Today we’re off to the Pacific Northwest to visit Jen Titilah’s garden, a small space filled with lots and lots of beautiful plants.
I’ve always loved plants and the happiness they impart on us. So when we moved to the Pacific Northwest, a gardener’s paradise, I put as many plants as I possibly could into our small garden. Starting with the hardscape, I then planted the bones of the garden (the evergreens), then the perennials. I add seasonality with annuals each spring and summer. I love gardening here!
At the steps up to the front door, structure is created by lots of evergreen shrubs.
Shrubs and small trees create a lush, full look even in a little urban garden.
Even the narrowest of garden spaces can be beautifully planted.
One of the best ways to use small spaces is to go up with climbing vines. This wisteria (Wisteria sinensis, Zones 5–8) makes an incredible spring display with those long clusters of hanging purple flowers. Do be warned that if you garden in a climate with hot summers, wisteria can be too aggressive for a small garden, and it always needs plenty of pruning to keep it in check.
Japanese maples (Acer palmatum, Zones 5–9) fill a little seating area with brilliant fall color.
I love the diversity of colors and textures just from foliage in this planting.
This 60-inch planter is bolted to a huge blank outdoor wall. It is beautiful, and I love the subtle, complex color palette—very sophisticated and a great way to turn a blank wall into a beautiful feature.
Yellow-leaved bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis ‘Goldheart’ Zones 2–8) steals the scene here. The bright foliage almost seems to glow against the dark greens all around it.
A double-flowered orange tulip (Tulipa hybrid, Zones 3–8) is complemented perfectly by the reddish new leaves of a Japanese maple.
An exquisite little Anemonella thalictroides ‘Shoaf’s Double Pink’, Zones 4–8. This little wildflower is native to woodlands across the eastern half of North America, but generally it just has five white petals instead of the endless layers of pink in this form.
Jen has made the most of this alleyway with Japanese maples, tulips, and golden creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’, Zones 3–9).
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
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