The Plants in My Mary's Garden

I have been working on my little Mary's Garden...where the river birch was removed. We wanted a simple garden, but every time we drove up to the house..it looked so bare. We are used to the big clump of trees being the focal point. We looked around the town and found a garden with a statue of Mary surrounded by a circular border of boxwood. We wanted more color than that, but the circular bit gave me an idea. We decided to plant a circular border of Belgian mums. I ordered 10 plants in a reddish purple color...mid season bloom time. Then we looked again...remember I tend to like flowers packed in together...sort of a cottage garden feel. I put a few herbs there. A common thyme.And a rosemary plant. Still not much color.
I went to our local nursery and looked through the perennials that do well in our area. I selected plants that are pretty predictable, but ones that take little care and that's what I'm after right now. The first was a purple cone flower.
The mums and purple cone flower along with the many chartreuse hostas was appealing to me.
Maybe too much purple...how about yellow yarrow in the late summer and fall. I love the flower heads and also the foliage of this plant. They are usually sturdy flowers and can take some wind without drooping over.
Then I spied some deep blue...purple speedwell. I bought a few clumps of this plant. It will bloom most of the summer if I cut off the dead spires. These stay in neat clumps....we have this one at our Mary's Garden at Church.Below are the mums that I ordered only these are a lighter color. I have these on the other side in front of our evergreens. They do so well and come back every year.
Well, now the garden is planted, except for the mums which aren't here yet. After another drive by, I check it out. When these all grow, I think that it will be filled out the way I like it. I still am watching the hostas. They get so much more sun than before...they might not like it there anymore. If I find that they aren't doing well, I can dig them out and what I have planted there will be just fine. I'll take a picture later and post it.

Balisha