A NEW WAY OF THINKING ABOUT STRUCTURE IN THE GARDEN

When I hear about structure in the garden, my mind immediately goes to what I consider the backbone of a garden design: trees, large shrubs and structures. These typically create the framework around which the rest of the garden falls into place.

But a relatively new-to-me plant has me rethinking the idea of where structure comes from in a garden. I don't know its name (and if you do, please enlighten me because I've been looking), but it's some kind of perennial allium. I received it as a small plant from a woman whose garden I visited a few years ago (she has a small annual plant sale) and I didn't notice it having particularly noticeable bulbs, although as an allium I'm sure it has some kind of bulb lurking under the soil. 

Here's what it looked like the first time I spotted it in her garden. 

There are a lot of plants in that photo but I don't even need to tell you which one I'm talking about because your eye is immediately drawn to it. 

Mine is obviously much smaller and is just starting to flower (bees seem to love, by the way). 

I'd say it's about 30 inches tall and it's thick, hollow blue stems are unlike anything else in my garden. What caught my attention the other day is that the stems have arranged themselves in a very artistic crossing pattern that is quite pleasing to my eye. 

But the architectural form of this plant makes it more than a focal point; it provides structure. I love loose, natural and even wild perennials that have a tendency to flop (but not too much, please) and go their own way, but without structure, they can look messy and out of control. Add in a structural element, like this strong-formed allium, and it all starts making sense.

In my garden, above, it's near the 'Orangeola' maple, which in itself provides structure, but to me, it's the allium that makes the structural statement. (And the bare spots you see are where the rabbits have done their worst.)

And I think you'll see it does the same elsewhere. You can barely see it in the photo below but I think this garden would be much less successful if it weren't there.

It's not the typical kind of plant one associates with structure, but there's no doubt that's what it provides. Sometimes you never know what a plant can do for your garden until it's there.

THE ALMIGHTY ALLIUM + A GIVEAWAY

I remember the first time I took notice of an allium. It was on Mackinac Island where a side garden at the Hotel Iroquois was planted with what must have been hundreds of Globemaster alliums, with 8-inch (or better) flowers standing proud. It was stunning.

When I think of punctuation in a garden my first thought is always to alliums. They serve as a literal exclamation point and manage to provide a certain amount of structure in even the most casual of gardens. In fact, that's where I tend to like them best because the juxtaposition of style and form is the most dramatic.

I wasn't the least bit surprised when I saw that the National Garden Bureau named 2016 the "Year of the Allium," essentially naming it their favorite bulb of the year. With so many varieties I can't think of a reason why you wouldn't have some. OK, some varieties (Allium spaerocephalon, aka Drumstick allium comes to mind) have a tendency to be somewhat prolific reseeders, but I've never found this to be a bad thing. I wish more varieties did that in my garden!

Purple Sensation allium has large, sort of fluffy flowers. Longfield Gardens photo

For as pretty as they are, if it weren't for one major benefit of alliums, I'd never grow them. As members of the onion family, they are critter (deer, squirrel, vole, you name it) resistant. I long ago gave up on tulips because no sooner would they bloom than a rabbit or deer would snag the flower (or worse, chew down the leaves to nibs before a flower even had a chance). When it comes to bulbs, I only grow those not targeted by wildlife and alliums certainly fit that bill.

Over the past several months several garden designers and bloggers have worked with Longfield Gardens to create custom collections of alliums. I've been enjoying following these, but was particularly taken with Nick McCullough's designs. Instead of thinking of bulbs after the rest of a perennial garden is established, he created a design that incorporates them from the get-go. I love this idea (and this is why he's a professional garden designer and I'm not), but I'm also thankful that alliums are so easy to incorporate into an existing garden design.

Mount Everest is a large white allium that's a nice change from the usual purple but also looks great intermixed with other varieties of alliums. Longfield Gardens photo

That's what I plan to do with most of the Daring Forms collection from Longfield. More than most years, I took note of holes in my plantings that needed a little something else. I'll plant the Gladiator alliums (one of the big daddy varieties) are going in the garden by the garage, because they are just what is needed to draw your eye there in the early summer when most of that garden is green. Purple Sensation alliums have a fluffier flower (to my eye, anyway) that I think will be better appreciated up close, so I'm going to plant those in the gardens that flank the patio. And the stunning Mount Everest alliums, a lovely, moderately tall white variety, is going to go in the newly redesigned oval circle garden.

Gladiator is one of the biggest alliums. Longfield Gardens photo

We've had a warm fall here so I've been holding off on planting the bulbs that Longfield Gardens sent for me to try. That's no problem, as alliums will do just fine waiting a bit so long as you store them in a cool, dark and dry spot. You can plant bulbs until the ground is frozen, so even though the oval circle garden is nowhere near ready for bulbs, I'll still have plenty of time to get the Mount Everest bulbs in for a great display next year.

