Creative gardening and gardens

On a long return loop through an unfamiliar neighborhood after a Farmer's Market visit, I noticed an unexpected gem of a garden.

Asheville, North Carolina is full of interesting home gardens in the older neighborhoods downtown, maybe because they have limited space, but this one was a standout.

I need pictures of this garden, I thought.

Returning in early afternoon, I was fortunate enough to chat with the gardener, who was doing some clipping in a lovely shrub border.

She said they'd been there 18 years, and started with a blank slate (lawn, no doubt) around a lovely historic house.

Her early inclinations towards flowers and cutting gardens have now focused on foliage textures and colors; her combinations of conifers, other evergreens, and herbaceous plants were really lovely.

I loved the red-stemmed dogwood that highlighted the entrance to a old-brick path.

Comments

  1. What a beautiful garden! I love it when I happen upon a nice garden.

    After seeing the beauty of that garden, who could be satisfied with only having a lawn?

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  2. Thanks for the garden tour. My husband and I spent a night in Asheville June of 2007 when we drove from Nebraska to the Outer Banks in North Carolina to see the ocean. That was a pretty area. We drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway from the Smokey Mountain National Park to Asheville, in the afternoon, and needed to get off because of the fog. That was scary!

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  3. I love this ... it has really inspired me as I started with a patch of lawn and an old house. This is exactly what I hope to achieve - someday.

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  4. What a treat to see the gardener home and in the garden. It certainly does have a variety of foliage color and texture. thanks for stopping and chatting with her and getting photos to share!
    Do you have to go all the way to Asheville for a Farmer's Market?

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  5. I should have mentioned clicking on the photos, as they become much larger. This was SUCH an inspiring garden, and quite lovely.

    Asheville and the Western North Carolina mountains are lovely this time of the year, too.

    We're fortunate to have a small second home in Asheville now, so we're able to spend frequent weekends up there.

    (And, Janet, there are farmer's markets in Clemson, Anderson, and Greenville, and probably some closer to where you'll be on Lake Greenwood).

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  6. I look forward to checking all of them out! My brother went to Clemson for his Masters and my mom LOVESSS the dairy on campus....especially the Walnut Ice Cream.
    Going between homes -- now it makes sense as to why you were going to Asheville to visit the market.

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