Cultivating a tropical garden oasis

The time spent gardening with his grandmother, Olive, when he was a child inspired Deronis Cooper to pick up a trowel again shortly after he bought his townhome 17 years ago. Not only has he found the work of planning, planting and watering the garden satisfying, but being surrounded by beautiful flowers and foliage is great stress relief from his job as a Chicago police officer. Watch our Talk & Tour video with Deronis above and keep reading to learn more about this impressive garden!

A garden for everyone to enjoy

You can’t miss Deronis’ garden when you’re walking or driving down the block. He designs the space so that the bright colors and bold foliage that you see in the photos burst over and around the privacy fence, giving him, his neighbors and passersby plenty of enjoyment. The exuberant plantings often draw people over for a closer look, and Deronis is happy to give an impromptu tour and share his garden tips. He even connects and encourages others through social media. Known as “Grandma's Gardener,” he has gained quite a following and was even featured on the local news. Be sure to folling him on Instagram @grandmas_gardener to see what he's planting in the garden this season.

Now let’s take a look at this amazing space and find out what Deronis did to create a tropical oasis in the heart of the Midwest.

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Impressive front yard foliage

The wrought iron fence along the front yard in the photo above provides a sneak peek into the garden. But a colorful wall of coleus (Coleus scutellarioides), sweet potato vines (Ipomoea batatas), palms (Chamaedorea spp.) and Red Abyssinian bananas (Ensete maurelli) give Deronis a bit of privacy. The screening works so well that last summer a friend walked by and didn’t offer his typical “Hey, how’s it going?” even though Deronis was sitting in his usual spot.

An urban garden packed with curb appeal

To find bargains that stretch his gardening budget, Deronis often shops Facebook Marketplace. That’s where he found five 5-foot-long and 2-foot-tall rectangular metal storage boxes that he upcycled into the planters that sit behind the wrought iron fence. He brought them home, spray-painted them black and drilled holes in the bottom with a metal drill bit for drainage.

When it’s time to plant these containers in spring, Deronis starts working inside the yard, then moves out to the sidewalk and reaches through the pickets to plant so there’s plenty of street-facing color too. The result is the luxurious growth you see above that stops so many passersby in their tracks.

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Impressive wine barrel containers anchor the corner of the lot

At the corner the wrought iron changes to a wooden privacy fence, and that transition is marked by the two 59-gallon barrels you see above. Though they’re hidden, you can’t miss the explosion of color they provide. Elephant ear (Colocasia spp. and hybrids), coleus and sweet potato vine are regular players, but Deronis likes to mix up the planting each year depending on what inspires him at the garden center. Last year’s combination also included purple fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum) and spider flower (Cleome hassleriana).

Large elephant ears and bananas keep the design proportional in this 35-inch-tall barrel (elephant ears regularly reach 7 feet tall in Deronis’ garden, and the biggest banana he grew was 14 feet.) While these two plants provide the height, a skirt of vigorous sweet potato vine balances them out. To keep plants growing strong, Deronis adds Osmocote^® slow-release fertilizer to the potting mix at planting and applies liquid plant food using the Miracle-Gro^® Garden Feeder hose attachment most every week.

Overwintering in place

At 115 pounds, the barrels are too awkward to move indoors over the winter, so he leaves them out, even though they’re unsealed oak. Because of year-round exposure, the last one required replacing after about eight years.

Keeping planters watered

Deronis says that keeping up with watering is his biggest challenge throughout the yard but especially for these barrels. On hot summer days he may drag the hose and watering wand over there two or three times a day to maintain its head-turning curb appeal.

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Layer plants for a lush tropical garden look

One of the first projects Deronis tackled when he started gardening was the 32-foot-long by 3-foot-deep raised bed that sits next to the townhome. It was initially filled with a mix of topsoil and peat moss for drainage. Now the bed gets topped off annually with a few bags of Miracle-Gro garden soil.

Mix foliage shapes for texture and interest all season

Since most of the plants in Deronis’ planting palette are foliage focused, he uses a variety of leaf sizes, shapes and colors to keep the interest high. Broad elephant ears (Colocasia spp. and hybrids), lacy palms and elongated bananas provide an engaging canopy for colorful coleus, palmate castor bean plant (Ricinus communis) and sweet potato vine.

