Design

I was poking around in one of the meadow beds this afternoon (clearing the crowns of leaves and mulch).  My gardening companion is enthusiastic about mulch, and some had crept in along the edges of the bed.  Combined with fallen leaves, it was a bit thick. I had figured that a few extra leaves were protective during the winter snows, but a plus 60°F afternoon had me thinking spring again.  And there's only so much reading one can do about plants and planting, without being out there! Amazingly, signs of growth were everywhere, from the expanding basal leaf buds to young shoots coming up through the mulch.  Admittedly, these were all tough native perennials (so presumably are right on schedule for emergence now). I thought I had posted a planting list  (uh, this is my online garden 'record' -- Thomas Jefferson would not be impressed).   But I didn't find one, although it was nice to review the posts that I found (linked above). Front meadow last summer...

We transformed the mulched beds in front of our small mountain house into a new 'meadow' border last fall and this spring. It's probably best described as an informal perennial border, rather than a meadow, but we're working on it. Rain and warmth this summer have nurtured these plants.  We lost a few over a very tough winter, but mostly they've thrived in the heavy clay soil (somewhat amended). The Joe-Pye has been great;  in the Piedmont, it sulks without extra water.  In the mountains, this plant is a wonderful butterfly nectaring spot. The purple coneflower ( Echinacea purpurea ), always short-lived, looks great, and was a magnet for this swallowtail butterfly (I think a Giant Swallowtail, as it had two stripes on its wings and isn't something I see often, but they're not evident on this picture). And I'm looking forward to seeing the Arkansas Ironweed in full flower, and the Solidago, and the asters, too.

The difference between meadows and perennial borders is, perhaps, a matter of scale, with the mix of plants a key to their look and feel.  Perennial borders can look quite meadow-like, at least in our vision of them,  while our 'front meadows' are probably more like exuberant perennial beds than true meadows, which include many grasses. But I think the key is the mix of flowering perennials, whether they have large showy flowers or the reduced flowers of grasses;  this mix determines how the border/meadow feels and looks (in the garden).  A cottage garden is largely flowering perennials without grasses; a meadow includes a majority of grasses as the matrix. Front 'meadow' in Asheville But a sparser front planting bed, in the process of becoming more complex, feels like a meadow in progress, too.

The Botanical Gardens of Asheville Spring Plant Sale and the WNC Herb Festival were full of cool plants this weekend. We snagged all sorts of interesting natives, from Wild Quinine ( Parthenium integrifolium ), Goldenseal, American Ginseng, and ramps, along with Golden ragwort ( Senecio aureus ), Anise-scented Goldenrod ( Solidago odora ), Wild Yam, a Gaillardia cultivar, (Rough Blazing Star) Liatris aspera , and a lovely Carex spp. Added to the Penstemons , Coreopsis , Centaurea , and Achillea that came as trial complimentary plants from Blooms of Bressingham (I'd signed up for them at the Garden Writer's Association annual conference), we had lots to plant in the front perennial bed at our small mountain house!

Gail, of Clay and Limestone , kindly sent me some Penstemon X last year, which included a bonus Phlox (I'm assuming it's the PPP that is a standout in her garden). Both are flourishing and the phlox is flowering now, after a season heeled into a rich potting mix in a container. I'll be transplanting both to suitable permanent spaces this spring, which will be a lovely passalong plant to think about.

Thinking about problem-solving in gardens and landscapes is interesting. What we bring to the process is gardening ideas, gleaned from memories, experience, and observation melded with the practicalities of light, soil, and climate. A class today had me thinking about this again. There's no point in dreaming of lush lilacs in Southern climates nor of productive fruit orchards of apples, peaches, nectarines, cherries, or apricots (unless you're willing to do the obligatory weekly spray maintenance, whether organic or not). We can easily grow blueberries, muscadine and scuppernong grapes, persimmons (native and Asian), paw-paws (a native fruit), and figs (in the right site). Raspberries and strawberries can be productive, too, but require lots of attention. But creating a garden from a 'yard' is a wonderful process, one of personalizing your landscape, and not only having it reflect what makes you happy, but also creating a garden that's giving something back, not...

On a long return loop through an unfamiliar neighborhood after a Farmer's Market visit, I noticed an unexpected gem of a garden. Asheville, North Carolina is full of interesting home gardens in the older neighborhoods downtown, maybe because they have limited space, but this one was a standout. I need pictures of this garden, I thought. Returning in early afternoon, I was fortunate enough to chat with the gardener, who was doing some clipping in a lovely shrub border. She said they'd been there 18 years, and started with a blank slate (lawn, no doubt) around a lovely historic house. Her early inclinations towards flowers and cutting gardens have now focused on foliage textures and colors; her combinations of conifers, other evergreens, and herbaceous plants were really lovely. I loved the red-stemmed dogwood that highlighted the entrance to a old-brick path.

A visit to the Fall Plant Sale at the Botanical Gardens at Asheville, a wonderful 50+ year old garden devoted to native plants resulted in more than a number of purchases. The bare edge next to our house in the mountains gained Heuchera , Viola pedata , and Rudbeckia 'Henry Eiler.' One of the gardeners was pretty darn happy digging and planting. We had secured an approved design for adding perennials to an open, full sun expanse (our small mountain house is in an historic district), but weren't actually intending to buy so many plants. They were quite irresistible. We added a nice mix of perennials in the front as well as next to the house and along the side yard (blueberries!) This photo doesn't show how nice-looking the new bed actually is. The sale, supporting the Gardens, features various local native plant nurseries (both retail and wholesale), local garden clubs, and the Gardens itself. We snagged birdsfoot violet, Celadine poppy, an Appalachian carex, a great s...