My Long Pergola in May

May 30, 2020

My long and winding pergola is putting on such a colorful display - all the spring flowers are just spectacular this time of year.

Soon after I bought my Bedford, New York farm, I built this long pergola along the carriage road leading up to my home specifically for clematis. Over the years, I've added lots of bulbs and perennials that bloom at different times throughout the season. Right now, a gorgeous palette of purple, blue, and lavender covers the area.

Here are some photos, enjoy.

: My long pergola is located across from my perennial flower cutting garden and along one side of the carriage road leading to my Winter House.

: Earlier this month, one could see so many flowers just waiting to burst open.

: This is the north side of the pergola with lots of growing Muscari.

: Everything grows so well in this garden. There were carpets of purple Muscari or grape hyacinths everywhere. Muscari is a genus of perennial bulbous plants native to Eurasia that produce spikes of dense, most commonly blue, urn-shaped flowers.

: And here’s the garden bed last week – exploding with gorgeous color. Early morning is one of the best times to take pictures in the garden when the sun is low in the sky.

: My long clematis pergola runs from the flower cutting garden all the way to the back of my carport. The uprights for this pergola are antique granite posts from China – originally used as grape supports in a valley that was going to be dammed and flooded to create a reservoir.

: It is filled with lots of blue and purple flowers, but in a few weeks, this border will also be filled with lovely shades of orange.

: Camassia leichtlinii caerulea forms clusters of linear strappy foliage around upright racemes studded with dozens of six-petaled, two-inch, star-shaped pale to deep lavender-blue flowers.

: Here is Camassia in a darker shade of blue. Camassia is a genus of plants in the asparagus family native to Canada and the United States. It is also known as camas and is best grown in moist, fertile soil and full sun. Camassia is incredibly valuable since it naturalizes well when left undisturbed in a good spot.

: Alliums are often overlooked as one of the best bulbs for constant color throughout the seasons. They come in oval, spherical, or globular flower shapes, blooming in magnificent colors atop tall stems.

: Alliums require full sunlight, and rich, well-draining, and neutral pH soil. This is Allium ‘Ambassador’ – among the tallest and longest blooming. It is intensely purple with tightly compacted globes that may bloom for up to five weeks.

: This is Allium aflatunense ‘Purple Sensation’, with four to five inch wide violet-purple globes. Alliums are rabbit-resistant, rodent-resistant and deer-resistant, but adored by bees, butterflies, and pollinators. They look so beautiful dotting this border.

: We also have some white alliums mixed in this garden.

: Spanish Bluebells, Hyacinthoides, are unfussy members of the lily family, and native to Spain and Portugal. They are pretty, inexpensive, and good for cutting – they add such a nice touch of blue.

: Three years ago, I decided to line both sides of my clematis pergola with small boxwoods. There are more than 300-shrubs now planted here, and they continue to thrive. I originally planted them as very small seedlings and then nurtured them for a few years – they have all grown so beautifully.

: Yesterday, we planted a selection of daylilies. Daylily ‘Entrapment’ flowers appear in midsummer, and again in late summer to early fall. They grow up to 26 inches tall with semi-evergreen foliage and ruffled blue-purple blooms.

: We also added some Perovskia atriplicifolia, commonly called Russian sage – tall, airy, spike-like clusters that create a lavender-blue cloud of color above the finely textured, aromatic foliage. This vigorous, hardy, heat-loving, and drought-tolerant plant resists deer and other garden pests.

: My head gardener, Ryan McCallister, positioned the plants strategically throughout the beds so they could be planted. The sawtooth styled bricks are a new addition this season, lining both sides of the footpath.

: Here’s Pasang working hard to get them all into the ground before the pending rain.

: Behind the pergola is this giant weeping copper beech tree – I love these trees with their gorgeous form and rich color.

: The deep red to copper leaves grow densely on cascading pendulous branches.

: I am so proud of this garden. I can’t wait to show you how it looks with all the beautiful clematis blooms, and then later this summer with its swath of gorgeous tiger lilies.