Karl Forester feather reed grass, bobo hydrangea, vanilla strawberry hydrangea, bobo, steeds holly. There is a baby dwarf hameln grass between the reed grass and each hydrangea.

Steeds holly, bobo, VS, bobo, KF feather reed grass. Another three dwarf Hameln grasses.

Dappled willow, russian sage, yarrow, two blue twist n shout hydrangea, limelight standard. I am moving that potted aster. I don’t know where. It will bloom blue and grows a foot a year.

Dwarf mockorange, munstead lavender, pink alliums, three pink coneflower, one pink twist n shout, and along the front border - alternating phenomenal lavender and dwarf hameln grasses. One dwarf HG isn’t doing so hot!

Nothing here I haven’t mentioned except a Teasing Georgia Rose and a dwarf maiden grass

Nice layout! The VS Hydrangea get quite large, not sure how big of a shrub you want there, but they'll hit 6-8 feet easily.

Thanks! I actually wanted something larger in the middle there. Lots of looky-loos peeking in the windows as they drive by!

Any suggestions for something to plant in between/behind the hydrangeas that will bloom in spring?

Shay, I love what you have done with your darling home and garden. I bet you could find a spot for a couple roses in there. Which state are you in? It would really help people offering useful suggestions.

Oh thank you Sheila! I live in New Hampshire. I would love to find a home for more roses! Some peonies would be nice also!

Very lovely job so far! I think some complementing perennials you could consider adding are agastache, salvias, maybe catmint? Definitely roses! I can see a climber growing up the right front corner of the house, or perhaps between those two windows.

Thank you Arlene! I love the climbing rose suggestion. I also like the idea of catmint. Our coon might appreciate it! She’s always trying to chew up my Hameln grass. Here she is at the side entrance. I’d really like this area to feel like you’re walking through a tall cottage garden when approaching the door. We have to lay in these tiles and seed the dirt area in the fall. I think I should move the dwarf fountain grass somewhere and put something taller under that window.

Thank you so much Moses. I am impatient for them to become a bit more substantial. I keep wondering if I should fill in some blank spaces with more plants or wait for these to get bigger first. I don’t want to plant too much and allow things to become so crowded it becomes detrimental to the plant’s health... but at the same time I imagine I am going to be the kind of gardener who is constantly adding a plant into every nook and cranny!

Shay you have done a spectacular job! I love everything, from your home to all your choices in perennials. 😀If you find space for more roses Olivia is wonderful and Spirit of freedom makes some gorgeous blooms also. Also Bathsheba is spectacular, but maybe a bit similar to teasing Georgia.

I love the cat too.

Shay, don't listen to people here, or pretty soon your whole lawn will be gone. Mine is. I have no regrets. I think straight lines suit your home beautifully.

Dianela, you have been so kind! I appreciate your suggestions very much and I will look into those roses tonight. I actually love the apricot color of TG next to the blue hydrangeas. I will look at Bathsheba. I might end up moving the pink lacecap and putting a rose there instead.

Sheila, she’s a character! Thank you, again. My husband might not like it, but I anticipate encroaching on the lawn at one point when I run out of room in my angular beds! I hope to create cottage charm while including some symmetry. There are two trees to the right of the house that need to come down. When they do I see the plants creeping slowly in that direction! 😋

Mazerolm, thank you for your suggestion. Initially I did want to make the walkway more of a natural curve, as it also works as the border for the left side of the front bed, but because of the way the front walk needed to meet the side walk to the left hand door that wasn’t possible. We were also working with PT wood for the frame of our gravel path, and creating a curve with that would have been a nightmare. In order to maintain continuity I used flagstones that were already on the property to make a border for the right front garden bed where there hadn’t been one before, and chose to make it angular to maintain symmetry. I did make the side bed curved, and there is actually another bed I created to the left of the one by the door that I have absolutely no idea what to do with that has more of a natural border.

