Perhaps it's time to 'paint the ground'... #3 in a series

It all began with a new found love of primula. The photo above includes my original gifted plants of Primula kisoana which is a woodland variety from Japan that performs very well in the mid-west. My gardening buddy Frog Pond was kind enough to share it in both the white and lavender pink versions. I've read that in comes in a third color, either lighter or darker than this pink one in my garden... I really couldn't say at this point. I am presently a connoisseur of primula without a whole lot of the accompanying knowledge... if that's possible.

Not long ago, Frog Pond mentioned that perhaps this wasn't the best spot for kisoana... they like to spread. Research tells me that within five years, one could easily possess a colony three feet wide of this wonderful stoloniferous (dare I say it?) thug, if conditions are to its liking. Not just any thug mind you, but a thug to love. I can just imagine planting offsets amongst the Jack-in-the Pulpits and the hellebores... I suspect it will happily mingle as long as the soil has a somewhat woodsy texture and good moisture. However, it does well even if the conditions aren't totally to its preference... too dry and it might go dormant mid-summer, but chances are it's back next spring!

So what exactly does all this talk about primulas have to do with the title of this post? Last post I referenced "the vision" for these gardens of ours and the thing that really is tugging on my gardening heart is what I've started to accomplish in this 'rockery'.  I'm having visions of, for lack of better terminology, ground covers. No, not a great stand of vinca minor in several bloom colors or lily of the valley... no offense to them, but I tore out truck loads of both of them over the past three years. They were the kind of thugs I couldn't love... at least on two acres. Ten acres might be a different story. I'm talking about groundcovers that don't overwhelm and if they do, are easily removed. I'm talking about galium odoratum or sweet woodruff which I absolutely love... when it goes too far, it's an easy chore to scrape it's borders back from the woodsy pine needles it seems to enjoy inhabiting. I'm also talking about ground covers of mixed planting as in the photo above... primroses combined with clump forming epimediums... a little Jeffersonia dubia,and anemone pulsatilla... and a Tsuga canadensis 'Cole's Prostrate' thrown into the mix for good measure (just out of view in this capture). I can envision a few clump forming ferns (variety yet to be decided on)  rising from the bed of white snow (sweet woodruff) pictured below. I can imagine great drifts of hellebores and hostas sharing space with other amazing woodland plants... and oh the spring bloom.... it would be a reason to keep the blood coursing through ones' veins through the long winter months...

Some of the areas that I most enjoy in our gardens already have a bit of this concept in place...

Mix it up Conrad! Spread all those textures around... get with the program. I seem to recall Christopher Lloyd being referred to as mixed border Lloyd in his Great Dixter gardens. That fine gentleman really had it going on and I'm suddenly realizing that could be my style... minus the borders that is!

I already have a lot of the plant material... I simply need to put it to better use... case in point... I love the tiny blooms of Iris cristata but the amazing spreading clumps of foliage are wonderful from a textural point of view all season as well...

I guess you could call this new series of posts "where to turn when you can't fit in another tree".

I really, really got excited (maybe even a touch of my atrial fib!) when I came across the gardens and business web site for Swallowtail Gardens near Asheville, NC. Their link is in the upper right hand corner of this post.

After oohing and aahing my way through their story and web site, I clicked on their facebook page and was really blown away.  Towards the bottom of their website you will find an invitation to visit them at Facebook... click on that and then click on 'photos' which is on the left side of that page. The next thing to click on is "views of our garden" and 31 wonderful photos come up. Click on the first one to enlarge and then use the arrow to scroll through them.

I have always had a sense that my gardening style would move towards some woodland collections eventually. It has taken years and hundreds upon hundreds of yards of wood mulch to build up our soil... I think the time is drawing near. After seeing the fantastic woodland phloxes in the Swallowtail garden I realized that I have always thought these phlox were amazing, but I don't have many. I went to the catalog of The Flower Factory which is about 80 miles from here (it has one of the largest collections of perennials for sale in the US) and found out they carry at least seventeen varieties... I wouldn't be at all surprised to find myself planting all seventeen this spring!

Also, if you haven't clicked on the link below "Visit my favorite nursery and gardens" on the right side of my site, Cady's Falls has many new and wonderful photos of the gardens which include a lot of the things that have contributed to my epiphany of late.

As I looked at the title of my last post, it struck me as a bit 'clunky' until I remembered that I was trying to get to the fact that each serious gardener has "the vision" for their gardens. This vision evolves over time... it has to... as I said, for a very long time mine had to do with flowering trees and conifers above all else. While that is still a part of the vision, it's what's underneath them that's starting to become an even bigger part of the design.

I have an amazingly knowledgable blogging friend whose site is Carolyn's Shade Gardens... I have a feeling I'll be visiting that site a lot in the future as my goals develop. If you don't know Carolyn, you can click on her site to the upper right as well.

That's about it for this time... a big part of the joy of gardening is the imagining of what can be.... as Debra commented on my last post... "One of the things I like best about gardening is the prerogative to change my mind; to rethink things, move things around or eliminate entirely." I think Debra is right on with that comment, this is very basic to developing a great garden and besides that it's just great fun! 

Next time I'll share some more of the plant material I hope to utilize as these changes unfold over the next few seasons.

Oh yes... a sure sign that spring will indeed return again... I was just asked to schedule my first garden club tour of our place for this, the new gardening year...

Take care as always, Larry