Two Fall Gardens
Charles Cresson’s flower garden peaks in fall.
Although I have many beautiful fall-blooming plants at Carolyn’s Shade Gardens and the gardens are quite pretty in fall, there is no area of the garden that peaks then. Recently I visited two gardens specifically designed to be at their height in fall, and I want to show you the plants they used. The first is the garden of Dru and Maurie Kring, which I visited during the Scott Associates’ Garden Day on October 5. The second is the garden of Charles Cresson, which I visited during the Hardy Plant Society’s Fall Members’ Garden Tour, which took place September 6.
Nursery News: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, PA, specializing in showy, colorful, and unusual plants for shade. The only plants that we ship are snowdrops and miniature hostas. For catalogues and announcements of events, please send your full name, location, and phone number (for back up use only) to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com. Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.
.
The main border on the terrace of the Kring property is backed by a stone wall and lines a beautiful terrace on the top of a hill overlooking three ponds—quite a setting.
.
A close up the bed featuring dahlias, phlox, and coreopsis.
.
The other end of the bed with white phlox, re-bloomimg white iris, salvia, and sedum.
.
The flagstone terrace interplanted with six varieties of thyme features a riot of salvias purchased at the herb society’s annual sale.
.
The color combination in the salvia border is stunning.
.
Charles Cresson’s garden is a joy to visit at any time of year, but I was especially impressed with his flower garden this fall. While other gardens are fading, Charles has created an area that reaches perfection in September and October. Although I visited towards the beginning of September, Charles assures me that the garden looked glorious this week when a garden tour from England visited, led by the British garden designer, lecturer, and author Noel Kingsbury. They were impressed, and I am sure you will be too.
.
This photo shows the full length of the Cresson flower garden from above on August 24 (photo provided by Charles Cresson).
.
Here you see the same view on October 2. Although some of the featured plants have gone by, others have taken center stage to keep the display fresh and beautiful (photo provided by Charles Cresson).
.
The fall flower garden forms a semicircle backed by a white picket fence. The bed is eight feet deep, and the part I am showing, which is to the left of the green ceramic urn in the panoramic shots, is forty feet long.
.
Plants are carefully chosen not only for the color and bloom time of their flowers but also for their height, leaf color, texture, and habit—nothing is left to chance. This garden is a lot of work, but Charles says it is worth it for the fresh look at a time when gardens are going by for the year.
.
Although cannas, dahlias, and tender salvias are very important to the design, perennials like phlox, rudbeckia, and helenium (sneezeweed) play a prominent role.
.
The lespedeza on the back right is actually in a garden behind the fence and looks gorgeous there too.
.
orange salvia, dahlias, cannas, and helenium
.
rudbeckia, phlox, and salvia
.
It was fun to visit these two well-designed gardens and realize that the gardening season is not over after all.
Carolyn
Nursery Happenings: You can sign up to receive notifications of sales and events at the nursery by sending your full name and phone number to carolynsshadegardens@verizon.net.
Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.
If you are within visiting distance and would like to receive catalogues and information about customer events, please send your full name and phone number to carolynsshadegardens@verizon.net. Subscribing to my blog does not sign you up to receive this information.
Facebook: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens has a Facebook Page where I post single photos, garden tips, and other information that doesn’t fit into a blog post. You can look at my Facebook page here or click the Like button on my right sidebar here.
Notes: Every word that appears in orange on my blog is a link that you can click for more information. If you want to return to my blog’s homepage to access the sidebar information (catalogues, previous articles, etc.) or to subscribe to my blog, just click here.
CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS 
October 12, 2014 at 3:41 pm
This is a testament to the beauty of fall gardens! The rich colors are so appealing. I confess that when I saw the title of your post, I thought I was going to see gardens featuring fall foliage, not flowers!
October 12, 2014 at 5:42 pm
Deb, I hope you were pleasantly surprised to see flowers instead. Carolyn
October 13, 2014 at 5:48 pm
Yes, I was very pleasantly surprised, and I was also inspired to immediately start planning (dreaming) about adding more salvias, asters, and other fall bloomers to my own garden!
October 13, 2014 at 9:16 pm
I have fall bloomers all over my garden, but there is something to be said for massing them.
October 12, 2014 at 7:42 pm
These must have been fun to see in person. Both are lovely.
