As I blogged earlier this garden was my first project after we moved to this house. This garden started out as a xeriscape style bed-however the aspens were much smaller at that time so it received more sun than shade. I have also noted over the past couple of years that the four or five seasons of color were not well represented. Too much spring color. So last year I ripped out a bunch of stuff-too many of the same items planted. I have also removed items that were found to be invasive. I also purchased a Fine Line buckthorn and found two hydrangeas at Home Depot (I normally steer clear of shopping for my outdoor plants here-not enough variety) BUT I saw these while I was there looking for something and the price was too irresistible. I have meadowrue, hardy jerusalem sage, coral bells, lupine, two types of veronica, two types of epimedium (barrenwort), foxglove, asian lilies, miniature iris, artimesia, crocus, spiderwort, a japanese painted fern, and a few other items. This bed is in transition so it is a little bare at this time. I attended the Denver Botanic Gardens plant sale this past Friday with my old grade school-high school classmate, Carrie and we enjoyed our day filling our cart with plants. Needless to say I almost drove off without the plants-left them at the plant valet. Oops. Here is the garden today and some of the items I purchased. Today it has been raining all day-the best shot of moisture we have had so far this entire year! So thankful for this gift from mother nature. I apologize for the clutter on the porch. Still need to get it organized for the spring.
The second photo is of a side garden between our front walk/porch area and the driveway/garage area. I struggled with this bed for several years with what to plant here, but last spring it came together. Prior to that it was one of the areas the skunks repeatedly excavated to make their spring nest. Stinky little buggers! Let me tell you. A few years ago we had one under the porch on the other side and had to hire a professional to come in and trap the skunk. It sprayed numerous times and really made the house foul. Several days we all left the house in the morning for our day smelling of skunks.
In this small bed I have some nice little plants. We will see what they do this year, because last year was the establishment year.
So going into the perennial shade garden this weekend is an ornamental garlic-Garlic 'Society', dwarf red columbine, a sunset foxglove, sweet woodruff (used to have one, but it passed on), a boulder blue fescue, and an aconitum. This will give a good start to some more color variation. I will add more later.
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