Wow! I love your garden! Your cat is a real cutie too! If you want to add some height I would recommend dinnerplate dahlias, but everything already looks great as is.

How about a little herb garden outside your porch? Annuals, of course, but you can set aside a little area for them... Can you find a place for some lavender or rosemary to brush your hands against as you walk on the path? Love your garden!

Thank you, Damask Rose! She’s a good girl. She also makes a good chipmunk deterrent. I didn’t think of dahlias, I will look into that kind! Thank you for the suggestion.

Ptreckel, I love love love that idea. We are having landings installed (you can see one in the process in a photo or two) and I envisioned rectangular box planters on them. That’s an excellent idea. I have lavender bordering the front of the left bed. It’s phenomenal lavender, which is supposed to get pretty huge. But I do love the idea of rosemary in the front. I had a rosemary living in a pot (a dear friend had propagated from her own) for years but she caught something last summer and died very quickly😣 I was so sad. I’ll have to see how cold hardy they are, because we get some pretty cold winter days here!

Your Teasing Georgia looks beautiful. In our yard the hydrangeas leaf out pretty late in the spring so their bare branches look sad for a while. If you have the same issue with your Bobo hydrangeas perhaps plant some perennials in front of them?

You could also consider some Clematis, they are pretty tough and add some height. Check out NHBabs, she's got some really nice pics of her gardens on here and is in your neck of the woods.

I have really enjoyed your pictures. You have done a beautiful job... such pretty colors. It is amazing.... you will have many years of enjoyment. You can sit and watch kitty chasing the chipmunks while you can watch butterflies in the mock orange. I remember growing up it was a magnet for all kinds of butterflies, especially red admirals and tiger swallowtails.... others as well... Plus that with your roses everything will smell divine.

I do not know what part of New Hampshire you are in, but I purchased Dee-Lish for my mother-in-law in the Sunapee region. I figured it would be an annual for her. But it is in its fourth year .... I did not think it was rated for that cold, but maybe they get enough snow that it is insulated.

I agree with Dingo about clematis and NHBabs. I learned a lot from her posts on clematis (also hydrangeas though I grow only one). A few of us on both rose forums like to combine roses and clematis. Some flower at the same time with bluish or white clematis making a nice foil to pink, red and yellowish roses. Others bloom at different times so there is always color in the same area. The pillar for your beautiful Teasing Georgia can also support clematis, just not to be too much vigorous kind and you can support it by attaching chicken wire to one side of the pillar to help clematis take off.

Your garden and the cat are very pretty.

Your new home is charming. Love your vision for the beds and your choices. That hydrangea standard will be your wow factor very soon. They grow surprisingly fast. Hydrangeas are great in your climate.

Rosemary is an annual in zone 5, but it is lovely to grow. I always wish I had some around Christmas, but it's over by then. Dinnerplate dahlias must be started in a greenhouse or inside and planted out after your last freeze in order to be mature enough to bloom before the season is over. Even doing that, I've often had them just beginning to bloom when we get our first fall freeze. They're very tender and can't survive frost. Just get them started early.

A couple of tall perennials that do great in cold climates are delphinium and foxglove. They come back every year, bigger and better. Clematis also loves cold climates. Garden Phlox, too. There are some varieties that get very tall. David gets about 5' here, and Laura gets about 3'. Good luck. Sounds like you're having fun.

Oh, and I forgot to say, I love your cat, too.

Shay, it is wise to plant at maximum mature plant size distances. Crowding is bad all around. You have the 'bones,' estsblished, now relax and add new plants very carefully. Be patient, in no time your plants will fill in, and as they do, you will become increasingly glad you chose the plants you did.

Moses

Sbrklyn, thank you. That was kind of my thinking surrounding something tall between/behind the Hydrangeas... Something spring blooming that will fill space until they fill out in summer.

