Hi GPODers!
Yesterday we saw Kathleen’s incredible garden transformation, and we’re continuing that theme as we look at the updates Fran Schroeder has made to her new garden in Verona, New Jersey. Fran shared photos of brand new plantings after removing old plants, showcasing the reality of evolving gardens that we don’t highlight enough.
I am on subscription round 2. In 2013 – 2014 I lived in a condo in a garden complex. My two favorite articles from that time were on pink fall flowers and hardy perennials (I wasn’t sure which “Hardy Perennials” article Fran was referencing as we have a few. Fran, if you have the link or author I can add it in!). I stopped when the condo board changed the rules.
In May of 2022 we moved into a house. From this May through now we have done a lot of yard upgrades. This includes an irrigation system. In June, an infested Ash came down. I lost half of my fall foliage but got to redesign an entire lawn almost completely from scratch! We live in a corner house on 3 streets, one a busy one in town, so the property has to look great!
This is my ‘Green Mountain’ sugar maple (Acer saccharum ‘Green Mountain’, Zones 4–8). I very specifically wanted a majestic fall tree. I call this my “shut me up” maple because a row of them in the fall is so distracting I lose my train of thought. Many people look at is as they walk by.
This is my “found it” daylily bed. We had some ‘Orange’ daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva, Zones 3–9) and some ‘Stella D’Oro’ daylilies (Hemerocallis ‘Stella de Oro’, Zones 5–7) in weird places when we moved in. We removed what I thought was the old ones and remodeled those places. But they are “invasive” for a reason, and these were found near the old places. The center is an ‘Orange’ (my favorite perennial) and the 4 on the sides are ‘Stella D’Oro’s’. At least based on where I found them! I had been thinking of putting something by the nook anyway.
We removed the old ‘Orange’ daylilies but, they are my son and my favorite perennials. I ordered these from Amazon (“Classy Groundcovers” and they arrived as bare roots plants. Planted in early October, they seem to be taking root.
Fantasy™ ‘Pocahontas’ anemone (Anemone hupehensis ‘Pocahontas’, Zones 5–8). It wasn’t in that “Pink Fall Plants” article but I chose it when thinking about that article. It’s next to a ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint (Nepeta × faassenii ‘Walker’s Low’, Zones 3–10) from that “Hardy Plants” article. I try to time my 3 main yards so basically always there is something happening in the yards. When the nearby, recently planted, ‘Francee’ hostas (Hosta x ‘Francee’, Zones 4–8) start to fade, we’ve got this! I have 4 different color artificials for my pots/annuals bed for the off-season.
This is my new forsythia! My favorite shrub! At the moment, it’s “hiding in plain sight”. That area was a mess! The faery status make the stumps a little prettier but the point of the forsythia is to hide the no nice part of the lawn. You can see all my yards (corner house on 3 streets). The forsythia blends in now and the space will only get better as the Forsythia grows to its greatness! In the spring, I’ll have beautiful blooms from my office sliding doors and people walking my will be surprised. “Oh! How pretty! I didn’t know that was there!” Some plants are like that, blending in most of the year but have a time to shine. I say EMBRACE IT! Surprises like this can be fun!
Thank you for sharing your hard garden work, Fran! I hope we get to see your space again to see how it continues to grow and evolve.
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