Garden Tours: Marilyn

Our home is in Hebron in northern KY, which is part of the Greater Cincinnati/Northern KY area. My husband and I transplanted here, he in 1986 and I in 1996 (when I met and married him).  We had our house built and it was completed in spring 1997. I've been gardening at our home since we moved in, but I've been gardening off and on since I was a young girl.

My mom inspired me to want to garden and when growing up would allow my sisters and me to plant nasturtiums and four o'clocks from seed in a special section of her flowerbeds. Those are the first plants I grew.

I'm an organic and xericscape gardener and garden mainly for hummingbirds, songbirds, butterflies and bees. Some of my plants will attract one or more of the above.  I have a lot of containers each year. I usually buy more plants for containers than I have and need to get more containers to grow the plants. Sometimes I group plants together in each container and sometimes I plant the same variety and color in each container.

My favorite thing is to plant more and more flowers to offer to the hummingbirds and butterflies every year. I'm always thrilled seeing them flying about in my garden and getting nectar. I also enjoy seeing the butterfly caterpillars.

I plant perennials and annuals each year. Some years the annuals get planted into containers, along with some perennials.  I use rocks, pavers and bricks as a border around my flower beds and use all-purpose sand and gypsum in my gardening to help aid in drainage and for xericscaping. I top my xericscape plants with pea gravel or small crushed gravel.

My favorite two plant groups are agastaches and salvias and I plant more of them every year. I love the way they smell, look and attract the hummers and butterflies.  The hummers, butterflies, gardening organically and xericscaping are what inspire me in my gardens.

This photo shows croscosmia 'Lucifer', different agastaches, different phlox, an echinacea 'Tomato Soup', liatris and Fuchsia triphylla 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt' in containers on the front porch that I plant every year for the hummingbirds.

This picture I really love! This was taken in 2007 and I had lots of color and an assortment of flowers. I also had a line of containers that year along the steps in front.

A shot of the backyard with agastache, salvia and echinacea and a
photo showing the row of containers I had in 2007.

We have a side entry driveway and with one car between us, I have lots of containers at the end of the driveway. Gives me a large place to have full sun containers. The flowerbeds in the foreground and the background have agastaches and salvias.

The view of the back of the house and some of the gardens in 2006; the second image also shows a redbud tree with several of my gardens.

May 2008 picture of the backyard with two 'Miss Kim' Lilacs, a Snowball shrub and Colorado Blue Spruce, which along with the redbud shown above was a gift from my parents to DH and me in May 1999.

More pics of my yard and gardens.

Photos of our backyard in October and our side yard behind an evergreen.

I love this combo! Agastache 'Black Adder' and Echinacea 'Tomato Soup'. I planted the two plants together, as I knew the two colors would look great together.

The front flowerbed the way it looks in early June before the crocosmia blooms. The tall purplish blooms are larkspur, which are a darker purple than shows. The second photo is of the back taken in June 2010.

Five different agastaches and a salvia (not in bloom yet) next to 'White Profusion' butterfly bush, with Colorado Blue Spruce peeking out on the right.

Some of the daylilies blooming that were hybridized by Dan Bachman of Lebanon, Ohio and a flowerbed that is on the side of the driveway with one penstemon, salvias, agastaches and coralbells growing in the rocks.

Some of the containers I had on the patio and in the driveway during the summer of 2008.

I really like the color combos I had in 2006 in this bed.

More containers I've had over the years.

Spring 2012

More color combinations from 2011.

One year, in 2007, I decided to have containers along the sidewalk and steps in front of our front porch. You can see that in the pictures of 2007. That year I had approximately 70 containers on our property (there were a lot of smaller sized ones)! I usually don't have that many and I'm trying to have fewer, but larger sized containers. I try to only have 16" to 24" with several that are large black 'nursery size'.

From the front of our house, we can see a little bit of Ohio on the hill in the distance, across the Ohio River. The picture was taken from our front porch. The Ohio hill is in the far background. The other hills, including the shaded one are in Kentucky and are on this side of the Ohio River. At night, when we look to that area, we see the lights there. Sometimes we hear a train, if the winds are just right or a tugboat that's on the river.

The rectangular flowerbed shown is the one where I added layers of newspapers on top of grass, then mulched and let sit for a few years before planting in it. This pic is in July 2005. At the top of it, near the fence, I started planting Daylilies. The second picture is a year later.

I live for hummers! They may not be here very long, maybe 6 months in the year, but I'm always thinking of them, planning flowers and colors to add. They're fascinating and wonderful! They're beautiful flying jewels in the garden!

~*~

What a great tour, Marilyn. Thank you so much. I can only imagine the profusion of birds, bees and butterflies that must entertain you all summer long. And I love all your containers!  You have a breathtaking view of those beautiful hills from your front porch, how peaceful! Thank you again for sharing it all with us.

  Join us again soon when Trish and I bring you another Garden Tour.