Dingo & Vesfl, that is a great idea. NHBabs is actually the one who recommended this specific NE Gardening forum to me while helping me with my panicle hydrangeas who were suffering from a bit of transplant shock. I hope she chimes in here! I will absolutely look at her photos and previous posts. I do really like the suggestion of training a blue clematis with TG. I especially appreciate the tip about choosing something that will bloom at an opposite time than TG. This is exactly the kind of insight I was hoping for.

Sharon, your words are so sweet and I love that I am creating a space my children can enjoy and look back on fondly in the same way you describe your own memories. My four year old son picked out the mockorange for me and our two year old loves watching the butterflies. 💕 I checked the cold tolerance for Dee-Lish and it is hardy to -20! definitely my zone. It looks to have very large and pretty blooms. I’m sure your MIL enjoys it very much. You’ve inspired my next gift to my own!

Flowersaremusic, thank you very much. It was purple when we bought it, if you can believe it! We spent a lot of time and energy transforming the inside, but have shifted our focus to the outside this spring and summer. I am excited about the limelight standard. The person at the nursery told me that because I bought it bare root I shouldn’t expect to see any blooms this season, but it is happy as a clam and blossoming. Thank you for the information about the rosemary and dahlias. I’m afraid I won’t have the time to devote to the dahlias - we have four busy kids. But, I just might have to start another rosemary in a pot.
Delphiniums are on my list. Maybe those for among the hydrangea? Thank you!
Ps - the cat is a ham. She has taken to napping in the drain pipe that runs under the road and ends in a drainage ditch to the side of our property. I thought she was in there this afternoon when got a call from a neighbor saying she was trying to come into their house through the back door. The neighborhood is her oyster!

Moses, thank you for the wise words. You are right. I laid everything out according to the recommended spacing for each plant and I should leave it as is. I do think I will add a clematis to the obelisk. I will continue to plan for fall and think about what I can do with the front. I did move the dwarf maiden grass by the door in order to make room for something larger in that spot... and I brought two each of these home today for the front of the house.

I want to say thank you to everyone for being so kind. This is my first foray into gardening and I am grateful for how helpful everyone has been. I’ve enjoyed gardenweb for a long time and I’m happy to have something to share!

Shay, love your garden!! I would suggest some peonies?! Granted they only flower once, but when they do they are amazing And make such great cut flowers!

Hi Shay,

Your gardens are beautiful.

I enjoy gardening but have no eye for what plants work well together.

But I know where I can steal some ideas. LOL.

Our foundation plants are in need of help, and our house also is south facing.

What are the tulip shaped flowers in the picture above?

Thanks

Looking for a good peony to plant in fall, CeresMer!

Port, thank you. Those are balloon flowers. They are a newer cultivar called Astra Double Pink. I think traditionally balloon flowers can get to be a few feet tall. These are a dwarf variety and grow to be just under one foot tall, according to the tag. They are hardy to zone 3, like full sun, and bloom in summer. I think they would look really nice in a large clump. I’m on the lookout for more.

Shay, for a first foray into gardening (or even if you were an experienced gardener) you have done a remarkable job. Well done! The straight lines of the beds look great with the house’s clean lines and traditional architecture.

A few comments and suggestions:

- Be aware that hardiness may be challenge for some of your plants. For instance, roses (especially climbers) need to be chosen very carefully and may take some trial and error and thoughtful siting to make them happy in the cold end of zone 5. I have been successful with Zepherine Drouhin climber planted against a rock retaining wall And one of the Canadian explorer roses, and I know that there are some old ramblers that do well, but most of the climbing roses I have tried don’t appreciate the cold. Likewise many of the big leafed and mountain hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla and H. serrata) are hit or miss as far as bloom, though the plants will be hardy. Twist and Shout is a sporadic bloomer for me as is Blue Billow, though Tuff Stuff does well. Some types of evergreen holly will get winter burn or even winter kill to the now line, though I am not familiar with the type you mentioned. Most lavender (including Munster);has been annual for me, but I have found that Phenomenal has lasted 4 or 5 years so far. I wouldn’t in my wildest stretch of imagination call it huge here in my garden, however. Maybe you will find it it grows larger for you. I may be a bit colder than you as I seem to be in a cold pocket and every few years get below -20, so your experience as far as hardiness may differ.

