Finally, some nice pictures to show you again! I have been posting a series of reflections (starting here) on each area of my garden this year. The last few posts have been brutally honest, and rather unflattering. They are certainly not photos to show you how perfect my garden is - but rather, wide, uncropped, unedited photos to help me analyze what I want to change and improve next year and to show my garden as a work-in-progress. But I'm proud to say that the butterfly potager did well this year and other than a few minor changes, the plants can settle in and make themselves at home.
This area used to hold a tool shed and a weird, extra fence which we ripped out in 2007. I had initially thought of putting in a "white garden" a la Sissinghurst, but I just can't restrain myself to such a limited palette. And I love colour too much. I wanted to put some veggies in the sunnier spots, plus I liked the idea of planting lots of flowers that attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Since the butterfly/hummingbird/potager garden was a little too long a name, I settled on...
The Butterfly Potager (year 2)
Mid-May. This area can be seen from the master bedroom window and looked boringly barren in winter, so the first thing I did this spring was start to add structure by planting two columnar crabapple trees. They're on the north side of the fence but I'm hoping once they get tall enough to get lots of sun over the top of the fence, they will thrive here.
Mid-June. Due to the shade of the fence things are a little slow to take off here. Plus I added these stepping stones to the garden this spring to provide easier access to the veggies and bench. This bench was just temporary while I was finalizing the design.
Late June. The new bench in place. Allium 'Purple Sensation', some iceland poppies and siberian iris in bloom. Direct-sown seedlings of peas, carrots, beets and beans grow left to right on the trellises and in the raised beds.
Early July. Top photo: Rosa 'John Cabot' and hesperalis matronalis in bloom here. I'm going to add some of the chartreuse-leaved agastache foeniculum here next year for even more colour. And um, a toy on the patio... Middle photo: View from the back porch. Bottom photo: A nice mix of foliage with a young martagon lily in bloom.
Mid-July. That big sun on the garage wall is new this year. I like it! I think we should all hang more stuff on our outside walls.
Late July. Picnic table painted. Looks better! Roses, delphiniums, and poppies in bloom.
Mid-August. Roses, clematis, lilies, 'Annabelle' hydrangea (new this year), scarlet runner beans and daylily in bloom. I've added a trellis to the garage wall that I plan to grow golden hops on next year - it should look great on the blue background!
Late August. The dog stepped on the lilies so I rescued them. Mental note to put cages around the lilies next year... Also note the new, cute little decoration over the bench!
Early September. Peas and beans are finished so the teepees have come down. Purple clematis, red poppies, self-seeded verbena bonariensis, red bee balm, yellow hollyhocks, purple agastache foeniculum and hosta in bloom. I moved the hosta right after this picture was taken - it looked great here but it was getting a bit crowded and I had a spot in the new back shade garden that needed it more.
Early October. The beginning of the end...
Other parts of the garden:
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