REALLY nice stuff, I can't believe how much that darker mulch sets things off, so nice and tidy..great work !

Very nice! Boy those Golden Tiara's are nice clumps. I have a clump by my Libery too.

Gesila

No, that's not Paul's Glory. Not even Wheaton Blue, its sport. I love the BA with Ajuga. Your garden is so tidy you must spend a lot of time on it. That first bed looks very nice, but you probably know that those Hosta will outgrow that space and have to be moved.

Steve

Thanks, all. I have a relatively small lot (60x100) and limited shade, so my beds are really packed with plants.

Gesila - The Golden Tiara came with the house, except the previous owner had them planted in full sun. Not knowing better, I left them where she had planted them, and they were so washed out and tired looking by summer. I think this spot suits them far better.

Steve_mass - Yep. I got that plant in an order from Country Boy Gardens. Out of 6 plants, 2 were mislabeled and I have no idea what they are. That's the last time I order from them. I know that the hosta will outgrow their locations (all of them), but I'll just deal with that when the time comes.

Love your first 2 pics. A beautifully designed garden. I studied it and studied it to understand what I found so pleasing and decided it was all of it: dark mulch, white fence, gray edging, the inclusion of the privets, plants in colors that play off of each other and contrast beutifully with the mulch and fence. And those are the most robust japanese painted ferns that I have ever seen.
Christine

I agree with Christine, the first pic is a great design. It really shows how you can have a beautiful garden by mixing texture, leaf color to create something that beautiful. You do not need flowers when you can design a garden like you have done with that area. It is prettier than a flower garden IMO.

Frosty, that ajuga is a real winner. Just about trouble free and I don't mind pulling it out and moving some around. Lovely blue spikes. Not very obedient and gets outside the lines, but with the kind of garden upkeep you do, that won't be a problem.

You may be in NYC, but you have a Scarlett O'Hara attitude:
"Fiddle de dee, I'll worry about that tomorrow," said Miss Scarlett!

Well, we are having a tornado warning sirens and all, so gotta go move my parrots indoors.

I love that first photo too, and although I probably shouldn't say so on this forum, I think it's the heucherella that really creates a focal point and makes that grouping pop! You have created some lovely garden spots to enjoy.
Jan

I agree with Christine- I have never seen Japanese ferns tht lush! Mine stay exactly the same every year, and are nowhere near as full as that.

My garden is small too, and I probably have too many plants I don't have room for. My strategy is to enjoy them and live with them and give away the ones I no longer want over time.

Nice work!

Thanks, all. Yea, I'm not a big "flowers" person, so I tend to fill my gardens with interesting foliage. It's warm enough for the caladium and coleus that I overwintered. They're a pain cause I need to dig the caladium rhizomes up and take coleus cuttings each September, but I love them as well.

I have Ajuga burgundy glow and a normal green Ajuga. In bloom, they are stunning, and they bloom for months.

The Japanese Painted Ferns were with the house when I bought it. They were in one huge mound about 5' by 3'. I chopped it all up and spread it around my yard two years ago.

Because my yard is small, I'm fine dividing the plants to keep them small if I need to. I have plenty of friends and family who'd like pieces of my hostas, I'm sure. I also don't know how much longer I'll be living here, but I'm planning on bringing my hostas with me whereever it is I go next.

And Jan.ON - I agree ;) That heucherella is crazy, and its got me wanting more heuchera.

Very pretty. I like the heucherella in the center very much (green with red center). Which kind is it?

Also, a question about the ajuga: Does it get into your lawn? Am battling ajuga (not planted by me) right now. Keeps invading the lawn. How do you control it?

Is that heurcherella Alabama Sunrise?

Is this along the lines of what you were saying ?
{{gwi:31669}}

oops sorry wrong forum

Methinks that last post is meant for the landscape design forum, from which someone linked to this thread!

Karin L

Ajuga can become a problem in some places, like it is growing by leaps and bounds up in zone 5b MA at our old house. Into the lawn as you say. But I enjoy the purplish blue spikes of flowers sent up that also poke through the vinca major. Both bloom at the same time, little pinky purple flat blooms and then the purple blue ajuga spikes, it adds a lot of depth to a short slope in the garden. And they are trouble free. Wish I had a picture to show you, but not right at hand now.

How about expanding the flower bed where the ajuga is headed? :) Have no idea how to stop it, I usually cut it down if it's in the lawn, and now it grows beneath the blades. But then, I am not a lawn perfectionist. To me, green is good.

The yellow and red Heucherella(more of a yellowy chartreuse and burgundy red) is Heucherella 'Stoplight'. I think its an improvement on Alabama Sunrise. It's growing leaps and bounds for me here in Zone 7A. I'm planning on removing the Heuchera Palace Purple off to the right of the Stoplight and replacing it with Heuchera Golden Zebra. I figure they'll complement each other with their sublte but striking differences. Google that one if you havent seen it and like the look of mine.

I havent had a problem with Ajuga escaping into my lawn because I have a pretty wide border of paving stones. Still, it reaches its tendrils over to try to anchor into the grass. That's why I ripped out all of my Creeping Jenny last year. I saw so many people with it here on this forum, but in my garden, it was growing out of control, over into my lawn, and literally over and on top of my shorter hostas. I just cut the Ajuga back hard with scissors. I'm sort of insane about my lawn -- it gets mowed, weeded, and edged every week. If you're thinking of ajuga, Ajuga Black Scallop really make the subtle colorations of many hosta pop. Mine is Burgundy Glow in this bed--I like the blue hosta with the purple flowers and variegated purple leaves of the ajuga when its not in bloom. I have a normal green growing in another area.

I'll have to post more photos soon. My Bressingham Blue has become a monster in the last week. :( I didn't think it would get so big.