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2016 Mouse Ears Hosta Update

‘Blue Mouse Ears’, the 2008 Hosta of the Year, is the mouse ears hosta that started it all, shown here with its adorable, well-proportioned flowers.

It is mini hosta time at Carolyn’s Shade Garden where mouse ears hostas are definitely the customer favorite. What’s not to love? Whether you go for the clever mouse-themed names, the round and rubbery, slug resistant leaves, the useful mini to small size, the perfectly symmetrical, elegant habit, the large variety of beautiful leaf colors, the pixie-like, proportionate flowers, or their general gardenworthiness, you can’t go wrong with mouse ears.

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.

Hosta 'Blue Mouse Ears'

‘Blue Mouse Ears’

You can read more about mouse ears hostas and minis in general in these posts:

Top 5 Favorite Little Hostas

The Mice Have Multiplied Again

New Miniature and Small Hostas for 2014, Part 2

New Miniature and Small Hostas for 2014, Part 1

New Mice for 2014

2013 New Miniature and Small Hostas

Miniature (& Small) Hostas

I LOVE Mice

Beyond Mice

Hostas Containers and Companions

‘Mini Skirt’ is one of the newer mouse ears with a lovely flounce to the leaves.

I thought I would show you some new photos of the mouse ears I am offering this year and introduce two new mouse ears for 2017. Although ‘Frosted Mouse Ears’ and ‘Sunny Mouse Ears’ are in the 2016 mail order catalogue, they are already sold out so I won’t tempt you with their photos.

. Hosta 'Green Mouse Ears'

‘Green Mouse Ears’, a favorite of mine, is the tiniest of the group.

‘Pure Heart’ makes a pair with ‘Mighty Mouse’ as it was named after Pearl Pureheart, Mighty Mouse’s girlfriend.

Hosta 'Mouse Cheese'

‘Mouse Cheese’ is one of the gold-leafed mouse ears—it comes out chartreuse and turns gold over the spring season.

Hosta 'Church Mouse'

‘Church Mouse’ has the most interesting leaves. The center is smooth and blue-green, while the edges are ruffled and gold-green.

‘Mighty Mouse’ in the spring and summer.

This is a photo of ‘Mighty Mouse’ in the fall.

Hosta 'Holy Mouse Ears'

‘Holy Mouse Ears’ is another tiny cultivar with beautiful colors.

Two new cultivars are joining the mouse ears clan in 2017. They look stunning, and I already have them on order to sell in spring 2017:

‘Sun Mouse’ has nicely shaped round leaves and brilliant gold color.

Hosta 'School Mouse' Walters

‘School Mouse’ resembles its parent ‘Church Mouse’ but with a wide, gold, ruffled edge and blue-green center.

The Mouse Ears Family continues to grow, but there is always room in my garden for these wonderful little hostas.

Carolyn

Nursery Happenings: You can sign up to receive catalogues and emails about nursery events by sending your full name and phone number to carolynsshadegardens@verizon.net. Subscribing to my blog does not sign you up to receive this information.

Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 6b/7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.

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.

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Strike a Blow for the Environment in your own Yard

Posted in garden essay, green gardening, groundcover, landscape design, my garden, native plants, organic gardening, sustainable living with tags Aster cordifolius, blue wood aster, Bringing Nature Home, Carolyn's Shade Gardens, Chrysogonum virginianum, creeping phlox, Douglas Tallamy, gardening with native plants, golden groundsel, goldenstar, lawn replacement, moss phlox, native landscapes, native phlox, native plants for shade, native woodland, Phlox stolonifera, Phlox subulata, Senecio aureus, Viola striata, white violet on April 26, 2016 by Carolyn @ Carolyns Shade Gardens

Golden groundsel, Senecio aureus, is the best native plant for ground cover.

I write a lot about the things we do at Carolyn’s Shade Gardens to support the environment: gardening organically without herbicides and chemical fertilizers, doing little supplemental watering, composting, mulching with ground leaves, getting rid of our lawn, landscaping with large quantities of native plants, and promoting natives at the nursery.

Carolyn's Shade Gardens Woodland

Our native white-flowered redbud surrounded by native plants.

You can read more about these practices in these posts among others:

Your Native Woodland: If You Build it They Will Come, how to create your own woodland filled with native plants

My Thanksgiving Oak Forest, the importance of native plants to our survival

Your Most Precious Garden Resource, step-by-step guide to mulching with ground leaves

Letting Go Part 1: The Lawn, the dangers of lawn chemicals to ourselves and the environment

Do You Know Where Your Mulch Comes From?, toxic substances in shredded hardwood mulch

Our woodland in April with Virginia bluebells, wild ginger, golden groundsel, and mayapples—all native.

