelle or carla could tell you if it's a performer in CT or not. they will sometimes "bronze" in very cold temps but green up almost overnight in spring. if you haven't already planted or decided on a particular plant you might want to investigate this tree, it's a real winner here. i'm curious about the close up of the white flowers too
Great job. Like the others, love the fish and propeller. Love making guesses on flowers. Guessing snow-in-summer, cerastium tomentosum for the white flower. Alicia?
Well good morning all you happy and excited gardeners! We are one more day closer to spring!!! Alicia your place is a great and wonderful thing to have and to start a new life together in! It will be hard to wait to see more of what you will do. I love all the sunshine and the lawn is so cooling and restful looking. What tnreeman said about the cryptomeria is so true..They are beautiful as well! Iam excited for you and the future of your wonderful place! Thanks so much for sharing! The propeller is great!
You are so right. It is snow in winter which we love in the spring but then it looks kind of ragged as the summer goes on. I love the suggestion about the cryptomeria and I looked at them in a local nursery. Only problem is - deer. We need to plant things that do not appeal to Bambi and I'm not sure about the cryptomeria. We do very much want to plant interesting evergreens and not do the "soldiers lined up in a row" thing! We've been putting in Norway spruce, junipers, green giant arborvitaes and a few white pines. Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions!
i've never had a deer problem with Cryptomeria but that is NOT to say they won't graze on them in other areas. i can only speak from my experience here in Tennessee
greengenes: Cryptomeria is a lovely tree but I doubt it would survive Connecticut's winters. And they lose their lower branches with age and deer love its foliage so wouldn't do well as a privacy screen. I think Cryptomeria does best singularly or in a small grouping as a very interesting specimen tree. Cryptomeria may also be difficult to locate at Connecticut's nurseries and will probably be pricey. I think for Connecticut's clime and for a privacy screen the various spruces make a better choice. The tree in my thumbnail is "Fat Albert" Colorado blue spruce. attained 12' from 3' in six years... the trees in the back are Norway spruce, immense after more than fifty years... they branch to the ground, will survive the coldest winters, and deer won't even nibble their sharp needles. Don't plant white pine in Connecticut, they are being wiped out by a beetle, I've lost several recently, so have my neighbors.
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/c/cryjap/cryjap1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptomeria
Alicia, what a wonderful way to start another chapter in your life... a new husband and a new home. And you both enjoy gardening? It's easy to see that you two are having fun, your gardens are great! (Add me to the list with shed and propeller envy.)
You mentioned your snow-in-summer getting scraggly as the season progresses, mine did too. I hated the way they looked so for the last couple of years I've given them a serious haircut post bloom and they look much better. So far I haven't killed them. I also cut them way back in the fall.
How great for a gardener to start your married life with two sunny acres! Love your plans to add a variety of evergreen trees for privacy, avoiding the "soldiers in a row" look. And you are very wise to keep in mind the deer problem while you choose your "forever" trees.
You are well on your way to creating your personal paradise, Alicia, lovely raised flowerbeds and vegetable garden. All your plants look very lush and happy. Do you have fruit trees and berry bushes as well?
Unfortunately we tried blueberry bushes for a few years and then gave up and surrendered to Bambi. We thought of moving them inside the vegetable garden but decided it wasn't worth the effort. Phil is my chief landscape architect. He designed the garden shed around the large window that I picked up at a tag sale. He also built the raised beds. We found a couple of rather large granite balls at an antique store that we think will make great garden ornaments. I have to curb his enthusiasm because he wants to put a basketball hoop on one of the trees and lay the ball at the base of it!
Lovely garden Alicia. So nice to see a sunny garden on this gray wet day on Vancouver Island. I love the propeller it gives a very Japanese feel to the garden.
Thanks everyone for the great tip about cutting back the Snow in Summer to keep it from getting floppy and messy. I'll have to remember that when I'm cutting the Silver Mound which has the same problem if left unattended. As usually, the garden is beautiful and it's always a treat to enjoy the planning and hard work of others.
Confession time...I love the Cryptomeria japonica 'Yoshino' variety and yet I don't have one. Everytime I go on a garden tour and see them in someone else's yard and/or garden, I deliver to myself a couple of figurative kicks in the butt for not having planted one (make that a grouping of 3 or more) yet. I simply must make it happen next spring. I officially give everyone permission to start nagging me next March.
lovely garden. i love the containers and the raised beds...and the cool fish. well done Alicia!
Hey, CT neighbor. I like what you have done. I love the photo of the roses against the cedar siding. It reminds me of my summers in Cape Cod as a kid. Cryptomeria might work. I have been eyeing a small nursery/landscaper that has been growing them for several seasons now in New Milford,CT. They seem to be surviving the winters here just fine with just some generous mulch around their root balls. I have not tried one myself, but I might. My aunt's neighbor has a gorgeous stand of them, that got me interested in them. She lives on Shelter Island,NY. It is at least a zone warmer there, but she also has a horrific deer problem and they seem fine ( no fence, don't know if they spray).You may want to start with just one. I like tractor1's suggestions. Perhaps, a mixed evergreen border, would be the most interesting. Thanks again tractor1. I will use those photography tips.
Thanks for the lovely, sunny photos, Alicia; just what I needed this morning as we're having our first snowstorm. I will try to think warm gardening thoughts as I head out for a (short!) walk with the dog... Val
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