Garden new jersey — a quick note to anchor this piece for readers.
Garden new jersey: Quick notes
Hi GPODers!
At some point, most of us have had to or will have to say goodbye to a garden we’ve spent years building and improving. Some houses can be hoisted up, dropped onto a trailer, and moved to a new location, but the same technology, unfortunately, cannot be used for a garden. If we’re lucky, some plants can be dug up and moved to a new property, but it’s unlikely that every plant will survive that transplanting process, and some are simply too large to move. At Garden Photo of the Day, we love to celebrate those gardens that have been left behind, and today Andrea in Leesburg, Virginia is introducing us to her and her mother’s gardening skills by sharing the very special garden that her mom said goodbye to after over 50 years of labor and love. Jutta created this sensational space in Blackwood, New Jersey before moving to be close to her daughter in Virginia, but was able to utilize some of the plants she tended for decades as the basis for the garden they now work on together.
My name is Andrea and I live in Northern Virginia (7b) where I’m lucky to garden with my mother, Jutta, who lives nearby and has been gardening for some 60 years. As longtime fans of GPOD, we thought it was time to contribute and thought we’d start by sharing photos from Mom’s former 50+ year-old garden in Blackwood, New Jersey (Zone 7a), which she built from scratch. Leaving her home and garden in 2020 was hard, but Mom and I planned ahead and over the months preceding her move transplanted many car loads of her favorite perennials and some containerized trees and shrubs into my then-nascent garden in VA. Over the past six years Mom has created at her VA home a modest but gorgeous garden that was featured in a community magazine, and together she and I have created at my home an expansive garden that is our labor of love and favorite place to spend time together. Our VA garden has evolved beautifully from the initial transplants from Mom’s NJ garden and we look forward to sharing photos of it soon. In the meantime, here are some photos of the NJ garden that started it all.
Rhododendrons, azaleas, and other evergreens formed the backbone of the front garden bed and were set off by dwarf dahlias, marigolds, roses, daylilies, cleome, a white Bolero rose (Rosa ‘Meidelweis’, Zones 5–9), and a mandevilla climbing the porch post.
Annuals and tropicals in containers brightened the garage area. The oleander shrubs (Nerium oleander, Zones 8–10) in the back were overwintered in the garage each year.
Heucheras and annuals added color to a planting bed until other plants filled in. A Japanese ‘Steeds’ holly (Ilex crenata ‘Steeds’, Zones 5–9) and unknown rose anchored the bed.
More potted heucheras and annuals—along with planted Hakonechloa grass (Hakonechloa macra, Zones 5–9) and daylilies—covered the roots of a large Silver maple tree (Acer saccharinum, Zones 3–9) which started as a volunteer seedling.
Red and pink Knockout roses (Rosa ‘Radrazz’ and ‘Radcon’, Zones 5–11) on the far right and far left of the photo anchored a bed along the side of the house, along with an old dark pink shrub rose, peonies, and a native blue false indigo (Baptisia australis, Zones 3–9).
Railroad ties supported the sloped portion of the backyard, where a mixed border of evergreen and deciduous trees screened rear neighbors. The perennial bed in front included meadow rue, daylilies, and hosta.
The old picnic table and benches on the rear patio always supported a vast, colorful container garden of annuals, as well as succulents in hypertufa containers that Jutta made.
A favorite red Japanese maple purchased as a whip and grown in a container is among the many transplants now in our Virginia garden. Here it stands out among hosta, variegated creeping phlox (Phlox stolonifera ‘Variegata’, Zones 5–9), a heuchera, and a pot of hardy orchids (Bletilla striata, Zones 5–9).
An expansive backyard shade garden featured a tapestry of hakonechloa grass, hosta, astilbe, Japanese painted fern (Athyrium niponicum var. pictum, Zones 3–8), foxgloves (Digitalis purpurea, Zones 4–9), and creeping jenny (Lysimachia nummularia, Zones 3–8).
Thank you so much for sharing your mom’s fabulous former plant paradise with us, Andrea! It must have been devastating to leave behind this space that such beauty was cultivated in, but I know the move only created new gardening possibilities. I cannot wait to see photos of the new garden you created together.
Do you know a garden that needs to be seen and appreciated by more plant-loving people? If you’re able to get permission, we would love to see photos of the special outdoor spaces you enjoying visiting and helping in. And if that special space is your garden, don’t be shy, share your photos today! Follow the NEW directions below to submit your photos to Garden Photo of the Day!
We want to see YOUR garden!
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, fill out the Garden Photo of the Day Submission Form.
You can also send 5–10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
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PS • I adore the colors here; feels really snug. Love this!
PS • This is so satisfying to read — thank you. So cozy.
Quick thought — I second that — very true. Will try it.