Neal, just gorgeous gardens and love the accent pots!
The foliage color contrasts are wondeful, too!
Ah, the American Cottage Garden!

Thanks, Janice! These pics are all from the main entrance to the house, which is about the only place I've been maintaining much in the recent heat.

Amazing Neal, I love the way you're immediately immersed in the garden. With all the glass even indoor rooms become garden rooms.

Nice dark sedum Neal.

It is lovely Neal, quite colorful and lush.

Thanks everybody! That area has been challenging, lots of tree roots from a water Maple that usurp most of the moisture. It's taken 4 years of trial and error to achieve a lush look. Using container plants not only provides some color in summer, but the daily watering also keeps me in the habit of watering some of the plants in the ground that really need it.

Evan, I'm a big fan of melding the indoor and outdoor color scheme. The foyer beyond the French doors is painted fuchsia with purple and blue accessories, and blue and white porcelain pieces. I love how looking out from inside the look is seamless to the outdoors. That room also houses a lot of potted plants in winter, so it always has an outdoor feel.

JoAnn, that is Purple Emperor Sedum, which was unhappy in the hot sunny beds out front- the leaves would get sun bleached by midsummer. This dry bed has suited them well, where they get full morning sun, but are shaded from the intense evening sun.

i too like American cottage Garden,



Neal beautiful gardens

carole ,i need to get the mower out to mow the crab grass ... stinking stuff :angry:grass looks horrible
Remember spring look at all the green


couldnt see a thing when i was taking these shots of the butterfly

and as you can see I couldnt see ,and I hate thumbnails...

Everything is so pretty! I'm starting to lose a few things here due to the weather. It was 102º yesterday with blazing sun and little cloud cover. We haven't had a good soaking rain since June. I simply can't keep everything watered when it's like this. Oh, we need some rain!!

Neal, if possible please post more pictures of your main entrance area and talk about that. I have huge old Silver Maples out front and the roots ... well, what can I say ... you know. I need more ideas for planting out there. We've only been here two years and I still haven't tackled the front. I think that's because of the challenge of all those roots, etc. I've planted all down the side yard and a lot in the backyard, but I'm just now taking on the front yard. I know most people usually start in the front. Well, they don't have old Maples, methinks. To boot, I have Azaleas across the front of the house and they have their own roots issues. Oy! But they are beautiful when they bloom.

I learned too late in life never plant maples...But I wasn't a gardener when I moved here at the age of 22.

Gorgeous Azaleas!

When we first moved in, there were 5 blue spruce trees crammed into those little beds. That made for deep shade and really dry conditions which made it nearly impossible to grow anything there. None of the spruces were happy, being so overcrowded and in the shade of the maple, so we removed all of them. That helped out a lot, still quite dry, but at least the area gets a nice infusion of morning sun now.

I've found Helebores, Toad Lily, Catmint, and hardy Geraniums to be great performers under those conditions. Now that there's a few hours of sun in much of the area, Lilies and bearded Irises are working out well. I added several varieties and sizes of bearded Iris this year as I was dividing rhizomes. Callas (the Z.rehmannii types that often have spotted leaves) have done well too. So far, so good with the Phlox that I've tried there, they do need some supplemental water, but they deal better with dry conditions when they're in shade in the afternoon. Hostas do ok there, but prefer more moisture, especially when getting established. I'm also trying a few Daylilies in the sunnier areas, they're great for tolerating unfavorable conditions. Late summer is the most difficult time to have anything looking good there- seems most plants that bloom now (aside from annuals) prefer sun, and shade tolerant annuals usually want lots of moisture. That's why I use containers here and there throughout the area.


This part next to the house seems to hold moisture, so I have ferns, bleeding heart, Filipendula, Periscaria 'Red Dragon', and hardy Begonias growing there. Black and Blue Salvia is loving that spot too, which surprised me since it doesn't get a lot of sun there.

