O, my Luv is like a red, red rose that's newly sprung in June. . .

The rose garden was a broad swath of lawn and and a sad mosquito-breeding pond when we moved in. Last fall I dug up the turf, inch by inch with a trowel and shovel. I found loads of Agastache and Russian Sage on clearance at Lowe's and settled them as a hedge. Roses on clearance, pathetic specimens, came back (all but one) this spring.

So here's this spring in the rose garden:

See the wee Agastache coming back to greet the sun?
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And here's a view in June:



Agastache (a type of Hyssop)* makes a full, lovely low hedge that attracts droves of bees and requires little water. Groundcover for the rose garden includes creeping thyme, oregano, phlox, and allysum.
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Martin dragged this pump home last fall from someone's garbage heap. Planted in a circle around the pump: irises (hesitant), Russian Sage (old standby--will someday be tall spires of purple!), and on either side of the path is a lovely sprawl of verbena*.

I've also tucked in numerous perennials, two maturing lilacs and two young lilacs, chives, and a growing hedge of rosemary.

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The cheerful white "daisy" in the background is feverfew, which self seeds like mad and will eventually make a hedge along with Jupiter's beard in front of the peonies (bloomed early spring) and climbing rose.

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Here you see Martin's amazing path, laid from stone he hauled in our Suburu from various sites, mainly a valley where stones fall regularly around railroad tracks. He drove me down to dig up some ox eye daisies. We also tried lifting a few of the huge slabs together but they must have been hundreds of pounds, and we could barely budge them, much less carry them twenty feet to the back of the car. Watch out, those of our acquaintance here! Martin's looking for a fresh set of hands and another strong back!

Martin and I have come to an understanding, and it is a happy one, born from our particular strengths and joys: Martin is clearly a hardscaper, while I am far more interested in horticulture. Some outstanding books on hardscaping and garden design include John Brooke's The Well-Designed Garden (and indeed any book by John Brookes) and Keith Davitt's Hardscaping.


*There's a fairly dizzying variety of verbena and agastache. Verbena comes in all different heights and grows as an annual and perennial. Keep posted to see my sister's variety of agastache, surviving in desert conditions in Arizona.