A Baltic Garden

The front garden is beyond my expectations.

 I find it hard to believe, that I planted this bed last spring. It had a true kick-start into this season and it established so fast.

 The star must be the catmint ‘walker’s low’ with its delicate lilac flowers. It is such an important source for honeybee. Sitting on the lawn next to the boarder you can enjoy the humming sound of the busy bees collecting pollen.

 The tulip ‘twilight princess’ is still flowering, while the iris ‘English cottage’ just started. This iris is reblooming and has amazing white blossoms with a touch of lilac. I just love it for its dated charm. At the back of the border are clumps of allium. They are such great architectural plants, with the ball shaped flowers on a staggering stem. The foliage will dye back after they finished flowering. I planted them in a row close to the hedge. In fall we have easy access to the hedge in order to trim it, as the alliums have gone to sleep.

 During this time of the year the colors in the boarder become richer and have more depth. It is a tapestry of lilac, purples and white, mixing with the fresh green of perennial grasses.

 I wanted to achieve a natural feel in this boarder, by using different grasses, and perennials, such as sedum, catmint or asters. At the same time I was looking for a classic buildup with the tall plants in the back and the smaller specimens in the front.

Mission: Replanting the island bed – accomplished.

 I started the island bed in spring 16. It is located in the center of the back yard and meanders around two mature walnut trees. When I planted the bed I had an idea on how it was meant to look. Unfortunately I didn’t prepare a proper plan. That was a major mistake. Observing the planting for two years has shown its weakness. I have taken a lot of photos, written my observations down and started sketching different planting plans.

 This spring I felt ready to rework the whole bed. I ordered most of the new plants online at one of my very favorite online shops for perennials: Staudengärtnerei Gaissmayer in Germany. They have an amazing selection of different perennials for all areas in the garden. Furthermore is it an organic garden center.

 Almost 90% of all plants in that bed have been taken out, replanted or divided. The soil has been improved with fresh compost, the goodness of organic fertilizer and some fresh soil. It took me two days and the help of my mother in law, but we did it.  

We have a visitor in the garden.

 Our neighbors have a very high pole in their front garden, on which the stork built a nest many years ago. Every year they come back to raise their new generation and they have just arrived from their winter home.

 These birds are impressing, wandering through the garden on the delicate legs and fingers crossed they eat some slugs and snails for breakfast.

 Last year has been a terrible season with a billion slugs and snails. I wasn’t able to collect them as fast as they were eating my lovely delphiniums. This year seems to be better and those delphiniums that have survived last year have lovely fresh green shoots and no sign of damage so far.

Spring is in full swing and so are the boarders in the front garden.

 It’s been the first time that I introduced fritillaria persica ‘ivory bells’ to the garden. Those majestic plants always intrigued me. I love all different members of the fritillaria family, but this Persian variety is just stunning. It grows up to staggering 90cm at a very early time in the year. It’s delicate cream-white and green bell shape flowers swing in the wind and it adds that extra special drama to your borders.

 Fritillaria persica is a bulb and therefore planted in late autumn, in order to have a magnificent display in the following spring. The bulb grows best in a sunny position and requires a rich but at the same time well drained soil. If it sits in very wet clay it will rot during the winter month.

 I definitely want to plant more of these bulbs this autumn to increase my stock. Which gardener could resist growing these? I certainly can’t.

 In this border I combined the fritillaria with tulip ‘twilight princess’, a white tulip with green veins, that matches the green bell shaped fritillaria and pure white hyacinths.

 In the front of the border are my epimedium x versicolor ‘sulphureum’ in full flower. As we had some late bitter cold frost I am very pleased to see that my epimedium survived it so well. The lavender wasn’t as fortuned. All plants died during this last late frost. Fortunately I have taken cuttings of some more robust lavender plants last year and will plant those in the bare spaces at the front of the border.

 The euphorbia seguieriana ssp. niciciana already forms beautiful dome shapes at the front of the border and later in the year they will be flowering in a lime yellow tone. As the year progresses are the colors going to change in this border. It is a tapestry of purple, lilac, lime and greenish yellow.

Before we can finally get ourselves going in the big replanting of the island bed, it’s time to sharpen the secateurs and cut back hard. The perennials and grasses dyed back over winter and were ready to be cleared. Some of the grasses are already showing some first fresh shoots coming form the base of the plant and delicate first green leaves are already appearing at sedums, monarda and iris. So there is no time but the present to cut it all back and open up the view.

Winter is truly the time when your garden is sleeping. It’s dormant and like the hibernating hedge hock resting in its shelter you don’t disturb it. You just observe it and enjoy the beauty of white frost forming on the ornamental grasses on a freezing day. The last rose hips and berries are beautiful color dots throughout the garden and a welcome source of food for visiting birds.

 Winter is also the time when you reflect the progress you made in your garden. You collect inspiration from books and magazines, you may start ordering your first seeds and you are planning ahead the projects you are aiming to get on with the next year.

 Our major project for this year will be the replanting of the island bed. This time I will approach it differently. I spend a lot of time researching for the right plants, made notes, collected images of plantings that I liked and finally it was time to put my ideas down to paper. So I locked myself in, rummaged my crayons from the bottom of my drawer and composed a planting plan.

