Saturday in the Garden - The Springhouse BLOG#1

by Richard J. Weber

SATURDAY IN THE GARDEN

Saturday, August 1, 2009: Richard worked on the front of the border in the Meadow Garden.

I’ve been thrilled with the results of our newest Display Garden - the Meadow Garden.  When it was planted in August of 2008, I concentrated mainly on the middle and the back of the border.  What was missing was some interest at the front edge of the garden. So, on Saturday I addressed that shortcoming (pardon the pun!) and added some great low growing perennials that fit into the design concept of an informal, more natural and relaxed look for the garden.
Here’s what I planted:
o 3 Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’ (2007 Perennial Plant of the Year)
o 2 Origanum ‘Herrenhausen’ (one of Russ’s favorites)
o 3 Stachys ‘Silky Fleece’ (an old standby which comes in & out of my favor)
o 5 Dianthus ‘Brilliant Star’ (one of the more subtle of the new Star Series)
o 3 Silene caroliniana ‘Short & Sweet’ (a new native cultivar I’m trying)
& 1 Linum ‘Saphir’ (an old favorite with fine foliage & beautiful light blue airy flowers for the middle of the border amongst the Echinacea ‘Big Sky After Midnight’)

While I was at it, I found a few very sad plants up in Polyhouse #3 that desperately needed to be planted…
o 1 Rudbeckia ‘Prairie Sun’ (not sure if this will be perennial or not)
o 1 Baptisia ‘Purple Smoke’ (one of the new False Indigoes –very long lived & drought resistant)
o Rudbeckia fulgida speciosa ‘Viette’s Little Suzy’ (I needed a little more yellow-orange at the top of the border.
o 1 Aster ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ (this really is an old favorite of mine that Allen Bush introduced to me)

I tucked the first of these 3 into the ends of the main border. I found a spot for the Aster on the back side of the plank fence which we’re just starting to plant, along with the rest
of the sinkhole garden. Bruce & I were busy marking out, digging out & grading out the huge sunken basin where our original Sycamore Grove once stood. Soon it will be another rain garden with plants that can tolerate lots of moisture. More to come on that garden as the summer progresses.

Nepeta 'Walker's Low' planted between the Dwarf Fountain Grass and the pea gravel drainage border.

Dianthus 'Brilliant Star' makes a nice silvery-blue addition to the front of the border next to Coreopsis 'Moonbeam'.

Silene caroliniana 'Short and Sweet' along the front of the border by Ceratostigma plumbagnioides.

Stachys 'Silky Fleece' (Dwarf Lamb's Ear) adds a soft and silvery touch to a formerly empty spot beside the Gaillardia 'Frenzy'.

Dianthus 'Brilliant Star' was chosen to create a nice color echo with the burgundy blotch of the flowers blending with the Echinacea 'After Midnight' in the background.

Stachys 'Silky Fleece' along the front edge of the border.

Visit the Springhouse Gardens Website at http://www.springhousegardens.com/