Silver garden

One of the first things Rob and I wanted to do in our little suburban yard was get a handle on the back corner. The previous owners had bought the house and "fixed it up" only to re-sell it a few months later, so they hadn't been thinking long-term when they ripped out some shrubs and didn't re-plant the area very well. In particular, there was a tenacious species of morning-glory weed that seemed bent on reproducing itself as many times as possible before the frost came. We're still fighting that battle!

It was our very first gardening project, so we made some mistakes, particularly in using some pretty native grasses without containers. One in particular, called "ribbon grass," sends up sweet little pink-and-green shoots that turn into lots of monstrous white-and-green stalks. It really is a nice effect when allowed to go wild, but we had a definite place in mind for it, so it's not as successful here - we just keep ripping it out and cutting it back every year.

In general, though, we're very happy with the way the garden looks. We both love the silvery-green leaves and white blossoms, especially at this time of year!

The plants we used (not all are visible): Spirea; Artemisia; Lavender Cotton; Elijah Blue Fescue; Blue Lyme Grass; Ribbon Grass; Dianthus/Pinks; Creeping Woolly Thyme; Lamb's Ears. We also have French Lavender and Dusty Miller on the other side.