Happy Monday GPODers!
We’re starting this week off with a garden that looks magical no matter the hour.
Hi, I am Terry Redling and live in Gillette, NJ, a semi rural suburb about 28 miles outside of NYC. We used to be zone 6b now we have a 7a garden. I am a geriatric physician by day (as well as at night when on call) and enjoy the meditation and beauty of our garden to de-stress and renew. I love all types of lilies (including hemerocallis, or commonly known as daylilies). Deer are a big issue, but the netting is barely visible and keeps the deer off the flowers. My husband Jeff and I love to spend time outside tending our property and our vegetable garden, which he built in 2 tiers over the years. We enjoy sitting by our fire pit or lounging in the hot tub surrounded by all this beauty.
In this first installment of Terry’s flower-filled garden, we’ll take a look at all of the color and vibrancy that can be found during the day. Tomorrow, we’ll be back to see how serene the space is once the sun starts going down.
The tiered vegetable garden bed that Terry’s husband Jeff built—what a wonderful concept! Tiered ornamental beds are very common, but it’s not often you see them utilized for edible beds. What a great way to take space that is tricky to grow on, and make it productive.
As Terry mentioned above, she is a real lily lover and she included some close-up shots of some of her favorites. This particular stunner is a ‘Zeba’ lily (Lilium ‘Zeba’, Zones 3–8) known for its incredible coloring and relation to the Nepal lily, which is notoriously hard to grow. It also has an incredible evening fragrance, which is perfect for Terry’s garden that she so often enjoys at night.
Flowers galore, and that barely-there fencing that keeps deer from making a meal of all these fabulous blooms.
While it’s clear that Terry does not shy away from any kind of color, pink is definitely prominent in this garden. Bee balm, coneflower, phlox, and hollyhock are all sporting various shades of pink.
Another fabulous lily variety that is similar to the ‘Zeba’ above, but with more of a pink punch. Such a fun and cheerful combination of colors, ‘Big Smile’ (Lilium ‘Big Smile’, Zones 3–8) is a very appropriate name.
A closer look at the bright bee balm and garden phlox (Phlox paniculata, Zones 4–8) we saw above, reveals the golden allium seed heads sprinkled throughout the flowers.
A worlds away from Terry’s favorite lilies, purple passionflower (Passiflora incarnata, Zones 5–10) allows some northern gardeners to bring a touch of the tropical to their landscape.
One last look at all those vibrant flowers soaking up the sun.
As I mentioned at the top of this post, be sure to join us back in Terry’s garden tomorrow for a look at all these beautiful blooms at night!
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