My guide to creating a native woodland has been especially popular. However, most gardeners don’t have vast areas of woods to convert to native plants but still want to make a difference. And I am sure that most people realize that planting three milkweed plants, though admirable and to be encouraged, is not going to save the monarch butterflies. So what can you do?

. Viola striata

Native white violets, Viola striata, used in quantity as an edging along the front of a border. The violets spread rapidly by seed, filling in empty areas and preventing weeds.

One solution is to find ways to include large quantities—a critical mass—of native plants in your garden, no matter what size. You can accomplish this by replacing non-native ground covers like pachysandra, vinca, ivy, euonymus, and turf grass with native ground cover plants. It is easy to do and you can start small by using spreading native plants like the violets above as edging for your existing beds. Soon you will be eliminating whole swathes of your lawn! Here are some more ideas of plants to use:

Native ‘Purple Beauty’ moss phlox, P. subulata, used as an edging.

Phlox subulata 'Emerald Blue'

This patch of native ‘Emerald Blue’ moss phlox has been in place for at least a decade and requires no maintenance at all. It is evergreen so is present year round like pachysandra but provides you with beautiful flowers and the native insects with food. Its mat-like habit excludes all weeds.

Phlox subulata 'Nice 'n White'

Native ‘Nice ‘n White’ moss phlox used to replace non-native vinca, which you can see behind it. This location is quite shady and the moss phlox thrives. All it needs is good drainage.

Our original planting of native ‘Nice ‘n White’ moss phlox is filling in to create a solid blanket while we continue to move down the hill adding new plants.

Native ‘Tennessee White’ dwarf crested iris, Iris cristata, used to edge our raised beds. I expect these clumps to double in size by next spring.

Senecio aureus

Native golden groundsel, Senecio aureus, the yellow flower in the photo above and the first photo, makes the best ground cover of any native plant. It spreads aggressively and is evergreen and mat-forming like pachysandra but also produces beautiful, fragrant flowers suitable for cutting. Like pachysandra it is too aggressive to be mixed with other plants, but unlike the pachysandra in our area it is not subject to alfalfa mosaic virus.

Native goldenstar, Chrysogonum virginianum, is another creeping plant that makes a good edger.

Chrysognum virginianum 4-26-2016 11-47-51 AM

Because the goldenstar was working so well at the edge, we decided to replace a whole section of our lawn with it.

Phlox stolonifera 'Sherwood Purple'

Two years ago we replaced another section of our lawn with native ‘Sherwood Purple’ creeping phlox, P. stolonifera. This phlox grows in part to full shade and forms a flat, weed-choking mat that stays green all winter.

Native blue wood aster, Aster cordifolius, replaced another section of lawn at Carolyn’s Shade Gardens that surrounded a gigantic black walnut.

Native blue wood aster blooms in the fall and grows in part to full shade.

Doug Tallamy explains in his amazing book Bringing Nature Home* that we can make a difference for the environment and the plants and animals (including us) which are struggling to survive there, by planting native plants in our suburban gardens. I hope I have given you some good ideas for accomplishing this laudable goal.

*Profiled in my blog post My Thanksgiving Oak Forest.

Carolyn

Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 6b/7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.

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Late Fall Interest at Carolyn’s Shade Gardens

Posted in Camellias, Fall, Fall Color, How to, landscape design, my garden, snowdrops, winter, winter interest with tags 'Potter's Prelude' snowdrops, 'Red Sprite' winterberry holly, Arachnoides simplicior 'Variegata', Arum italicum, Arum italicum 'Gold Rush', Camellia 'Winter's Joy', Camellia 'Winter's Snowman, Camellia oleifera 'Lu Shan Snow', Chionanthus retusus 'China Snow', Cyclamen hederifolium, Edgeworthia chrysantha, Epimedium stellulatum "Narrow Leaf Forms", fall-blooming hardy cyclamen, Galanthus 'Potter's Prelude', Ilex verticillata 'Red Sprite', Kuma bamaboo grass, Magnolia virginiana, Pennisetum 'Moudry', Sasa veitchii, sweetbay magnolia, variegated East Indian holly fern on December 9, 2015 by Carolyn @ Carolyns Shade Gardens

The sunrise lights up the heavy frost outlining the semi-evergreen leaves of native sweetbay magnolia.

