Everything looks so different with each piece of the gardenscape puzzle fitting in. When I came to finish installing the gardens to the right of the driveway the sod had been laid. The gardens look less like large brown berms and more like compliments of the whole landscape.
The finishing touches make a difference!
The Liatrus spicata has really grown, shown at the inside end of the walkway. Wild Canadian Ginger, Asarum canadense, is taking the transplant well. To the far left Witch Hazel, the shrub closest to the grass, H. × intermedia ‘Diane’, is not native but a gorgeous red to copper hybrid. I underplanted it with Heuchera americana, also called American allumroot, a small perennial native to eastern and central North America. Just behind the white paperbirch, Betula papyrifera, are 2 multi stemmed Redbuds, Cercis canadensis. They flowered already, thrilling the owners with their gorgeous purple-pink blooms on grey bark.
I am waiting to see the Lady Fern, Athyrium filix-femina the Solomon's Seal, Polygonatum, and Black Cohosh, Actaea, take off. They are the main stays for the garden season. The Pacific Giant Delphinium, Delphinium elatum "Pacific Giant", was planted just in front of the Cohosh close to the lawn as a colour foil to all the green texture and foamy white Cohosh flower. It will balance out the strong colour of the purple bottle brush like flower of the Liatrus, planted along the inside of the walkway and in the only sunny spot of that front garden.
Here is a shot of the narrow garden on the other side of the driveway.
I'll post pictures of the garden as the season progresses!