Happy 4th of July. July is when things start to pop in the garden after the June lull, so I thought this might be a good time to provide a tour or overview of where things are right now.
Here’s a view from the street. That’s a ‘Mary Todd’ Daylily blooming in the Parkway Bed. Otherwise this bed is full of green plants that bloomed in spring or will bloom later in summer or fall.
And here’s the view from the Sidewalk. The only real masses of color right now are the ‘Raspberry Wine’ Bee Balm (Monarda didyma) and the ‘Jackmanii’ Clematis, which is past its peak but still has plenty of blooms. The ‘Raspberry Wine’ is blooming in the Sidewalk Border only, but there are other Monarda species/cultivars elsewhere that have yet to bloom. But just wait, there’s lots more color coming.
Here’s a view from the street at the other end of the Parkway Border. The front yard is about 95% dug up for beds and borders. There is a grass path 2-3′ wide that separates the Driveway Border, the Sidewalk Border, and Front Island Bed. The path keeps getting narrower as I cram in more plants.
I try to keep the Asters and Rudbeckias in the Parkway Border cut fairly low. Fortunately they respond well to being cut back. Similarly, I try to keep the Sidewalk Border from getting overgrown right along the sidewalk. Also, I line both sides with brick to signal that this is a garden, not an overgrown weed patch.
Here’s the Driveway Border, seen from the sidewalk. Those little pops of magenta, if you can see them, are Wine Cups (Callirhoe bushii).
The view from the front door.
There’s also ‘Eye-yi-yi’ Daylilies, probably my favorite variety. The Daylilies in the garden are just getting started.
Closer to the house, but harder to see from the street, ‘Betty Corning’ Clematis is adorned with its last blooms. And along the edge of the Driveway Border, mostly self-sown Hoary Vervain (a plant that desperately needs a new common name) (Verbena stricta) is starting to bloom.
Here’s the Lamppost Bed, providing a closer look at the Wine Cups.
This is the bed on the other side of the Driveway, which I call either the Left Bank Bed or the Crabapple Bed, seen from the neighbors’ lawn. There’s some more Daylilies and at the far end a patch of Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa).
Butterflyweed and Daylilies.
Here’s the other side of the Left Bank Bed. The Alliums are done blooming, but the seed heads remain.
Looking across part of the Left Bank Bed to the other side of the driveway.
Before long masses of color will start emerging throughout the Front Garden. I’m thinking of making this sort of overview a regular feature every couple of weeks or so, at least into September. And the next post will be an overview of the Back Garden. In the meantime, stay safe and enjoy your holiday weekend if in the US, and if not – enjoy your summer.
gardeninacity 
FABULOUS VIEWS. LOTS OF WORK BUT IT’S PAID OFF IN A LOVELY FEELING FOR RELAXATION.
Thanks, John.
I love seeing the whole bed together. I struggle with garden design, so it’s very helpful.
I struggle as well.
Happy 4th July to you Jason and I hope that you have a good weather to celebrate. Lovely to see your front garden. The clematis growing up the house is beautiful as is the monarda too.
Those are the highlights at the moment.
Yours would be one of my top nominees for “in bloom” front gardens that we recognize here in Lexington, KY. It’s good to see the garden from different aspects.
That sounds like a good sort of award. I wish we did something like that here.
I always read your blog and enjoy seeing your beautiful garden. Finally, I signed in to comment. Thank you!
Thank you for reading and commenting!
I like this overview and am happy to read that you plan to continue doing it. Thanks!
Thanks, Pat!
I love how you have crammed as much beautiful plant life in as possible for your spaces Jason !
I am a complete failure with Bee Balm which is a pity because I love the scent of it, however powdery mildew and poor blooming was a constant problem for me so I just had to throw the towel in.
Yes ! I also have allium seed heads still going strong , I love their artys ? attitude in the gardens.
Another yes to staggering blooming periods throughout the seasons .. it seems we are constantly setting up for the next headliner flowers, and that is nice !
I grow the cultivars ‘Raspberry Wine’ and Purple Rooster which are both pretty mildew resistant. The species M. fistulosa is not too bad in terms of mildew either, at least here in our garden.
Looking great, Jason. The purple clematis is still putting on a good show and I can see the promise of beautiful things yet to come. I love that you are nearly lawn-free!
Thanks. There’s a bit more lawn in the back.
Beautiful! The allium seed heads are huge.
Those are the Star of Persia.
Interesting. I saw one like it in a public garden the other day, but there was just one.
Those are amazing gardens requiring a lot of hard work. Your neighborhood must view your property as a small botanical garden. Looking good. 🙂
More work than I can handle, these days. Fortunately I have friends who provide a lot of help, but I’m looking for paid help as well.
I have brought in more shrubs in the past few years because the maintenance required for perennials sometimes becomes more than one gardener can handle.
You and Judy must be thrilled with how gorgeous the beds are looking. That Monarda is lovely and the day lilies look full of promise for a long show. I don’t remember seeing your wine cups before. Nice. Looking forward to these updates.