 The planting is supposed to sit naturally in its environment. The goal is to create a rhythm by repeating the same perennials and grasses throughout the planting. Plants that I have grown successfully like stonecrop (Hylotelephium ‘Matrona’), feather reed grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’) or bearded iris ‘English Cottage’. As the evening sun is setting behind the island bed are red and hot colors glowing in the light. That’s why I want to introduce more red colors to the planting. I came across a beautiful red phlox called ‘ Freudenfeuer’ which has been breaded by Karl Foerster. This is a late summer flowering variety. It matches perfectly the red tone of the cogon grass with its hot colored and well-proportioned flower domes. Also does this phlox cope well with dry periods. Next to the red phlox do I want to introduce red bistorta (Persicaria amplexicaulis) ‘Firetail’ and ‘Taurus’) to the planting. Firetail grows taller and will be placed in front of the tall perennials, while Taurus is a slightly smaller specimen for the front of the planting. Red bistorta has a lot of interesting values, with it’s big, heart shaped leafs and the fiery red flower spikes adding a different texture to a planting. And finally I want to introduce Hydrangea paniculata to the island bed. The blossoms of this shrub appear white and turn crimson during the season.

 I want to follow a certain color scheme for the replanting of the island bed. It kicks off the flowering season with light lavender, blush and white blossom colors. Some of the plants have red or reddish leafs, such as Clematis recta ‘Purpurea’ or cogon grass (Imperata cylindrical ‘Rubra’). As the season dives into hot summer and late summer do the colors get warmer and richer, using red grasses and red flowering perennials.

Today I want to introduce another area of our garden to you. It’s the huge island bed in the center of our back garden.

 Sitting on our porch we have a straight view on the island bed, which meanders in a huge organic shape around two old walnut trees. Behind it is our lawn and you can enjoy a relaxing view over fields and wild meadows. It is playing with borrowed landscape.

 We started this bed off in the winter of 2015, by laying out the shape with bricks, removing the turf and adding fresh soil for a good plants growth. I can admit, that I had a general idea on how I envisioned the planting. I was aiming for a classic build up using perennials and ornamental grasses, with the higher plants in the center an the lower specimens at the front of the bed. The color scheme was based on light, pale and fresh colors, using blush, white and lavenders. As I didn’t do a proper planting plan, I started filling the gaps bit by bit and after two years I feel the planting doesn’t work for me.

Winter is always the perfect time to reflect why you are doing, what you are doing. You look at all the photos that you have taken of your garden over the last year and with a little distance you can judge things better: Does a planting excite you? Are your boarders interesting all year round? Do color combinations work and intrigue you?

 I can tell you what was intriguing me. During the long and cold winter month I just love to sit with a cup of tea, a biscuit and a good gardening book.  This winter I was obsessed with the book about the gardens of Beth Chatto. She is truly one of my gardening heroes and I’d love to visit her gardens in Elmstead Market in Essex one day.

 She has created amazing and the most versatile garden areas on her enormous 5-acre property at her home White Barn House. Those are including a woodland garden, a water garden with great ponds, a reservoir garden and a gravel garden. She is most famous for her statement ‘the right plant for the right place’.

 Let’s be honest, who didn’t try to grow a sun loving plant in half shade conditions? And ‘yes’ the plants are surviving but they were never at their best. After reading more about Beth Chatto and her philosophy I do pay attention to the needs of each plant. May it be the soil, water or light conditions they require.

It’s one of those rare days when you can actually sense it. The early sun tickles your cheeks, a dewy and mild scent fills your lungs and you know: Spring is on its way.

We had a fairly mild winter with some lovely white rambling roses still blooming next to the garage around Christmas time in our garden. Every time we parked the car this late beauty stunned us.

 Just when we wanted to get ourselves going, sharpened the secateurs to prune all the grasses and perennials back it was a late, arctic winter in end of February that brought minus 17 degreed during nighttime and heavy snow.  The garden was hiding under a thick blanket of white snow, crunching under your feed and protecting the garden from a bitter cold wind. The bird feeder was a busy hotspot with a doused of blue and grey tits, appreciating some sunflower seeds.

 It was only last weekend, when the temperatures were rising and the warming sun let the snow melt back. Finally the perfect weather to cut back the perennials and the ornamental grasses. The beds along the driveway are cut back to their bare bones now. It was just a couple of month ago when they were in their full glory, with the Miscanthus reaching high, the Pennisetum arching over and the purple flower heads of the Verbena dancing in the wind over the grasses. All the brown foliage has been taken out and it’s ready to start the new season.

 Grasses as Miscanthus or Pennisetum are cut back hard, so the new shoots can appear from the base of the plant, while Calamagrostis is treated different. The old flower stems are also cut back hard, while you comb with your fingers through the grass to remove all the old brown blades and leave the fresh green ones.

With this garden blog I want to take you on a tour throughout our gardening year. We, that is me and my husband gardening in our house right at the Baltic Sea. The garden is exposed to some harsh gales, that’s why it’s surrounded by hedges to protect our precious boarders.

Let me introduce you to one of our boarders. It’s the grass boarder right at the driveway to our house. We wanted to create a natural tapestry of different grasses and perennials using different plant height, flowers and structural appearance.

This boarder really comes to life by end of August. When the grasses are still small it’s the iris ‘English Cottage’ a reblooming bearded iris, in beautiful pale lilac and white tones that sets the scene in May. It’s only after it finishes flowering when the grasses gradually do take over and grow into their full glory. We used tall and upright Miscanthus, as the ‘Miscanthus giganteus’ mixed with the tall Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’, which changes it’s flowering color from brownish red into bronze tones over the season. The dome shaped Pennisetum ‘Hameln’ is arching over the driveway and softens the planting.

Blush and purple flowering colors set the tone for this boarder. The upright growing Sedum ‘Herbstfreude’ has beautiful fleshy leaves and horizontal growing, plate like pink flowers. In contrast stands the purple flowering Verbena Bonariensis. It’s flower heads are dancing over the boarder and it creates an airy and natural charm. Verbena is a self seeder and it finds it’s spot where it wants to grow best in the boarder.