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Side garden

 

Off to the right of the patio, you can stroll into the side garden. The photo above (taken in June 2008) shows the shrub border on the left, which provides a visual barrier between the side garden and the big pond with the rest of the back yard. A split-rail fence runs through the shrub border, part of our pond security enclosure. The mixed border along the path is one of the cushiest parts of the garden, receiving morning sun and some shade in the afternoon, and supplemental water in periods of drought. This is where the prima donnas come to live!

The side garden, of course, wraps around the side of the house, and emerges into the "Lane" in front of the house, where it connects up with the front walkway. Paved with colonial wall stone (interplanted with various weeds), it is supposed to be our showcase garden for relatively well-behaved plants. Problem is, we really don't know up front which plants will be well-behaved, and we made a few wrong guesses.  So this garden is still in a constant state of upheaval.  One day, it will be just right (yeah, right...). The picture above, taken from atop the back yard island hill, shows a view of the side garden from the back. The weeping cherry has often been a home to nesting doves.
This year, we re-installed our tub pond in the shrub border part of the side garden. We had removed the galvanized tub when the kids got to the age where they might tumble in and not be able to get back out. Not that it would be easy to get into - the pond is set in the middle of lush-growing plants ( anemone, wild oats, and soapwort). Amy caught a fish from our main pond to combat mosquito larvae, and the cattails, blue flag, and waterlily hailed from the same source. It's nice to have some water back there.

Early spring - the cherry, having been in blossom for about a week, is dropping its petals, carpeting the garden below in pink. Spring bulbs provide extra color, while most perennials have pushed up and are preparing for their own show.

Through the years, the side garden has become ever shadier – mostly courtesy of the large weeping cherry, but our variegated Japanese elm has grown quite big as well. So the area between those two trees is now mostly a shade garden, receiving only dappled sunshine during most of the year. The photo above shows a late-May snapshot, with hostas, Syneilesis, ligularia, hellebore, and cranesbills in dominant roles.

