designing a cutting garden: part two, my garden


My own house is a perfect example of how a modest, “front yard” garden can be a great cutting bed too. Here’s how I did it:

First, I drew up my “wish list”. This was fun as I never get to be the client! I knew that I wanted an almost monochromatic color palette – mostly greens and whites. Something in bloom in almost every season. And of course, an abundance of plant material to cut and bring indoors, without leaving “holes” in the garden.

But, like most projects, there were challenges too. Since this was a “front of the house” garden (also called a foundation garden), there would need to be some evergreens. And while I know that they are important to the garden – providing height, structure and year round greenery – they also take up valuable space. As this bed was just about 25 feet wide, I knew that I’d have to select the balance of the plants carefully, to make the most of what little room was left.

silver foundation bed plan

With these parameters in place, I designed my garden. I always start with the evergreens and settled on  two types. I chose skip laurels for the back – they have a narrow, upright shape (perfect for a smaller garden), and fragrant white blooms in spring. And I added some boxwoods toward the front – they are slow-growing and practically maintenance-free. You can really appreciate the value of these shrubs in this picture, taken in early March:

silver foundation bed, march

As you can see, the garden would be pretty barren without them.

I wanted at least one flowering shrub, and settled on these “Limelight” hydrangeas:

limelight hydrangea

They flower profusely all summer long with pale green blooms, and look gorgeous in a tall vase.

Now for the perennials. I decided to pick one variety for every season, and plant lots of each type.

Spring was a no-brainer – peonies. Peonies are my very favorite flower, and they signal “spring” to me like nothing else. Especially these – called “Duchesse de Nemours”:

peony

Summer brings “Coconut Lime” coneflowers (don’t you love the name?). They look stunning with the hydrangeas – both in the garden and in arrangements:

echinacea

silver foundation bed, summer

And these “Honorine Jobert” anemones produce abundant white flowers straight through the fall:

anemone

anemone

But wait. There’s more.

I have two more tips for getting as much “wow” in the garden as possible – even when space is tight.

The first is: spring bulbs. Bulbs take up next to no room, yet provide tons of impact in the garden – typically before anything else is in bloom. I’m partial to alliums and planted 50 of them. They are so striking, don’t you think? I departed from my green/white color scheme here, but breaking the rules is part of the fun…….

allium

allium

The second tip is to plant vertically. Planting climbers is a good tactic for any garden, but particularly for smaller ones. The climbing structures (or “tuteurs”) provide their own ornamental element to the garden, while taking up very little space. And the clematis that climb up and around them produce enormous white blooms that look beautiful floating in a clear glass bowl. Win-win.

clematis

clematis

tuteur with clematis

So there you have it – a “proper” foundation garden, lots of flowers for cutting, and something in bloom almost year round. And, in keeping with my “most important rule” – I have a garden that I love. One that make ME happy.

How about you? What is in your “dream” garden (either real or imagined)? Do you have any challenges in getting there? Send them to me!

 

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19 Comments

  1. Georgie on August 3, 2012 at 7:13 am

    Beautiful! I love tending to my garden. I dream of having a English flower garden one day. Right now, I gush over all my patio flowers.

    • sherisilver on August 15, 2012 at 4:05 pm

      Thank you so much! 🙂

  2. Lisa on August 3, 2012 at 8:21 am

    Sheri, please continue to share bits of landscaping tips – I love these posts! You should have seen my excitement, when I got to the Spring Bulbs part. I’ve been admiring them in our neighborhood and want to plant some in our front yard, but didn’t have a clue what they were called. They are so very pretty and truly stunning! Thank you for sharing these tips – I know I’ll be coming back to these posts. Have a wonderful weekend!

    • sherisilver on August 3, 2012 at 8:51 am

      Thanks Lisa! You can always ask me gardening questions – I’m happy to help! xo

  3. Britta on August 3, 2012 at 10:07 am

    Sheri, Everything you touch has a perfect balance of precision and whimsy. I don’t know how you pull it off. True magic.

    And I agree with Lisa! I always hold back my landscaping questions because it feels the same as asking a lawyer friend for free legal advice. I am so going to send you a picture of my steep incline front garden!

    • sherisilver on August 3, 2012 at 2:35 pm

      Britta I’m happy to answer your questions – any time!! And thank you so much for the lovely compliment – you made my afternoon! xo

  4. Mary Lauren on August 6, 2012 at 9:42 pm

    Beautiful! I didn’t know that coneflowers came in that color- just gorgeous. And I’m loving the charm of your home. Just my style : )

  5. sherisilver on August 6, 2012 at 11:04 pm

    Thank you so much! I know, if there is a green flower out there I will find it! Next time you come to NY, I’d love you to come for dinner! xoxo

  6. LondonPlanters.co.uk on March 6, 2014 at 2:31 am

    I am impressed with those ““Limelight” one……. It seems you are big fan of white (light color) flowers. The flowers look alluring, should inspire many people to have more flora in their gardens. Thanks for the post and please provide more posts like this in future. Good luck!

    • sherisilver on March 6, 2014 at 9:39 am

      Thanks so much! I do love white flowers! 🙂

  7. Richard Hodgson on September 19, 2017 at 1:28 pm

    Ms. Silver: this is a lovely combination of plants, I like the repetition and how it all flows together. Do you have the information on what the various plants are by the number labeled in the plan? I want to replicate this plan but need the numbers (1 = boxwood, 2 = laurel etc.)

    • sherisilver on September 20, 2017 at 8:34 am

      1. Boxwood
      2. Skip laurel
      3. Limelight hydrangea
      4. Liriope
      5. Anemone
      6. Peony
      7. Coconut Lime coneflower
      8. Astilbe
      9. Snakeroot

  8. Richard Hodgson on September 21, 2017 at 7:10 am

    thank you, much appreciated. Also, the number at the tip of the large curve and just below #1 and between two groupings of #4 is not visible. What is that plant?

    • sherisilver on September 21, 2017 at 6:10 pm

      That is the Japanese Anemone!

      • Richard Hodgson on September 22, 2017 at 2:42 pm

        got it, thank you.

  9. Holly on January 10, 2019 at 7:53 am

    New to your blog and love your suggestions. Can you provide the legend for your garden? What each number is which plant? Looking to get my front yard in order. I live in Southern California and the HOA has done a terrible job and i need to work on it myself. Thanks!

    • sherisilver on January 10, 2019 at 1:02 pm

      Of course!
      #1 Boxwood
      #2 Skip laurel
      #3 “Limelight” Hydrangea
      #4 Liriope muscari “Monroe’s White”
      #5 Anemone “Honorine Jobert”
      #6 Peony “Duchesse de Nemours”
      #7 “Coconut Lime” Echinacea
      #8 Astilbe “Bridal Veil”
      #9 Cimicifuga racemosa
      Let me know if you have any other questions!

  10. holly on January 12, 2019 at 10:47 pm

    Thank You! I am going to tackle the front garden with these..

    • sherisilver on January 13, 2019 at 8:48 am

      Would love to see the end result – send pictures! 🙂

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Hi! I'm Sheri!

Welcome to my little corner of the web where you’ll find easy, delicious recipes, the best kitchen hacks and simple tips for turning your home into a clean haven that is free of toxins. So glad you’re here!