Absolutely terrific, Lori.

Your new backyard beds are amazing for first year growth.

Lavender? Tell me more about that? What kind of lavender grows in zone 3.

How come your Ligularias aren't swiss-cheese from slug damage? Life isn't fair! Surprised to see the blossoms on those looking so good....mine are done blooming and heading toward seed formation.

Penstemon smallii shouldn't have any problem wintering. Think I have seen this rated as zone 3. Will have to check on that to make sure my memory serves me correctly.

E.cannabium....very nice. Seems to have a different 'form' than the maculatums.

I am glad there was no sunset pic. That means there will be a sequel, right? 'Return to Palliser's Triangle'.
Jan

Just spectacular Lori!

I'm in awe......it's like taking a walk through a botanical wonderland :) Definitely inspires me to go out and rip out more sod! I don't suppose you're planning a trip out east anytime......I could sure use some of your ideas for my yard ;)

Thanks so much for the lovely tour.

Laurie

Wow from me too! Definitely a labour of love, Lori! :) Now, tell me what that lovely yellow thing in your shade bed is. I'm slapping it on the Wants List right away!

Very nice pics. As a fellow gardener, I could imagine all the work you've put into your yard. Beautiful!

Just one question though, in your "apple tree bed" what is that plant on the left with the silvery/whittish long leaves? I just love plants with contrasting leaf color.
Thanks,
Glen

I am going to make a guess....the notorious poor plant identifier is going to fall on her face again. Lori, I hope you don't mind me trying to identify your plants.

Marcia - Which yellow thing? The Ligularia (probably the hessii x?) or the Corydalis lutea?

The silvery-white thing is a Pulmonaria...Lori will have to reveal the 'brand name'.

Do I flunk again?
Jan

Thank you so much for your comments! Oops, sorry - I see I posted one pic twice... and made various typos, oh well. Hmm, now that I've posted it for all the world to see, that pine sure is lop-sided, ain't it? May have to hang a brick from a branch on the right side... or pull out my carving tools and paint to painstakingly craft a couple of "prosthetic branches" to attach on that side, LOL!(Actually...I'll just try to remember in future to take pictures from a more flattering angle - hey, it's one of the more useful things I've learned from gardening magazines, LOL!)

Jan, flunk?? Are you kidding - 100%! You sure know your ligularias (and are an amazing fount of gardening knowledge and information of all kinds!)
I believe the Pulmonaria is 'Excalibur' (can confirm later) - it's an excellent performer (unlike a couple others I have that are prone to mildew - presumably due to stress of some kind, but hard to understand the cause).

The lavender is L. angustifolia 'Munstead' that's been there for, I don't know, 7-8 years or so. Has seeded widely from an original 2 plants. The patch is in pretty much full sun and 18" of compost (so from that, it's clear that compost can drain quite well) - it no doubt benefits from a bit of a micro-climate there on the lee-side of the house.
No slug problem here fortunately - there used to be a great many more back when it was a third of an acre of lawn - perhaps they were just concentrated in the small non-lawn areas then? But seriously I haven't even seen one this year. Some people believe, though, that bark mulch provides favorable conditions for them - I'd have to disagree (as we have bark mulch all through our yard) - but who knows what other conditions are at play.

Glad to hear about the penstemon - it's a gorgeous thing.
Anyway, many thanks!

Ligularia!

/act slaps it on the "Already Have But Didn't Know What It Looks Like" List! :>

Thanks for the tour, Lori. I've been missing seeing photos from your yard this year. If I had a boulevard, I'd plant it with something other than grass, too (well, lawn grass, that is, LOL).

Wonderful tour Lori. I have a nice lavender plant coming along from your seed, I hope it makes it through the winter. Love your Penstemon smallii. Palliser's Triangle, that is good!

Love the tour of your yard. You did a great job with it. Did you sell your lawmower at a garage sale this year? Hopefully it sold at a high price so you could buy more plants! :) Glad to see you growing Cyclamen purpurascens in your yard, that was on my to try list at some point. I had it at another house/zone and it was one of my favourite fall blooming plants. Keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing the garden mature.

Syreeta

I loved the tour!
Any tips on the Cyclamen purpurascens?
I have four Cyclamen seedlings I have hopes for.
GN says they grow to 15 cm but says nothing about the spread.
Germinating these babies from seed has been frustratingly slow.
Ian

You have a beautiful garden to stroll in Lori..so well thought out and serene...savona

Really beautiful Lori, and so lush and filled out looking. Your photography doesn't hurt either :) Thanks for the tour.

p.s. can I mail you some slugs?

Lori, your garden is very nice! I especially like the walkway by the fence.

Sierra

Wow, Lori, that's a great garden you've got there! Your tour wonderful. Thanks for sharing it with us.

I love your new triangle bed area. That is a really neat shape.

Whether you meant to or not, it's like you choreographed the tour - it went so smoothly. Yet I was always thinking,"What's in the next photo, what's in the next picture!" I wanted to eat it all up, yet I needed to savor each part. Just wonderful!
Rick

What a a well thought out landscape and lovely collection of plants. I so love your sidewalk planting - so much more interesting than a lawn. I think your Sasaella will be fine, so many plants are wrongly zoned anyway. I grow Sasaella albostriata and it is perfectly hardy for me. From the looks of the perennial plants you are growing, there really doesn't seem to be any zone difference at all between Zone 5 and Zone 3.

Gorgeous yard, wonderful plants and terrific photography. Thanks, so much, for the tour, Lori. You're a master gardener, in the truest sense.

Doris

Thanks for sharing Lori, absolutley beautiful!

Wow !! I'm inspired again...Thanks for the tour..