Post Script -- A View Into Our Gardens: Following Our Own Advice

We have enjoyed learning as we write our blogs.  This year we've been inspired by our research and want to offer a view into our private spaces and share our garden inspirations.  Gwen was influenced by her son, Dan, a graduate of Penn State Ag School, to incorporate succulents for the first time.  Using succulents created worry-free and deer resistant containers. His wife's (Paige) blog  gave both of us guidance on pruning our shrubs.  Holly experimented with beautiful colors and vegetables in her containers.  Gwen's own garden success in reducing mulch and watering inspired her to write the flowering ground covers blog.   

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PS: For the first time, Gwen tried succulents in pots for water-wise care.  She has always enjoyed the traditional riot of colors from geraniums, petunias, impatiens and begonias.  Inspired by pottery from a trip to Spain, Gwen purchased large blue pots from Costco and Lowe's. The calming palette of gray, green and orange planted in blue containers creates a back yard oasis and compliments the outdoor cushions.

Blog:
Worry-Free Container Gardens
Color Inspirations for Containers

Jade, ET's Fingers, Sedum, Haworth's Aeonium

Spanish Containers

Orange Calibrachoa, Graptoveria (succulent), Salvia (purple, cream), Carex

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PS:  With less time for maintenance and desire to minimize long-term costs, Gwen took her own landscape design advice by replacing plantings of annuals with perennials, and mulch with flowering ground covers.  Another time and cost-saving measure was to replace mulch with massed plantings of flowering thyme, sedum, hens & chicks, creeping baby's breathe, geranium, carex and campanula. 

Blogs:
Flowering Ground Covers that Multitask

Sedum

Thyme and Geranium Biokovo

Geranium under Persian Parrotia Tree

Geranium Biokovo

Thyme & Geranium in front of border

Front Yard Garden Path: Coral Bells, Thyme

Check out the dry rocky soil--Hoping these hens and chicks will fill this space. (please ignore the weeds)

Thyme

Creeping Baby's Breathe: blooms June-September

Snow in Summer (Cerastium)

Snow in Summer (Cerastium)

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PS:  We followed the advice of our guest blogger, Paige and were rewarded with full and happy hydrangeas. 

Blog:
Pruning with Purpose:  Rejuvenating Hydrangeas

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PS: Enjoying colorful,  worry-free and deer resistant containers.

Blogs:
Color Inspiration for your

Containers
Worry Free Containers
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Deer Resistant Annuals

Holly brightened her deck with complimentary colors this year. The blues soften the brightness on her sunny deck but fade into the shadows at night. In the evening she enjoys the lovely golden sunshine of her trailers.

Gwen created a deer and drought tolerant container: Cleome (annual) and Sedum (perennial).

Zebra, ET's Fingers, Sedum, Haworth's Aeonium. Created by Gwen's son, Dan.

To keep the deer, chipmunks, and groundhogs away, we planted vegetable container gardens.  Gwen used rosemary and basil to deter chipmunks from taking bites out of her tomatoes.  Holly planted beets, green beans, lettuce and tomatoes on her deck, keeping hungry critters from chowing her veggies and herbs. 

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PS:  Check out our Bountiful Bouquets: Tips for Creating a Cutting Garden

Holly's yard yields armfuls of daisies.  Gwen started a cutting garden last year taking advantage of a huge Bluestone Perennial sale.  She enjoys sharing the bounty of flowers with her family and friends.  Next month we will share advice for planting your own cutting garden.

Our gardens have had many blunders, but each and every lesson is part of the journey. The changing seasons give us joy, favorite times to anticipate, and time to reflect and plan.  We enjoy the ups and downs, blooms and bugs, fungus and fragrance and sharing these experiences with you. We hope our garden pics inspire you to read our blogs and to try your own flowering ground covers and water-wise planters.  Please comment with your favorite ground covers and planters.