At Carolyn’s Shade Gardens in southeastern Pennsylvania, US, colorful fall foliage is mostly gone and deciduous trees and shrubs are no longer the focus of garden interest. We must rely on other plants to take over where fall color left off and help us satisfy our goal of providing ornamental interest 365 days a year. At this point, every plant still thriving assumes greater value in the garden, and we look to the understory to draw us outside for a stroll. Here are some of my favorites for December:

The berries of native winterberry hollies stand out in the landscape after their leaves have dropped. In my garden, robins strip the berries fairly early in the season, but I have noticed that in most locations they persist well into the winter.

Fall-blooming hardy cyclamen is done blooming, but the leaves are gorgeous all winter. If you look closely, they all have a different pattern like a snowflake. Although I plant them where I want them, they move and thrive in sites of their own choosing. Here they were planted at the front of the bed and moved to the back directly at the base of a stone wall, one of their favorite sites.

Here ants moved the cyclamen seeds about 30 to 40 feet up hill all around the base of a gigantic London plane tree where they have filled in and thrived. This is not an area of the garden that I visit often so you can imagine my surprise when I found this display. An Italian arum made the trek too.

Kuma bamboo grass, Sasa veitchii, has plain green leaves during the season but acquires this elegant white edge for the winter. I planted my sasa over 10 years ago, and this is the first time that it has spread to a decent patch. Generally it is considered quite aggressive.

Variegated East Indian holly fern, Arachnoides simplicior ‘Variegata’, is a beautiful evergreen fern. Before you go looking for it though, I think it is borderline hardy here and it doesn’t thrive.

Fall-blooming snowdrops like ‘Potter’s Prelude’ pictured here are a highlight of the fall season starting around October 15 and continuing until early main season snowdrops take over in January.

This photo could show any number of my evergreen epimediums, but this is E. stellulatum “Long Leaf Form”. They all have very interesting and attractive leaves which persist until spring when I cut them back.

Black fountain grass, Pennisetum ‘Moudry’, remains my favorite grass. After a few hard frosts, it turns a lovely tan. It does move around quite a bit but has never gone anywhere that I didn’t want it in 20 years. It is downright invasive for others though, so beware.

Italian arum stays fresh and beautiful all winter—it goes dormant in the summer instead. This cultivar is ‘Gold Rush’.

Another Italian arum with much more white on the leaves—for comparison a typical arum leaf is on the left of the photo. It is possible to get a variety of leaf forms from specialized nurseries.

Chinese fringe trees, Chionanthus retusus, produce lovely dark blue berries in the fall which persist after the leaves drop. This plant is the superior form ‘China Snow’.

Edgeworthia is beautiful all year round but especially during late fall and winter when the large silver buds start to swell. The leaves turn bright yellow and drop, leaving the bare branches covered with delicate silver ornaments.

‘Winter’s Snowman’ camellia blooms in November and December with large, semi-double white flowers.

‘Winter’s Joy’ camellia

‘Winter’s Joy’ produces hundreds of buds. When a hard frost turns the open flowers brown, new buds open and flowers cover the plant again as soon as it gets warmer. Although this is usually the case, it didn’t happen during the last two winters when the buds froze early.

The tea camellia ‘Lu Shan Snow’, C. oleifera, is particularly cold tolerant and has thrived in my garden for almost 20 years. Camellias planted from 2013 on have been very hard to establish in the garden due to our unseasonably cold temperatures during the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 winters. The camellias that I planted prior to 2013 have all thrived.

Carolyn

Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 6b/7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.

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Fall Foliage Color at Carolyn’s Shade Gardens

Posted in Fall, Fall Color, How to, landscape design, my garden, native plants with tags 'Angelly' witch hazel, 'Katherine Adele' hardy geranium, Acer palmatum, Acer palmatum Shishigashira', Asimina triloba, Cornus florida, corylopsis, Euphorbia 'Ruby Glow', flowering dogwood, Hamamelis x intermedia 'Angelly', Hydrangea quercifolia, Japanese maple, lion's head Japanese maple, oakleaf hydrangea, pawpaw, Ruby glow wood spurge, Viburnum x 'Mohawk', winter hazel on November 24, 2015 by Carolyn @ Carolyns Shade Gardens

Japanese maples are a great source of November fall color because they lose their leaves later than most other trees.

At Carolyn’s Shade Gardens, the landscape provides ornamental interest 365 days a year. To make this happen, I expect most trees and shrubs to have at least two ornamental qualities peaking at different times before they are given precious garden space. Ornamental interest can come from flowers, fruit, bark, leaves, habit, texture, and fall color. Brightly colored fall leaves are a wonderful way to extend your garden’s interest through November. Some of my favorite fall foliage stars are profiled below.

