The Play Area plants are really a testing ground for the whole property. We want to create a secret garden effect, with a lot of lush plants mixing informal, formal, textures, leaf sizes, and some color. It is of utmost importance that the area look great throughout every season. It is a huge focal point from our balcony, veranda, and will be visible from the new kitchen and entertainment areas. We want the kids in this area to feel like they are in their own world, but we want the willows to remain in view and the outside view of this garden room to be in unity with the rest of the property.
In our old home, we learned to plant a flower garden, and then started over and learned how to garden to get the look we wanted. We originally planted a ton of perennials, and then three years later ripped most of them out. It was too much to maintain and except for a few weeks a year of fabulous photos, it did not maintain any sort of mystique through the seasons. Over the next several years, we planted hundreds of plants and trees.
The gardens in magazines I have admired always seemed to be from northern California or Seattle. They were always lush and restful. I started planting more and more evergreens (ligustrum, aucuba, laurel, nellie stevens holly, magnolia (Brown Beauty and Little Gem), rhododendron, nandina (heavenly bamboo). We used english ivy and a few choice perennials that looked good year round, like Liriope (Big Blue, dwarf mondo grass, and morning light miscanthus, and winterberry holly (Little Sprite). Then, we interspersed evening primrose, purple cone flower, hosta, hydrangea (maressii). Crape Myrtles were in the front, side and back yards. I liked the Tuscarora for the red bark and Muskogee for the glossy big leaves.
We had a few huge mature silver maple trees on the property. We wanted a wooded lot eventually, so we also planted a Honey Locust, and three Autumn blaze maples along the street line. We had a few japanses maples, and one showcase laceleaf dwarf japanese maple. I bought and trained a golden rain tree to reach out over our natural shape pool. It was beautiful, but I it dropped a lot of debris if I let it seed, so I pruned off the pods every year after it bloomed in June....just one example of our learning experience.
Back to our plan for the current property....
I also liked some of the formality of european gardens, but not to the full extent of clipped hedges every where. I like when the structure of the garden comes from evergreens and interesting deciduous trees, but has more of a natural woods feeling with a touch of formality to keep it neat.
We hired Fine Landscapes to do the Children's Area, because we had seen many properties where they have created that woodsy european formal garden look, that I thought would be perfect for a Childre's garden, and would blend well with my plans for the rest of the property. So far, I have
Plants on Charles's original plan we like:
viburnum carlesi
butterfly bush
pieris japonica
spirea
skip laurel
inkberry holly
crape myrtle
little sprite winterberry
purple coneflower
caryopteris
coreopsis
english laurel
hydragea tardiva
Astilbe
Other plants we have talked about:
Ligualria
Lotus for the water feature
st john's wort
daylily (stella d'oro)
Lavender
Other plants I like:
maiden grass morning light
boxwood non smelling less structured, like the photo
hosta (blues and golds) (Striptease, Blue Angel, Halcyon, Guacomole)
Helebores
Dwarf mondo grass
Hakone grass
Japanese maples (purple)
Evening primrose
aucuba "gold dust" and green
iris
ligustrum (Japenese privet) tree form too.
nandina
Camellia "pink perfection"
Mountian laurel
Indian Hawthorn
Azalea
Rhododendron
Dwarf Poets Laurel
Sweetbox
Climbing Hydrangea
Armandii Clematis
Clethra Hummingbird Summersweet
Tree to block sun from swings-needs to have spreading lower branches and different leaves from crape and zelcova. Max out at about 25 feet.
We've looked at:
- Redbud
- Paperbark Maple
- Japanese Maple
- Tree Lilac
- Sweet Bay Magnolia
Lace cap hydrangea, I think this is Blue Wave
Ligularia
Liriope
