Harriet’s Maine Garden 2024

Hi GPODs!
January begins with a selection of gardens for all seasons! Yesterday we enjoyed Sue’s highlight reel, and today we’ll watch a great 2024 highlight reel from Harriet Robinson in Otisfield, Maine. Harriet has shared photos of her garden with us many times in the past (Harriet’s former pool-turned-garden, Gardening for pollinators without sacrificing beauty, Harriet’s iris garden, etc.) as well as outside the garden , in honor of her love of wildflowers (Wildflower Celebration, Beautiful Greek Wildflowers). Today we get a look at what her garden has looked like over the past year, along with wonderful photos from each month (April to December).
Over the years, I have shared photos of my Maine garden with GPOD from time to time. I have a large country yard in the western foothills with many garden areas. The core garden is filled with swimming pools. These photos were taken from similar vantage points to give you an idea of what the season will look like in 2024. My garden is covered in snow as I write this and it’s hard to believe it was so tall and colorful not so long ago. Over the past few years, I’ve made a point of adding late-season color to my aster collection. I always switch daylilies for longer summer blooms and higher bud numbers while keeping favorite old varieties because I like the classic form. My bearded irises are in a different flower bed than in this series of photos, but some Siberian varieties are blooming in the photos because they make great garden companions.
(Purple Pearl “Rich”, zones 5-8)
April: As soon as the snow melts, the crocuses and reticulated iris begin to change color (irisareas 5-9). white sedum (Sedum Albumregions 3–8) In cold weather, the ground cover around the edges appears red.
May is the month of daffodils, with early and mid-season blooms. I used them to line the paths. When the clumps get too big, I take them to the field and plant them (see in the distance under the old apple tree) and try another variety in the pool garden. I love seeing the red stems of the peonies perfectly combined with the daffodils.
June brings a floral feast of irises and peonies. I have many called Siberia (siberian irisregions 3–9) and bearded iris (Germany I. Germanyregions 3–10) In various garden beds, but peonies include many nameless peonies that I got from my parents’ garden.
In July, as daylilies bloom, the colors change from romantic pinks and whites to fiery yellows, reds and oranges. Daylilies are named for varieties that bloom for several weeks, and are available in early mid-season and later blooming varieties. There are also clumps of fake sunflowers that last forever (sunflowerregions 3-9). Peonies blend in with lovely shrub-like green foliage.
August: (2023 photo because I forgot to take it in 2024) Foreground: Millennium Ornamental Onions (Allium “Millennium”, zones 5-8), Sedum (pitaya “Matrona”, zones 3-9) and Darjeeling persicaria (cricket ‘Darjeeling Red’, zones 3-9). Pink flower in mid-ground: purple coneflower (Purple Echinaceaarea 3-9), resurrection lily (Lycorisregions 5–9) (Tall verbena [Verbena bonariensis, Zones 7–10] Flowers planted in the foreground near an amaryllis bush), and modern pink loosestrife (Qianqucai “Modern Pink”, zones 4-9).
September: At the end of the month, some peony leaves start to change color, colchicums bloom, and asters start to bloom in pink Alma Pötschke (New Anglia “Andenken an Alma Pötschke”, districts 4-8) First. The last potted agapanthus still attracts bees.
October in New England means colorful wild deciduous trees all around that echo the peony leaves in the garden. The aster collection is full of life and the bees are getting ready for winter.
December: The borrowed view dominates, but the snow shows the faint outline of the walkway surrounding the pool.
Thank you so much for sharing your incredible garden with us again, Harriet! Even though winter comes so early in Maine, it’s absolutely amazing how long you can create a season of interest.
Are you keeping track of your garden’s growth this year like Harriet? As I mentioned in my New Year’s Eve post earlier this week, now is the perfect time to reflect on last year’s garden and make plans for the next growing season (even if it feels like so long ago now). As you reflect, please consider sending your photos to GPOD! Please follow the instructions below to submit your photos via email or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.
Do you have a garden you’d like to share?
Have a photo to share? We’d love to visit your garden, a specific plant collection you like, or a wonderful garden you have the opportunity to visit!
To submit, please send 5-10 photos to [email protected] and some information about the plants in the photo and the location where the photo was taken. We’d love to hear about where you are, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you’re proud of, lessons you’ve learned from them, hopes for the future, favorite plants or interesting stories from your garden.
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