Marty’s 2025 Garden Highlights, Part 1

Garden highlights part: a concise orientation before we get practical.

Garden highlights part: Quick notes

Hi GPODers!

‘Tis the season for garden reflections, and today we have another fantastic round of standout scenes from a gorgeous 2025 garden. Marty Oostveen shared her garden in Douglassville, Pennsylvania (Zone 7a), for the first time last summer (check out that post, if you missed it: Marty’s Garden from Scratch in Pennsylvania). Her stunning landscape is an impressive creation, especially considering that everything was built from scratch after they moved to the brand-new property in May of 2016. As Marty prepares for the 10th growing season in this now spectacular space, there is a lot to appreciate and celebrate.

The north side of the house became home to my hostas when we first moved. Then I found more—many more!

A favorite hosta, called Wheee! Yes, Wheee! (Hosta ‘Wheee!’, Zones 3–8)

Hostas and ferns play well together.

An overachieving miniature hosta (as far as flowers are concerned) grows in the shade of a much larger cousin.

On “Galápagos peninsula,” miniature hostas share space with tortoises.

A raised bed at the back of the waterfall is home to a variety of shrubs and perennials.

Yellow allium (Allium moly, Zones 3–8) turns this corner into a beacon.

The front garden turns into a sea of blue with grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum, Zones 4–8), which spread… and spread.

Hellebores are a big part of my late winter/early spring garden.

An incredible entry into the garden, and then the trellis fell over in a storm.

Of course, these aren’t Marty’s only garden highlights from last year. Check back in to Garden Photo of the Day tomorrow to see fabulous photos of this garden during the latter half of 2025.

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Garden highlights part comes up here to connect ideas for clarity.