Tour of VW Garden


Welcome to my Spokane Valley garden.  Our south-facing home is located on a quarter acre plot in a middle class suburban neighborhood.  When we bought the house in 2007, the landscape consisted of a few boring shrubs, one wilted tree, and poor quality lawn everywhere else.  Since then we have been working hard to build something special.  The photo above is from the end of May 2020.

Here we back up to April to see the spring tulips and creeping phlox in full bloom.  

This is the autumn view of the sidewalk bed when looking northwest toward our neighbor's home.  The various foliage colors and textures add interest even when there aren't many blooms.


The southeast corner of our front yard features a 'Heartthrob' Korean dogwood, 'Walker's Low' catmint and a 'Coral Sunset' peony that bloom in May.  A 'Blue Moon' wisteria is planted at the corner of the garage and will eventually soften that edge.  


The west garden is the area I see out my window while doing dishes.  In May it features a soothing color scheme of lavender and violet, including 'Evening Tidings' bearded iris.


By July this area features warmer colored 'Royal Sunset' lilies, 'Hush Lil Baby' daylilies, and 'Early Sunrise' coreopsis.  


In early spring the backyard garden is still bare except for boxwoods and a few other evergreens.  The lovely branches of my contorted filbert are visible at right.


By the end of May the garden has filled out with plenty of green.  The flagstone path continues around the backyard in a large circle, with spurs leading down the east and west sides of the house.


This autumn perspective of the southwest corner of the backyard includes our dining room addition, which was completed in 2018.  I have placed chairs and benches around the path so I can sit and enjoy the different views.


A May shot of the west side of the garden includes 'Spring Snow' crabapple trees and plenty of lovely green leaves.


The main sunny bed in the backyard is in the northwest corner.  Here it is drooping after an early October snowstorm.  


As spring begins the first bits of green join the evergreen boxwoods and 'Otto Luyken' laurel. 



At the start of May, the 'Royal Raindrops' crabapple trees are in bloom with tulips below.  A little seating area is hidden in the back corner.


In June this bed goes heavy on violet and maroon, including various salvias and alliums in bloom.  'Green Tower' boxwoods and 'Fine Line' buckthorn shrubs anchor the space.


The path runs around the back side of the main sunny bed with this section to the north.  Here in July the 'Visions' astilbes, 'Red Velvet' lilies and 'Caradonna' salvia steal the show.


This is the view of the north section of the path looking back toward the northwest corner in fall.


A shot of this same section from the opposite side shows a few May blooms along with delicate spring green.


A broader view of the north side of the backyard reveals one disadvantage of our little neighborhood - plenty of other houses nearby.  I wish I had planned for better year-round privacy with more tall evergreens.


The northeast corner of the backyard includes a swing set with honeysuckle climbing up the sides.  Several 'Shademaster' honey locust trees shelter the area.


In back of the swing set, this photo showcases fall color on my 'Shasta' viburnum along with various shades and textures of green.


A southward gaze behind the swing set in July reveals a warm pastel palette of blooms, including 'Chantilly Peach' snapdragons and various pink speedwells.


This broad view of the southwest corner in May includes blooming 'Katherine Havemeyer' lilacs and a 'Stellar Pink' dogwood tree as well as more 'Spring Snow' crabapple trees.


This broken fountain has become a planter for hens and chicks.  I don't have room for a full white garden, so this little section is my moon garden.


By midsummer the white garden is full of blooms, including a 'Meidilland White' rose at right and 'Alba' astrantia at left.  In a few years a white clematis will grow large enough to cover the arch.  In December 2020 we added a small hot tub in the far southeast corner by the fence, so I'm currently thinking on how to camouflage it.


This scene is located on the east side of the house while looking north.  A 'Sister Elizabeth' English rose blooms at left.


I'll finish this tour with views of the back of our home, which faces north.  In a few years the maturing trees will help it feel more settled in.


In summer we spend a lot of time on this patio.  A climbing hydrangea is planted by the post at left and should eventually grow all the way up and cross the patio cover.


This is the satellite view of our yard, which is small enough to manage but big enough to give plenty of joy.

20 comments:

  1. What a pretty garden.Stylish, but not overdone as can happen in smaller plots. People want to have some of everything and it is important to know when to stop.

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    1. Thanks Hazel! I have consciously limited the number of different materials (except for plants - there are hundreds of different types) I use in the garden to try and keep it cohesive. Using materials from the house to connect with the garden (I matched my boulders to the stone facing on the home and used black metal benches in the garden to match the black metal sconces on the garage) and repeating plants or materials around the garden really helps create order and unity.

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  2. Very lovely and I sense - and remember - all the hours we have both spent in our respective gardens. Your property does now, and will in the future look much larger than the 1/4 acre you wrote of. It is very memorable and you did well in your explanation. I hope to see much more as the months of summer 2015 roll on! My son and family live in Seattle and their lot is less than yours in size but gardened beautifully by my daughter-in-law. I have noticed in my visits that people in Seattle are very creative in landscaping their small lots. There is always something to see.

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    1. Jamie, for those of us without an army of gardeners to help with the ongoing work, a small garden is certainly much more manageable than a large one! Especially when I have planted what my husband calls "the opposite of a low-maintenance landscape." Indeed.

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  3. Very nice! thanks for sharing

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  4. Thank you for sharing. I can hardly wait to get out in my garden. You are so good to share your vast knowledge. Good bugs and gardening this year!

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  5. the garden's looking superb! I love the pastel colour scheme. All the best to you, VW, from catmint.