A partial list of plants we used to grow in this garden area

Acanthus mollis (bear's breeches)
Achillea tomentosa (woolly yarrow)
Aconitum carmichaelii (monkshood)
Ajuga reptans (bugleweed)
Alchemilla mollis (lady's mantle)
Allium aflatunense (Persian onion)
Allium carinatum ssp. pulchellum (keeled garlic)
Allium cernuum (nodding onion)
Amsonia 'Blue Ice' (blue star)
Amsonia elliptica
Amsonia illustris (Ozark blue star; shining blue star)
Anemone palmata (yellow anemone)
Anemone tomentosa 'Robustissima' (grape-leaf anemone)
Anemone x hybrida 'Andrea Atkinson' and 'Honorine Jobert' (Japanese windflower (white forms))
Anemone x hybrida 'Prince Henry' (Japanese windflower)
Anisocampium niponicum 'Pictum' and 'Regal Red' (Japanese painted fern)
Aquilegia alpina (blue alpine columbine)
Aquilegia canadensis (wild red columbine)
Aquilegia ecalcarata (spurless columbine)
Aquilegia fragrans (sweet-scented columbine)
Aquilegia oxysepala (columbine)
Aquilegia pyrenaica (Pyrenees columbine)
Aquilegia shockleyi (desert columbine)
Aquilegia vulgaris (columbine)
Aristolochia tomentosa (Dutchman's pipe)
Aruncus aethusifolius (dwarf goat's beard)
Asarum canadense (Canadian wild ginger)
Asparagus schoberioides
Asperula orientalis (blue woodruff)
Astilbe (miscellaneous hybrids)
Astilbe chinensis (dwarf chinese astilbe)
Astrantia major (masterwort)
Barnardia japonica (squill)
Begonia grandis ssp. evansiana (hardy begonia)
Bergenia purpurascens (elephant's ears)
Bistorta amplexicaulis 'Firetail' (fleeceflower)
Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost' and 'Variegata' (false forget-me-not)
Calamintha grandiflora 'Variegata' (variegated calamint, wild basil)
Calamintha nepeta (nepitella)
Campanula alliariifolia (ivory bellflower)
Campanula cochlearifolia (fairy's thimbles)
Campanula latifolia subsp. latifolia (bellflower)
Campanula rapunculoides (creeping bellflower; rampion bellflower)
Campanula rhomboidalis
Campanula rotundifolia (Scotch harebell)
Campanula trachelium (bats-in-the-belfry, nettle-leaved bellflower)
Carex albula 'Frosty Curls' (curly sedge)
Carex grayi (Gray's sedge)
Carex morrowii 'Ice Dance' (variegated sedge)
Carex muskingumensis 'Wachtposten' (palm sedge)
Carex oshimensis (variegated sedge)
Carex pendula (weeping sedge)
Carex testacea (sedge)
Chaenomeles 'Toyo Nishiki' (flowering quince)
Chamerion dodonaei
Chasmanthium latifolium (sea oats)
Chionodoxa luciliae (glory of the snow)
Chrysanthemum koreanum 'Sheffield' (pink daisy mum)
Chrysogonum virginianum (Virginia yellow stars)
Clematis integrifolia
Clematis recta var. purpurea (ground clematis)
Cleome houtteana (spider flower)
Clethra alnifolia 'Hummingbird' (sweet pepperbush)
Codonopsis clematidea (Asian bellflower)
Codonopsis mollis
Codonopsis ovata
Codonopsis thalictrifolia
Colchicum 'Waterlily' and 'Giant' (autumn crocus)
Conoclinium coelestinum (hardy ageratum; mistflower)
Coreopsis grandiflora 'Early Sunrise' (bigflower tickseed)
Cornus alternifolia (pagoda dogwood)
Corydalis lutea (yellow corydalis)
Cyananthus microphyllus
Cyclamen hederifolium
Deutzia 'Peek-a-boo'
Dianthus amurensis 'Siberian Blues' (Amur pink)
Dicentra spectabilis (bleeding heart)
Digitalis grandiflora (yellow foxglove)
Digitalis lutea (straw foxglove)
Digitalis thapsi (pink foxglove)
Dioscorea polystachya (cinnamon vine, Chinese yam)
Dryopteris goldiana (Goldie's wood fern)
Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower)
Elephantopus carolinianus (elephant's foot)
Epimedium grandiflorum 'Lilafee' (lilac fairy barrenwort)
Epimedium x versicolor 'Sulphureum' (bicolor barrenwort; bishop's hat)
Eragrostis curvula (weeping lovegrass)
Erica x darleyensis (Dale Darley heath)
Eryngium planum (flat sea holly)
Euonymus fortunei (winter creeper)
Euonymus fortunei 'Moonshadow' (wintercreeper)
Euphorbia amygdaloides (wood spurge)
Euphorbia polychroma (cushion spurge)
Exochorda x macrantha 'The Bride' (pearlbush)
Festuca glauca (blue fesque grass)
Filipendula palmata 'Nana' (Siberian meadowsweet)
Filipendula rubra (queen of the prairie, meadowsweet)
Filipendula vulgaris (dropwort)
Galium odoratum (sweet woodruff)
Gentiana cruciata (cross gentian)
Gentiana tibetica (Tibetan gentian)
Geranium 'Rozanne' (cranesbill)
Geranium clarkei 'Kashmir White'
Geranium endressii 'Wargrave's Pink' (cranesbill)
Geranium macrorrhizum (bigroot cranesbill)
Geranium phaeum (mourning widow geranium)
Geranium x cantabrigiense (mountain cranesbill)
Gladiolus x nana 'Atom'
Gomphrena globosa (globe amaranth)
Helleborus foetidus (stinking hellebore, bear's-paw hellebore)
Helleborus lividus subsp. corsicus (Corsican hellebore)
Helleborus niger (Christmas rose)
Helleborus x hybridus (lenten rose)
Heuchera americana 'Dale's Strain' (alum root)
