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The curve garden

 

At first, there was a cutting garden. It was meant for Amy to have a constant supply of nice flowers to arrange into bouquets. The idea, of course, was that Amy would select and grow these nice flowers. As with many good intentions, it didn't quite happen this way, so that I usually wound up making the selections for what to grow in this plot. Almost all annuals, but not exactly your standard cutflowers... Some (like nigella) self-seed with abandon, others start taking up jungle aspirations by the end of the season. So for years, it was more fun than functional, and that was OK.


Picture taken August 2004. As you see, our neighbors replaced the privet hedge (in the photo above) with a row of arborvitae. As long as there's a green backdrop, we're happy.

curve garden construction

Some years ago, I decided the cutting garden concept had run its course, and I undertook a project to expand both the cutting garden and the herb garden (which had occupied a similar lobe just a bit further back along the edge of the yard), so that they combined into a new "curve garden". The two former gardens still exist as distinct lobes, but they are connected in the center, where a large boulder left over from the construction of our swimming pond holds court. The concept of the new garden was fairly simple: it would hold sun-loving flowers, whose former places in the garden were slowly but surely becoming shadier as trees grew larger. Nothing too formal, but definitely with some planning and organization. As usual, the latter hasn't really come through, so that the curve garden is still almost as wild a place as the cutting garden was. But I still hold out hope that it will become that sweet colorful border that I envisioned – one of these years.


The middle part of the curve garden, early June 2015. Those arborvitaes on the neighbors' side gave up the ghost, so no more green backdrop.

Currently growing in the front lobe of the curve garden

Abelmoschus manihot (flowering okra)
Adenophora khasiana (ladybells)
Adenophora stenanthina
Allium carinatum ssp. pulchellum (keeled garlic)
Allium cernuum (nodding onion)
Amsonia orientalis
Aquilegia ecalcarata (spurless columbine)
Baptisia alba var. alba (white false indigo)
Baptisia alba var. macrophylla (white false indigo; prairie false indigo)
Calycanthus floridus (Carolina allspice; sweetshrub)
Campanula incurva (bellflower)
Campanula portenschlagiana
Campanula trachelium (bats-in-the-belfry, nettle-leaved bellflower)
Cephalaria gigantea (golden scalehead)
Chrysanthemum weyrichii
Clematis terniflora var. mandshurica (Manchurian clematis)
Consolida regalis (regal knight's spur; field larkspur)
Dahlia 'Jazz' and 'Bishop of Llandaff'
Dianthus amurensis 'Siberian Blues' (Amur pink)
Dianthus species (pink)
Digitalis grandiflora (yellow foxglove)
Digitalis parviflora (foxglove)
Erodium manescavii (heronsbill)
Fothergilla gardenii 'Mt. Airy' (dwarf witch-alder)
Geum magellanicum
Helictotrichon sempervirens (blue oat grass)
Heliopsis helianthoides (false sunflower)
Hemerocallis lilioasphodelus (night-blooming daylily)
Hibiscus trionum (flower of an hour)
Inula sp. (elecampane)
Iris cristata (dwarf crested iris)
Iris ensata (Japanese iris)
Lathyrus odoratus (sweet pea)
Liatris borealis (New England blazing star)
Liatris scariosa (plains blazing star)
Lilium formosanum (formosa lily)
Lilium henryi (trumpet lily)
Limonium gerberi (sea lavender)
Linum lewisii (blue flax)
Lobelia siphilitica (great blue lobelia)
Lobelia x gerardii (purple lobelia)
Melica altissima 'Atropurpurea' (Siberian melic grass)
Monarda austromontana (lemon beebalm)
Nandina domestica (heavenly bamboo)
Narcissus 'Tahiti' (daffodil)
Orlaya grandiflora (minoan lace)
Paeonia ostii (tree peony)
Papaver orientale (oriental poppy)
Papaver somniferum (bread poppy; opium poppy)
Papaver triniifolium (Armenian poppy)
Phyteuma vagneri
Rudbeckia maxima (giant coneflower)
Salvia dumetorum (Siberian sage)
Salvia subrotunda (hummingbird sage)
Salvia tiliifolia (lindenleaf sage; tarahumara chia)
Sanguisorba menziesii (Menzies' burnet)
Scutellaria integrifolia (hyssop skullcap; large skullcap)
Scutellaria pontica (skullcap)
Sedum 'Stardust' (showy stonecrop)
Sedum caeruleum (azure stonecrop)
Stachys minor (little betony)
Syneilesis aconitifolia (shredded umbrella plant)
Thalictrum chelidonii (meadow rue)
Thermopsis chinensis 'Sophia' (dwarf southern lupine, pea bush)
Unidentified (unknown)
Verbena bonariensis (purple-top vervain)

