Perennial border

Those of you who have visited my blog in the past may remember the before&after posts about the different states and looks of my garden. In case you didn't, well, here's a reminder.
My dream was to create at least one perennial border around the edges of the front fence, and using the lawn as the foreground. I believe this year, in spite of all the slug damage, it is finally starting to get the looks of a young perennial bed. Iberis, Rudbeckias, Delphiniums, Lupins, Digitalis, Alliums, Achilleas, Phlox, Oxalis, Saponaria, Potentilla, Lavandula stoechas, Erysimum 'Bowles' Mauve, Alyssum, Stokesia, Physostegia virginiana, Lychnis coronaria, Veronica longifolia, etc. bordered by a deciduous Pink Ceanothus shrub ('Marie Simon') and the Mediterranean spurge. I love informal borders, and I occasionally (right!) love to stuff too many plants into my borders, to the utmost delight of the omnipresent slugs. They kindly wipe out the surplus, and then some. That's why, even if you look close enough, you'll see no lupins, they have had but 2 flower heads during the dry periods, but have recently been wiped out as well. The shade of old pine trees does provide extra humidity, even though the border gets its fair share of sunshine. This was my first try to restore some of the looks of my grandma's old cottage garden, and some day I would like to create more perennial beds along the property borders.




The old style back-yard perennial border is also in the process but will take some time to prosper. I planned it as a mixture of Mediterranean herbs and wildflowers. In addition I have sown a lovely mixture of perennials which have arrived as a present from one lovely blogger lady from England (thanks Zvrk), and all that graced by a butterfly bush as a central feature. I have no idea what it will turn out to be, but the thing is, gardening gives us the freedom of improvising as much we could ever wish for. So even the mistakes are a personal touch of a green-thumb gone wrong and just more motivation to create a better and more enjoyable individual portrayal of nature & human coexistence.

"I appreciate the misunderstanding I have had with Nature over my perennial border. I think it is a flower garden; she thinks it is a meadow lacking grass, and tries to correct the error." (Sara Stein)