You will be amazed at how fabulous Yvonne’s zone 7B residential garden is.
As a lover of roses going way back to my Babcia’s garden in New Jersey, my journey to learn as much as I can from rosarians took me to YouTube yet again. There I found a glorious garden tour of Yvonne’s multi-level, multi-room, multi-faceted garden. I know I have ten acres and could ultimately steal inspiration for many of her gardens, including her woodland garden, reflecting pond, white garden, a meadow, rose garden, allée, japanese garden, and more but the thought of completing a massive project like that can be overwhelming. So, I just started applying many of her garden design principles on my rose parterre.
Create garden rooms with deep layers of texture, repetition, and a sense of enclosure.
Looking at her space, she uses many, deep layers with abundant texture for visual interest and a sense of enclosure in each garden room. The first thing that struck me was the very lengthy hedge of European beech (which does not grow here but we have amazing alternative hedges) and a long row of European Hornbeam trees (also do not grow here) that truly define her space.
In this photo, you can see one of the garden rooms clearly defined with a border of boxwoods and entryway “portals” or arches covered in clematis and climbing or rambling roses. I prefer the look of her wooden gray blue arches to my white vinyl but c’est la vie. Her borders also consist of an annabelle hydrangea row (must find a substitute smooth hydrangea for Florida but there are several choices that work in zone 9 from ProvenWinners that flop less and rebloom more although they must be shaded from hot afternoon sun in Tampa), leonardo da vinci and ballerina roses, salvia, and other perennial flowering plants. I wish I could grow hardy geranium here but, alas, I can’t. Perhaps I will try Tartarian asters instead and add in some verbena bonariensis. Yvonne’s color scheme meshes with my ideal palette using colors of white, pink, and lavender. Unlike Jenny from Creekside, Yvonne uses annuals strategically but sparingly.
Give yourself a place to rest and enjoy the view
Yvonne incorporates many seating areas, particularly benches right in the midst of her plantings. Here, she provides a respite from the sun with an arbor covered nook covered in Hurricane Katrina/Peggy Martin roses. My alcove is still a work in progress but instead of the sign with the quote, I plan to put an oval window for a sneak peek to the sun bed behind.
This view is perhaps the most influential for my garden design (although mine is a mere two months old, while Yvonne’s is several years older). I love the way she echos the gray blue throughout all of her gardens on her arbors, arches and tuteurs.
Since she has the hornbeam walls for structure, I planted four evergreen Taylor junipers in my kidney shaped garden as a backdrop to the rose parterre.
Every tree is an opportunity to make a statement
After viewing this video, I immediately purchased several varieties of trees to help make garden walls: Chinese Fringe tree, Tri-colored Dappled Willow, Evergreen Junipers (Taylor and Skyrocket), Catawba Crape Myrtles, and a Little Gem Magnolia.
This photo just takes my breath away. I know I can’t grow astilbe here, but perhaps cockscomb/celosia or even muhly grass. I know pentas don’t have that fluffy feel but they would work as a nice full pink flower in the summer. Or, take a page from Jenny at Creekside and fille the space with supertunias, verbena, and salvias.
A replacement for the alliums might be something like agapanthas or liatris. The tree can be a crape myrtle or even a chaste tree. The meatball spheres can be either boxwood, yaupon hollies, or perhaps inkberry holly. While I haven’t tried lambs ears here, I have had luck with artemisia in the shade.
Structured Pathways
As you can see from this photo, not only did I purchase the dappled willows, but I took my inspiration for the walkways from Yvonne’s garden. I placed granite Belgian blocks to line the paths but opted for not pea gravel but Tahitian granite instead since it is more readily available near my home. While I haven’t yet lined my paths with boxwood (I may or may not), I did use the central water feature to inspire the purchase of my “Gaia” goddess pond statue.
Eat the elephant one bite at a time
One source of empathy where I can totally relate is that she had a huge space of invasive grasses that overwhelmed her, and she couldn’t deal with it. At some point, they decided to remove the grasses and wild onions and that became her native pollinator meadow garden. I too have an enormous number of invasive grasses that I try to ignore but they are taking over the woods and are starting to creep up on my landscape plants. As a matter of fact, this morning I went ballistic pulling them out by the roots, with all their millions of seed heads, only to barely make a dent. Between these grasses, the American Beautyberries, stink vine, Virginia creeper, grapevines, green shrimp plants, and smilax, (among a ton of others), I know I have a pretty tough row to hoe.
Some of the plants in this area I have not had luck with or know are not suited for my zone like allium, echinacea, dogwoods, heuchera, nepeta, irises, lilacs, peonies, astilbe, and Russian sage (tried but failed every time). If you know of good alternatives, shoot me an email please! I do know that coreopsis, lilies, monarda, redbuds, and grasses grow well here. I will give Joe Pye weed and agastache another try since I never did get mine to take. But persistence is key!
Future Inspiration
I’m not anywhere near ready to tackle my woods but at some point (maybe five years from now? lol), I will clear out my overgrown woods, install irrigation, and start planting my woodland garden. Here is one small entry photo from Yvonne’s garden for an achievable, bite sized slice of inspiration.
