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.
‘Westerland’ rose and Lagerstroemia ‘Delta Jazz’, a new crapemyrtle with beautiful burgundy leaves and pink flowers which I am trialing for the Southern Living Plant Collection.
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One of the most satisfying posts I have written is called Pleasurable Pairings for Spring and profiles plant combinations in my garden in April 2011. To read it, click here. It has taken me over two years to find the time to do a similar article for another season, but this post and the next will show pleasing plant pairs for early summer. I have also included some long views of the gardens to give readers a sense of place. My house is on a south-facing slope, and this post includes the gardens on the west side in the order in which you would encounter them. The east side is in Part 2.
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Looking down the front steps on the west side of the house across two of the three terraces to the dovecote at the bottom.
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As you walk down the steps, you pass my many miniature hosta containers, including this strawberry jar with 16 different hostas—one for each pocket. Miniature hostas are available mail order. To see the catalogue, click here.
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This is a new container that sits on the steps to the side door. Clockwise from upper left: Hosta ‘Shiro Kabitan’, ‘Dew Drop’, ‘Hi Ho Silver’, and ‘Country Mouse’.
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The main perennial bed by the front door on the middle terrace.
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Looking from the front door towards the dovecote: ‘Minnie Pearl’ phlox, ‘Goldheart’ bleeding-heart, and ‘Caradonna’ salvia.
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A longer view of the main perennial bed.
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The other end of the main perennial bed: yellow corydalis, allium, ‘Magic Carpet’ spiraea, and ‘Caramel’ coralbells.
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The right side of the steps to the lower terrace: ‘Katherine Adele’ hardy geranium, yellow corydalis, and ‘Blue Waterfall’ campanula.
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The left side of the steps to the lower terrace.
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A close up of the container on the left side of the steps with dwarf orange lilies and violas, which have been in full bloom with no dead-heading since mid-March.
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Yellow corydalis in the wall with ‘Goldcrest’ foxglove surrounded by ‘Blue Waterfall’ campanula and sedums in bloom.
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Just below the lower terrace: ‘Whirlwind’ hosta and a self-sown fern.
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In a very dry and shady garden below the dovecote, clockwise from upper left: Japanese painted fern, ‘Sparkler’ native jack-in-the-pulpit, pulmonaria, and black sedge.
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In another very dark area, Japanese shrub mint in back, ‘Leopard’ pulmonaria (one of my favorites for its giant spots), and native sedge.
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Along the fence line on the west side of the property, ‘Othello’ ligularia and ‘Paradigm’ hosta.
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Also along the fence, ‘Ametyst Falls’ American wisteria, which I think is just as beautiful as the Asian varieties, and monkshood.
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At the very bottom of the property in the only moist garden we have, Japanese primroses, which self-sow with abandon, are succeeded by astilbes and ferns.
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For Larry with best wishes for good health, the first flower on my native Magnolia ashei, a close relative of native bigleaf magnolia.
I hope you enjoyed the tour. Stay tuned for Part 2, the shadier east side of the house.
Carolyn
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Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 6b. 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.
Nursery Happenings: We are having the final spring open hours at the nursery on Friday, June 7, from 10 am to 4 pm, Saturday, June 8, from 9 am to 2 pm, and Sunday, June 9, from 1 to 3 pm. Customers will get an email with the details shortly. Appointments are available through June 15 when we close for the summer, reopening in the fall around September 15. The 2013 Miniature Hosta Mail Order Catalogue, containing over 35 choice selections of miniatures for shipping all over the US, is on the right sidebar here, and we are still shipping. If you are local, you can use the catalogue to see what miniatures are still available at the nursery.
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 