Currently growing in the back lobe of the curve garden

Agastache hybrids (hyssop)
Agastache pallidiflora var. neomexicana (anise hyssop)
Allium stellatum (prairie onion)
Allium tanguticum (lavender globe lily)
Amaranthus hybrids (amaranth)
Amorpha nana (dwarf false indigo)
Amsonia illustris (Ozark blue star; shining blue star)
Anthericum ramosum (branched St Bernard's lily)
Aquilegia vulgaris (columbine)
Arabis alpina 'Snowcap' (mountain rockcress)
Asphodelus cerasiferus
Asphodelus ramosus (silverrod; branched asphodel; king's spear)
Atropa belladonna var. lutea (yellow-flowered deadly nightshade)
Baptisia australis (false indigo)
Baptisia bracteata var. leucophaea
Baptisia sphaerocarpa (yellow baptisia)
Bupleurum griffithii 'Decor' (thorough-wax)
Callicarpa bodinieri var. giraldii (Bodinier's beautyberry)
Campanula latifolia subsp. latifolia (bellflower)
Campanula punctata (spotted bellflower)
Cercis chinensis (Chinese redbud)
Clarkia speciosa ssp. immaculata (Pismo clarkia)
Codonopsis lanceolata (bonnet bellflower)
Coreopsis verticillata 'Broad Street' (thread-leaf tickseed)
Digitalis mariana (foxglove)
Echinacea tennesseensis (Tennessee coneflower)
Euphorbia cyathophora (summer poinsettia)
Gladiolus communis ssp. byzantinus (corn flags)
Goniolimon incanum 'Sea Spray' (lavender statice)
Gypsophila oldhamiana (Manchurian baby's breath)
Helenium autumnale (Helen's flower, sneezeweed)
Heliopsis helianthoides (false sunflower)
Hemerocallis 'Pandora's Box' (daylily)
Hypericum androsaemum 'Albury Purple' (purple St John's wort)
Iris ensata (Japanese iris)
Iris ochroleuca
Lavatera cachemiriana (lavatera)
Liatris scariosa (plains blazing star)
Lilium (lilies (various species and hybrids))
Lilium henryi (trumpet lily)
Lilium regale 'Album' (royal lily; regal lily)
Lunaria annua (honesty; moneyplant)
Lychnis kiusiana
Magnolia 'Ann'
Monarda austromontana (lemon beebalm)
Monarda bradburiana (eastern beebalm)
Oenothera glazioviana (red-sepal evening primrose)
Orlaya grandiflora (minoan lace)
Paeonia (garden peony)
Papaver orientale (oriental poppy)
Papaver rupifragum (Spanish poppy)
Papaver somniferum (bread poppy; opium poppy)
Penstemon cardinalis ssp. cardinalis (scarlet penstemon; pride of the mountain)
Penstemon tenuis (Gulf Coast penstemon)
Petrorhagia prolifera (proliferous pink)
Potentilla argyrophylla
Scutellaria baicalensis (Chinese skullcap)
Silene chalcedonica (Maltese cross)
Sophora davidii (shrub pagoda tree)
Telekia speciosa (ox-eye daisy)
Teucrium halacsyanum
Thermopsis villosa (Carolina lupine, Aaron's rod)
Tripora divaricata (bluebeard)
Verbascum chaixii 'Album' (nettle-leaved mullein)
Verbena bonariensis (purple-top vervain)

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Last modified: June 17, 2015
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