Search the word "Pondsai" on this form. One forum member had the most amazing display of minis with a miniature pond.

My minis are tucked in with large hosta. I also expanded the planting area in front of my home and filled it with minis and small hosta. No pictures yet...they are too young to appreciate. I met a forum member that has multiples of each mini and plants them together to create a mass...it looks much more impressive than a single plant and creates interesting ground cover under larger hosta.

For convienience sake...

Here is a link that might be useful: Pondsai thread

Thanks for the response buff and the link lykaon.

I love that 'pondsai' garden and these are the kinds of ideas I was hoping to hear about.

Also, the minis in mass sound great too-- betting that it is beautiful. I am always torn when it comes to planting multiples as it interfers with my collecting objectives. Have to remind myself that a beautiful landscape is the primary objective.

M-A

I too have to resort to mini's because of space. One way we display is in a rockery. We have collected rocks and display them in various ways and mini's do compliment the area. Other mini's included from perennials are astilbi, miniture gootsbeard, creeping jenny come to mind. A Japanese maple is close by to anchor the area. The the back is tiered with other plants to add shade. Some small conifers are also added. I try to place this near my pathways so it can be enjoyed and visible. I guess you can say it's a garden of its own.

I absolutely LOVED that link to the mini gardens. That's my kind of gardening - creating a fantasy that you want to shrink and go into. It's given me an inspiration to change one section of my garden. I was going to work with it anyway but now I have a better idea of what I want to do with it. I'll show results this summer. McT

Hi all! I was gonna wait until next year to post pics, but since we are all gardeners, I know you can use your imagination a bit to see what I am doing here in my yard.
In 2004 I took a pic of the N. side of our house. I am blessed with a large lot, and figured I was wasting space growing grass LOL.

So, I worked up a plan to change the entire yard, and had 17 tons of soil hauled in to bring the grade up a bit, because it sat so low. I let it sit over winter.

Then, I decided with all that room, I needed a mini-bed! In 2005, I went to a quarry near by and picked through their "refuse" pile looking for limestone pieces of roughly the same thickness to biuld a half-circle wall.

{{gwi:924706}}

As you can see from the pic, we also pick up riverstone out of fields to border paths with. I got tired of moving dirt all summer and finally got a skidster in here to help move it where I wanted it to be, for the most part. In 2005 I also started planting out the area next to the house, and this last summer, started planting the new mini-bed I had created.

{{gwi:924707}}

The pic was taken in probably August. Since then, I put 3 redwood trellises joined together at the back of the mini bed (for shade) and planted clematis vines in front of them. There's probably 15 mini's in the bed now, with more coming this year. The North side of the house, since 2004 has had 6 trees planted, and over 200 Hostas put in. I wish I would have taken more pics, but there's always this year, and it will be a work in progress for a year or two yet.
Rox

Gee Rox, you have been busy-- looking forward to a 2007 follow-up post.

I think we are all in agreement that the minis need to be brought closer to the eye (e.g. front of the border, on a retaining wall) and that they need some kind of backdrop or a vertical element.

Keep posting your ideas folks!

M-A

I can't see your picture of the minis, Rox!!!! :o(