My Blooming Pergola Garden in Late Spring
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.
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- 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.
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- In March, we removed the protective burlap that encases all the boxwood at the farm in winter. These boxwood shrubs were grown from small saplings nurtured right here in one area of my vegetable garden next to my chicken coops. They’ve grown so much since we planted them four years ago.
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- By the end of March, the garden is looking a bit greener – everything around the farm is just coming to life once again.
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- At the start of May, this garden was filled with Muscari and many buds of our spring-blooming bulbs.
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- And here is a view of the garden yesterday – 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.
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- The 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.
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- It is filled with lots of blue and purple flowers. This palette of colors is a big favorite at the farm – it grows more colorful and vibrant every year. In a few weeks, this border shall transform once again and feature lovely shades of orange.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- Both shades of blue Camassia look so good growing together in this garden.
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- 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.
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- An allium flower head is a cluster of individual florets and the flower color may be white, yellow, pink, purple or blue.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- The boxwood are looking more like a hedge every year. There are more than 300 boxwood shrubs planted here.
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- In the center and at the ends of this winding pergola are wisteria standards. Right now, these beauties are cascading over the pergola and giving off the most intoxicating fragrance. Wisteria is valued for its beautiful clusters of flowers that come in purple, pink and white.
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- Here they are overhead – so pretty. Wisterias flower best and grow most vigorously where they receive ample sunshine – at least six-hours a day. They thrive in any type of soil, as long as it is well drained.
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- The flowers drape down from soft green heads of foliage. When blooming, the compact head of a wisteria looks so sensational.
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- One one side of the pergola is this giant weeping copper beech tree – I love these trees with their gorgeous forms and rich color. I have several large specimens on the property.
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- Across the “soccer field,” where my grandson, Truman, loves to play whenever he visits, are six matched standard weeping hornbeams, Carpinus betulus ‘Pendula’. Weeping hornbeams can grow to be about 50-feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 40-feet. These are very precious trees and I am so happy they continue to grow well here.
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- On the the other side of the pergola and across the carriage road – a stand of stately bald cypress trees, now full of gorgeous soft green needle-like foliage.
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- The gardens at my farm are looking better than ever this season. I am so proud of this garden. I can’t wait to show you how it looks this summer with its swath of gorgeous tiger lilies. Stay tuned.
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