Heuchera hybrids (alum root)
Heuchera villosa 'Autumn Bride' (hairy alum root)
Hosta 'Sun Power' (plantain lily)
Hosta 'Undulata Mediovariegata' (plantain lily)
Hosta 'Whirlwind' (plantain lily)
Hosta hybrids (plantain lily)
Houttuynia cordata (chameleon plant)
Hydrangea macrophylla 'Nikko Blue' (bigleaf hydrangea)
Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight' (hortensia)
Hydrangea quercifolia (oak-leaf hydrangea)
Hypericum androsaemum 'Albury Purple' (purple St John's wort)
Ipomoea hederifolia (ivy-leaf morning glory)
Iris (tall bearded hybrids) (bearded iris)
Iris ensata (Japanese iris)
Iris sibirica (Siberian iris)
Isodon excisus
Kalimeris incisa (cutleaf Japanese aster)
Kalimeris pinnatifida (Japanese aster)
Kalimeris yomena 'Geisha' (Japanese aster)
Kalmia latifolia 'Elf' and 'Keepsake' (mountain laurel)
Kirengeshoma palmata (yellow waxbells)
Kolkwitzia amabilis 'Pink Cloud' (beautybush)
Lamium galeobdolon 'Herman's Pride' (yellow archangel)
Lamium maculatum (deadnettle)
Lathyrus vernus (spring vetch; everlasting sweet pea)
Leucosceptrum japonicum 'Mountain Madness' (Japanese shrub mint)
Leucosceptrum stellipilum (shrub mint)
Ligularia dentata (golden groundsel, leopard plant)
Ligularia fischeri
Ligularia japonica
Ligularia sibirica
Ligularia stenocephala 'The Rocket' (narrow-leaf ligularia)
Ligularia veitchiana
Lilium rosthornii (Rosthorn's lily)
Lilium superbum (Turk's cap lily)
Linaria triornithophora (three birds flying)
Lobelia siphilitica (great blue lobelia)
Lobelia x gerardii (purple lobelia)
Lonicera tatarica (Tatarian honeysuckle)
Lysimachia punctata (yellow loosestrife; circle flower)
Malus sargentii (Sargent's crab apple)
Melica ciliata (silky melic grass)
Melittis melissophyllum 'Royal Velvet Distinction'
Mertensia virginica (Virginia bluebells)
Narcissus miniatures (miniature daffodils)
Nepeta racemosa (catmint)
Ophiopogon planiscapus (mondo grass)
Paeonia suffruticosa (tree peony)
Penstemon cobaea (showy beard-tongue)
Phlomis cashmeriana (Kashmir sage)
Phlomis russeliana (Jerusalem sage)
Phlomis tuberosa (Jerusalem sage)
Phlox divaricata (wild blue phlox)
Phlox paniculata (garden phlox)
Phlox stolonifera (creeping phlox; woodland phlox)
Physocarpus opulifolius (ninebark)
Phyteuma vagneri
Plantago asiatica 'Variegata' (variegated plantain)
Polemonium caeruleum ssp. yezoense (Jacob's ladder)
Polemonium caeruleum subsp. villosum 'Blue master' (Jacob's ladder)
Polygonatum humile (dwarf Solomon's seal)
Potentilla megalantha (strawberry cinquefoil)
Primula veris 'Sunset shades' and 'Red Strain' (English cowslip)
Prunus subhirtella 'Pendula plena rosea' (weeping Higan cherry)
Pseudocydonia sinensis (Chinese quince)
Pulmonaria longifolia 'E.B. Anderson' and 'Diana Clare' (longleaf lungwort)
Pulsatilla vulgaris (pasque flower)
Ranunculus gramineus (grassy-leaved buttercup)
Rhododendron 'Gumpo Pink' (azalea)
Rhododendron 'Vulcan'
Rosa (rose)
Salvia flava var. megalantha
Salvia lyrata (lyre-leaf sage)
Salvia nemorosa (meadow sage)
Sanguisorba tenuifolia var. purpurea (purple burnet; oriental burnet)
Saponaria officinalis 'Flore Pleno' (soapwort, bouncing bet)
Sasa masamuneana (white-striped dwarf bamboo)
Saxifraga stolonifera (strawberry begonia)
Scutellaria altissima (tall skullcap)
Sedum aizoon (stonecrop)
Sedum caeruleum (azure stonecrop)
Sisymbrium luteum
Spiraea japonica 'Goldflame' (Japanese spirea)
Spiranthes odorata (fragrant ladies' tresses)
Stachys densiflora 'Hummelo' (alpine betony)
Stachys minor (little betony)
Succisa pratensis (devilsbit scabious)
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae 'Purple Dome' (New England aster)
Symphytum officinale (comfrey)
Syneilesis aconitifolia (shredded umbrella plant)
Syneilesis palmata (palmate umbrella plant)
Tanacetum parthenium 'Aureum' (golden feverfew)
Thalictrum aquilegiifolium (meadow rue)
Thalictrum chelidonii (meadow rue)
Thalictrum dasycarpum (purple meadow rue)
Thalictrum kiusianum (dwarf meadow rue)
Thalictrum lucidum (shining meadow rue)
Thalictrum pubescens (tall meadow rue)
Thalictrum rochebrunianum (lavender mist meadow rue)
Thermopsis lanceolata (golden pea, golden banner)
Thymus (creeping thyme)
Tiarella cordifolia (foamflower)
Tradescantia virginiana (spiderwort)
Trollius chinensis 'Golden Queen' (globeflower)
Vernonia lettermannii (ironweed)
Veronica longifolia 'Blauriesin' (long-leaf speedwell)
Veronica repens (creeping speedwell)
Viola labradorica (Labrador violet)
Viola mandshurica 'Fuji Dawn' (Manchurian violet)
Waldsteinia ternata (barren strawberry)
Weigela florida
Zelkova serrata 'Goshiki' (variegated Japanese elm)

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Last modified: November 05, 2017
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