Garden #2
Franco Garden - Bailey Avenue
I purchased my house in 1974. There were no gardens, just lawn, some foundation plantings, a few maple trees and two towering fir trees in the back yard.The garden has gone through many changes through the decades. The one common thread is less lawn – more gardens! My original plan for the front yard was to create a forest like area with no lawn to mow. Well, after I lost all my Canadian hemlocks to Woolly Adelgid, the plan morphed into a sort of cottage garden effect with grassy paths winding around several island gardens.

I like to have four-season interest - even in the dead of winter I have flowers blooming, evergreens and plants with interesting bark or buds. As you meander through the paths in my front yard take notice of:
1. Picea pungens– (Foxtail spruce) Greets you near the front of the driveway, you’ll know it by the blue-green needles and interesting twisted branches.
2. Magnolia stellata – Wonderful leathery leaves in summer, turning bronze in the fall. During the winter the flower buds give the appearance of pussy willows. The fragrant flowers, which cover the shrub from top to bottom, open early; before the leaves.
3. Sciadopitys verticillata (Japanese umbrella pine) – Evergreen with red-brown bark that peels in ribbons. The needles are arranged in whorls resembling the spines of an umbrella. Very unusual tree.
4. Snow fountain cherry – Beautiful weeping cherry covered with white flowers in early spring.
5. Viburnum x burkwookii – Semi-evergreen tree/shrub with very fragrant flower clusters in the late spring.
6. Rhododendron PJM – Evergreen small leaved rhododendrons with clusters of bright pink/purple flowers in the spring.
7. Camellias – Evergreen with leathery dark green leaves and large flowers in spring resembling roses.
8. Pinus flexillis ‘Fastigiata’ (Vanderwolf Limber pine) – Evergreen with long blue/green needles.
9. Juniper stricta (Irish Juniper) – Evergreen with blue/green needles.
10. Abelia x grandiflora – Evergreen with arching stems with glossy leaves and fragrant flowers almost all summer long.
11. Chamaecyparis pisifera ‘Filifer’ (Goldthread cypress)
12. Pyracantha coccinea ‘Lalandei’ – Thorny evergreen shrub with fragrant flowers in the summer followed by bright orange-red berries in the fall/winter.
13. Cornus alba ‘Sibirica’ ‘argenteo-marginata’ variegated red twig dogwood – In the winter the red bark is outstanding. In the spring/summer the variegated leaves are striking against the red background.
14. Osmanthus heterophyllus (False Holly) – evergreen shrub with holly-like leaves and fragrant tubular flowers.
15. Philadelphus coronarius (Sweet mock-orange) – Deciduous shrub that bears very fragrant white flowers.
16. Weigela – Not much winter interest, however in the spring the arching branches are covered with flowers followed in the summer by bright green leaves.
17. Prunus cistena (purple-leaved sand cherry) – Deciduous flowering shrub with red-purple leaves.

Gardening is in my blood. My Dad always had a vegetable garden and a fruit orchid that contained apples, plums and peaches. I still have two of his apple trees in my back yard. He also had a fondness for roses. He also built a pond long before it was in vogue. He used a homemade tractor and made a pond that was about 20’ X 30’. We used to ice skate on it in the winter! His pond disappeared after he passed away in 1994, so of course, two years later; I had to make a pond. Mine is significantly smaller, but still gives me a great deal of pleasure. It took several seasons for me to figure out how to keep the raccoons and opossums from eating my fish, but finally I found the solution – a solar powered electric fence – not quite decorative, but it saves the fish and plants. Now if I could just keep the herons and egrets out!

My Mom was the supervisor of the flowers. She planted all the container gardens, bulbs and wildflowers. Although I never met
my Grandparents, I know that my parents also inherited their love of gardening from their parents.

For me, gardening is a spiritual experience. When I’m in my garden, there’s peace, harmony and all perceived problems disappear! Everyday there is something different to see. There is beauty beyond the weeds! There is even beauty in the weeds.

Attributes that I look for when choosing a plant are color, fragrance and its appeal to wildlife. Every October there are several dozen Monarch butterflies that find my Asters irresistible. The birds also enjoy the seeds from the perennials and the water that is provided for them. I have had some luck in attracting hummingbirds, but for the most part they remain elusive.

I still have many plans for my garden – I’ll never be “done”. I make many mistakes and tend to plant things and then move them several times before they’re in their final location. I hope you find something in my garden that gives you pleasure, an idea or even a lesson on what not to do!

Sandy




NEXT Garden #3
Reitz Garden- South Country Road