Garden Tours: HollyAnnS

Welcome to our garden.

Some historical info on the property: I bought the property in 1975 when it was bare land and moved a mobile home on the site. Ric came here about 5 years later and we started to build a house on the property. All the large trees and shrubs were put in first and they were just very small seedlings. Now 25-30 years later they are huge. The evergreen group along the road, big Pfitzer juniper hedge that borders the lane and the clipped yew at the side of the house, were the first plants to go in. With full time jobs and 4 children, not to mention the barn animals, we didn't have a lot of time or $$ for gardening but we put in some small beds here and there and slowly added to them over the years. When we first planned the gardens we drew up a plot plan and when looking at it many years later we find that our planting has followed that vision we set so many years ago. Much of the garden has been added since we retired 5 years ago. Those small beds have been enlarged and some new ones have been added. The old veggie garden that had been abandoned for lack of time has been cleared and is producing once again. I remember how we talked about when we retired we would have time to garden and listed the things we wanted to do and that has all come true for us. We are still not half finished with what we would like to add and do with our yard. Like most gardeners we're always looking forward to next season.

As you pull up you are first greeted by an old split rail fence planted with roses and clematis. The white roses, White Dawn, and coral roses, America, blend well with the purple clematis, the President & Mrs. N. Thompson. Then you walk through the trumpet vine draped arbor with large pots of caladiums on either side, and past the lamppost bed with 4 different clematis growing on their trellises: the President, Ramona, Multi-Blue & Snow Queen. This two tiered bed is also heavily planted with spring bulbs, tulips, daffs and crocus put on their show first. There are sun loving perennials, sedums, Jacob's ladder, iris, bergenia, phlox, asters and mums to give the bed season long interest. We add some annuals for extra color. The stone wall, hand built by Ric, on the right of the walk way was reworked a couple of years ago. The back wall has been in place for many years with the newer curved lower wall added a few years ago. These beds have all new plants: azaleas, pieris japonica, toad lilies, heuchera,  ferns, wood poppies, and variegated Solomon's seal, hosta, Arum Italicum, with a variety of sedums and semps tucked into the walls and some annuals for extra color.

If you continue on to the right you will see a young red maple. You will also find one of the two water features in the front yard. This one is an old bathtub that was once used as a watering trough for our horses. It has been prettied up with a coat of bright orange paint and with the addition of some copper pipe and faucet set it circulates water in a manner that resembles a running tub. It has a few gold fish and water plants, water lilies, taro, calla lily and a few others. There are spring bulbs, ornamental grass, calla lilies, dahlias & cannas planted around the tub. There are mature mixed evergreens planted out alongside the road in this area. They pretty much screen the entire lower yard. There is an L shaped clipped yew on the right side of the house that has an arch shaped walk through to access the side yard and the veggie garden. Plans to turn the side yard into a formal secret garden are in the works. There is a good sized roofed arbor with benches as an entrance to the veggie garden, with a very small hedge of variegated boxwood that should develop into a short hedge to separate the secret garden from the veggie garden. We have a nice bed of asparagus and have the usual tomatoes, peppers, peas, beans and onions, as well as a nice mix of herbs. There is a new 10 X 12 greenhouse in the veggie garden area; with a brick walk from the arbor to the greenhouse with glads and other flowers bordering the walk. A flower bed that runs down one side of the veggie garden adds some interest and separates the veggie garden from the path to the barn. It is planted with a mix of perennials and annuals all sun loving plants. There are some ornamental grasses, echies, curly willow, cannas, daylilies and a smoke bush.

Continuing, right side of front yard: red maple and L shaped clipped yew on the left, evergreen grouping to the right, path to the barn; water feature in front yard, antique bathtub.

L shaped clipped yew with arch leading into the Secret Garden and veggie garden area. Veggie garden area with roofed arbor, covered with red runner beans, flower lined path to GH.

GH with veggies and tomatoes growing on the right and asparagus on the left, then flower bed border between the veggie garden and path with evergreen grouping.