Native oakleaf hydrangeas turn beautiful shades of red and then burgundy over a long period of time. The leaves in the upper left of the photo are still green while the foliage in the upper right is deep burgundy. I also grow oakleaf hydrangea for its fresh and dried flowers, peeling bark, unusually shaped large leaves, walnut and dry shade tolerance, and tropical texture. It is a true four-season star.

Plants in the witch hazel family often have elegant leaves and beautiful fall colors, and winter hazel, Corylopsis, is no exception. Here it is surrounded by ‘All Gold’ Japanese hakone grass.

The lovely purple spots on the leaves of ‘Katherine Adele’ hardy geranium darken as the fall progresses. In mid-November, as other perennials go dormant around it, ‘Katherine Adele’ fills out and reaches an ornamental peak. I also grow it for its pretty pink flowers in spring. However, I grow many varieties of hardy geranium and this variety is the worst for self-sowing, and the seedlings are hard to remove.

‘Mohawk’ viburnum resulted from a cross between Burkwood hybrid and Korean spicebush viburnums. It is a medium-sized shrub with elegant and highly fragrant flowers. ‘Mohawk’, a Pennsylvania Horticultural Society gold medal winner, is particularly treasured for its stunning and log-lasting fall color. I also love the rose-red buds that precede the white flowers in April.

My grove of native pawpaws turns a beautiful yellow in the fall. Very easy to grow, pawpaws produce an abundance of edible fruit with a taste and texture resembling banana-mango-pineapple custard. Fruit production is enhanced by planting two different cultivars.

Native flowering dogwood, on the left above, turns a gorgeous red in the fall. Its flowers, fruit, bark, and habit are also highly ornamental.

Witch hazels have a very unique yellow-orange fall color that stands out in the landscape. ‘Angelly’, on the right above, is my favorite witch hazel because of its striking, bright yellow, spring flowers, which made my choice easy when I was confronted with a greenhouse full of hundreds of witch hazels in bloom. ‘Angelly’s’ flowers stood out. It also has the crucial ability to shed its old leaves. Witch hazel flowers blooming among hundreds of old brown leaves are not attractive and removing the leaves by hand is a chore.

Another perennial that comes into its own in the fall is Ruby Glow euphorbia or wood spurge. The leaves and stems darken as the season progresses and are much more purple now than when I took this photo on November 7. I also value Ruby Glow for its unusual chartreuse flowers in spring and its upright, shrub-like habit. Although its common name is wood spurge, it prefers a sunny location.

Japanese maples have stunning fall color very late in the fall foliage season. They can self sow prolifically and have sometimes been called invasive. This tree was a seedling that appeared in my garden in the right place at the right time. In the lower right of the photo are the beautiful yellow leaves of native ‘Forest Pansy’ redbud.

Generally unselected Japanese maples have red fall color. However, I prefer the seedlings that have yellow or orange foliage in fall. The above seedling growing out of the side of a giant London plane tree in my nursery sales area has multi-colored leaves.

If you are considering adding a Japanese maple to your garden, you can choose from the hundreds of cultivars selected from Acer palmatum. The variety of sizes, leaf shapes, habits, fall colors, etc., available is amazing. Pictured above and at the top of the post is ‘Shishigashira’ or lion’s head Japanese maple, one of my favorites. It is under-planted with ‘Shell Pink’ lamium and fall-blooming hardy cyclamen, fall stars in their own right.

I will end this post with a photo of three spectacular native plants. The taller tree is yellowwood, valued as a medium-sized shade tree with beautiful, fragrant flowers and striking yellow fall color. The small tree is a flowering dogwood discussed earlier in the post. The shrub with the orange fall color is a flame azalea, one of our stunning native deciduous rhododendrons.

Carolyn

Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 6b/7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.

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Unusual Garden Art

Posted in garden to visit, Garden Tour, How to, landscape design with tags garden art, garden sculptures, Scott Arboretum, Scott Arboretum garden tour, what is art on October 1, 2015 by Carolyn @ Carolyns Shade Gardens

Temporary art in a bowl of water at Chanticleer

In June, Michael and I went on the annual Scott Arboretum Associates’ Garden Day. This tour is one of the many wonderful events planned by the arboretum free of charge for its members. The tour was followed by a reception at world famous Chanticleer featuring delicious food and drink and providing an opportunity to stroll around the lovely gardens after hours.

Unfortunately, I didn’t record the name of this arresting sculpture.

