Do you need some inspirational garden ideas? Well, feast your eyes on these photos taken at the Idea Garden located at the Tyler Municipal Rose Garden. Lots of garden inspiration here! Click on any photo to enlarge.
black coleus with red zinnias
Loved the crazy strands of this red Porterweed,
Stachytarpheta mutabilis
Stachytarpheta mutabilis
Planting something red next to Variegated Tapioca,
Manihot esculenta 'Variegata',
really shows off its beautiful red stems.
really shows off its beautiful red stems.
Another red stemmed beauty is this
curcuma 'Red Emperor'
Another beautiful curcuma ginger in the middle of this planting.
From bottom left going clockwise around the ginger:
pink Texas skullcap, coleus, purple fountain grass, caladium
From bottom left going clockwise around the ginger:
pink Texas skullcap, coleus, purple fountain grass, caladium
Reds planted here include pentas, firecracker bush, and red salvia
| Purple salvias look great next to this tall black ornamental grass |
Yellows include dahlia and lantana
How about planting purple and yellow together? Gorgeous!
Black and yellow look nice together, too.
This black elephant ears plant was another dark accent.
In this garden, colorful foliage is used as much as colorful blooms.
Here's a long view of the garden.
Very inspirational!
I hope you found something inspiring to use in your garden. I know I did!
I'm joining May Dreams Gardens for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and Digging for Foliage Follow Up.
Hi HG, some interesting combos here which are worth stealing !! I love that tall black grass, do you know what it is ? I did wonder if it was an ornamental Maize ??
ReplyDeleteI wish I knew. I tried to find it online, but didn't seem to be able to bring it up. It does look like an ornamental maize. It's pretty, whatever it is!
DeleteYou're so right about the variegated tapioca planting and highlighting red stems through other plants. Absolutely lovely! Great post - very inspirational!
ReplyDeleteI loved that plant! Unfortunately, it's an annual here, and I don't do annuals very often. I may have to make some exceptions to that rule, though!
DeleteI have enjoyed your combinations of foliage...so important to have that contrast especially at this time of year. Very nice...an inspiration!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed seeing what they had done with this garden. Mine looks very drab in contrast to it!
Deletesuch great fall colors...loved them all!
ReplyDeleteAnd these were just a few of the photos I took!
DeleteColeus is especially pretty this time of year. When the setting fall sun back lights it, it just glows!
ReplyDeleteThat red coleus was the prettiest thing I've seen in a long time. It was quite large - and it looked like velvet!
DeleteI think the dark fountain grass is a Pennisetum variety, called Princess. Too bad most Pennisetums don't come back here in zone 8a.
DeleteThe long view is the most inspirational for me. I wonder how they keep the grass path mowed without butchering the plants? I love the way they drape over the grass.
ReplyDeleteI don't know - good question. It's not a very wide walkway, so perhaps they string trim the entire length of it instead of mowing. The other pathways were not grass, so this would not be hard to do.
DeleteThat’s some lovely colour combinations, I love dark coloured leaves – especially those almost black. But even though there were so many lovely flowers in your photos, I couldn’t help looking at that gorgeous fence, I would love to have a fence like that! I know you have something similar in your garden, where your roses are, it just looks so elegant and neat and so much more classy than the brown painted overlap fence I have. Not going to happen in this garden though, and probably not ever going to happen, but a girl can dream, right?!
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny what catches our eye? Like the fence! Sometimes I will see something on someone's blog that's not a flower but that I like even more!
DeleteHolley, this garden is an inspiration for a gardener. I love these black ornamental grasses, purple leaves.The most I liked is canna (next to last photo), its striped leaves and red flowers are wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI was really taken with the canna, too. I have a few cannas in my garden, but not this kind. Guess what will soon be introduced into my garden? ;)
DeleteLovely combos and vignettes there Holley, and that variegated manihot is a stunner!
ReplyDeleteI loved it, too! Probably not enough to get one, as they are annuals here (well, I suppose mostly a houseplant). But it really is striking!
DeleteGreat color combos. Makes me want to get out to work in my own gardens, but it's just starting to turn light out.
ReplyDeleteHave a great week ~ FlowerLady
It's been drizzly here the last few days. Not much rain, but enough to drive me inside. I'm missing the garden work!
DeleteIt really is inspiring...
ReplyDeleteI was really impressed. I don't go here often, but now I see that I will have to make this garden a regular stop!
DeleteGorgeous!!! So inspiring. You're so right.
ReplyDeleteI just loved all the color - and the fact that the color came mostly from foliage as much as blooms. Gives me something to think about in my own garden.
