Saturday Project: The Bordeaux Garden

Like (too) many days this spring, Saturday was forecast to bring occasional rain but instead showered us with lots of sunshine. I sleep like the dead, so I cannot attest to the severity of our weather overnight, but my friend Amy who lives nearby said that it rained mightily in the wee hours. So the plants did get a good watering, at least.

The mix of sunshine and a deep drink coaxed one of the 'Ivory Queen' allium karataviense to start blooming. Here you see it with wooly thyme, a blueberry, and the orange tubes of firecracker penstemon... this combo was the first thing I noticed when I headed out to the garden for some project work:


The main project for today was to stain the posts for the grape arbor, and hopefully get them all secured up in their Groundmaster sleeves. I also wanted to set the last of the stones in the little patio beneath the arbor.

On the way to the back corner of the yard, I couldn't help but notice how cute the variegated lemon thyme (which is amazing on chicken and fish) looked, mingling with the dianthus I got from Mom's garden:

When I finally settled in to work, the staining went pretty quickly. I knew that I would be two posts short of what I needed for all of my trellising projects, and discovered quickly that the tall ones for the grape arbor are the missing posts. For now, I put two short posts up but did not secure them, both to see how the stain would look on a full arbor and also to more easily stain the shorter posts that do not yet have an anchoring system set up.

Luckily, I had cut the grapevine back so much last year that it was relatively easy to stain the post it had been climbing. I was able to just detach the nails, stain the post, and then reattach the nails without too much harm to the grape:

The beautiful shrub center stage above is 'Diablo' purple ninebark, physocarpus opulifolius. Earlier this spring, I was lamenting that I already had 'Diablo' because I was so taken with the spring color of 'Coppertina,' but right now I feel completely satisfied with my choice.

'Diablo' seems to like this position better than its previous one--maybe the soil was too rich in the heavily amended bed where it previously resided? The clusters of white flowers almost look fuzzy, as you can see here on a branch that leans out over the oregano that I really need to get harvested:

The rest of the stones were dug into the ground for the patio, and I replanted the two freebie ferns ('Ghost' and 'Wildwood Twist,' I think) that lived through the winter. I cut up two little pint-sized pots of leptinella and tucked 9 chunks of varying size in between the stones at the shadier back end of the arbor patio.

Once that was finished, I weeded and mulched all around. At this point, it was very close to sunset, so please forgive the washed-out pictures from here on. My old digital did the best it could do with little light, in the hands of a photographer who hates to use the flash! But even with bad photos, you can tell the whole garden looks better with some fresh (albeit from last year's yardage) mulch:

Did you notice the wide berth that I left for the hosta? This is a NOID hosta that I snagged from work, but if it isn't 'Sum & Substance' then it's a kissing cousin. It won't get enough sun to be bright gold here, but its big leaves will still be a nice chartreuse and provide a light background for the ninebark.

This space will be fairly dark once the arbor is complete and the grapevine clamors over it, so I put some trashpicked garden art in the corner to brighten things up a bit. Whoever broke this pedestal into two did so pretty cleanly, so I snagged both pieces from the curb. I am considering planting a small shade-loving annual of some kind, or maybe some of my black mondo grass, in the smaller piece you see to the right of the larger piece and the fern:

So far, I'm really thrilled with the way this corner is shaping up. My one concern in looking at these pictures is that... well... it might just be a little too pretty for me! But the pinky flowers of the chives and the ninebark will be done soon, and the gorgeous white blackberry flowers will (I hope) turn into juicy goodness.

And maybe I'll add something edgy at the end of the sidwalk on the right... or paint one of my trashpicked wooden window frames in a funky color and add it to the fence behind the arbor. That would give you something to focus on when you're looking over the Japanese garden and through the viewpoint under the dwarf cherry tree:

Or, maybe by the time the arbor is completed and I have hung a few funky lanterns from it, that will be all I need to make me happy. We'll see.

By the way, my apologies to those of you who were expecting to see a French-inspired garden because of the post title. It struck me as I was staining that 'Bordeaux,' which is the name of that particular stain color, was a great choice for a grape arbor. And it cracked me up to think of my little corner of grapes, grasses, humble herbs and funky shade plants having such a grand-sounding name... so the 'Bordeaux' garden it is!