Comments

1. 
   meander_michaele 07/21/2017

   Hi, Lorraine. You have a real eye for putting together very pleasing plant groupings. The 4th picture down is a perfect example of what so many garden articles teach about combining different heights, textures, leaf and flower shapes...it all works beautifully. I love the airy delicacy of the meadow rue.

1. 
   user-7008735 07/21/2017

   Thank you so much for your kind comments! I love the meadow rue, too. Yesterday I brought home another 'Hewitt's Double' which blooms later than the others. I found one a few years ago after searching for several years, so the new one will be for insurance. I'm not yet sure where I'll put it; my garden is always bigger in my mind's eye when I'm at a nursery!

1. 
   meander_michaele 07/21/2017

   "my garden is always bigger in my mind's eye when I'm at a nursery!"...how well I know the phenomenon! Too bad my checking account doesn't also magically expand.

1. 
   user-7008735 07/21/2017

   Now THAT would be quite the magic trick! I would love to learn that one!

2. 
   LindaonWhidbey 07/21/2017

   Good morning again, Lorraine. For some reason I didn't get an email from GPOD today and I'm guessing others didn't either looking at the lack of responses. Thanks for sharing even more photos of what must be a delightful garden to look out at and walk in each day. That peony is beautiful and looks like one that smells delicious, too. We've tried unsuccessfully to grow meadow rue here which has been disappointing but I think that it need more moisture than we get here on Whidbey. Happy gardening.

1. 
   user-7008735 07/21/2017

   Thank you, Linda! I've written to Kim to let her know that the email didn't go out to everyone today. She has posted it because she told me in an earlier message and gave me the link to it. Yesterday, she told me that the computer system was struggling with the number of photos she has prepared to keep GPOD going for us while she is away on vacation. I hope it will recover.
   The peony does have a scent, subtle but sweet. It's too bad that meadow rue won't grow in your garden, but you can probably grow Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) which will not thrive in my garden because it is too moist. It grows in other gardens around Vancouver in drier spots. Our proximity to Mt. Seymour causes the clouds to drop their moisture even when a friend less than a mile south of here receives no rain.

3. 
   user-6536305 07/21/2017

   Hi, Lorraine, Love part 2 of your garden! Is there a part 3 and 4? Very nice design and color scheme. Love your photos. You take great photos. Your pink double peony is beyond awesome! Where did you get the metal trellis in the last photo? I meant to ask you yesterday. Thanks for sharing!

1. 
   user-7008735 07/21/2017

   Thanks, Lilian! I don't think there's a part 3 for now, but I have been so encouraged by everyone's kind comments that I will likely send in some more photos one day. The metal trellis was from Chintz and Company in Vancouver about 16 years ago. I bought one for each end of the patio to link the facing raised beds like this: [ ] where each square bracket is a raised bed and the metal arbors stand at the open ends. I hope that makes sense. They were a total splurge, but I'm so glad I bought them because I've never seen any others I've liked so well and they were exactly what suits the look I wanted. I need to get the decorative top trim of one repaired after it broke when I knocked it over while collecting cedar boughs for my garden club's wreath-making party!

4. 
   user-3565112 07/21/2017

   Good afternoon Lorraine, One can easily see why it took 2 parts to show your gardens All of your photos show terrific blends of color & texture Just when I thought I was done buying plants I see a blue one like your geranium Mrs. Kendall Clark & the search begins.
   Good luck P.S. Thank you Ms. Charles for your hard work.

1. 
   user-7008735 07/21/2017

   Thank you so much, Joe! I love all blue flowers. Mrs. Kendall Clark is such a lovely soft blue, but I like Geranium 'Rozanne' even better. She blooms here from May to November and puts out way more flowers than Mrs. KC. Do you think we will ever be "done" with buying plants?

1. 
   user-3565112 07/21/2017

   Lorraine, I have 2 geranium Rozanne in a symmetrical garden started this spring & it has been in bloom since early May. I hope you don't mind that I am attaching a photo of that garden. I was thinking about a Mrs. Kendall Clark small open area each side of of the blue/gray paver. Some plants don't show up after a while providing a
   ready excuse to keep buying I don't know how those typos got in the thank you to Ms. Charles , Good luck, Joe

1. 
   user-7008735 07/21/2017

   Hi Joe, I would love to see your photo but I don't think it came through. Try again? The computers are acting up a bit today. It sounds like 'Mrs. Kendall Clark' would be perfect next to a blue/gray paver. I know what you mean about some plants not showing up after a while! I lost 3 Cimicifuga 'Brunette' this winter (which was unusually harsh), but I think it was because they got too stressed last summer when I didn't plant the pole beans that usually provide them with shade.

1. 
   user-3565112 07/21/2017

   Good evening Lorraine, Hopefully attached is the photo I mentioned. Rozanne is in this photo also & there are 2 in the area on opposite sides of the Red Beauty Holly focal point. Happy gardening,Joe It looks like there is a problem with Disqus because it does not download the attachment

2. 
   user-7008735 07/21/2017

   Good evening, Joe. Thanks for re-sending your photo! I am able to see your photo of the new symmetrical garden now. What fun to be planting a new section of your garden! I think 'Mrs. Kendall Clark' would look very pretty next to the pavers. I wish you good luck in finding that one or another with a similar colour!

5. 
   user-4691082 07/21/2017

   Hi Lorraine! Great photos! I can finally see the umbrella plant. I was looking for something tall! I have found the 3rd Year of my Rozanne to be a mystery. She is dense in the middle and very straggly and climbing up other plants. Mrs. Kendall Clark is a beauty! I have really enjoyed your post!

1. 
   user-7008735 07/21/2017

   Thank you, Rhonda! Here's the photo that didn't show up yesterday.

   I have one G. 'Rozanne' in a moist raised bed which is rather straggly, too. The one planted in a dry bed next to the driveway and street is very full with a huge mound of flowers.

   

2. 
   user-7008735 07/21/2017

   And here's a photo of the flower of the Darmera peltata which comes up in spring before the leaves appear. They remind me of the waxy pink buds of the Hoya carnosa plant.

   

   

6. 
   tennisluv 07/22/2017

   Another kaleidoscope-isque picture of the Nellie Moser clematis. Great work with your camera and with your green thumb. Enjoyed your part 2 posting as much as the part 1 - one after the other. Thanks again for sharing.

1. 
   user-7008735 07/22/2017

   Thank you for your kind comments, Sonya! I really enjoy the GPOD community and visiting all the different gardens everywhere. Such fun!

7. 
   user-7007059 07/22/2017

   I love the 'Mrs Kendall Clark'! what a great variegation on the flower. I also have and love Darmera peltata, and the flowers are a bonus in spring. Beautiful northwest garden!

8. 
   Cenepk10 07/23/2017

   Wow. Beautiful

9. 
   cyannenglandproodian 07/31/2017

   I just returned from a garden tour of Vancouver (city) and Victoria. The gardens were spectacular and the people very friendly. The public art work...plentiful and often humorous. After seeing Lorraine's enchanting garden, I know I must return to see other parts of British Columbia.