CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS

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.

Although we are out on a beautiful island, my husband Michael and I do like to explore the mainland when we are in Maine. Not surprisingly we visit a lot of nurseries and gardens. On a recent excursion to Yarmouth, Maine, we discovered the Rosemont Market and Bakery on Main Street. This market sells all kinds of wonderful fresh and local foods, including meat and fish, delicious bread, fruits and vegetables, deli and gourmet items, sandwiches and soup, and beer and wine. They even deliver weekdays to the Casco Bay islands and have additional locations in Portland.

It was a cold day (that seems unbelievable now with the heat wave we are having) so we decided to have hot soup, which was delicious. We ate at the tables outside so that I could admire and photograph the spectacular window boxes. They were planted using the techniques I described in my last post (to read it click here, if you read this post when it had small, fuzzy photos, you might want to look again because I fixed them). The boxes are crammed with plants chosen to spill out the front, fill the middle, and provide some height in the back but not too much due to the windows.

But what I really love about these containers is the creative use of colors and plant material. Nontraditional color combinations like pink and orange abound, but they work. The plants are chosen not just for the color but also for their habit and texture. The designer clearly did not feel limited by the traditional group of annuals but cast a wide net for plants that would combine to create a striking whole. I hope you will incorporate some of these ideas into your own containers—I know I will. If you have already planted them stuff some more plants in.

Carolyn

.

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: The nursery is closed and will reopen in the fall around September 15. Have a great summer.

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.