The Deck Garden: Then and Now

I was out today looking at the sorry state of the gardens and though it might be an interesting exercise to look back at how the gardens appeared last spring and compare them. Over the next few posts I’ll go back for a few photos of the spring time version and contrast it with that same garden today. Let me start off by saying I have a lot of cleanup to do! On with the show:

The Deck Garden Then (May):

I built the timber raised beds around the deck for an additional planting area in conjunction with the patio I built.  The hand me down irises are blooming here as is the pink phlox from Gail. I’m looking forward to that combination this spring since the phlox has had some time to grow and should have filled in . To the right is a ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint about to bloom and just past it is a salvia – one of my favorite perennials. You just can’t go wrong planting a salvia.

This is a little later in May when the red ‘Firebird’ penstemon is beginning to bloom. It’s very easily propagated. Sometimes a glass of water is just fine.

Here we are standing back a little to look at the garden as a whole. The irises are done blooming and the catmint is coming into its time.

A little farther down the bed you can see gladiolas, a daylily, and caryopteris. Caryopteris is fantastic perennial for late summer and fall.

The Deck Garden Now (February):

The scene is much different. Please excuse the messy foliage and dead branches. I like to leave the perennial foliage to provide a little extra frost protection. It’s time to cut things back and start getting them cleaned up for the season.