Garden Newsletter
Planting trees for privacy
A frequent design conundrum for gardeners with a small space is how to create privacy without resorting to a fortress of wooden fencing. A few well-placed columnar trees can create a lovely green screen to block an unattractive view or muffle the sounds of car and pedestrian traffic.
Baptisias, take a bow
The three clumps of baptisia in our front garden are peaking right now and will soon need to be thinned out in order for us to have a safe view of the street when backing out the car. That’s the ultimate size of a happy, healthy baptisia at maturity: mammoth.
Caring for columbines
Columbines (Aqueligia species and hybrids) are an old-fashioned cottage garden perennial, happy to weave here and there among more substantial companions, such as peonies, roses and daylilies.
Container plants filling in
Most of the containers I planted three weeks ago are filling in now that the weather is consistently warm. I like to try a new colour scheme every year, depending on plant availability.
June is for roses
Sadly, there are fewer roses in my garden every year, casualties of encroaching shade from maturing trees and persistent Japanese beetle invasions. But the half dozen that remain are coddled along, because I can’t imagine a garden without a rose or two or more.
