Welcome to my Garden Blog!

Hello to all of you who are interested in colour and design in the garden. My name is Susan Wheeler and I am very enthusiastic about the details we find in the plant world. There is so much to see if we just stop and notice the smallest of patterns and colour.

I hope to help others design their own gardens and I will be talking about design principles and the use of colour with the plants.I have my own garden design business, www.greendesign-gardenstolivein.com  and I am also very interested in photographing garden vignettes. You can see some of these on my photography site, www.susanwheelerphotography.com

I will be showing photos of my own gardens as I find interesting images to share.

Hellebores ….Heavenly!

These must be one of my absolute favourite plants, ever! This year many that I had thought would not make it, have really done very well.This one is just a ‘baby’ but isn’t it so pretty!

 

Early Winter – November

 

Here is one of the season’s special beauties!  I now have this Mahonia planted near the front door, not only so that we can see the blooms, but also , in order to enjoy the fragrance!

This is a most useful plant as it is evergreen and very structural. It appreciates protection from the hot sun and will, in fact do very nicely in all shade. It is now on the north side of our house, where it is about to bloom.

Garden Beauty…even in Winter?

Yes, here on the West Coast, with our very mild winters, we can maintain beautiful gardens. In fact, we can even have flowers throughout most of the winter. Right now, in my own gardens, I have the lovely flowers of the Mahonia. They are not only striking, visually, but they are also fragrant! But the main beauties in our gardens, throughout the winter, starting in late January, are the Hellebores. They are some of the most impressive flowers, anytime, but are especially appreciated when they are almost the only stars in the garden. Below are a few that I had put in my front planters last year. They continued to grow and bloom until April!  This year I have put them in my front gardens and some are budding up already.

Autumn…just before the windstorm

Well into November, as I was finishing up a few final chores in the garden, I was so pleased to see my white Enkianthus looking quite beautiful. It is one of my special treats when it blooms as I have not seen all that many white ones. Ususally they are like the one on the other side of the property which is the pink-veined cultivar, and so, it is always nice to see it, here, in the Woodland garden, summer or autumn. It had a chance to turn these bright colours before its leaves were all swept away a few days later when we had our first real wind storm. If you will look carefully, you will see the ‘spirit’ of the garden overlooking this lovely plant.

BEGONIAS – what could be nicer?

Although it is October, I just cannot bear to pull out my tuberous Begonias yet….They are all looking so pretty that I think I will have to leave them at least for one more week. I am still having clients come through my gardens to point to and choose favourite plants for next year’s garden design ideas. It is very helpful for them to see the types of plants that I like to use and they can see them in a mature garden setting which helps them visualize these plants in their own gardens.

A Mix of My Favourites

A Favourite by the Front Door

NOT QUITE THE END OF SUMMER HERE…

Well, it has been quite a season!! And now I find that the summer has whizzed past so very quickly BUT….we are not quite ready ‘ to close up shop’ just yet because here on the West Coast my Begonias are still looking great! We have had a very cool summer and now that Autumn is almost upon us, we are experiencing quite nice temperatures. At least they are close to normal. Here are a few of my Begonia photos taken last week.

Bi-Coloured Begonia

SUMMER’S END…

What a busy season!!!  I can hardly believe that the summer has flown by! It has been quite a while since I added any photos of what has been going on in my own gardens, and so, I will try to bring things up to date…

This Clematis  is a very striking colour and is a special reminder of a loved one. It is Clematis  ’Ernest Markham’ and the flowers lasted a long time.

Clematis ‘Ernest Markham’

‘Just Waking Up’

  One afternoon, while walking through our ‘Woodland

Garden’, I noticed that the contrast between the soft,

almost dull texture of Brunnera ‘Looking Glass’, and

the very shiny, glossy leaves of the Asarum was really

particularly effective with the crisp white tulips, which

were just emerging.

Waking Up in the Woodland Garden

 

Note: Texture of Brunnera ‘Looking Glass’ with the smooth Asarum.