To the left of the front walkway near the front porch is another water feature, a blue ball fountain. It is a bubbler and nice piece of garden art. Also to the left of the front walk is a stone walk hand built by Ric at the time we reworked the stone wall. This bed is much more established but was expanded to fill out the curve of the stone walkway that mirrors the curved wall on the other side of the brick entry walk. Azaleas, heuchera, hellebores, astilbe, columbine, arunchus and some special plants from the woodland behind our home; Dutchman’s breeches, ferns and jack in the pulpit are also in this bed. This area also has a young blue atlas cedar and a rather overgrown holly is near this area and Ric has started pruning it into a topiary form. There is a small potting shed that sits beside the house at the end of the stone walkway and along the driveway. The shed and a very large quince bush provide the shade for a new bed: all shade loving plants, jack in the pulpit, hosta, heuchera, columbine and a PJM rodie. A large pergola to support a large and old wisteria is in the planing stages along with a brick floor to replace the old stone in this side potting / utility area. There are two small shade gardens on each side of the driveway at the other end. There is a huge and ancient Pfitzer juniper hedge that runs down the side of the yard with an opening to the driveway. The ends of the hedge were limbed up to make these small shade beds filled with hosta, columbine, heuchera, snow on the mountain, lily of the valley and helebores. Another small bed with similar plants runs next to the brick walk to the back raised brick patio.

Left side of front yard and side yard garden areas.
Blue ball water feature and walkway garden

Potting shed garden near the parking & potting area.

Potting shed working area and small beds at the entrance of the parking area under the limbed up junipers

Small bed along the side of the house next to parking area and the
large wisteria at the edge of parking area.

There are 2 small ponds in the back yard: a raised box pond and the birdbath pond. There is a curved holly hedge with cannas, iris, and Asiatic lilies planted in front. There are butterfly bushes, crepe myrtle, black pussywillow, Fothergilla gardenii, lilac bushes, mock orange, hydrangeas and a new hedge of nandina in the back yard. Most of the bushes are only a few years old so we will see what impact they will make in the next few years. A small gazebo with tropical flower beds on the corners creates a nice relaxing spot and more garden beds will eventually spread out from this area.

Back yard upper area and view from outside into the upper back yard.
It is all sunshine and tropical plants in the back yard. With the solar house and small pool we didn't want a shady area.

Back raised deck where many of the house plants and tropicals spend the summer. This area really fills up with planters and pots.

Birdbath pond area. You can see the end of the huge juniper hedge to the left of the large rock pile and the curved holly hedge to the right in front of the telephone pole. There is ornamental grass, iris, oriental lilies, canna and garden phlox planted in front of the hedge which puts in a pretty nice show over the summer. With 2 butterfly bushes, iris, daisies and a hardy hibiscus wrapped around the corner just to the right.

Here is a picture of that butterfly bush area and here is the birdbath pond. A circulating pump moves the water from the well bottom up through the birdbath pedestal and into the bowl which drips back down into the well. The large rock pile behind will hopefully be used one day for a large pond that we would like to build but until then it makes a nice rock garden area.

Gazebo area with tropical corners. First picture shows what was at one time a small pasture for our horses and now is just a mowed area with woodland at the back and leyland cypress to screen out the neighbors garage.

This shows the gazebo with the view towards the pool deck and box pond area.
I grow large Alocasia Portadora in the corners and hardy passion flowers, mandevilla, blushing susie vine, large pots of coleus and tropical hibiscus.

Here are the last pics of the box pond by the pool and deck and the small bed next to it.

Well that pretty much covers the gardens. The lower back yard is mostly a fenced dog run with a small bed by the deck and new Nandina hedge and a nice size group of flowering bushes that are too small to look like much yet.

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How lovely, Holly! We could wander for days in your gardens and find new things to see with every step! You and Ric have done a wonderful job of creating beauty at every turn.

 Thank you so much for sharing your gardens with us.

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Join us again next week when Trish and I take you on another Garden Tour.