Ligularia
and the amazing Acanthus
growing in an exposed location.
If Austin was like visiting a foreign country, Buffalo was like coming home. (I've even been told my accent sounds like I'm from Buffalo.) Lots of inspiration to take home to a suburban Chicago garden.
First observation: Hydrangea macrophyllas, massive,
lush and blue and purple as well as the standard Chicago area pink.
Maybe gardeners in Chicago should give up on our pathetic mopheads, and concentrate on the Hydrangeas that do grow well here, such as the 'Annabelle' types, the H. paniculatas, and the oakleafs (H. quercifolia).
Lilies, lots of them, everywhere,
they looked especially good combined with Monarda.
Mary Ann (Gardens of the Wild Wild West) and I both gasped audibly when we saw this combination. I'm going to use this idea in my garden.
Color, bright, bold and everywhere.
Even if bright color won't work with the style of house, shots of bright color can be incorporated elsewhere.
I think I'm going to steal the painted stump idea.
My favorite:
the door in the fence that gives the illusion of more beyond.
This is just a sampling of what I saw. There were many more gardens that we didn't have time to visit. There's still time to get to Buffalo and see it all for yourself. Buffalo is a Northern gardener's dream destination.
15 comments:
Good ideas! I liked the door idea, too, easy to incorporate if you have an old door and a fence. Great pics!
I missed that painted stump - definitely stealworthy!
I missed that red bench! Viewing the posts of others really helps to catch those things we might have missed. There was just too much to capture even though we all took hundreds of pics. I was wondering what had your rapt attention when you were crouched down with the color coordinated outfit and umbrella. You were like a flower and we just had to snap the image. Thanks for the linkage too. :-)
Frances
Love all of the ideas. Maybe you are right about the mopheads - my favorites are Unique and Limelight. I have Endless Summer and a new one called Let's Dance (kind of a lacey look). After a rain, the Endless Summer are on the ground.
There is a new one to replace Annabelle called Incrediball (not supposed to flop) but I don't think I have room for this.
Eileen
Wow -- there was so much I missed! Thanks for taking such great pictures and sharing. (can't wait to plant my Heart of Gold...)
Oooh... I WANT that red bench! Seriously, Buffalo, how do you do "lush" so well in a summer that's been dry for the last month or so? Harumph! :)
Love the pair of arches with the door... how many of us want to steal that idea? Looks like a purple clematis, but what's the red flower, MMD... a red clematis or a red rose?
Now feeling deprived because I don't have a stump to paint!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose {in the "foreign country" of Austin}
Carol - the magic door is perfect for those of us with smaller gardens.
Cyndy - I'm about ready to invest in a paint company.
Frances - I'm calling what I wore my "Hydrangea" outfit.
Eilleen - Incrediball is too freakish for me. I've got a free trial Invincibelle Spirit, which is a pink flowering Annabelle-type, which I think will be good.
Greensparrow - thanks for looking. I can't stop taking photos (bit of a compulsion, I'm afraid). Enjoy the seeds.
Blackswamp Girl - I'm going to give snow the credit for the lushness of it all. I've noticed that my garden looks better after a snowy winter.
Annie - there are 2 red flowers in the photo. I'm assuming your question is about the one on the left. That's a Monarda. Yep. It really is. They grow huge in Buffalo.
Hmm, not sure about the monarda. I will have to run across the street and check because she does have a lot of clematis.
I stand proudly by the pink hydrangea. I love them, though I know blue is more chic.
Kim--we had very little snow this winter. It was a light winter and we had an early warm spring--I think that is what brings the lush.
Making the blog rounds on the Buffalo event, I'd say that there's a good chance that nearly every garden blogger in America is going to grow lilies with monarda. I'm just waiting to move my lilies beside my 'Raspberry Wine'... fun! :-)
I'm loving these Buffalo posts! And I gasped at that lily and monarda combo when the photo came up. Who knew they would look so good together?
My dear, splendid photos!I loved the ligularia~Not gonna happen here! The monarda is amazing! The gardens and the conversations with other gardeners has energized me. I left with a lot of ideas and am now trying to see what I can do to implement them. In the heat of a southern summer most will need to wait till fall! gail
A painted stump would be a first for me too. I like the way it makes it more a part of the colorwave.
MMD,
So nice to get to meet you after all this time of viewing your garden here. I can see why this trip would have been a northern gardener's dream destination. Even for this southern gardener it was a thrill to see so many beautiful blooms in the midst of summer. So much to see. Your images are fun ~as many I didn't capture and some I did. There was no way to see everything.
Meems
Cameron - nothing wrong with that. But somehow, I don't think my Monarda will look as good as theirs.
Linda - I sure didn't. I've never been a fan of Monarda, until now.
Gail - What about Ligularia in a container? I swear I saw some like that there.
Lisa - I like that term "colorwave."
Meems - glad to meet you too. If only we could have seen everything.
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