The front yard did have grass, and some easy plantings. If you were walking down the street, you would never know the backyard had a garden different from everyone else on the street. I wish more people would show their garden personalities in the front. Wouldn't that make a street fun to walk down!
This little side path was beautiful. Shady, cool, and with very interesting foliage.
Then suddenly you're in the back yard. The grassless back yard.
She had taken out all of the grass and put in boxwood hedges.
These boxwood hedges formed beds of different sizes and shapes. Some beds were square, some were triangular, some were curved.
There was something inside each boxwood bed.
Japanese maples, fountains, statues, daylilies, roses, ferns, and planters are just some of the things in these beds.
Pathways wound around, so that the walk around the garden was fun and interesting. There were also several places to sit throughout the garden.
Although the majority of the hedges were boxwoods, other plants were used in some hedges. This added a different height and dimension to the garden.
I think the key to this garden was that you could not see the entire thing from one area. If this element had not been present, it might have made the garden seem crowded and jumbled. Instead, the pieces you could see together coordinated well, and as you turned another corner, more pieces drew you toward them.
Hope you enjoyed the tour. Which was your favorite garden on the tour this year?
In case you missed any, the other gardens on tour were:
Woodland Wonderland
Lakeside Living
Vision of Versailles
Artistically Amusing
And if you want to see more garden inspiration, check out these posts from last year:
So Peaceful
How Impressive
Just Incredible
Quite Relaxing
Such Fun
Holley - I've been terribly out of the loop in the last month. Imagine the joy, to see your garden tour posts! So much to savor - sometimes it's good to step away for a bit, then get a big treat all at once! LOVELY posts !!! :D
ReplyDeleteI hope you have been doing some fun things on the last month. I can imagine getting caught up with your blog reading will give you lots of ideas!
DeleteHi Holley, I love the little side path in this garden. It looks very cool and inviting. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteMy apologies for having missed the book review and visiting your blog in the last two weeks. I was man-down with flu but am catching up with all your posts. Looks like you've been very busy!!
I hope you're fine now. The flu does not sounds like fun! Take care. It's easy for us gardeners to do too much, I think!
DeleteHolley, thank you so much for showing us all these gardens. I looked through the last year gardens too. I appreciate your time and effort. As for this particular garden, I loke it a lot! It takes some time to trim boxwood hedges, but I'd prefer to do that rather than mowing a lawn. I have several boxwood and Japanese ilex hedges, and I love their geometry and light formality. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteHedges only need trimming a couple of times a year. The lawn needs mowing every week. So, hedges seem much more time efficient. Of course, there were a lot of hedges in this garden, but I still think it would take less time to maintain this garden than all grass. I love grass, but I love that they chose another option.
DeleteHi Holley, I've enjoyed "touring" all of the gardens you've shown. I especially like this one. I usually like casual gardens but this one has just enough formality to give it structure. It was very well done!
ReplyDeleteI liked the formality, too, and all the plants inside each boxwood bed was interesting and full - so it had enough abundance to feel casual instead of stuffy.
DeleteWhat a fun garden to tour - a surprise around every bend!
ReplyDeleteIt had a lot to see. I'm afraid I may have missed quite a bit by not going down every path!
DeleteI just love the statuary
ReplyDeleteShe had some nice pieces. And they were placed well.
DeleteVery restful and beautiful. What were the paths made of? I am slowly getting rid of the grass but it is a lot of work.
ReplyDeleteThe paths were made of different materials. Most were brick, but some were stone. It sounds jumbled, but it didn't feel that way. They were well done. Good luck with getting rid of your grass!
DeleteI love the idea of a grassless landscape. The plantings look very carefully planned. Thanks for sharing the tours!
ReplyDeleteI think she must have worked on the plan for a while before she implemented it. She must have a very good eye for design!
DeleteNow that is different. A little formal with a little cottage. Of course I call mine formal cottage, but different also.
ReplyDeleteCher Sunray Gardens
I love formal cottage, too. A bit of formal thrown in with abundance. The best of both worlds.
DeleteWhat a lovely, and very inspirational, garden. I got a few ideas just by reading this post. How great that you were able to see this garden in person.
ReplyDeleteGlad you got some ideas! It's always fun to see something new that gets our brains turning!
DeleteWhat a great grassless garden. I have that project too and I'm not very far from it because there's already more perennials borders in my backyard than there is grass left. But still I have a lot to do before ah!
ReplyDeleteThanks for that great virtual tour and I can't wait for the next one! 8)
Good luck with getting the last of your grass out. I think that is a beautiful and ambitious plan.
DeleteI love the grassless garden too, though it makes me very impatient though for my own boxwood to get a wriggle on and for all the individual plants to join up into a proper hedge!
ReplyDeleteI've had to wait on my boxwoods for years to reach a height to where that they looked like a hedge. And I have a new area that I know will take several more years. We gardeners always have to have such patience! It's hard! :)
DeleteWhat a breathtaking arrangement she has made! We have a totally grsasless garden in the back, but our beds are edged in lavender. We would have loved to do boxwood but it simply isn't all that hardy this close to the coast, with the drying winds we have. Still, I love what she's done in her garden and would love to see many more pictures so as to be able to take some inspiration in some areas. Love that walkway with the beautiful foliage!
ReplyDeleteOh, I think beds edged in lavender would be fabulous! I would love to do that!
DeleteThank you for the tour, I enjoyed it. You are lucky to have gone on so many garden tours, I wish I could join you.
ReplyDeleteOh, Masha! That would be so much fun! I wish we could go on some garden tours together, too. :)
DeleteAnother lovely garden...although I like the grassless part, the upkeep of boxwood is huge...but what a labor of love.
ReplyDeleteI agree that boxwood needs trimming. I wondered if she did it herself, or hired it done.
DeleteI agree with you - people should bring out their garden to the front like they do (or at least used to do) in Britain; then, it be so much fun to drive/walk the streets. These gardens must be huge?
ReplyDeleteWouldn't that be fun? Of course, I guess most people have plain backyards, but maybe they wouldn't if gardeners would garden more in the front! Some of the gardens on this tour were quite large, others not so much. There was a good mix. This particular one was a regular suburban lot, but I think it seemed larger because she gardened in every inch.
DeleteGreat photos -- and I found myself nodding to your comment about people displaying their garden personalities in the front. That would be an amazing walk.
ReplyDeleteI would love to walk down a street with different gardens in front of every home!
Deletebeautiful landscapes. Such lovely gardens
ReplyDeleteI am always amazed at the beautiful gardens on this annual tour, and they are always inspiring. I can't wait to go next year!
DeleteAll of the gardens are beautiful. I keep forgetting that your are in Texas. My brother lives at La Grange about 45 minutes from Basstrop. He is not a gardener and his house is up on a hill surrounded by acres and acres of hay--the closest he gets to gardening, so I am amazed at the beautiful Texas gardens, given the heat. You have represented the gardens beautifully in your photos. Hope you win the battle of the weeds--but do we ever?
ReplyDeleteYour brother's house sounds beautiful on a hill surrounded by acres. And yes, it is very, very hot here! But I love our mild winters! :)
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