The allium collections come packed with each variety in a different, clearly labeled bag. That's where they'll stay until I plant them as all alliums bulbs look pretty much alike. The bottom photo is me holding the bag of Mount Everest bulbs to give you an idea of their size. 

In addition to sending me one of the Daring Forms collection to try, Longfield Gardens is also giving one lucky reader of this blog their own Daring Forms collection. Use the widget below to enter. Longfield is also offering 20% of your first order using the code LFG20.

Longfield Gardens allium giveaway

The Garden Appreciation Society Week 6 -- Link up!

After several weeks of really struggling to come up with something to bring inside to appreciate the garden for The Garden Appreciation Society, it was so nice this week to have a few things to choose from. Things are very slowly starting to come into bloom here. The garlic chives are flowering, and I love those little pinky-purple flowers. The Lady's Mantle, which I consider a must-have for every garden, is also just starting to bloom.

But this week I was able to include one of my absolute favorite flowers into my bouquet. Clematis 'Guernsey Cream' is my favorite of the clematis I grow and if I had room for more of them I would certainly plant more. The flowers are the softest creamiest white, with just a hint of a light yellow-green stripe in the middle. Choosing a favorite clematis is difficult for me (sort of like picking a favorite child but I don't think the clematis will feel back if they hear that I like Guernsey Cream best) because they are all lovely when they are blooming, but something about that Guersney Cream has stolen my heart. I wish I hadn't planted it in the bed over by the garage so I could enjoy it more often, but I'm thinking about redoing that bed (surprise, surprise) and I'll move them then.

I also put in some Lady's Mantle, Nepeta and the alliums from last week's bouquet, which were still looking great (and I was too tight not to reuse them).

It is nice to see some "real" flowers again.

Seems like everyone's gardens are starting to really come to life, at least judging by last week's great Garden Appreciation Society links.

If you haven't already, check out the links from past weeks. I'm absolutely loving all the beautiful bouquets.

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5

The Garden Appreciation Society Week 5

Sorry for the delay on getting The Garden Appreciation Society Week 5 up. You know work, and then I, well, forgot and then yada, yada, yada. (I don't think anyone else is still yada, yada, yadaing but it's really such a useful device, don't you think?)

It continues to be a challenging time to find something for me to make a bouquet out of, but the fact that I did again I think proves what this is all about: there is ALWAYS something to appreciate. Still, I love for the week when I can just cut a handful of zinnias.

This week I went with stuff that I never would have thought about putting in a bouquet, including Ligularia (possibly 'Desdemona') and Hakonachloa 'All Gold'. The two alliums are obvious additions but are a great examples of flowers I never would have cut before. I don't have many and it's difficult for me to cut them to bring them in. I have used the bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis 'Gold Heart') before, including the foliage last week and have found that it holds up really well. Now that it's in bloom I had to put some in the bouquet.

Can you tell I have a thing for chartreuse foliage? Looking around the garden I've been noticing I have a good amount of it spread throughout the garden. I think one can go overboard with that, but I don't think I'm there yet.

Now that you've seen it looking good, I have to unfortunately report a couple items. The Ligularia leaves completely pooped out and the cat (named, you may recall, Desdemona) passed those up but LOVED the the grass so most of that was pulled out and stuck back in again.

You all came up with such beautiful bouquets for Week 4. I have to say I'm more than a little envious of some of your flowers (particularly the gardenias), but I am so enjoying see everyone's ways to appreciate their gardens in a new way.

Please link up this week. I'll leave the link open a little longer because of the late start.

And check out the great links from past weeks as well:

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4

Planted some of these this weekend

That's ivory queen allium, and I don't think it grows in a cute little bunch like that. They are shorties, so I made sure to put them right in front, and I only got three of them (they aren't cheap) so I clumped them all together although at right this moment I couldn't tell you WHERE I put them. I threw in about 150 bulbs (daffodils and alliums ... no need to plant rabbit food around here) the last two weekend. I still have 75 drumstick alliums to stick here and there, but I think I'm done with bulbs after that. The real fun comes in about seven months when things start showing their face and either get one of those "A ha" moments when I remember where I put things or one of those "What the hell?" moments when I wonder what possessed me to think that was a good spot to plant them.

I also planted these:

Spring has really come

I know a lot of you are already well into summer but here in Wisconsin, we're lucky if summer comes with the solstice. Fortunately there are signs that spring is indeed here.
Clockwise from top left: Adorable anenomes, an emerging allium, dicentra Gold Heart in all its glory, purple smokebush starting to leaf out, a wonderfully fuzzy bud on the Guernsey Cream clematis.