Formal or informal garden design

Images of works by Monet, Renoir, and Van Gogh as screensavers are available for free at the following site. You get over 60 images.

http://microimg.com/screensaver/index.html



jack-in-the-pulpit

A ten year oldshadbush serviceberry amelanchier canadensis in bloom is shown between a pink flowering apple and a chokecherry prunus virginiana. The intent is to frame the driveway in flowers in the spring and foliage color in the fall with bronze,deep yellow,and reddish orange. Hopefully it will fill in the space provided snugly.

Shaping of the scots pine out back continues. Final thinning is shown in the April 2003 (the middle one) photo. This year's growth was trimmed back just last week,and annual clipping should suffice for about three or four more years to achieve a desired bushy bonsai-like appearance.




February 2003 April 2003 June 2003

Here's my garden. This picture was taken today. Sorry, but the image was 'canceled,' because of the high mp load. Will try to reduce, and try again. c.i.

I visited Giverny a couple of years ago and it is absolutely beautiful. The 'formal' part has an underlying formal structure of paths and arches and rectangular beds - but then the plants are allowed to run riot and explode into growth and create patches of colour that sweep along. The plants aren't confined in a formal way.

I like informal. My small city garden is a little piece of countryside with plants tangling into each other and creating a private enclosed extra room. I am lucky to have high fences and they are covered with a riot of climbing roses, honeysuckle, clematis, solanum and other climbers. I planted a campsis last year and hope it will flower this year.

Around the patio i have old Victorian chimney pots with annuals, perennnials and trailers in to soften the edges.

I love my garden!

Some of your gardens sound amazing and very large - sighs of envy...

Vivien, your garden sounds fabulous. And chimneypots! We don't see a lot of those here..I have a catalog for some, and think they're wonderful.

CI, I can't see your garden picture...maybe that is just my computer.

osso, Look again. c.i.

and now I find it hard to see...this time maybe it is my eyes. Looks like a bird's eye view...

osso, You've seen those art works on rice grains haven't you? LOL c.i.

hmm, I just passed rice fields on my way back and forth from Sacramento this week.

Try again? Last time. c.i.

Ah, that's better! Now it seems very charming...
Is that gravel as a central space? (I love gravel..)

When you're down this way, I'll show you the "real" thing. c.i.

OK!

Over three tons of gravel for low maintenance huge back yard. c.i.

Neko nomad's chronicle of his work in progress continues. Shown here is a maintenance path, terraced to conform with a slope, under construction,with a vinyl pipe for a sprinkler system also being installed. It will allow access to a lilac hedge(on the left) for trimming in order to maintain a managable size,about six feet or so. And a series of privet obelisks,along with the PG hydrangia, will be established on the right. Together the privet and lilacs should provide a good privacy screen. This is a DIY project which,hopefully , I'll live to see completed.

The same scene, about nine months later . This border is inching along toward a structured look. As the shrub screen develops, the flower beds will be rearranged.

Crocus time,spring 2004. Lifting and dividing in August should yield enough bulbs to complete the border alongside the path for next spring.

Summer , 2004.

Borrowing a bit from Monet's gardener, I'm now at work on an iris bed.
Shown here is Day 1 on the job. I have enough divisions for five rows in a 10' x 4' bed. The first day entailed lifting iris plants and cleaning the bed of foreign growth (weeds).
Should have them all in by tomorrow.

Waiting to see faux Monet's garden soon! LOL

hmmmm, I can't link to any of these sites.... maybe I need to reboot.

Hi, c.i. -- Who doesn't count the iris among his/ her favorite flowers ? Since it'll be set in the compact dimensions of a backyard garden, this bed will stand out quite prominently. The blooms are ice blue colored.

A leap of faith,really, since I don't know how tightly together tall bearded irises will grow.

Another feature I'm pondering over is what to choose as a dark backdrop so as to showcase them.
I have some rooted yew cuttings which could be kept about waist high. Or maybe a row of tall growing Siberian rises, which are plentiful back there.

Stay tuned; I'll update the post with edits to show significant changes.

added: I'm going to use a Japanese iris to frame this bed . It grows to about 3 feet high and is fairly prolific so as to form a tight foliar frame for the tall bearded ones in the bed.

added: I had about fifty percent success rate with the transplants. Hopefully, in about three years I'll have a massed display of this iris: