Category Archives: Astilbe

Enter Mayor Menino’s Garden Contest – Deadline July 13th

Posted on June 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

Want a little recognition for your beautiful city garden or a neighbor’s garden? Is there room on your mantle for a Golden Trowel?
Come on, take a chance and enter Mayor Menino’s Garden Contest!  Simply take a few dazzling photos of your buds in bloom and fill out a nomination form. The contest is open to all Boston residents, businesses and organization gardens with amateur status.  Deadline is July 13th!  Five finalists are chosen in 10 categories.  Site visits are conducted to determine the winners.

I’ve entered the Garden Contest for the past two years.  Year 1 – my garden was a finalist. (I was so proud.  Even laminated my certificate)  Year 2 – nothing.  (I was robbed!  That’s my tree garden entry below.  Wasn’t it pretty?) 
So it’s Year 3.  And I’ve got my eyes on that Golden Trowel.  
I’m planting a few more flowers in my garden bed this week.  Need to expand the color palette.  There is currently way too much purple in my garden – purple pansies, purple petunias.  Going to spruce it up with some yellow and white daisies and red astilbe.  Maybe even a pink mandevilla or two.  I’ll share my submission photos in a few weeks.

“Boston’s gardeners work long and hard to beautify their homes, businesses, and neighborhoods,” said Mayor Thomas M. Menino. “This contest recognizes and honors these green thumbs who are helping to improve our city with their talents.”
Click here to get a nomination form.  Deadline for entries is July 13th.  For more information, call Lauren Patrick at 617-961-3051.  Good luck!

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Posted in Astilbe, Awards, Contests, Flowers and Plants, My street-side tree garden

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Shady Garden? Try Liriope, Astilbe and Ferns!

Posted on May 19, 2012 | 1 comment

This past Tuesday, I passed two young gardeners from Winston Flowers  working on a shady corner yard on Marlborough Street.  I know this corner.  It gets mostly dappled sun for about an hour or so a day and then is plunged into deep shade.  I asked what they were planting to brighten the yard.  Patrick and Jeanine pointed to ferns, liriope and astilbe.  These augment the shade loving hostas already planted.  Here’s a bit more about these excellent shade garden options:

  • Liriope: A widely used and versatile ground cover with attractive evergreen foliage and small flowers that bloom in spring.  Also called  Monkey Grass.Astilbe from Wilson Brothers Nursery
  • Astilbe: easy-to-grow, long-blooming, plume-like flowers in soft shades of white, pink and red. The flowers are on tall stalks. They can light up a shade garden or soften a sunny spot.
  • Ferns: These frondy beauties do well in part shade or dappled sunlight.  Some do quite well in the sun with enough water. They are easy to maintain and come in hundreds of varieties.  Choose from a wide range of colors, sizes, shapes and textures.
    As you can see, there are lots of options for a shady space.  Just find the right plants and you’ll be successful!

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Posted in Astilbe, Expert Advice, Ferns, Liriopie, Shade Garden, Shade Plants

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