- Most clematis do quite well, and I grow some into shrubs that only have spring bloom and others into obelisks or flat trellises. I also have a few that are short enough to work as perennials that need little to no support.

- Consider adding a few peonies for spring bloom as someone suggested. Either choose singles with strong stems or plan to add support rings just as the foliage starts emerging. They are one plant (tall phlox is another) that I always remove old foliage and stems before the snow flies to reduce disease problems the following year.

- For early spring interest consider adding some daffodils in spots where emerging perennials such as peonies will hide the dying foliage. Tulips and other bulbs tend to get eaten by voles here in my garden, but daffodils are not palatable and so are left uneaten.

- One of my favorite plants to fill space between shrubs or larger perennials is Veronica Georgia Blue (or Waterperry Blue if you prefer pastel colors). It is tolerant of some shade to full sun, evergreen and has beautiful little flowers. It rambles between other plants but doesn’t overrun them. Another type of groundcover I adore is Dianthus, specifically the low rock garden types such as Greystone or Firewitch or several even smaller types. They have spring flowers and tidy foliage, and some have frosty foliage or especially dark green leaves. Both of these are easy in my garden, spread without being aggressive, and look tidy all season, though I have to trim off old flowers once a season.

- Rather than add a lot more perennial plants right now, I would mostly use pots or annuals as well as groundcovers or perhaps a few vines to fill space while your current plants grow. It is easy to overfill beds when plants are small, but you seem to have done a reasonable job of planting for ultimate size. If in 3-5 years you want to revisit beds you now have to consider if more is needed, you can add then. More plants now will mostly require more bed space. Didn’t someone above say s/he no longer has lawn after listening to posters here?😉

Babs,

Thank you for taking the time to reply so thoughtfully here. I appreciate your kind words!

I hope the steeds holly make it through winter... They pack the punch of a large boxwood without the large price tag! They’ve fooled a few people! They will look pretty dressed up in lights this winter. I have seen others fare well in my town, so I hope the winter chill doesn’t prove me wrong!

I appreciate your insight regarding rose care in this zone. I have become totally enchanted by roses and hope I am able to plant quite a few that will be appropriate for this zone. Our winters don’t commonly get quite as cold as yours do just north of Concord. As you said, your area forms a kind of basin where the cold air settles. I am located at a bit of a higher elevation in the Lakes Region. Our lowest low last winter was -1... Still pretty frigid! I’m praying my girls make it through this year to justify getting more for a newly cleared area in our yard that would make an excellent planting site for a hedge of roses. I plan on mulching heavily and researching the best way to give them some winter protection, and then crossing my fingers and knocking on wood!

As far as the hydrangeas go, I have chosen for my garden specimens from the families of hydrangeas I’ve noticed doing well in other people’s yards in our area. That being said, my neighbor across the street has a four foot tall macrophylla that has mysteriously not bloomed this year. Could have been deer, could have been because it is planted ever so close to the path of the plow, could be winter weather... who knows! Regardless, I appreciate your warning very much and will have go into next spring with low expectations for my own macrophylla.

Spring interest! I need some help in this department. Thank you so much. I am going to look locally for the plants you’ve suggested. I needed an idea for ground cover on a slope that leads down to the top of a retaining wall. Would the Veronica be appropriate for this in addition to being a good space filler in a bed? I LOVE dianthus and your suggestion has solidified my determination to get some for the spring!

Thank you again Babs!!

Shay, Just a warning that last winter was unusually mild, so don’t rely on your -1 as being typical. I think that even my cold pocket didn’t get much colder than that, and though I push limits on hardiness for perennials, I have learned that I am not happy over the long term if I push too much on woody plants. Only you can decide whether macrophylla hydrangeas do well enough in your site over time.

