Ray and Mary Ann’s Massachusetts Garden

Welcome to Ray and Mary Ann Fontaine’s garden in Brimfield, Massachusetts.

We have been gardening for 43 years. We have hostas for our shady areas, grasses, astilbes, many shrubs, hydrangeas, and conifers. Begonias are our favorite annuals for color, as they are hardy and last until frost.

We have many birds in spring who occupy this birdhouse. We also have four more birdhouses around the property and three hummingbird feeders.

We plant Alaska nasturtiums (Tropaeolum majus ‘Alaska’, annual) in a container on the deck each year. In the center are white scaevola (Scaevola aemula, annual), which we grow from seed.

Hostas are planted along the rock wall around our pond. Red ‘Dragon Wing’ begonias (Begonia ‘Dragon Wing’, annual) grow in the whiskey barrel in the middle of the pond garden.

When we bought our house this large rock was in our front yard, so we made a flower garden surrounding it. We put in many small conifers and perennials. Rudbeckias and asters give color in the fall, and our favorite begonias in white and pink give us summer color.

This side door is never used, so we planted our shade-loving annuals in pots and decorated the stairs for summer color.

Pots of annuals fill the deck with petunias (Petunia × hybrida), calibrachao (Calibraochoa hybrids), red and scented geraniums (Pelargonium hybrids), and herbs.

Rhododendrons and azaleas (Rhododendron species and hybrids, Zones 5–9) fill the yard with color in the spring.

We put this pond in 15 years ago. It is in shady area, so on hot summer days we relax and enjoy the sounds of water spilling over the waterfalls. The pond area is planted with hostas, grasses, and shade-loving perennials.

This is our side-yard garden, planted with rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum, Zones 3–9), butterfly bushes (Buddleia davidii, Zones 5–9), kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa, Zones 5–8), hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla, Zones 6–9), and grasses.

A hops vine (Humulus lupulus, Zones 4–9) grows on the wooden arch, surrounded by perennials and annuals and conifers. A 50×50 vegetable garden is inside the picket fence, where we grow many varieties of heirloom tomatoes, squashes, beans, cukes, and herbs.

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