A Woodland Garden

Thirteen years ago I began a landscape design business out of my home. People would come to our garden to not only purchase plant material and garden accessories, but to seek advice about their gardens. Soon after opening “Garden Creations”, I found myself actually visiting my customers homes and personally designing their garden. The woodland garden that my husband and I developed served as inspiration and a wonderful teaching opportunity. These two pages actually show very little of this magical garden that has winding pathways, benches, rusty artifacts, birdbaths and a myriad of unusual plantings, but I wanted to put the emphasis on Brandy’s latest FABULOUS Collection, Ballard. However, I’m certain you will be seeing more pages designed by me using Ballard and more glimpses into our backyard.  

Brandy Murry_Ballard

It's Springtime in Charleston

What a delight to stopover in Charleston, on our return trip from the south to Missouri, and discover that spring is definitely in the air.  Here's a glimpse of what you northerner's can look forward to in a very short time.

 Photo Template from Butterflies and Bluebells.

 Sensing the Charm

 

The delicate, fragrant smells almost take your breath away!

 Almost too perfect to be real.

 

You will find a cemetery located in every few blocks.  But this one was filled with life!

Taking time out from my busy schedule.

Fall Jewels

Colchicums are truly magical plants and easily mistaken for Crocus.  The bulb sends up foliage in the spring which soon dies back to the ground.  In the fall, delicate flowers emerge while the bulb is in a dormant state.  These bulbs are available through this catalog.

One of my favorite annuals is a variety of Celosia called 'New Look'.  It adds interest to the garden from spring to the first frost with its intensely colored scarlet plumes and bronze-red foliage.  Plant height is 10"-14" and prefers full sun to part shade.

The perfect little border plant called Liriope or Lily Turf provides a wonderful texture to the garden with its fountainous, grass-like foliage.  You will be rewarded with an extra bonus in the fall as it produces multitudes of blue-spiked flowers.  Liriope is not the least bit fussy and will prosper in shade or sun with much neglect.  Just remember to trim away the foliage in March prior to the new shoots appearing.

The Spider flower is also known as Cleome.  It's an annual that is quite showy and always calls for attention.  Once you have seeded your garden with this annual, you will be rewarded for years to come with it's children!  It's a wonderful backdrop plant and works well with grasses in full sun.  Be sure to cut off spent blooms for a longer flowering period.

What could be more pleasing than a perennial called 'Autumn Joy'?  It's in the sedum family and therefore drought-tolerant and quite easy to grow.  This is a perfect "filler" plant that produces a lovely bloom from August to November.  It grows to 2'  but may be tip pruned to 6"-8" for a more compact plant however this will delay flowering.  If you enjoy having butterflies in your garden, this is the plant to add.  Requires full sun.