Pansies near the solstice

I loved pansies as a child, mostly, I think, because my grandmother urged me to pick them, telling me that the more they are picked the more they will bloom. Very true! What I appreciate about them now is that as spring turns to summer the blooms get smaller and decidedly more dainty as long as they are deadheaded regularly.

Here they are getting engulfed by calendulas, bachelor's buttons and zinnias. Sometimes pansies will seed themselves for the next year in which case they will often revert to their original form, the wild Viola tricolor 'Johnny jump-up', the ancestor of the modern pansy.

Shade

Shade gardening can be challenging because it can seem as though there are fewer options for successful plants in that environment than one with full sun. The great thing about shade, however, is that the filtered light enhances the contrasting greens and the textures and shapes of leaves.  In this corner of my garden there are about two hours of sun in the early morning this time of year. In the upper left are the big leaves of Sanguinaria canadensis (blood root), which blooms in earliest spring with a beautiful white flower. Below it is Arthyrium niponicum (Japanese painted fern), white Astilbe, a fern, Hosta sieboldiana, and a small pinkish Astilbe. The ground covers are Galium odoratum (sweet woodruff), Phlox divaricata which blooms with blue/purple flowers in spring, and just getting started Lysimachia nummularia (Creeping Jenny or Moneywort) which will have tiny yellow flowers. All of these plants will spread in time and can be divided for planting in other parts of the garden.  The purple flower is an annual, Scaveola, which I found in the shade section of a garden center and then read the label when I got home - 'full sun!' I planted it here anyway just to see what would happen. I like the way the blue-green of the Hosta mirrors the color of the bronze cat's head.

Astilbe, ferns and Galium odoratum (sweet woodruff) around a bird bath in front of a wooden sculpture. Later in the summer the plumes of the Astilbe loose their color, but the dried flowers can still have a feathery look.























Another bird bath, the favorite of the blue jays and catbirds, with painted fern, Vinca, and Heuchera ,just to the left of the fern, and some white impatiens.

A catbird enjoys a bath

I'm just now figuring out what to do with this space, making a small path, experimenting with small hostas,  Alchemilla mollis (Ladies mantle), ferns and the ground cover Lamium maculatum 'Ghost' which will spread prolifically. I'll probably move things around here during the summer.  Despite what gardening experts say, I move plants whenever I decide they should be in a different place, even if they are in full bloom. With regular watering they usually recover from the initial shock.

Poppies

    Several years ago a friend gave me seeds from poppies growing on an island in Gloucester MA. I scattered them over the bare ground in late fall and in early spring their blue-green leaves were sprouting everywhere.  Each year since I have collected their seeds in the late summer for fall sowing, although they would probably self seed if left alone. They are Papaver somniferum, the opium poppy, which grows wild in many parts of the world, particularly Asia Minor. Media images of immense poppy fields in Afghanistan are startling reminders of the power of plants for good or evil. My friend and I call them Island Poppies and they add a wonderful wildness to the spring garden.A seed landed in the creeping thyme and the poppy grew up to be a companion for someone sitting on the bench. Photo below shows the seed pod in back of the bloom. The seeds ripen later in the summer and the pod dries to become an exquisite shaker.

Plant Combinations

I like to use grey-leaved plants to bring out the color in yellow, blue and purple flowers. Here Stachys byzantina (Lambs' ears), and Artemesia 'Silver King', frame the daylily Hemerocallis flava, Geranium 'Brookside' and purple pansies, all nestled around a little stone owl. In some lights the Geranium is more blue than purple.

 More grey leaves, including Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian sage), and Nepeta 'Walker's Low' (catmint) both of which make wonderful combinations with greens and brighter flowers during the summer.

Japanese iris (will have purple flowers later), Adiantum podatum (Maidenhair fern), and Galium odoratum (Sweet woodruff) around a terracotta sculpture of St. Fiacre, the patron saint of gardening.
Here the different bright greens and textures make a great combination for part shade. All these plants came from my garden in New England and they have prospered in their new soil. I am hoping the ferns will spread in time because they are particularly beautiful as a groundcover.

Nyack Garden Journal

  MAY 2012

Some of the perennials now blooming in the sunny corner of the garden: Myosotis sylvatica, Allium 'Purple Sensation',  Geranium endressi 'Wargrave Pink', Dicentra spectabalis,  Dianthus 'Peppermint Star', Artemesia 'Silver Queen'. Around the stones: Thymus praecox 'Elfin', (also an unnamed creeping thyme), Potentilla neumanniana 'Nana', Stachys byzantina 'Silver Carpet'. In the pot is a descendant (strictly, a divison) of a 50 year old Agapanthus plant owned by my grandmother which will bloom later in June - it winters over in the garage and I begin watering and feeding it in early spring.

This is the second year I have gardened in Nyack. Our new backyard had been nicely cared for and landscaped with hostas and shrubs surrounding a lawn. I moved the hostas, and dug up most of the shrubs to plant in the front of the house, leaving a lovely blank slate for perennials and annuals and a small raised bed for vegetables. I brought some plants with me from New England, including ones I had inherited from my grandmother and mother. I am interested in plants which attract birds and butterflies and ones that self-seed and spread. I have several birdbaths and various perches for birds. About half of the yard is shaded in summer so I am starting to collect ferns and wildflowers for this area. I feed the plants from our compost, and use no other fertilizer or pesticides. I like to use rocks and small sculptures in combination with plants.