October 13, 2014 at 9:53 am
They were fun to see, uplifting at this time of year. I am not sure that I would want to put in the work to make a garden like this happen at Carolyn’s Shade Gardens though. Carolyn
October 12, 2014 at 9:10 pm
Beautiful, both gardens look great! I love the salvias in both gardens, and the way they’re all blended together is brilliant. I wish I had a local herb society offering something like that!
We had a light frost last night, the fall garden is on the run here in the mountains.
October 13, 2014 at 9:55 am
Frank, I am always torn this time of year between wanting the garden to go on forever and wishing for a final frost so I can get to work closing down. Of course, quite a few plants like cyclamen, beautyberry, and camellias are just starting to do their thing. Carolyn
October 13, 2014 at 2:48 pm
Carolyn, Are you familiar with the October-blooming shade plant Rabdosia longituba, aka tubesocks plant? It’s got airy scapes of tiny flowers, 3 to 4 feet tall – either white or periwinkle blue. Truth is, the plant is late to grow in, rather unremarkable until it flowers. But having something bloom in the shade this late in the season makes it a worthwhile plant to find.
October 13, 2014 at 9:13 pm
Eric, I don’t know the plant but I must admit that the common name is intriguing. Will have to look for it. Carolyn
October 13, 2014 at 6:57 pm
Beautiful gardens Carolyn. Many of the same flowers in these bloom earlier here and are gone by October, late Sept. I wish I could plant more dahlias. They do not grow well for me and then I have no reliable spot to store them if I lift them. But I do love them.
October 13, 2014 at 9:12 pm
Donna, I don’t grow dahlias either—too much work. I actually don’t grow any annuals. Charles is constantly deadheading his plants to keep them going. Carolyn
October 14, 2014 at 8:07 am
Loved the Dahlias in the Krings property Carolyn, most of our garden is taken up with perennials but I have a few spots where I plan to have Dahlias in for next year. Charles Cresson’s garden, well, what can you say, (just my cup of tea)
October 14, 2014 at 9:10 pm
Alistair, I actually thought of you when I wrote this post because Charles’s flower garden reminds me of your colorful Aberdeen creations. I knew you would love it. Carolyn
October 14, 2014 at 9:15 am
Hi Carolyn, did he happen to mention the name of the yellow sneezeweed/helenium? Mine stopped blooming in September! How I would love to see them in flower now.
October 14, 2014 at 9:08 pm
Patty, My photos of Charles’s garden were taken September 6 and looking at his October 2 photo I think the helenium is done. I believe it’s H. autumnale. I sent him an email asking about it. Carolyn
October 15, 2014 at 1:01 pm
Thanks Carolyn
October 15, 2014 at 8:07 pm
Charles confirms that the Helenium is in fact autumnale. He isn’t sure exactly when it stopped blooming but said he deadheads it regularly to make it bloom longer.
October 14, 2014 at 4:42 pm
Wow, beautiful! I have some areas of annuals that are still going strong, but things are really winding down here, other than the sporadic plant. It’s great to see some gardens that have been specifically planned to peak in fall!
October 14, 2014 at 9:02 pm
Indie, At this time of year, I often get anxious for things to wind down more quickly so I can clean it all out and be done, rather silly. After all the fall-blooming camellias haven’t started yet and the hardy cyclamen and toad-lily Sinonome are just coming into full bloom. Carolyn
October 14, 2014 at 8:47 pm
Wow! Wouldn’t I like to be there in person?!! 😉 thanks for the tour.
October 14, 2014 at 8:58 pm
SG, glad you enjoyed the tour and took the time to comment. Carolyn
October 16, 2014 at 8:43 am
Beautiful gardens! Thanks for sharing! They are really gorgeous!
October 16, 2014 at 6:33 pm
Natalie, Glad you enjoyed them. Carolyn
October 16, 2014 at 9:50 am
Love both of these stunning gardens, Carolyn. Your pictures, especially of the Cressen flower garden, make me want to widen all my borders. P. x
October 16, 2014 at 6:33 pm
Pam, You make a good point. Wider borders, if there is room, make for a much richer garden and there is room for succession planting. Carolyn
October 18, 2014 at 3:55 am
Carolyn, Thank you for sharing these beautiful gardens. Not only was the wide garden beautiful, but behind the picket fence, there was More that added to complete the entire scene!
October 18, 2014 at 1:47 pm
SG, Yes, Charles has intentionally worked the taller plants behind the picket fence into the design. There is succession planting there as well. Carolyn
November 26, 2014 at 12:37 am
[…] Two Fall Gardens […]