Lots going on there! The rock wall and planting are my favorite - although that intense blue combo runs a close second :-)

Michelle, it's always such a treat to see photos of your wonderful garden. Thoughtful designs and obviously well-cared for. Wish I could just get in my car and come visit !

That Heliopsis 'Lorraine Sunshine' is to die for ! I just don't have the space for most Heliopsis cultivars, so I'm jealous..

Thanks for sharing these with us. I know I will view them multiple times.

Kathy in Napa

Michelle! My zinnias look like...well not like yours! I too like the rock edged bed with its mix of green, silver and burgundy. I assume that's thyme in the very front and white Astilbe? Your bouquet is gorgeous!

Is that a Tiger Eye seedling in your pillar planter? Your nasturtiums look fantastic! Have you ever tried the blooms in a salad? They're fun and colorful.

Thanks! I too like the foliage area. It's actually a pretty new area for me, probably 4 years old.

'bug, that's an creeping euonymus in front. I wish I could get thyme to grow that big and yes that is Tiger Eye in the planter. Mine sends out a few runners a year so I decided to make good use of them. I'm hoping they get bigger by fall. I do like eating nasturtiums with their peppery tang.

Kathy, Lorraine isn't an overly big plant for me. Probably 3' tall and 2' wide. I would buy one from the nursery as my original wasn't all that variegated, but the seedling is great.

Michelle

Everything is looking fabulous Micelle! I really love that Tiger Eye in the planter. I put one in my metal planter this year. Do you plant it back in the ground for winter or will you leave it in the pot?

That H. Lorraine Sunshine seedling is fabulous!!! I've gotten seedlings from mine but never anything with that much variegation in it.

So what is blooming in the upper left of the pottager that looks like tulips?

Love it all Michelle, wish I could come and visit sometime. I'd love to do a road trip and do a tour of Idyll gardens coast to coast.

Deanne

Your garden is looking great, Michelle!

I was excited to hear you're playing in the "mud" again - hope you'll share your creations, too.

That blue is intense....and the potager is so fun!

Deanne, would you stop by and pick me up? I've seen the guest room and it's big enough for two :)

Saucy

Beautiful! All of it. I espacially like the the second Day Lily. I have one quite similar, that the deer have not found.
Wow! those blue flowers are intense!

Michelle even your wildflower boquet looks fabulous. I wish my Loraine Sunshine was thay varigated white.
I have tried potting up the Tiger Eye runners with no success. Your potager is a real favorite of mine.

Norma

Beautiful, Michelle -- I just love the potager; but the other beds look so wonderful w/ such great foliage combos! You've got such a get eye - thanks for sharing!

A few more. Deanne I've included a close up of the tulip looking Asiatic lily. It's very prolific and I had dug up this clump and thought I'd compost them when I decided to add them to the cutting quadrant of the potager. It is a little more cup shaped than some of the other Asiatics I have.

Norma, my Tiger Eye runners almost looked dead about a week after I dug them up, but then started putting out new growth.

Since I have a few runners each year I doubt I'll put it back in the ground. I may try to keep it in the pot in the garden shed.

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This year I'm into colorful veggies as seen in the purple kohlrabi.
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Moonbeam mingles nicely with perennial geranium 'Nimbus'
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Succlent sink
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I tried kohlrabi once and failed. I think I'll try again next year! Got any tried and true recipes for it?
Thanks for answering the "tulip" question! And also, I'm glad to see your succulent sink is back this year!

Michelle...in photo #1, what is that whtie flower to the left of center? It almost looks like tulips in a bush. [g] Are those the pots on each side of your front walk in #2? I wonder if you have finished planting that front door area? Such a pretty pot. Looks like Queen Anne's Lace in the front of your bouquet. Everything looks very well loved as always. Looks like your weather has managed to do well by you this year. Always enjoy seeing your garden. :-)

[Oops! I just read the rest of the thread and see Deanne asked the same thing] I can't believe how neat your potager looks!

PM, in my second set of pictures the second picture shows the tulip like flowers. Its actually a asiatic lily that I keep for cutting.

'bug, try kohlrabi again. For me its been always extremely easy to grow. I'm not big into cooking especially when I can be in the garden, so we usually eat it raw. It's not bad cooked either.

Michelle

LOL! I like raw too Michelle!

Thanks for answering the 'tulip' question Michelle. What a pretty Asiatic lily! Great color too. Just love the pottager garden. Your chard looks fantastic.

Deanne

Michelle, I like that Moonbeam and Nimbus combo. Is Nimbus one of the smaller geraniums?
I don't think I remembered your potager being round. I just remembered the paths and urn. Wish I had a flat spot to copy it. Norma

Norma, actually the potager's shape is a rectangle with arched ends. There is a square of bricks in the middle with and off set square of more bricks with a square paver in the middle of that for the urn. Then the paths all meet up to the outside square. This was all so I could make it myself without having to cut bricks. So the very first picture is looking in from the side and the 2nd picture is from the end. After this explaination I check my on line pictures and found one that shows it when its a little more bare. One quadrant I plant cutting flowers, the back arched area is my asparagus bed and the front arch is mostly decorative. The rest I rotate the veggies around.

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That 'Nimbus' is huge, it must be at least 3 feet diameter. I'm not even sure if its all one plant or a bunch of seedlings around the original plant. It is one of my longest blooming geraniums.

Michelle

Wow Michelle...*everything* is beautiful! I love your potager and the different colors of bricks you chose and love the pot in the center. It really make a wonderful statement!

I bought Weigelia Monet Moment this year and really like it too. Another shrub I found a couple years ago was Caryopteris 'Snow Fairy'. Have you seen that one? It really doesn't look like Caryopteris at all to me. I love the white variegated foliage and it has a wonderful well groomed habit...the only drawback is the foliage has a stinky scent (kind of a nightshadey smell...if you know what I mean) so I admire it from a distance. :-) It really is a showoff in my all white garden and as anchor on either side of my dad's arbor.

What is that wild and very cool looking cabbagey kind of thing growing in the sink...the large plant that has the kind of bronze foliage? That's neat!

Your Nigra hollyhock is gorgeous...my hollyhocks were fodder for the JB's this year. Surprisingly the only JB's I saw this year were on my hollyhocks. My Russian hollyhock looks like a skeleton...but the flowers are still pretty... :-)

My German neighbor grows Kohlrabi...Do you eat it raw? Or do you cook it and serve it in a dish? What does it taste like?

I love Moonbeam Coreopsis and love the way it looks with your Nimbus...very pretty!

I bet your garden walk thrilled your visitors! How many people showed up and how did you happen to have a garden walk?

Okay, I'll quit blabbing and interrogating! :-)

P.S. Your potager looks beautiful bare or fully planted!

Eileen

Ei, kohlrabi tastes alot like cabbage. I would think they are in the same family. The red cabbage looking succelent is echervia 'The Rose' I overwintered it. I really should have rerooted it as the lower leaves are really tacky looking.
Thanks for the nice compliments.

Michelle

Michelle, your garden rocks! I really love your potager, of course:) And the Holly hocks. I always mean to plant them and then get sidetracked on other plants. Thanks for sharing.
Drema