Hi there! First, let me apologize for the blogging silence. I’ve hit a few snags with some health-related stuff the past week—nothing too serious at all, more just annoying and enervating—so I needed a little time to recupe. But I’m on the mend now and am getting back on track. Yes!
My parents were nice enough to come down to stay with me until I felt better and, as always, in addition to bringing loads of nice treats with them (they did a grocery run at Wegmans for me—dreamy!), they gave me lots of great ideas for beautifying my backyard. My dad even took it upon himself to wrestle with some of the monster weeds that had taken over in one of the backyard beds. (Thanks, dad!)
As some of you may remember, I’ve been captivated by the idea of creating a green and white garden in the backyard, which I wrote about here. As I’ve thought more about it, and after talking it through with my folks, I have decided this is the direction I’m going to take. Here are some of the ideas that shaped my thinking:
1. The green and white garden is a more “edited” approach to gardening. I tend to favor clean lines and pared-down interiors, so it seems only natural that I would be drawn to a similar approach to my garden. I’ve been pinning a lot of images on my gardening Pinterest board, and what I’ve learned is that I seem to be drawn to a more “sculptural” garden. I go berserk for tight round forms of boxwood clumped together or neatly manicured privet hedges. And I love seeing a lot of green—to me, it’s just such a refreshing look for a garden.
[via Under Spanish Moss]
[Via Anouska Hempel Design]
[Via Pinterest, original source unknown]
[Via The Enduring Gardener]
2. Limiting my palette to green and white will also help me narrow my choices—this, for me, is a good thing. As someone who is new to gardening, I’m frankly overwhelmed by all the cultivars and varieties to choose from! Having a limited palette will hopefully make decisions a little easier. Here are some images that have inspired me and some of the varieties I’m considering:
[Caladiums, white irisene, and New Guinea impatiens, via Deborah Silver’s Dirt Simple]
[Goatsbeard, great for shade, via Northern Shade Gardening]
[Astilbe, via White Flower Farm]
[Festiva Maxima Peony, via Pinterest, original source unknown. I already have one of
these, but they’re so gorgeous and seem to do well in my garden, so I’m planning more!]
[Festiva Maxima peonies from my garden]
3. A green and white garden lends itself to incorporating shrubs and evergreens (great for winter interest) and emphasizing foliage too. In addition to the aforementioned boxwood, I’m planning on adding some slow-growing dwarf pines and English ivy as ground cover. Below is an “aerial” shot of my folks’ garden—you can see that they’ve added English Ivy as ground cover alongside the boxwood on the left, and I love how it looks!
Again, for winter interest, I’m also considering adding Montgomery blue spruce (the dwarf variety) to my garden:
[Via Garden Author @ Corliss clips]
4. Another thing that I learned from my gardening Pinterest board is that I favor large masses of the same flower rather than lots of different flowers grouped together. I like continuity. Keeping a white theme will help unify the look, and I’m leaning toward flowers with lots of large blooms that look really good grouped en masse: hydrangeas, peonies, maybe even some shrub roses if I get really daring!
[Annabelle hydrangea via News From Nowhere]
[Limelight hydrangeas, via A Country Farmhouse]
[Snowball Viburnum via Wikimedia Commons]
[Winchester Cathedral Rose via roselocator.com]
I’m very excited because next Tuesday I have a consultation with a local landscaper—I’m hoping she will help guide me in translating these ideas into reality. I’m planning on implementing my green and white garden in phases. I’ll keep you posted on my progress!
Have a lovely weekend! xo
I love your decision to go two basic colors. It will be elegant and fresh!