Leaving the Ivory Tower : Garden

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Monochromatic Gardening

When designing a garden it can be tough to know where to begin. There are so many options! One way to narrow down the choices and create an aesthetically pleasing space, is to create a monochromatic garden.

For this garden I chose violet, but you can pick any color. Maybe it was the purple car I drove for 16 years, or maybe it's just because it's pretty, but for some reason I've always appreciated the color purple.

Here are some ideas is you too decide to create a purple garden...

The first and easiest thing to look for will likely be plants with violet hues flowers. Morning Glories are easy to grow and offer vibrant purple blooms. They reseed easily, but will take over small spaces, so give them plenty of room to climb.

Another great climber with purple accents is a Passion Flower (pictured below). These cartoonish flowers are a delight!

Salvias are hearty, don't need much water and come in a variety of purple shades.

Sweet Peas

Look for unexpected sources of color, like these Artichokes.

When left unharvested Artichokes will put on a brilliant show of vibrant purple color.

I also like to chose my flowers based on the season they bloom. By staggering them to bloom in different seasons you can create year-round interest.

Now that it's summer, my Hollyhocks and Dahlias are both in full bloom.

But as soon as fall comes, Mums and Asters steel the show.

Another thing to look for is colored foliage.

The leaves of this Japanese Maple provide two seasons of deep plum color.

Clovers and Decorative Kale are also excellent for providing purple leaves.

Lastly, look for even the subtlest of purples. The silvery violets of Lavender and Lamb's Ears work well in a monochromatic garden.

My favorite on-line nursery is Annie's Annuals. I have has good luck with their plants, and their catalog always includes a little bit of quirky humor, which I appreciate!

Thanks for stopping by, and happy gardening!

Linking up to these fun parties:

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Hayley Brentmar

Hello! My name is Hayley Brentmar. Thank you for visiting my blog! I am an: artist, designer, mother, literature nerd, daughter, sister, homemaker, wife, traveler, and teacher turned homeschooler. I am a sucker for packaging, and I suck at playing sports. Aesthetics are crucial. Please visit my professional webpage: https://hayleybrentmar.com Let's be friends on GoodReads! Find my profile with this URL: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1452367-hayley-brentmar Also, please visit my first website at this URL: https://sites.google.com/site/hayleydeeenestbio/ Professional and Educational experience: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hayleybrentmar123/

Friday, June 12, 2015

Deer Resistant Gardening

Every spring they return. While we do find them charming, our neighborhood deer are not so great for my garden.

Luckily with some creativity and research I’ve been able to create a front garden that is relatively deer proof (at least so far!).

The area I needed to landscape was prime deer grazing ground, sunny and (because of drought conditions) dry.

My pallet of maroons, yellows and soft greens kind of chose me. Once I started discovering plants that fell in both the “deer resistant” and “low water” categories I found myself limited largely to these colors.

Two plants that I have used in multiples, that come in both yellow and maroon, are Yarrow and Euphorbia (be careful Euphorbia are poisonous).

Yarrow

Here is an online source for the same yellow yarrow I have in my yard. The deer completely ignore it!

A golden cloud of Euphorbia

Deer with a new maroon Euphorbia

Lamb's Ears

I used several varieties of lavender and soft fuzzy Lamb's Ears mimic the grey green foliage of the yarrow. Then I interspersed these light grey-green plants with darker maroons, for contrast.

Cordyline and Lavender

As a side note, I am very happy with the solar tiki torches you can see in the photo above. They've been out there for over a year and are still going strong!

Another tough maroon plant is Purple Fountain grass, pictured bellow with some of my deer friends.

I've also learned that having deer-resistant plantings doesn't mean you have to sacrifice the joy of seeing flowers in your garden. Besides Yarrow, I've also had successes with Lavender, Salvia (of all kinds) and Mango Popsicle.

Mexican Sage is another tough plant that they seem to ignore.

In addition to flowers, I've found that ornimental grasses make an excellent addition to my deer proof garden. My two favorites are Mexican Feather Grass and Karl Foerster Grass.

I love the way they glow in the sun.

For more ideas about how to chose plants that glow, please see this post I wrote a while back.

I even chose a hose that matched my color scheme! It really helps to brighten up the space :)

I also use a lot of succulents out in this area, because the deer don't seem to pay any attention to them. For much more about my succulent gardens, please see this post.