DeleteIsn't Tyler in the northern half of the state? They had a LOT of tropical stuff for so far north.
ReplyDeleteWe're in the East part of the state, not as north as Dallas (a zone lower, actually), but they did have a lot of tropical stuff in there, I agree. A LOT of it was annuals. That's because the Smith County Master Gardeners take care of this area, so I guess they don't mind planting new stuff every year. Still, I got some good ideas - I'm just making sure that if I purchase anything I check the zone. I like perennials much more than replanting everything every year!
DeleteLots of inspiration there! Thanks, Holley! I'm especially fascinated with the Zinnia/Coleus combination. I usually plant both in my garden--but in entirely different locations because Zinnia likes sun and Coleus likes shade. But planting Coleus in the shad of Zinnias makes a lot of sense. Great ideas for next year!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you got an idea from it! I hope it works out for you next year!
DeleteTyler is east of the DFW area. The Idea Garden is one of my favorite places to get ideas. I have one of the black grasses (I got it at Blue Moon Gardens in Edom, TX - Google them) and it is huge. Gonna have to move it this fall. The Goodman Museum on N. Broadway has an excellent rose garden and is host to a fantastic plant sale in May. If you are ever in Tyler in late October, please don't miss the crowning of the Tyler Rose Queen and the parade. An experience you don't want to miss.
ReplyDeleteAnn, do you know the latin name of that black grass? It was quite striking! But I agree it was rather large, it would take just the right spot to have one!
DeleteSome extraordinary combinations there, very dramatic.
ReplyDeleteI was actually surprised how colorful it was. It really was a feast for the eyes. I only wish they had had every plant marked. I would have had a bigger wish list if they would have!
DeleteWhat great color combos you have. I'm in Massachusetts so have never seen your Idea Garden, but I think that is a great idea!
ReplyDeleteThe Idea Garden is where the Smith County Master Gardeners give demonstrations and talks, and of course, provide this garden for ideas! :)
DeleteLots of good ideas here, especially the use of black. Must have been fun to photograph too, I especially love the romantic hazy look of the second last photo and its black background.
ReplyDeleteI did like the way they used black in several places. I need to add some black plants to my garden!
DeleteOh friend!!! Such beauty happening here in these shots!! I was knocked over by the colors and forms in that garden...and the black! I would never have thought to use that but it is so striking!!! Thank you for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteI haven't used a lot of black in my garden, but you can bet I will start adding some now!
DeleteI really like the black foliage! These are great plant pairings! What a gorgeous garden to visit!
ReplyDeleteI was actually surprised how beautiful it was. There was nothing, it seemed, that was not photogenic!
DeleteGreat, absolutely inspiring. Really beautiful and colorful garden. I love it. Thank you for sharing
ReplyDeleteI invite you to visit my blog.
have a nice day
Endah
Indonesia
The color was what drew me to it. I just loved that they used the entire rainbow of colors - and it all seemed to work.
DeleteLovely gardens. Some of those combinations look fantastic together and are really eye catching. Our gardens are all gone for the year so it's interesting to see some that are still going strong.
ReplyDeleteCher Sunray Gardens
It would be interesting to see this garden again in the winter. Perhaps I will have to make another trip to see what they do with it when the cold hits!
DeleteThere is a lot of inspiration in that garden. I really liked the color combinations, especially the ones with the black plants. (Must be because Halloween is near!)
ReplyDeletehaha - Maybe that's it, Dorothy! Or maybe we're just naturally drawn to darker colors in the autumn.
DeleteThe dark accents are striking in all the foliage. I will try adding more of those next year--shade only unfortunately. I've found that dark plants have to be in the shade in my garden because the sun fries them first.
ReplyDeleteI have heard gardeners complain that the black plants here can not handle the sun. I planted some of the new black foliaged crape myrtles - I am hoping they will be an exception, as they are in full sun!
DeleteFull to bursting with inspiration Holley - thank you for posting. Some of those combos really are worth copying, perhaps not some of the plants as they would be annuals here but certainly the colours could easily be copied
ReplyDeleteI won't copy the annuals, either, but have made a list of some of the perennials that they had to add to my garden. And I will probably pay more attention to the color of foliage from now on, not just the texture and form.
DeleteI pulled the tag off my Vertigo pennisetum - the tall black grass I have in my garden. It is perennial and I bought it at Blue Moon Gardens in Edom, Texas.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the information, Ann! I appreciate you letting me know. It is so dramatic - I'll have to find just the right spot for some!
DeleteHolley I love the black plants especially the tall grass.
ReplyDeleteThe black plants were a surprise, and yet so dramatic. Surrounded by plants that were so colorful, they really stood out.
Delete