Garden Tour

My yard is on a typical suburban lot, about 10,000 square feet. I'm doing my best to cram plants into every available inch. (I've even considered removing the driveway - such a waste of space! - but my ever-practical husband points out that this would make it somewhat difficult to reach the garage...)

Here is a rough plan of the various areas of the garden. Click on the links below each section description to see how each area unfolds in various seasons. I'll be adding more of these in the coming weeks.

Map of my garden

1. The Rose Garden is a large sunny rectangle in my front yard anchored with old garden and hardy shrub roses. The roses have a variety of companions including some dwarf conifers, peonies, and clematis. There is also a quince tree in this area.

Rose Garden in June

• Rose Garden in Early Spring
• Rose Garden in Late Spring
• Rose Garden in Early Summer
• Rose Garden in Late Summer
• Rose Garden in Autumn

2. The Peony Bed is a roughly triangular shaped area in my front lawn. It features tree and herbaceous peonies, irises, and lilies, among other companions.This area is highly visible, both from the street and from my front windows, so I've tried to emphasize plants with good foliage.

• Peony Bed in Early Spring
• Peony Bed in Late Spring

3. Two narrow strips edge the Front Walk leading to the front door. The highlight here is a climbing rose on a trellis. Part of is it hot and sunny but it progresses towards more shade, so perennials are a mixed lot.

4. Shade Garden - much of my front yard is shaded by mature, water-sucking maples. This area is filled with shrubs and perennials that can take dry shade, as well as some moisture lovers lucky enough to live near my water barrel.

5. The Patio Garden consists of raised and in-ground beds surrounding our backyard patio area. It's a bright, sunny spot that we spend time in throughout the year, so I've tried to fill it with plants that provide a long season of interest and change.

6. The "Orchard" - my attempts at growing fruit are planted in this sunny corner of the backyard. I have some young fruit trees and a variety of berry bushes. There are also two stripes of berries along both sides of the house that I'll lump in with this section as well.

7. The Back Hedge - I've planted a tapestry hedge along the back perimeter, in order to provide some additional privacy to the backyard. The emphasis was on shrubs with good fall color.

8. The Vegetable Garden takes up quite a bit of space, and is always an embarrassing mess... but I spend a lot of time in there anyway.

9. Playground - we inherited the most gigantic play structure imaginable with this house. My daughter currently loves to play on it, but I'm already sharpening my spade in anticipation for the time when she'll outgrow it... I could certainly squeeze some more peonies in there. :-)

10. The Side Shady Border is a long, narrow strip leading from the front of the house into the back yard. It's a difficult shape, and is dry and shady to boot.