The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

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Nothing gets my brain firing on all cylinders more than planning out a new garden bed or tweaking an existing one. Out comes the paper and pen, and the imagination (not to mention the credit card) runs wild. This is especially true this time of year when there is little more to do then plan. 
But every once in a while, I find … brace yourself … that maybe things are OK as is. Yes that is blasphemy to a gardener but it CAN happen. It may not last for long but as of right now, I think I am good to go with one of my garden beds.
The bed in question is what I call the “playroom garden” because it sits right under the windows of the kids playroom. My daughter spends most of her time in this room and she will let me know how much she loves looking out the window to see all of the flowers. So as I sit here and analyze this particular garden bed for the need for more winter/early spring interest, I think maybe it doesn’t matter. Let’s keep it as the perennial bed that it is and enjoy the explosion of late spring/summer blooms. To try and balance it with too many conifers/evergreens takes away from it’s great summer vibe.
Sorry, enough writing and analysis, here are the photos:
As of today:
Late winter/early spring: 

Mid summer:

From another angle, current day:

Again, in mid-summer:

Just outside the range of the photos above are a few peonies (‘Bowl of Beauty’) and a bunch of Campanula (Bellflower) ‘Joan Elliot’. They provide the first blooms in this bed in early May and then the rest of the perennials take over:

One last final angle, today:

And again, early summer:

I think I am OK with leaving this garden bed as is this year so I can focus on other areas in dire need of help. In fact, I have to get out of here before I take a closer look at these photos and change my mind.

John

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14 Responses

  6. I agree…I think too many people get obsessed with having evergreens in their garden for “winter interest”, when the honest truth is, green or not, most evergreens are kinda boring 😉 Give me the drama and variability of grasses and perennials any day! If I want something that doesn’t change, I’ll buy a sofa.

  7. Well, I love evergreens, but I think those three that you have are plenty to hold the bed through winter. Especially as they grow, it will only look better and better. Move on.

  8. It is such a vast difference to view a garden bed in summer compared to winter. It is almost impossible to imagine the winter bed can be as beautiful as it is in summer. Your garden is very beautiful!

  9. With a major gardening project on the horizon, there is no need to tweak the play room garden. But it bothers you. That means that one day you will do something about it. That’s the way we gardeners operate. We can leave nothing alone. We are prone to always raising the bar.
    In anticipation of that event, here is a thought:- The Russian Sage and Echinacea in the play room garden, planted in groups of threes, are elegant and majestic. For some inexplicable reason, The yellow plants in the foreground of the mid-summer garden appear to be excessive. Two out of the three could be removed and replaced with two different low growing plants that provide winter interest.

  10. Thought #1 – Who came up with the idea that everything has to be interesting year round? My Christmas tree is fabulous in December but not in July. If your going outside and staring at that patch just to see how interesting it is, you’re just torturing yourself.

    Thought #2 – If your daughter loves the flower garden her dad created, then expand it and add more flowers! There’s nothing wrong with a summer garden. You could add a birdbath or bubbler to attract wildlife, which is always interesting.

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