Do you have a photo of the spot you are considering for your slope and retaining wall? I am interested in size and steepness since my Georgia Blue are all planted in flat spots. It is a much shorter plant than most Veronicas, less than 6”, and relatively shallow rooted. So it may not do well with holding a steep slope, and might be fairly boring if it is the only plant in the bed.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5956850/what-is-a-reliable-store-that-sells-conifer-seeds

Okay, Shay. Best.

Where did this come from??!!! This was a great thread of such nice plants and beds that Shay was sharing. It is much appreciated by many of us here on gardenweb. Good luck Shay in the future with your beautiful beds. Keep us updated.

Thank you Patti. I’ll post some update photos tonight!

I did see and remember the comment about no annuals, but they do make a great filler while one waits for woody plants to fill in. I interpreted Shay’s original comment about annuals as meaning that they weren’t a long term goal. Some folks have long term beds or places in beds for annuals, but I was suggesting them as a short term solution to Shay’s question about adding more plants, and can be taken or ignored as Shay sees fit.

I tend to flag and then ignore unnecessarily negative comments. Written forums are by nature going to have some misinterpretation. In general folks here are helpful and can disagree without being disagreeable, and I like the sense of community here. There is a hot topics forum where folks are often dismissive or negative, but Ihaven’t ventured there much.

You have done a beautiful job with your garden and have a good eye for what works with your architecture. I will be interested in seeing how it progresses over time.

Shay, I didn't have a chance to follow this GW thread since I commented on your garden 3 weeks ago but I see you got lots of great advice. Just wanted to chime in about 'Munstead Wood' lavender that I also grow at the edge. It does get huge. At first I didn't know how to prune it and let it grow but then I had to size it down, fearing I just killed it. Lo' and behold, it came back wonderfully! As if completely rejuvenated.

NHBabs, I learned from mad_gallica that lavender needs alkaline soil, otherwise it should tolerate cold (of course, every location in the same zone can be different). If I remember from your posts awhile back, I think you have acidic soil and that might be the reason why your Munstead didn't perennialize.

re: annuals. I completely concur that they are wonderful fillers until you have all the shrubs and perennials in place. In fact, I adore zinnias (the tiny ones), they bring a sense of cheerfulness for me and I have a few patches where I regularly plant them every year. They spread quickly and last until the frost!

Babs,
I hear your points about annuals and might consider some for next year. The idea of having dedicated spaces in a garden for them is t something that had occurred to me, but is actually a really nice idea as a way to add life in the spring.

I didn’t know flagging was an option and will bear that in mind in the future, thank you. I agree with you about the sense of community here. I will not venture into the hot topics forum! I don’t actively use social media and am always surprised when people take things to a personal level in that context.

Thank you for the compliment! I will post some photos of how things are growing below. I get so much enjoyment from puttering around the garden every morning and evening. I’m so glad to have a place to share the happiness it brings me with others who feel the same way.

Vesfl, I’m so happy to hear you’ve had good luck with munstead lavender. I read about a study which included a handful of varieties and was designed to find out which was the hardiest lavender for colder climates. The results found that munstead and phenomenal were most successful. This is why I chose these two varieties. I’m sure microclimates make a large difference here, but I am keeping my fingers crossed for my own. I’ll have to buy a meter and check for alkalinity. I wonder if it would be wise to transfer the smaller of the plants to pots for the winter while they’re still on the small side...? I have a dear friend who’s son plants zinnias for her every year and I always think of them when I see them. I think I will find a home for some next spring.

Happy Bobo

The last bloom of a flush on TG one evening, about a week ago.

Tess of the D’Urbervilles

New growth on TG after deadheading the last flush of blooms.

Newest addition - Crown Princess Margareta. I just love apricot colored roses.