I do wish that people would use more flowering shrubs in that way instead to boring evergreesn. they could at least used different colors of needles. But many people are nto gardeners. In fact real estate people hae told a gardening friend to cut way back on garden when selling her house as people don't want to bother. Probably, we have to catch the kids when you. Off soapbox!

free HOLLYHOCKS seeds. Just send SASE.
The thread "free pink HOLLYHOCKS seeds" in Seeds forum

Finally catching up on this new thread. Things look so pretty everyone.:thumbsup:

Lovemygarden.....Sorry I skipped out....You asked about the phlox back on the last thread.....no they don't take anymore water than coneflowers, daylilies, etc. They are looking pretty stressed in this heat because they are in full west sun from about 10:30 until 7pm. We are on our 34th straight day of over 100 degree temps (106-110 this week). But they are a Texas native and can take it. Smaller plants coming up at the bottom are looking fine, just the tall ones heavy with blooms are drooping by afternoon.

great pix everyone

Thanks for the info, Neal. I really like all of the things you named that you have planted there in your front. Some of them are among my favorites. It's good to know what has done well under those conditions. My front is the northern exposure for the house, but with the way the sun swings around, we get some late afternoon sun there and often a bit of early morning sun too.

I have managed to plant some perennials, shrubs and a small variegated Dogwood along the property line with the neighbor. The shrubs include Cotoneaster, Spirea, Barberry, Persicaria polymorpha and Rose of Sharon. I have Chokeberry and Fothergilla gardenii elsewhere which may or may not be getting too much shade. Time will tell. I have also been able to plant a number of Heuchera to the northeast which are doing well. Also have Lycoris squamigera (Surprise Lily), Toad lilies and Blue Day Flower. Where I cut back one of the Azaleas severely, I have started a bed of various kinds of the spurge Euphorbias. I do not know how that will work with the ratio of shade to sun in that location. In pots I have Hostas, Coleus and some ornamental grasses. There are also two large Abelia in the middle of the line of Azaleas and they bloom well for a long time -- smell very nice but not are not particularly showy. All that sounds like a lot but it doesn't appear that way from the street. At least not yet since a number of the things are small. In the Spring, I intend to plant quite a few Hardy Hibiscus nearer to the street. I also have a number of different Sedums that I could put in the front and also a lot of Semps/Hens and Chicks of various kinds.

I have a very long wrought iron hanger with a hanging basket that hangs from up in one of the trees. Might as well make some use out of them although I do appreciate the shade. I change out the basket with annuals or a big basket of 'Purple Queen' Setcreasea that I have and over-winter in the garage. That stuff can sure take a lickin' and keep on tickin'. I have a couple of Shepherd's Hooks with hanging baskets of ferns and wax begonias.

When you planted, did you hit a lot of roots? How did you handle that?

Oh yeah, lots of roots in there! Thankfully I've been able to work around them somewhat, and I keep adding compost gradually and building up the soil level. I've got Lycoris in that area too; I'd forgotten about them and noticed some blooms yesterday. I love the way they just show up over night!

Yes, the Surprise Lilies are fun! Will do that with the compost too. Is that shredded bark you are mulching with or?

Sorry for the 20 questions but I'm pickin' your brain. Dealing with Maple roots is quite the challenge.
:thumbsdown:

Sheila, we're still bone dry here too although there have been thunderstorms all around us. The ground is cracked and even some of the deeper rooted plants are beginning to look stressed.

Tam, would you be willing to go over to the Garden Art Forum and post pics of some of your stacks and totems in that thread?

Oh, no need to apologize, that's what we're all here for- to learn from each other Last year I lucked into lots of free mulch from tree trimmers that were cleaning up the roadsides. Most folks around took a load or two and didn't want any more, so I told them to just keep on bringing it. So it's just shredded limbs and bark from everything they cut. I was told it should set for about a year before using it, at 8 months I got impatient and started mulching. I saw some nitrogen deficiency here and there, but nothing a little extra feeding hasn't remedied.

My experience with maples are the feeder roots that they put out...If I find one in a bed and it is far from the tree I just chop it of.

Thank you, Sheila.