One of the homes on the tour featured a collection of very unusual sculptures or installations. I didn’t count them, but it seemed like there could have been at least 100 and maybe more. Most of them were not what for want of a better term I will call “pretty art”; in fact, some of them were quite disturbing. Would you want the boxer above greeting you every time you entered your driveway? It really got me thinking about the age old question of what is art?

There were many of these installations, if that is the right term, in the woodlands surrounding the house.

untitled, Will Dexter, cast glass and steel

untitled, Bob Harrington, mahogany

“Sleeping Beauty”, Debra Rosenblum

“Arboreal Timbre”, Greg Leavitt, copper and steel. This life size metal tree was right outside the front door.

“Throne”, Peter Diepenbrock, metal washers

“Emergence”, Debra Rosenblum, bronze and slate

This is not the accumulation of an eccentric included on the tour for some obscure reason, but the well-respected collection of an art connoisseur frequently visited by groups from prominent area art institutions. I am definitely of the opinion that beauty (or if not beauty, then interest) is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone is entitled to design their garden in the way most pleasing to them. I found the garden thought provoking, and maybe that’s part of the owner’s intention. It is still hard for me to think of some of this as art. What do you think?

Carolyn

Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 6b/7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.

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Camden Maine Garden Tour 2015

Posted in garden to visit, Garden Tour, How to, landscape design, Maine with tags Camden, Camden Garden Club, Camden Garden tour, Camden Harbor Maine, Camden House and Garden Tour, Camden Maine, Maine, maine gardens, midcoast Maine, Rockport Maine on August 21, 2015 by Carolyn @ Carolyns Shade Gardens

An iconic Maine view from one of the tour houses.

For the third year in a row, Michael and I traveled to Camden, Maine, to attend the Camden Garden Club’s House and Garden Tour. My last two posts covered all the beautiful containers displayed through out the town. To read them click here and here. This post will show highlights of the tour itself.

The Alden House, an 1855 Queen Anne Victorian, was just one of the seven historic houses on the tour. The first president of the Camden Garden Club lived there when the club was founded 100 years ago.

2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the Camden Garden Club. To celebrate, all the houses on the tour were historic. The oldest was built in 1806 and the newest in the early 1900s. It was fun to see all the beautiful architecture and the amazing ocean views that often accompanied it. However, only two houses had gardens worth visiting, which was disappointing and didn’t result in many garden photos. Nevertheless, I thought you would enjoy seeing the buildings and views.

Alden House barn. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed inside the houses because I would love to show you how well preserved this home was.

The Alden House had a lovely and classic shade garden along the back side.

This Georgian-style brick home called Red Chimneys built in 1825 was the site of the first meeting of the club in 1915.

Lovely stonework found at Tranquility Garden in downtown Camden.

A close up of the unusual “paving” shown in the photo above. The owners traveled all over the world for 30 years collecting ideas and objects for their garden.

Tranquility Garden had lovely sun and shade borders. The bright sunlight and shadows made the gardens very difficult to photograph.

The combination of unusual textures was quite creative in this garden.

Although it had no gardens to speak of, this property on a prominent point in Camden Harbor had almost 360 degree views of the ocean.

One of its views was of this little island.

Another view was of this beach.

Gray Lodge is a shingle-style summer “cottage” built in the mid-1890s.

The view at the start of the post was from this porch and is of Curtis Island Light.

So-called Spite House was the prettiest building on the tour. It was built in Phippsburg, Maine, in 1806 and floated on a barge to its current site in Rockport in 1925. I never found out the origin of its name.

Spite House gardens

I discovered one new plant on the tour: Digitalis ‘Illumination Flame’. Although it is only hardy in zone 8 and above, the color and habit is so beautiful that I may have to grow it next year.

The Camden-Rockport-Rockland area is such a gorgeous place to visit, but after three years Michael and I plan to attend the Bar Harbor Garden Club’s tour in 2016.

Carolyn

Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 6b/7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.

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Window Box Ideas from Camden Maine

Posted in annuals, annuals, container gardening, container gardening, containers for shade, garden to visit, Garden Tour, How to, landscape design, Maine with tags annual containers, annuals for containers, annuals for window boxes, Camden, Camden Garden Club, Camden Garden tour, Camden Maine, container gardening, container ideas, hanging baskets, Maine, midcoast Maine, window box ideas, window boxes on July 31, 2015 by Carolyn @ Carolyns Shade Gardens

This beautiful window box full of my favorite color flowers was outside a storefront in Camden, Maine.

As I mentioned in my last post, Michael and I recently visited Camden, Maine, to attend the Camden Garden Club House and Garden Tour. The town is full of inspiring container ideas. So many, in fact, that I split the photos into two posts. This one covers window boxes, and the previous post pictured pots and hanging baskets. To read it, click here.

