A quick peek at Patricia's garden...

It was late July, 2019, when I popped over to my friend Patricia's garden to snap a few photos, photos I needed (you guessed it) for my book. This is the second garden I've watched Patricia, and her husband Bill, create. The first was largely in a ginormous hellstrip, I wrote about that one here.

This first shot shows the front garden patio at the current place, it's elevated up a bit from the street level, something you'll see better in one of the last images in this post...

How can you not love a sea of Eryngium agavifolium blooms combined with Amaranthus caudatus?

There is a built-in brick planter along the front of the house, which faces north—so it's rather shady—that Patricia has crammed full of all sorts of interesting things, like this bamboo fern, Coniogramme intermedia 'Yoroi Musha'.

Proof that a planting of all foliage and no flowers is not boring.Blechnum chilenseFatsia japonica  'Murakumo Nishiki'And now we're turning the corner into the back garden, I believe that large conifer intruding upon the path is now gone. Patricia's been battling cute furry critters even longer than I have. She has such a way with combining plants, they just look like they were meant to be together.That Nolina hibernica 'La Siberica' moved from her last garden.

The dark berberis was here at the new garden, just waiting for it's perfect companions.Here's the hard-working and creative couple who own this home and garden, Bill and Patricia. I had really hoped to include photos of the people behind the gardens in my book, sadly the limits of a print photo count meant that wasn't possible.Looking east from roughly where they're standing above.That big bowl of horsetail came from the last garden as well. I've always coveted it.Lobelia tupaThe eryngium kinda steals this photo, but I was really focused on the Acanthus sennii above it, on the right. Such a cool spiky plant that's grown better here than I've ever managed to grow it in my garden.Of course the eryngium (NOID) flowers are very spiky too.Symphytum x uplandicum 'Axminster Gold' shines brightly from a shady spot.The future of that gnarly old apple tree was the topic of much discussion when Patricia started contemplating the garden she wanted to create here, I'm so glad she decided to keep it.It frames the patio (and the view from the kitchen and dining table) perfectly.As well as castling a bit of afternoon shade.Big leaves, little leaves. A few patio plant close-ups...And a couple of final images of the back garden...Before I retrace my steps back around to the front garden.And take a couple final shots of that dramatic light...Thanks, as always, for sharing your gorgeous garden Patricia!
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