A love for container gardens

Deronis was enamored by the amazing planters the city of Chicago sets up downtown every year so he decided to plant up a few of his own. One container led to another and another. Now all of the plants outside of the initial raised bed are growing in containers.

The pots come in a variety of shapes, sizes and materials. Many have bold colors to keep with the tropical theme and provide interest early in the season. Even in summer when plants are mature, you’ll catch a glimpse of a container.

Container tip: Easy color swap

If Deronis finds a container he likes but the color isn’t a good fit, he uses spray paint to get just the right shade that pops in his garden. Rust-Oleum^® is his favorite brand because it holds up to rain, snow and sunlight, there’s a large variety of colors to choose from and some have a dial on the nozzle so you can spray at different angles.

Create layers for interesting garden design

To make sure he can see and appreciate every specimen in the containers, Deronis uses the thriller, filler, spiller formula at planting time. In his designs, he used the tall elephant ear as the thriller that steps down to the midsized coleus filler and finally a skirt of sweet potato vine spills down to the ground.

You can see this layered effect from a distance in the photo above. Tall containers with thrillers are in back and shorter ones are up front. Filling every level with plant-packed containers is a great way to get that lush look so typical of tropical garden design.

Add plants with height for privacy

For extra screening and planting space, Deronis secured 36-inch-long by 9-inch-tall windowboxes along the top rail of the privacy fence. You can see the placement more clearly in the small “before” photo. They also help blend the tallest tropicals into the planting and further obscure the edge of the fence. When you can’t quite tell where the edge of the fence is, the yard feels larger too.

The windowboxes can be a challenge to keep watered, especially as summer heats up, but Deronis is out with the hose daily making sure they stay in tip-top shape.

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Create a secret tropical garden getaway

As a plant lover, Deronis savors all the variety he finds at the garden center and tries out new plants each year to see if they fit with his tropical mix. If it grows vigorously and can compete with all the other strong growing specimens he’s discovered over the years he’ll grow it again. But having a cohesive look for the yard is also important. To do that, he repeats a few reliable favorites. In addition, Deronis repeats different plants that have similar colors, such as the burgundy coleus with the red ti plant (Cordyline fruticosa) in the photo above, along with other warm-toned coleus varieties with the red-leaf hibiscus (Hibiscus acetosella) and dark foliaged sweet potato vines (Ipomoea batatas) in the photo below.

Create cohesion with repetition of color

Another key to cohesion is the black metal garden furniture. Deronis likes the durability of metal, and the dark color recedes into the background so the garden takes center stage.

More garden room

Expanding up the fire escape was a natural next step for Deronis. Windowboxes and hanging baskets packed with sweet potato vines, petunias (Petunia hybrid), coleus and other finds — you can see how well they cover the structures. The hanging baskets were a challenge at first, but he discovered a helpful solution in “Hanging basket help” below.

Go vertical!

By gardening up the fire escape, Deronis creates even more drama and incorporates the structure into the rest of the garden. An added bonus is that he can hide a lot of tools and materials on ground level behind the dense foliage.

Hanging basket help

To build on the drama that fills the yard below Deronis added windowboxes that straddle the railing on the fire escape. Those did a great job, but he wanted to fill in the gaps on the pickets. Railscapes^™ Plant Clip was the solution. The arms wrap around the basket and each end fits between the pickets so that tension keeps the basket in place and level.

Tropical garden plant care

Foliage plays a starring role in tropical garden design, and there are lots of tender perennials with gorgeous leaves to choose from. Deronis starts shopping for plants in spring when nighttime temperatures are staying around 50 degrees F. That way he doesn’t have to worry about covering plants to avoid frost damage.

He plants the big barrels on the corner first, then fills the large Crescent container in the middle of the yard. A couple of large purple pots by the front door are next, and then he moves on to the rest of the yard. It usually takes him three to four weeks to get the whole garden planted.

Easy-care plantings

Once all the planting is done, care is pretty simple — watering is the biggest job. Though the yard faces west, there’s a mature tree near the front of the yard, and the privacy fence provides some late afternoon shade.

Mixing in a slow-release plant food at planting time ensures the tropicals have plenty of nutrition without a lot of extra effort. Because most of the plants are foliage-focused, there’s no deadheading. Deronis doesn’t mind when a coleus blooms — he leaves it in place, and it becomes another colorful accent for the garden.

