Hi GPODers!

Yesterday we saw a lush garden in Pittsburgh, PA and today we are staying in the Keystone State, but heading east to revisit a historic house we’ve seen a few times before. JoJo has shared photos of her mother’s incredible home and gardens (check out previous submissions: A Garden Around a 280-Year-Old Home, The Secret Garden, An Artist’s Garden Containers) as well as her own charming container garden (Jojo’s Lancaster Garden), and today we get an update from a garden party her mom through this past spring.

Hello flower friends,

I’m Jojo and for the past couple years I’ve been submitting photos of my mother’s flowers. Her name is Tina, she is a primitive antique dealer. Her house was built in 1740. She lives in Coatesville, PA. Planting zone 7a

I took these photos during her spring open house and garden party. My mom is one of a kind, and a master of her craft.

As you’ll see below, one of the most iconic parts of Jojo’s mom’s garden are her incredible topiary containers, beautiful bouncing balls of foliage that dot her patio. However, all of Tina’s container combinations are just sublime. Here, bright orange nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus, annual) pair perfectly with a spray of purple lobelia.

A taste of those incredible topiary containers, but don’t let me underestimate Tina’s incredible space. Another key element that makes her garden stand out are, of course, her incredible antiques and decor. The lion’s head water fountain is an instant focal point, but my eyes were drawn to the funky little bee homes called skep hives. These were some of the first human-made bee hives, created for early beekeeping. It looks like Tina is only using them for decor, which is for the best. It is obviously much more difficult to keep colonies healthy in a skep compared to modern bee boxes.

But back to Tina’s sensational plantings. She adds so much lush greenery to the space that sometimes you forget these are all container plantings on a brick patio. I’m particularly loving the bright chartreuse Angelina sedum (Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’, Zones 6–9) creating the illusion of grass growing underneath all of her mini topiary trees.

Trailing out next to the sedum, Snowstorm® Blue bacopa (Sutera cordata ‘WINSUSNOBL’, annual) adds a pretty purple accent.

One final look at the layers and layers of garden glory. What a wonderful treat for what looked like a lovely spring day!

Thank you for sharing this update of your mom’s incredible property, Jojo! It’s always a treat to see what treasures she has growing and on display. Hopefully we get to see an update from your charming garden next : )

Have a garden you’d like to share?

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

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