Garden Tours: mcash70

Welcome to my "high country gardens".

We purchased the property about 11 years ago, it’s almost ½ an acre but a lot of it is unusable because of a steep hillside at the rear of the property.
The house faces southwest so we see spectacular sunsets.

It’s really a great area; it has lots of lakes and wildlife. Gardening here is a challenge.  With an altitude of 3400 feet, we’re zone 3a so it makes the summers short and the winters long.

I haven’t planted too much in front of the house because of the deer, there’s a small herd that browses around town on a regular basis and at times takes a rest on the lawns, as per the photo taken by my neighbor a few years ago while we were away on a camping trip.
The Weeping Birch, a favorite of mine and the birds, a subalpine fir and 2 flowering crabs were already on the front property.

Foundation plantings are dwarf Alberta spruce, dwarf balsam fir and dwarf Norway spruce. Each year I plant a border of white alyssum for the fragrance and upright lobelia for a little color around the shrub bed and it is maintenance free. The photo was taken in the fall so the border wasn’t looking too good.

We planted the Thunderchild flowering crab about 5 years ago; it’s a beautiful tree, especially when it blooms in the spring. In the fall it has small fruits that are a favorite of the waxwings.

The north gate entrance opens to a small shade garden beside a covered patio. Plantings there are a pagoda dogwood tree, under the tree are wood ferns, hostas, spireas, true dwarf juniper, dwarf Alberta spruce, blue and white campanulas. The birds love the fountain; it’s very busy all summer.

The view from the covered patio, on the left is a flagstone path; the stones were scrounged in the mountains beside the road. The small tree is a Caraganan (pea tree); it has pretty yellow blooms in the spring that attract the bees. To the right beside the house is a long mixed flower bed, each year I add or take away something so it is always changing.

I like to cram as many plants in the long bed as possible, I mix perennials and annuals. A few of my favorites are pansies, bee balm, monkshood, daylilies, Asiatic lilies, false sunflower, blanket flower, coneflowers, phlox, and at the front of the bed nemesia, white alyssum and upright lobelia.

The shrubs in the bed around the shed are quite varied, my favorite being the daphne, I pushed the zone with it a bit, after getting a whiff of the wonderful fragrance while in bloom at a nursery, I purchased 3 plants and all have done well for several years now.

The trees are lovely in the spring when in bloom, there are 3 different crabapples, the birds like to eat the buds and the blossoms in the spring and the bears love the apples in the fall. We planted the Toba hawthorn the first year we lived here and the red leafed ornamental crab a few years later.

I don’t have one favorite thing that I like about my gardens; I like the overall look which was my aim in the designing of the beds and the patio and the bench seat in the shade at the end garden.

The garden definitely reflects the area; I did bring in a few large rocks, with my husband’s help, to add interest to a couple of the beds. The ground here is very rocky and difficult to dig in.

We like to sit on the deck to relax and enjoy the gardens; I don’t do any hanging baskets on the deck as it is usually windy I just do 3 large planters.

Probably deep blue delphinium is my favorite plant, but any plant that does well in this harsh environment is a favorite with me and it is welcome to stay.

I think my gardens reflect my personality; I have gotten inspiration and ideas from many sources over the years, magazines, books, television, parks, etc.

My grandmother and my mom both liked to garden so I think I got the grow gene from them.

In the far right corner is the bird garden, I planted a small tree, shrubs with berries and mixed dwarf evergreens so that they would have food and shelter. I try and add a few flowers but they eat the buds and blooms, or scratch around in the dirt and make a mess of them.

This photo shows the covered patio and the small shade garden beyond with the huge willow where the squirrel likes to hang out.

I don't plan many changes, I just plan on enlarging the round daylily bed a little; I need space for my new cultivars that are on order.  Here are just a few of my favorite daylilies.

From the end garden, a gate opens to a rock terraced area on the hillside; it has a nice row of raspberries, 2 gooseberry bushes, a favorite of the chipmunk and a Saskatoon berry shrub, a favorite of the Cedar Waxwings. There are pretty wild daisies, blue flax and small yellow flowers that bloom most of the summer. A row of serviceberries along the fence are brilliantly colored in the fall.

Autumn colors in the garden.

The garden looks beautiful in winter under a blanket of fresh snow.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to my garden; I tried to show it's beauty through all of the seasons.

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Margaret, if I were a bird, I would love living in your garden. Even though I'm not a bird I'd love seeing what you see every day of the year. How very beautiful! And your photography leaves me breathless!

Thank you so much for this wonderful garden tour, your hard work is evident in the beauty you've created for all seasons. We wish you a delightful and warm summer.

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Please be sure to join Trish and me again soon when we take you on another Garden Tour.