Our Yard

The front yard is on the north side of our house, shaded by the house and a large old maple tree. It is not an ideal place to grow most sun-loving plants. This is why we have several varieties of hosta and some coral bells lining the Front Porch area beds.

Palace Purple Coral Bells (Heuchera micrantha ‘Palace Purple’) takes care of the backdrop. Then come the hostas. Coupled with them are some hydrangeas as well. These plants don’t get to see much sunshine.

Around the base of the old maple tree, a very difficult area to grow things, we have some hostas and yuccas. Variegated Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’) also calls this home.

Large trees have lots of roots that not only make planting difficult, but they also hog most of the water and nutrients. By planting small plants carefully amongst the roots and making sure they get watered well, you should be able to have some success in these areas.

Our pair of Blue Princess Hollies (Ilex meserveae ‘Blue Princess) anchor the front of our large Island Bed. They get plenty of red berries in the fall thanks to the Blue Prince Holly (Ilex meserveae ‘Blue Prince’) planted nearby next to the porch. 

Hollies need male and female plants to produce the berries. One male plant can take care of several female shrubs. This bed is divided into 3 areas. The front has the hollies, some tulips, grape hyacinths, daffodils, torch lilies, and more.

The back section of the island has three varieties of tall garden phlox that add height, color, and fragrance. We have Laura (Phlox paniculata ‘Laura’), David (Phlox paniculata ‘David’), and Bright Eyes (Phlox paniculata ‘Bright Eyes’).

To limit the size of this seedling spruce rescued from the basement wall several years ago, I turned it into a twisted topiary. This will hopefully keep its size manageable as well as look interesting.

Several different irises and tulips also call this home. A Coral Bark Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum ‘Sango-kaku’) and Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’) stand out here almost year-round. Newest addition is a Weeping Yoshino Cherry (Prunus x yedoensis ‘Shidare Yoshino’) that looks real awesome in the spring.

This large bed is the result of filling in between three smaller beds. As more places for plants were needed, the gaps were filled in. Just like that, an island was created.

Our backyard entry arch connects this bed to the Archway Bed. This bed is one of our largest growing areas. This bed cuts across the yard and runs along the property line, ending in a round peninsula. This was added in 2013 and contains many young shrubs and trees.

There are viburnums, both native and Asian varieties. Young Fringetrees (Chionanthus virginicus) and Red Chokeberries (Aronia arbutifolia ‘Brilliantissima’), as well as Sunburst St. John’s Worts (Hypericum frondosum ‘Sunburst’)are growing here with several different hostas and ornamental grasses.

A pair of small beds nestled in the corners of the house and back porch are home to several varieties of coral bells all summer. Lots of yellow daffodils and grape hyacinths grow in the spring. Some Trout Lilies (Erythronium ‘Pagoda’) and Virginia Bluebells also make an early spring appearance before fading away for the summer. Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis) surrounds the base of the maple tree that helps give shade for the coral bells.

Our rock garden starts the next large area of plantings. It includes a chair for sitting and watching our most colorful pets, the goldfish. A Waterfall Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Waterfall’) shares the limelight with bleeding hearts.

This growing area was added in the summer of 2018. It’s home to several new Japanese Maple varieties, coral bells, sedums, and a couple of evergreens. This is an artificial mound area that contains lots of stones and less than perfect soil.

I planted lots of rocks for visual interest as well. It fills in the area between the goldfish pond and the patio. Not too many areas around here don’t get used for growing plants. Hopefully, this area will start to really show off in the coming years.

The mound is also home to 2 more Japanese Maples. Orangeola (Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Orangeola’) and Seiryu (Acer palmatum dissectum ‘Seiryu’), the only upright laceleaf variety.

Some rose varieties grow next to the mound in our old brick garden such as Perfume Delight, Champlain Shrub, red Double Knockout, and others.

Across from the cherry tree stump is our pergola. Purple Clematis (Clematis ‘Henryii’), Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), and Amethyst Falls Wisteria (Wisteria frutescens ‘Amethyst Falls’) grow up the posts. There are two beds next to the pergola.

The north side has some butterfly bushes, Golden Vicary Privets (Ligustrum ‘Vicaryi’), summersweets, and a few others. The south side ties into what we call our slab bed, an old slab foundation that is fronted by this bed.

On the backside of the slab, we grow gladiolas in the summer with some hydrangeas, dogwood, coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, and ornamental grasses. Tulips, sundrops, irises and some daffodils pop up in the spring.

Probably the largest bed in our yard helps make up most of our property’s back border. It is a randomly curved and long bed filled with several types of blueberry plants, lilacs, irises, daylilies and more.

A pair of oakleaf hydrangeas are at one end. Munchkin (Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Munchkin’) and Ruby Slippers (Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Ruby Slippers’). There’s an interesting spirea, Dolchica (Spiraea x bumalda ‘Dolchica’), Green Giant Arborvitae (Thuja plicata x standishii ‘Green Giant’), Little Giant Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis ‘Little Giant’) and some other evergreens.

This is the view from our back neighbor’s yard looking through the white archway. We access the back edge of our beds this way. This is also how the neighbors come here as well. This is what happens when you have great neighbors. The back border bed also makes their yard look nice.

Hostas are one of my favorites. They come in lots of sizes and shapes. They aren’t just green or green and white. I have them growing just about any place there’s shade around my yard.

This bed is just one location that has them. There are between 50 and 60 different varieties growing in this area. It makes up the rest of our back property border.

Sizes range from minis of just a few inches tall up to ones almost 3 feet tall. Long narrow leaves up to wide corrugated ones. We currently have over 110 different named varieties of Hosta growing around here in various places.