Yvonne’s New Garden in Virginia

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Today we’re visiting with Yvonne Tsikata.

My old garden was previously featured in GPOD. In 2017, we moved from that house to a new one. While sad to leave my old garden, I was excited at tripling my garden space and receiving the opportunity to start a new garden from scratch. Retiring a couple of years ago gave me even more time to garden. I had spent a lot of time thinking about what I liked from many visits to gardens in the UK, Ireland, and France. I realized that I actually like a little bit of everything: formality and symmetry, woodland shade gardens, meadows, and Japanese gardens! So the garden has lots of “rooms,” with a different feel in each one. It’s still a work in progress and will be five years old in March. After doing some of the hardscaping in the old house, I got professional help with the stonework and walkways in this one, as it was beyond my capabilities. This set of pictures shows some early summer and winter scenes to contrast three of the “subgardens.” I love structure and stone and have used lots of evergreens. Roses are a huge passion. In the growing season, I spend a minimum of four hours in the garden every day. It’s truly my happy place.

The new garden in the early days—truly a blank slate

Formality in the rose garden: Buxus ‘Green Velvet’ and ‘Green Mountain’ (Zones 5–8), climbing roses (‘Eden’ on left and ‘Zepherine Drouhin’ on right), assorted David Austin roses (‘Geoff Hamilton’, ‘Darcy Bussell’, ‘Princess Alexandra of Kent’, ‘Charlotte’, and ‘Golden Celebration’), Nepeta ‘Cat’s Pajamas’ (Zones 3–8) and phenomenal lavender (Lavandula ‘Phenomenal’, Zones 5–9) under the fountain.

A wider view of the formal rose garden

The rose garden dressed in white for the winter

The green-and-white garden: Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ (Zones 3–9) and Salix integra ‘Hakuro-Nishiki’ (Zones 5–8) standards, underplanted with Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ (Zones 5–9), Mazus reptans ‘Alba’ (Zones 5–9), Dicentra spectablis ‘Alba’ (Zones 2–8), Agapanthus africanus ‘Alba’ (Zones 7–10), Hosta ‘June’ (Zones 3–9) and‘Mount Hood’ daffodils (Narcissus ‘Mount Hood’, Zones 3–8) and Galanthus elwesii (Zones 4–7) in the spring.

In winter, it becomes the white-and-white garden.

Japanese-inspired garden: Hollywood juniper (Juniperus chinensis ‘Torulosa’, Zones 5–9), Spirea ‘Candy Corn’ (Zones 4–8), Acer ‘Orangeola’ and ‘Red Dragon’ (Zones 5–9), Hakonechloa ‘Aureola’ (Zones 5–9), Nandina (Zones 6–9), and mystery hostas (gifts).