This is my last November looking out onto this awesome view (after 26 years). But on the bright side, this view can be yours – read my Takoma Park House for Sale page.
View from the sunroom.
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TweetReal Gardens
As I wrote recently on GardenRant, I thought I’d never leave my current garden, which after 26 years under my sometimes haphazard direction is looking pretty much done. But for reasons I explained in that Rant post and in Susan Reimer’s column in the Baltimore Sun, I’ve decided to move. And news flash – I’ve bought my next house! It’s a co-op townhouse in historic Greenbelt, MD, one that’s just the right size for me, with right-size front and back yards, too.
I won’t be moving right away – gotta sell my current home first, and have some work done in the new place (total re-do of the kitchen and bath). But come late winter or early spring, I’ll be doing total make-overs of these gardens, starting with ripping out the lawn in the photos above. I’ll add seating to the front yard, too, because it’s a quiet spot that overlooks not a street but a small parking area shared by 10 homes that comprise our “court”.
In the back, photos above and below, I’ll add a screened-in porch across the entire house before I start planning the garden. There’s one fabulous plant here that I’ll be keeping – a large Japanese maple – but otherwise, it’s pretty much a blank slate. (Goody!)
View from the back door.
But there’s more – a large, flat grassy open area that’s shared by the 12 homeowners – perfect for badminton! Don’t laugh – that and swimming competitively were the primary sports of my youth, though in the case of badminton it was all fun, no pressure, and the perfect after-dinner pastime with the family. The open area is also prime for some new shrubs around its perimeter – which I’ve already brainstormed about with my new next-door neighbor – a gardening Englishwoman. Perfect.
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TweetSeen today in just one block of town, just around the corner from me.
See how nicely tied-up these sunflowers are? Pedestrians can just enjoy them, not have to fight their way through them.
Look how much gorgeousness and food for pollinators these neighbors pack into a planting strip along their driveway!
Next, a whole lotta impact in a small but prominent spot.
And every year, neighbors enjoy the long-lasting blooms of crape myrtle in front of this perfectly matched house.
Thank you, gardeners of Takoma Park.
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TweetTrouble in Youtubeland
This short video of my on-deck container garden seemed to load itself from my Flip camera onto my computer and then onto Youtube. Trouble is, since Google bought Youtube I’ve been locked out of my Youtube account, so I can’t do anything TO the video. Can’t rename it or write a description. Can’t even answer the comments people are nice enough to write there! My account – GardenerSusan - is still there, but after struggling for two hours to fix the access problem, which stems from the new requirement that Youtube accounts to be sync’ed with Google accounts, I’ve given up. Despite finding other people in the same boat, and trying Youtube’s suggested fixes. Sigh.
The deckful of color
On a happier note, I’m loving my colorful summer vegetables, hot petunias, sweet potato vines and other assorted annuals. Last year my veg attempts were total failures but this year I’m avoiding crops destroyed by cabbage loopers and sticking with my best performers so far – cherry tomatoes, squash, eggplant and a few herbs. (Zucchini did well for me, too. Not that that’s any accomplishment.)
The “self-watering containers” are from Gardeners Supply. Much better looking than Earthboxes, and with rollers, they’re easy to move around as needed.
These annuals came from Hort Couture: ‘Black Jack’ and ‘Smallwood Driveway’ Coleus; three ‘Panache’ Petunias; ‘Deep Navy’ Lobelia; ‘Paper Doll’ Scaevola, Ipomoea ‘Blackie’ and ‘Margarita’, and Euphorbia ‘Hip Hop’. And from C. Raker & Sons: ‘Wave Purple Improved Spreading’ and ‘Shock Coral Crush’ Petunias.
The vine you see on the privacy screen is Hardy Kiwi, which grows like Kudzu but in its 15 years here, hasn’t yet produced any fruit.
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Spotted in Washington, near the National Cathedral. The perfect cottagey look of this humongous but tasteful home caused me to stop the car and snap this shot – actually two shots, stitched (badly) together. I bet the back garden is just as nice.
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TweetI recently I stopped by my absolute favorite public garden - Chanticleer – on my way to a Meet the Author event at the Rodale Institute (after repeatedly cursing the signage around Philly and needing the garden’s receptionist to talk me in over the phone). Here are a few of my favorite scenes there, starting with the Tennis Court Garden because of its history as just that.
Below is an example of how just a little bit of mowing can make a short meadow look cared for, and inviting to walk through.
Below, Primula popping up through a bed of Horsetail, which one of the gardeners warned me about. You know how it goes – once you have it, you’ll never get rid of it.
Finally, the kitchen garden, which gardener Doug Croft surrounds with red clover because the rabbits will eat it instead of the vegetables. Looks pretty, too.
Click here for more of my favorite scenes at Chanticleer and here to meet some of Chanticleer’s expert staff. All photos taken May 13, 2011.
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My Back Garden, April 15
Happy Garden Blogger Bloom Day! Things are happening so fast in the garden right now, it’s nice to have an excuse to stop and look – then shoot and share.
Above you’re looking across a bed of sedum-as-lawn-replacement, with cute little muscari popping up through the sedum (S. sarmentosum). In the background are three Spirea ‘Ogons’ in fading bloom – they’re extremely early.
I grow lots of Pulmonarias, a/k/a lungwort.
And here’s another plant that’s performing extremely well in my garden – in varying amounts of shade/morning sun, and making very useful babies.
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Today I paid a return visit to the White House garden and grounds and the tour was really too early this year, with very little in bloom and plenty of trees not even leafed out yet. And if I were the complaining type I’d mention that it was chilly with cloudy skies – but hey, it didn’t rain! (My spring 2010 visit is recorded here.)
So I don’t have much to show blog readers this time – except the brand-new look of Michelle Obama’s vegetable garden. According to the gardener (that would be Jim Adams) the raised beds were installed for just one reason – to level the growing area in order to stop water from running downhill. So Adams and the White House landscape architect came up with this design, which is an attempt to be organic despite the straight lines of the wood. I stopped short of asking Jim where they bought them – ha! – because naturally they have carpenters right there on the grounds. Must be nice.
Chatting with top White House Gardener Jim Adams
The White House Beehive is always photogenic, no matter the weather.
Middle photo by Linda Starke.
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TweetFinally, something to photograph, like these scenes from D.C.’s Georgetown neighborhood. I looooove the combination of gorgeous plants and gorgeous buildings.
The plants appear to be a weeping cherry top, tulips with pansies, then three star magnolias.
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TweetY’all know about the Garden Blogger Bloom Day, no doubt, so let’s get right to the photos. As usual, I interpret “blooming” loosely to include seasonal foliage color. So shoot me.
First up, the front porch made prettier by mums, annuals holding their own, the foliage of a Spirea, and in the foreground, Alyssum that blooms its guts out all season.
Then the view from the deck into the valley.
In my woodland garden, everyone notices the birdhouses, but my favorite focal point is this oakleaf hydrangea – that the deer won’t eat!
Part 2 of my Bloom Day report is here on the Homestead blog.
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