Positive Focus Sunday - Two Gardens - Thousands of Ideas!

Last Thursday I was fortunate to be able to go with fellow Extension Master Gardeners to view two private gardens in the Charlotte area. Both  gardens have been featured in magazines.

The first garden was that of Inta Krombolz. Her yard flowed down to the lake on a gentle slope. Because of the view to the lake from the house was only broken by a couple of large trees, the beds were bordered on either edge of her property, from front to back, and around the house.

The fun part was when someone asked about a particular ground cover, a sedum of some sort, and she reached down and pulled out a handful, giving out ‘starts’ to anyone who wanted some. She claimed it was a chance to ‘weed’ the garden as the sedum was over flowing its boundaries around the yard. Needless to say I have some now at my house.  

My plan is to use it when I start putting in my walkway around the front of the house. Along with the mini-mint and the creeping thyme. 

Being an artist, there was a lot of her ironwork in the garden. Once again, I’m now inspired to look for objects to place around my growing garden. I know I have to relocate my ‘Garden Goddess’. Her presence in the bed has my yarrow, comfrey, wild bergamot and dahlias performing like crazy this year. When I get my peony bed established this fall (I have to weed and relocate and couple of peonies), I think she would be happy there. 

Inda’s garden has only been in for about seven years. She moved here from Pennsylvania along with about 300 plants from her old garden. 

One of the things I really loved was the dark plants along with the light, making a great contrast. I need the pineapple and Cahaba lilies in my life now. Other plants which I feel the need for are crimson and double echinecia. I will definitely be looking for seeds for those for next year. 

After time spent drool in that garden, we loaded back up and headed to Duckworth’s Grill in Huntersville for lunch. To note, they were aware 30 people would be descending on them for lunch! They were prepared and welcoming. Filling out tummies, we were back on the road to the other side of Charlotte to Mary Grigg’s garden.

Mary’s garden was completely on the opposite end of the spectrum from Inda’s garden. Two and a half acres and 26 years in the making, it was overflowing with plants and winding paths. There were lots of garden rooms in her garden and opportunities to sit and just absorb the garden. Decorative elements were everywhere. 

One of my favorite items in her garden was her greenhouse made out of old windows from the church her husband went to as a boy. It is a working greenhouse too. This has been a decades old dream of mine to have a greenhouse made from old windows. One day - fingers crossed. 

Hydrangeas are her signature plant. Dozens of different varieties throughout the yard. Some of them had huge blooms bigger than my head (which is pretty big). Some of them had small, delicate blooms. It has made me want to relook at having a hydrangea or two in my own yard. 

Another thing which has shown itself to me recently in a couple of various forms is St. John’s Wort, the shrub version. I learned more about it because we get the ‘berries’ as part of our floral displays at work. One of the herb society members has one and talks about how it attracts bees. Plus it is supposed to be pretty hardily and maintenance free. I definitely have it on my ‘to get my hands on’ list. 

With the winding paths in gardens, I am reimagining my yard. The steeper slope down the south side of the house, lends itself to having a harrow border under my bedroom window to the air conditioning unit. I want a fragrant shrub there or a small tree. I am leaning toward a Vitex or Chaste Tree and the variety ‘Rosa Ann’. It has pink flowers rather than blue ones. I would limb it up as a tree and underplant with flowers, maybe lilies, which are also fragrant. That way, when the window is open, I can have the perfume from the plants in my room.

On the other side of the steps down from the front yard to the back, I can do a wide, terraced border. Slider needs his ‘runway’ down the fence line to run with Maggie, the dog next door. I need to find something to stop seedlings from growing out a couple of stumps along the fence line though. Another to-do on my list. I can carry this border down the slope and stop before I get to the apple tree at the bottom of the slope and entrance to the veggie garden area. 

Another take-away from this garden tour which I found really interesting was how the two gardens, so different in appearance, mirrored the personalities of the gardeners who created them. Inda is more of the ‘gracious Southern matriarch’, Mary is more ‘never met a stranger so let’s party’ in her vibe. 

It was a wonderful way to spend a hot, humid late June day in North Carolina. I was with a great group of people who have been so welcoming and warm to this newbie. Can’t wait for more trips like this. (Note: Biggie coming in September!)