In containers, you can often use colors that wouldn’t necessarily go well together in the garden.

I was very impressed that most local businesses in Camden invested in flower-filled containers along the sidewalk. It was very attractive and complemented all the plantings maintained by the Camden Garden Club. The Camden Library grounds are especially beautiful. Even if you are just passing through Camden, it is worth stopping to walk around. The harbor is gorgeous, and there are lots of wonderful restaurants—more on that later.

This display was particularly creative with the use of a wooden oar and driftwood in this seaside town.

It is not necessary to get fancy: very traditional and very pretty.

There is a tendency to go with bold colors in containers, and I do that myself. However, this combination of yellow, white, and silver is quite elegant.

We saw the chef from this restaurant collecting nasturtiums for culinary use. Containers are not just for viewing. I intend to put my basil and parsley in my window boxes next year.

Unlike plastic pots, baskets lined with moss or another organic material are aesthetically pleasing when first planted and the container is still visible.

This restaurant down by the waterfront went all out with window boxes lining both stories. All the remaining photos are of planting combinations from this location.

Restaurant patrons seated by the windows got not only a beautiful harbor view but also lovely flower arrangements.

I hope you have gotten a few ideas from Camden’s flowers—I know I have!

Carolyn

Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 6b/7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.

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Container Planting Ideas from Camden Maine

Posted in annuals, annuals, container gardening, container gardening, containers for shade, garden to visit, Garden Tour, How to, landscape design, Maine with tags annual containers, Camden Garden Club, Camden Garden tour, Camden Maine, container gardening, container ideas, hanging baskets, midcoast Maine on July 24, 2015 by Carolyn @ Carolyns Shade Gardens

The display outside a storefront in Camden, Maine.

Michael and I visited Camden, Maine, for the third year in a row to attend the 68th Annual Camden Garden Club House and Garden Tour. Readers love my posts from Maine so I took lots of photos while I was there. The garden club maintains most of the public spaces in Camden and seems to have inspired the town to go wild with containers outside many of the homes and businesses.

I take lots of photos of creative containers over the summer. I have been reluctant to post a lot of them because most people probably have their pots, window boxes, and hanging baskets filled by late July. This year I am forging ahead though, hoping that readers will get some creative ideas for next year. In fact, I found so many beautiful combinations in Camden that I have split the post into two parts: this one will cover pots and hanging baskets and the next will be window boxes. For some advice on container design techniques, click here and follow the links in the first paragraph to three other posts.

It is not necessary to get fancy: a container of ordinary pink petunias and blue annual lobelia is lush and beautiful.

Hanging baskets echo the colors at this local bed and breakfast, The Blue Harbor Inn.

A close up, hanging baskets look the best when they are filled to overflowing and the pot is not visible.

This more subtle and elegant combination was sitting on the top of a trash can in downtown Camden.

The other side of the container on the trash can. Petunias used to be somewhat boring, but there are so many elegant cultivars available now, here white with delicate yellow and pink shading. The yellow blooms are double-flowered million bells.

If you are looking for a tall, narrow effect, this container and another identical one flanked a store entrance.

A cheerful combination of red annual verbena, yellow million bells, and blue annual lobelia.

Another pair of containers at a store entrance using verbena and double million bells. The grasses give the the pots an added bit of interest and elegance.

This large display (also pictured in the first photo) was definitely my favorite. The color combination is subtle yet eye-catching, the textures are interesting especially the kale in the back, and the rustic containers are very attractive.

A close up

This pedestrian bridge was lined with containers of pink petunias, tomatoes, and squash, a utilitarian yet attractive combination.

I love the idea of walking out on my deck to harvest vegetables and may try this next year.

This last photo shows a traditional Maine scene with a simple but beautiful combination of pink petunias, yellow million bells, and the less common and very lovely pale blue annual lobelia.

I hope you are enjoying summer!

Carolyn

Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 6b/7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.

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The Elements of a Beautiful Garden

Posted in container gardening, containers for shade, Garden Tour, How to, landscape design, miniature hosta with tags Carolyn's Shade Gardens, elements of garden design, garden design, garden maintenance, garden ornaments, Hosta 'Blue Mouse Ears', Hosta 'Cracker Crumbs', miniature hostas, Shade Gardens on June 26, 2015 by Carolyn @ Carolyns Shade Gardens

I love this combination of ‘All Gold’ Japanese Hakone grass and pink astilbe.