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  6. I truly admire your work and creativity! I too live in the Spokane Valley and have purchase David Austin climbing roses in the past from Green Thumb. Can you suggest what variety of rose bush I should ask for that is a vase cutting rose as well as one the is at maturity 4' x 4'? Also, I would love to know where your sources to purchase allium and peonies would be. I was introduced to a dark maroon / brown peony variety that I cannot find anywhere in the near vicinity. Mail order is an option, I just am looking for credibility of product and with your success this leads me to ask you!

    I’ve just found you and will be a more avid reader, but without doing my due diligence just yet on your blog, can you tell me what is the best variety of hydrangea is for our area? I have lost three plants within a year of planting from a good landscaping company. Like you, I moved into a new subdivision and got to create my own garden landscape. Looking forward to reading more about your landscape successes and challenges!

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    1. Sandra, good to hear from you! What color of rose do you want? I have many David Austins that do well in a vase and grow in the 3-5' range, depending on how hard you prune them. I have ordered alliums from Van Engelen and John Scheepers (actually the same company but VE sells larger numbers per package) and peonies from Swenson Gardens. Google their names to find their websites. Swenson Gardens has a huge selection of peonies and their bare root plants are a nice size and of good quality, though not cheap. Hydrangeas: pink 'Tiny Tuff Stuff' has done really well for me, as has 'Invincebelle Spirit', 'Anabelle,' 'Little Lime' and larger 'Limelight.' Endless Summer and other reblooming macrophylla hydrangeas do not bloom for me. I think our season is too short.

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  7. Thank you, Thank you for the quick informative response! I am looking for a bright orange and two tone red orange rose bushes. I just drove by Green Thumb and am sensing they are not going to open this year. I appreciate the info on Alliums and Hydrangeas. Will do my research and see what I can find. What do you find is the best location to plant the Hydrangeas if my patio faces north?

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    1. Sandra, I suggest 'Lady Emma Hamilton' for a rosy-orange David Austin rose with an amazing fragrance, but other than that DA doesn't have a lot of bright orange choices. Other breeders have plenty of orange, but I mostly grow DA so that's all I can recommend from personal experience.
      Hydrangeas won't bloom well without at least a few hours of sun but they don't love intense afternoon heat, so plant where they'll get some morning sun. Here in Spokane many of them can handle a full day of sun as long as they aren't right up against a south-facing wall, which traps the heat.

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  8. I am sitting here in the East Bay of San Francisco, being away from my Spokane Valley home for almost four weeks... Been helping family and am longing to return home to see the progress of my garden. Reading your blog has helped me process my thoughts on my interpretation of landscaping a garden.

    Have another question for you: do you compost, as I do to continue the nutritional feeding of the soil?

    One more question: I see you use bark mulch as I have done... The wind is horrendous for us...how about you?

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    1. Sandra, We purchased and spread many, many cubic yards of compost when we landscaped, and I continue to buy a few bags of mushroom compost to spread around the base of my roses each spring. I have such a small yard and have tucked plants into every corner, so I haven't made space for a compost pile. The wind isn't too bad in my neighborhood, so the fine bark works great and seems to keep the worms happy. I do plan to keep adding compost, but I'll probably buy it. I would be proud of myself if I kept my own pile, but I can't do everything and this is one thing I've let go. Thank goodness our neighbors let us fill their green bins when ours is overflowing!

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  9. I had my fingers crossed that your garden would be one of those selected for this years Spokane Home Garden Tour. Have you ever participated in this tour?

    Can you elaborate on what you do to improve your peony and lilac plants? Going forward this year, what do you suggest I do to make them more "lush". Thanks for any and all assistance!

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    1. Being on a garden tour is a dream of mine, and maybe it's a possibility here in little ole Spokane Valley, but the garden really needs a few more years to mature before it would be ready. Last year I gave my lilacs some triple phosphate fertilizer and they bloomed harder than ever this spring, but I've read that phosphate fertilizer can damage the soil microbiology so I have mixed feelings about it. I wouldn't recommend giving lilacs much nitrogen as it seems to encourage lots of suckers. Peonies also bloom better with some phosphate fertilizer, adequate water all summer, and a few years to settle in.

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  10. First of all...beautiful gardens! I stumbled on your blog while researching the "Royal Raindrops" Crabapple I just purchased, but then of course I had to poke around and read a bunch of other posts, too! Lots of useful info on here, so thanks for that. My question actually has nothing to do with your plants. I'm wondering about the swings you have set up for your children. Did you design/build it, or did you purchase it? Our granddaughter is almost 2, and I know she will eventually outgrow the baby swing and want a "real" swingset when she comes to G&G's house, so I have been trying to figure out ways to incorporate play structures into the landscape. I have thought of doing something like you have with 4x4 wood posts, but I like the idea of metal even better. Would you please share with me whatever info you have on the swing structure? Thanks! Jill

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    1. Jill, I just discovered that I never replied to your question. We ordered our swing set from swingsetmall.com. It had to be installed in concrete footings. We have since switched the kid swings for a bench swing, and we live it.

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  11. I love the green ground cover you have growing around some of your flagstones. Can you tell me what it is? Thanks, Cathie

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    1. Cathie, the groundcover around the stones in the west garden is 'Elfin' creeping thyme. It stays very short (1"), smells yummy when brushed and produces tiny mauve flowers in June. Like most groundcovers, it just keeps growing so we have to trim it every year or two or it would completely cover the flagstones. I don't know of a groundcover that doesn't do that, actually. I haven't planted thyme around the backyard path because I'm not sure we could keep up with the trimming. So instead we have to pull weeds. I think a flagstone path would be less work if you had the stones places as close together as possible and didn't plant any groundcover in between. You'd have a few weeds but no trimming. Good luck!

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  12. I just came across your blog and watched the transformation of your property over the years. it is absolutely gorgeous and it looks like all your efforts certainly paid off. A few readers mentioned that you should be on a garden tour and I agree...your beautiful property should be one for all to admire!

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