The wine cups are relatively new.
The gardens are beautiful, Jason and Judy. Our orange daylilies have been blooming for a little while now. The excessive heat knocked them back a bit, but the reblooming daylilies are now opening up.
Glad your daylilies are coming back. I think they are an essential plant in a sunny garden.
Yay, I like this overview approach! Nice to see the big picture. Everything is looking lovely, Jason..
Thanks, Ginny!
My limited success with Monarda ‘Peter’s Purple’ has made me wish I could grow more species . I planted one noID variety offered by my local garden center but thus far it’s done nothing (although it hasn’t died either). I wish I had half your success with alliums.
Best wishes for a happy 4th!
Monardas like my garden. We get some downy mildew but usually not too bad. The M. fistulosa is starting to bloom now, and the ‘Purple Rooster’.
Always love that monarda, Jason!
Me too!
Okay, so it’s not just me who thought that vervian has a silly name. I actually looked up the spelling for the other word because I couldn’t remember.
It’s the hoary that gets me. Sounds like a ghost.
What?! That’s all? That’s not so bad. I thought something significantly worse, and relevant to prostitution.
Your garden is a pleasure to look at from far off Australia. Everything is so green and colourful. The Raspberry Wine Bee Balm and Jackmanii Clematis looks lovely in the front garden and up against the house. I think an overview every few weeks would be very interesting.
Happy Belated 4th July to you and Judy!
Thanks! Btw, I keep following your blog, but for some reason I don’t get email notices of your posts. Just saw you had one from about 10 days ago.
Hi Jason, you should be getting an email..
I have noticed when I reply to some blog posts now, that after the comment there is a box to tick if you want to have notification of future posts by email. Perhaps this is happening with my blog posts….I’ll check with other followers who comment. There have been a few slight changes since Block Editor came in…
Oops, I see now I already saw this one. It was a good one, though!
It is so interesting to see how you have combined all your plants. Do you rely on certain perennials to act as the back bone of your planting? Does the design evolve over time or do you create it in your head before you sow it? Amelia
Oh, I am not nearly so organized. Sometimes I try to plan, but then I make impulse purchases. I try to use some plants in quantity, but even so there are multiple backbones.
Your white house — now with the ruddy brick road — makes for some impressive garden art! I think it looks positively smug wearing such finery! I vote another aye for regular overview.
Ruddy brick road – I like that.
Your garden is thriving at this point. Love those wine cups. I need some low growing/flowering plants for now. Must look into that. Happy summer to you too.
There are two species of wine cup that I know of. The first, that I don’t have, is sprawling almost like a ground cover (Callirhoe involucrata). The other is semi-upright (C. bushii). THey both like sandy or well-drained soil.
Wow ! Stunning house and stunning garden !
What a lovely tour, it’s always good seeing the whole front garden, this will be an enjoyable feature.xxx
Glad you think so.
Lots of great looking plants!
Thanks!
It looks really good Jason! It is nice to have an overview of where everything is. Does the front face south? I like the wine cups… a new plant for me that I must go and look up! 😃
Actually, it faces north, but it’s the sunniest part of the garden.
Hello Jason, that’s a glorious front garden you have and it’s so jam-packed with plants. I’m worried the grass paths might turn into stepping stones and then just a “suggestion” of a way through that once was! The mixed heights of the plants works really well, as does the way they merge into the street and surrounding trees to give a borrowed landscape.
Several people have suggested stepping stones, but I don’t think that will happen.
I noticed those winecups right away; they look good in a garden. The allium seed heads caught my eye, too. They’re like floral fireworks (though much quieter). Personally, I’ve always thought ‘hoary vervain’ was a great name: very descriptive. It not only reminds me of hoarfrost, it’s a great term for leaves and stems (like that of the V. stricta) that have white hairs.
Point taken on the V. stricta.
This is great –such a good sense of how all the beds in the front garden fit together. Lovely plants. I have some of the raspberry wine bee balm and always think of them as firecracker flowers –I think because they do come out for the 4th of July. But I like shoreacres comment about the allium seed heads. For me, the raspberry wine are not as full this year –I think something is crowding them out a bit. Those wine cups are gorgeous little magenta bits of happiness. I look forward to more of these tours.
‘Raspberry Wine’ is an . cultivar, both because of the flowers and the mildew resistance.
Stunning – and that border of bee balm!!!! Love it!
Thanks!
This all looks so fabulous and so colourful, I wish my garden would just hurry up ! My Dahlias are just starting into flower, but its more of an occasional flower at the moment, lets hope July brings vast quantities of sunshine and flower colour to my garden in the UK.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.
Raspberry wine, now that’s a nice name for a plant, and a lovely plant, big impact as you have planted en masse – do they spread / self seed? I like day lilies too, they do well for me and I think their foliage is a real asset, and thank heavens the slugs leave them alone (we are having an awful time with the slimy creatures this summer). All looking lovely and lush.
They do spread aggressively by rhizome.