My son Alex Walker-Drennan took me to visit one of the gardens installed and maintained by his landscaping company Practiced Hands Gardening (practicedhandsgardening@gmail.com). The garden has a strong Carolyn’s Shade Gardens connection as almost all the plants came from my nursery, and it was designed by Joan LaLeike whom many of you know from my open house sales. It is owned by Hope and is on less than 1/4 acre very close to the City of Philadelphia.

The front of Hope’s house has great curb appeal.

The garden was started about five years ago, and Hope works on a different section each year. I always recommend that customers take this approach rather than trying to work on their whole property at once. Completing an area, even a small one, gives you a sense of accomplishment and the inspiration to tackle the next project. Hope has created a very satisfying garden in a relatively short period of time, which got me thinking about the important elements of a beautiful garden. Here’s what I came up with:

1. A Good Design: complementary textures, heights, and colors.

A mixture of perennials, annuals, and deciduous and evergreen shrubs plus the lovely bark and habit of the birch keeps the garden flanking the front door interesting all year.

A close up of the front garden, hellebores—-my favorites!

A good design can be achieved without hiring a designer but knowledge of the plant material and how it performs is crucial. Visit local public gardens like Chanticleer, Longwood, Winterthur, and the Morris Arboretum to view mature specimens thriving in an established environment before you choose and place your plants.

2. Lot of Plants: Hope’s garden is densely planted giving a lush and vibrant look and cutting down on maintenance by keeping out weeds. If you are working with a big space and a small budget, tackle one section at a time and fill it in.

I am not sure who came up with the idea that plants should not touch and should be surrounded by a sea of mulch, but from a design perspective the results are not pleasing. Leave room for each plant to reach its mature size without crowding, but once it does no soil should be visible.

3. Lots of the Same Plant: Massing of this Japanese hakone grass makes viewing from a distance a pleasure and guides the viewer around the garden.

I rarely plant one of anything except trees. When you shop, stay within your budget by purchasing the same total number of perennials but choose more of each variety you plant and less varieites. Here, ‘Caramel’ heuchera and hydrangeas are massed.

A simple mass planting of Japanese painted ferns and perennial forget-me-nots used as ground cover under a tree are much more pleasing than one or two of a lot of different plants crowded into the space.

A new planting masses ‘Dawson’s White’ brunnera leaving enough space for it to reach its mature size.

If you don’t make any other changes after you read this post, do this: for the next year (or even better two years) do not buy any new plant varieties but instead add more of the same plants to groups that are working in your garden already. I did this in my garden and the results were spectacular.

4. Pay Attention to Details: While the big picture is very important, little details really add to garden interest. Hope has a very attractive but tiny bed filled with small scale plants edging her front walk, here petunias, ‘Antique Grill’ sedum, and ‘Cracker Crumbs’ miniature hosta.

The bed really shows off her ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ hosta, which is planted all along the walk.

5. Expect Trial and Error not Perfection: The leyland cypresses behind this bed (upper right of photo), put in before Joan took over, are failing. Instead of nursing along these ugly plants, Hope is removing them and trying something new. Plants are living things so every one that you or a designer chooses will not necessarily work or even live. Give your plants a few years to perform and if they don’t, move on.

6. Use Hardscape: Walls, walks, patios, decks, fountains, ponds, etc., add tremendous interest to a garden design. They also significantly increase the cost so they should be added with a lot of forethought. Here Hope removed her dated deck and replaced it with a two-level stone patio complete with “fountain stairs”.

7. Add garden ornaments and containers: You don’t have to go wild with sculptures, birdhouses, sundials, and urns everywhere, but a few well-placed garden ornaments really add interest. At Hope’s, this lovely pot anchors this part of the garden.

Ornaments don’t have to be big or expensive—I love this little mushroom sitting under the oakleaf hydrangea.

Containers of plants are visually interesting, here dwarf conifers on Hope’s patio wall.

A dish of mini hostas and sedums.

8. Maintain Your Garden Well Especially the Edges: A beautiful garden needs work to stay that way. Trees and shrubs require regular pruning, beds should be cut back and mulched in the fall or spring, borders need edging at least once a year, and weeding is ongoing. A beautiful design with lovely plant material is wasted if the garden is overgrown with messy edges and full of weeds.

I admit that I am not always diligent about following my own rules, but when I finally do the results are always superior to what went before.

Carolyn

Nursery Happenings: You can sign up to receive emails about nursery events 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 6b/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.

