Happy Monday GPODers!
We start this week with a garden that looks magical no matter the time of year.
Hi, my name is Terry Redling and I live in Gillette, NJ, a semi-rural suburb about 28 miles from New York City. Previously living in a 6b zone, we now have a 7a garden. I am a geriatrician by day (and on call at night) and enjoy the meditation and beauty of the garden to relieve stress and recharge. I love all types of lilies (including Money treeor commonly known as the lily). Deer are a big problem, but the screen is virtually invisible and keeps deer from getting near the flowers. My husband Jeff and I love spending time outside tending to our property and vegetable garden, which he has built into a 2-story structure over the years. We love sitting by the fire pit or relaxing in the hot tub surrounded by all this beauty.
In this first part of Terry’s flower garden, we’ll look at all the color and vibrancy that can be found during the day. Tomorrow, we’ll return to see how peaceful the space is as the sun begins to set.
The tiered vegetable garden built by Terry’s husband, Jeff—what a great idea! Tiered vegetable beds are very popular, but you don’t often see them used as edible vegetable beds. What a great way to take a hard-to-grow space and turn it into something productive.
As Terry mentioned above, she is a real lily lover and she has included some close up shots of some of her favourites. This gorgeous flower is the ‘Zeba’ lily (Lily ‘Zeba’ (Zones 3–8) is known for its beautiful colour and its relationship to the notoriously difficult-to-grow Nepalese lily. It also has a wonderful evening fragrance, which is perfect for Terry’s garden, which she enjoys at night.
Flowers are in bloom, and a makeshift fence keeps deer from eating these beautiful flowers.
While Terry isn’t afraid of any color, pink is definitely the standout color in this garden. Daisies, coneflowers, phlox, and hollyhocks all come in various shades of pink.
Another great lily variety similar to ‘Zeba’ above, but with more pink. A fun and bright colour combination, ‘Big Smile’ (Lily ‘Big Smile’, Zones 3–8) is a very appropriate name.
A closer look at the daffodils and phlox in the garden (Phlox paniculataZones 4–8) which we see above, show yellow onion seed heads scattered throughout the flowers.
A world away from Terry’s favorite lily, the purple passionflower (Passion for flowers EmbodyZones 5–10) allow some northern gardeners to bring a touch of the tropics into their landscape.
Take a last look at the brilliant flowers basking in the sunlight.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, be sure to come back to Terry’s garden tomorrow to see these beautiful flowers at night!
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