A few weeks ago, I stood looking at my sunny hillside with the man who has been helping me with my garden for the past several years. With the heavy lifting done by Bill Lucki from Natural Garden Design, I’ve systematically removed invasive and non-productive plants and replaced them with plants native to our area to support pollinators and wildlife. But I still wanted the garden to be beautiful.
Bill turned to me and said “you wanted a stream of contrasting color and there it is.” And he was right. In a hillside awash with yellow native primrose, we had planted a weaving line of red yarrow a year ago and now it was starting to make a statement.
The last 4 years of systematically tearing the garden apart and putting it back together again is beginning to pay off, even though I know Bill has had his doubts about the level of destruction! Every year a wider species of birds appear and make their nests here while more pollinators appear to take advantage of the bounty. While the garden will never be 100% native, research suggests that a plant mix of 70% native puts it into the viable eco-system category and I’ve surpassed that percentage this year. The garden feels absolutely magical when I walk through it each morning, full of life, color, scent and sound.
The only way I can seem to truly capture that magic is through video, so here is my portrait of June in the garden. And while the video focuses on roses and lilies and clematis, the native plants and trees create the foundation that surrounds them.
May you enjoy a summer of beauty and magic, wherever you are.
composerinthegarden 
Great vision and a very satisfactory result.
Thank you tootlepedal – gardens make us patient, as it takes a year or two or more to see what we envisioned actually work!
And what doesn’t. 🙂
So lovely! I can tell you have put a lot of work into creating this garden and it has really paid off!
Thank you Stella, it is definitely a labor of love.
A garden of earthly delights…can only imagine the fragrance!
Thank you Shelley. The fragrance is lovely; the tall lilies just started blooming here and they are taking up the scent now that the roses are getting past their first flush.
Gardens are so beautiful in June and yours is no exception. A wonderful array of roses and lilies, Lynn. How do you avoid rodent and red lily beetle damage to your lilies?
Thank you Eliza. We don’t have the lily beetle here in western PA, I’m hoping it doesn’t make it this far. As for the rodents, I plant all of the bulbs, by 2 or 3’s, black nursery pots and sink the pots into the ground permanently. They do well with that protection; I used to wrap mesh around the bottom of the stems but don’t do that any more.
Thanks for the tip!
Have you considered a video featuring Allium schubertii set to Schubert’s music.
Maybe I’ll do that Steve, I think of Schubert every time I write the name of that allium 🙂 At least I always spell it correctly.
As the bearer of a family name beginning Schw-, I’m used to people misspelling it.
I just learned from Wikipedia that “Allium schubertii is found in Israel, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Libya but grown as an ornamental elsewhere.”
So many of our bulbs come from those regions, the dry summers seem to provide ideal conditions. I’m still curious as to “why” it’s named schubertii – could be the plant hunter’s last name – now I’ll have to find out!
OK, that didn’t take long. According to the Missouri Botanical Garden “Specific epithet honors Gotthilf Heinrich von Schubert (1780-1860), German physician and plant collector.” Yep, plant hunter.
The German name Gotthilf means ‘God help.’
I’m sure I must know that from a Bach cantata or two!
Every season in the garden is beautiful, especially when Pixie adds beauty and movement. I love your flower choices.
Mary, I agree completely about Pixie – she is not only my constant companion but my inspiration for filming. I never coax or follow her, she just likes to be nearby, looking adorable. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
You’re garden really is a magical place. Thank you I enjoyed the video. And what beautiful lilies, healthy and unscathed. I am a little envious as I love lilies so much.
Thank you for your kind comments, Chloris, I’m so glad you enjoyed the video. I despaired of growing lilies after losing them all when I first started gardening here. I switched to growing them in black plastic nursery pots sunk into the ground which gives them better drainage and keeps the voles and chipmonks from eating them. As long as I feed them once a year, they do well.
No voles or chipmonks here, just beastly lily beetles.
Oh no, I’ve heard that they’re terrible. Thankfully they are not in our area, although they are on the east coast of the US.
I think my original comment went into spam! It has been one of those days…
Thank you for the virtual stroll around your beautiful garden Lynn. The wonderful lilies, roses and clematis make it look like a very English summer garden. I have had no luck with the beautiful Martagon lilies as the S&S get to them as soon as they emerge from the ground. So disappointing.
It did go to spam Jude, I have no idea why! Thank you for your comments and the high compliment of comparing my garden to those in England. I grow all of my lilies in large black nursery pots with a layer of gravel on the bottom partly because of the rodents and partly because of our heavy clay soil. I can surround them with black wire inside the pot to protect the stems but haven’t needed to do that in the past few years. I just need to feed them once a year and repot if they get too crowded. The Tiger Babies lilies are especially vigorous, just love them!