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Top 10 Favorite Larger Hostas

Posted in container gardening, containers for shade, hosta, hosta, landscape design, my garden, Shade Gardening, Shade Perennials with tags American Hosta Growers Association Hosta of the Year, American Hosta Society, Carolyn's Shade Gardens, Erigeron Lynnhaven Carpet, hosta, Hosta 'Brother Stefan', Hosta 'Crumb Cake', Hosta 'First Frost', Hosta 'Great Expectations', Hosta 'Stained Glass', Hosta El Nino, Hosta Eye Declare, hosta maui buttercups, hosta of the year, Hosta Paradise Island, hosta paradise joyce, hosta paul's glory, hostas, Shade Gardens on May 10, 2015 by Carolyn @ Carolyns Shade Gardens

One of the most beautiful times in my garden is when the wisteria is in full bloom. Under it is planted one of my candidates for Top 10 Hostas, ‘Stained Glass’, hosta of the year for 2006. Available at CSG.

With the latest issue of its beautiful and informative journal, the American Hosta Society sent its members a form asking them to vote for their 10 favorite “regular” hostas and 5 favorite minis. People often ask me which hostas are my favorites, and the AHS Popularity Poll sent me out into the garden to make a list. Naturally I brought my camera, and I thought I would show you some of the contenders. To avoid disappointment, I have indicated which are for sale at Carolyn’s Shade Gardens (CSG). Sadly, some of my favorites are not readily available.

Hosta ‘Paul’s Glory, hosta of the year for 1999. Available at CSG.

Hosta ‘Paradise Island’ on the left and ‘Maui Buttercups’ on the right. They are not really in contention, but they looked so beautiful together under the ‘Paliban’ lilac.

Hosta ‘Paradise Joyce’ hasn’t been available for years, but it really is one of the best.

Hosta ‘Eye Declare’, here with ‘Lynnhaven Carpet’ erigeron in the foreground and ‘Stainless Steel’ coralbells in the background, may be my favorite big hosta. Again it is not available in the trade.

Hosta ‘First Frost’, 2010 hosta of the year, with its blue and yellow spring coloring is just gorgeous. Available at CSG.

Hosta ‘El Nino’, here with white-flowered hardy geranium, has always been one of my favorites with its unique blue and ivory coloring. It is difficult to find, but I have it for sale this year.

A close up of ‘El Nino’, a star in my silver and blue garden. Available at CSG.

Hosta ‘Great Expectations’ really started to thrive when I moved it from full shade to an eastern-facing location. Available at CSG.

Hosta ‘Brother Stefan’ seems to like sun too, here it faces southwest and is paired with ‘Goldheart’ bleeding-heart. I think it should have been hosta of the year rather than the somewhat similar ‘Paradigm’. Available at CSG.

Hosta ‘Crumb Cake’, here in a container, is definitely on my top ten list. It is a small hosta, but the leaves are too big for it to qualify as a mini.

There were other contenders not pictured here: ‘Blue Angel’, ‘Sagae’ (2000 hosta of the year), ‘Abiqua Drinking Gourd’ (2014 hosta of the year), adorable ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ (2008 hosta of the year), whose leaves are also a little too big to be a mini, the amazing ‘Praying Hands’ (2011 hosta of the year), ‘Remember Me’, and H. nigrescens. I guess I will have to do another post. I will definitely have to narrow down my list! That’s all for now but look for another post on my favorite hostas soon.

Carolyn

Nursery Happenings: To order miniature hostas for shipping or pick up at our nursery, click here to access the catalogue. Our third open house, featuring ferns, hostas, and hardy geraniums is Saturday, May 16, from 10 am to 3 pm. However, don’t’ wait until then—you can stop by anytime by appointment to purchase these wonderful plants. Just send me an email at carolynsshadegardens@verizon.net with some suggested dates and times that you would like to visit.

Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 6b/7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.

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CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS

Archive for the landscape design Category

2016 Mouse Ears Hosta Update

Strike a Blow for the Environment in your own Yard

Late Fall Interest at Carolyn’s Shade Gardens

Fall Foliage Color at Carolyn’s Shade Gardens

Unusual Garden Art

Camden Maine Garden Tour 2015

Window Box Ideas from Camden Maine

Container Planting Ideas from Camden Maine

The Elements of a Beautiful Garden

Top 10 Favorite Larger Hostas

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Welcome

Site Stats Since 11/3/10

Email Subscription to Blog Posts

Pages

Click image for links to all articles on snowdrops

Search My Website

All photos and text on this blog are copyrighted and may not be used without my express permission

Top Posts & Pages

Recent Posts

Click image to see Carolyn’s photos in The New York Times

Reader Locations (click to enlarge)

Plant Information (click for website)

Reference Books (click for website)

Places to Visit (click for website)