To end the season, Deronis gives away his tender plants to the community

By the end of October, short days and cooler temperatures are causing these tender perennials to slow down, so Deronis puts out an all-call on social media for everyone to come and take the plants. He doesn’t have room to overwinter them indoors. More importantly, he likes to encourage other gardeners to try new plants so they can bring some beauty to their own yard and neighborhood.

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Discover a garden oasis in British Columbia

Perched on a hill, Nadine and Ted Staunton’s home and back deck offer a perfect view. Not only do they look over their own garden, but they can also see the woods at the edge of their property, the nearby Fraser River and even the distant Coast Mountains. Sometimes they hear coyotes yipping, watch bald eagles soaring overhead and catch glimpses of black bears lumbering through the trees.

Taming the slope: 20-year evolution of a Zone 8 garden

In a little more than 20 years, they’ve created an engaging landscape on their USDA zone 8, sloping Surrey, British Columbia, backyard. It wasn’t easy to accomplish, but now stone paths meander through terraces of trees, shrubs and perennial flowers interspersed with mossy stones and wooden arbors, pergolas and even a custom-built chapel tucked into the woods. Let’s take a tour of this lovely garden and learn some of the tips that the Stauntons have gathered while establishing it.

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The garden’s beginning

When Nadine and Ted were ready to build a home on the L-shaped 1-acre lot in 1989, they had to use a bulldozer to clear scrub alder (Alnus spp.) and maple (Acer spp.) trees that had been allowed to take over.

A house on a hill has the benefit of great views and cooling breezes, but a property with a steep slope also presents challenges. For the first several years that they lived there, they tried to grow grass on the slope, but it was difficult to maintain, as you can imagine. And Nadine says, “You can’t play croquet on a sloping lawn.”

A labor of love

Furthermore, a ravine runs along the side and across the back of the property, and had apparently been a dumping site for many years: It was filled with garbage, including an old iron bathtub and a car chassis. Nadine says, “People used to just tip things over the edge instead of taking them to the dump.” Ted and Nadine had their work cut out for them if they wanted to enjoy, instead of simply tolerate or manage, their backyard.

Creating terraces to manage the slope

Finally, Ted was tired of sliding off the tractor seat while doing lawn maintenance, so he decided to use terracing to level off the steepest area close to the house. He began by creating a few beds held in by landscape timbers, which was the common method at that time. Nadine says, “When we started, Ted laid out the outline of the flower bed with a garden hose, and I thought, ‘That’s far too big. I’ll never be able to look after it.’ But since then it’s grown exponentially!”

Over the years, the timbers deteriorated, and when they required replacing, Ted realized that he and Nadine already had plenty of raw materials in the stone that they regularly unearthed in the soil and at the bottom of the ravine. So he rebuilt the walls, and eventually made the stairs in the backyard.

Stone walls, pathways and more

Those first stone walls near the house launched a decades-long project of more pathways, staircases and walls that wind their way through densely planted beds and trees, and now there are only a few small areas of lawn left. Ted, a graphic artist by profession, has an affinity for curving lines and has created a layout that feels intimate yet celebrates expansive views. Keep reading to learn more about the Stauntons’ adventures in stonework.

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Working with stone in the garden

Once he gained some stone-working skills, there seemed no end to the inspiration (and supply!). Ted says, “I kept getting annoyed walking sideways on the property, so I’d try flattening this area, and then another. And pathways just kept presenting themselves.”

Ted’s tips for moving stone

Ted has hauled thousands of stones, and with a clicker keeps track of every one that he brings from the ravine that’s larger than a loaf of bread. So far, the number is higher than 3,000. For smaller stones, he walks the wheelbarrow down the switchback paths he built into the side of the ravine, fills it and pulls it backward to the top, bumping it along slowly.

A come-along winch is a game-changer

He employs the laws of physics and simple tools to lift and place the ones too large to carry. A come-along winch has been an invaluable resource: He’s able to chain one end of the cable to a tree and the other to the large rock to be moved, then ratchets the lever to draw the stone up the hill. Then he moves farther up the hill, hooks it up to another tree and continues. Still not an easy proposition!

An affinity for stone

The name Staunton has its origins in Old English, and was given to someone who lived near stony ground. It seems fitting as Ted has developed a keen eye not only for the best way to move each rock but also how to display and honor it. When he sees a stone with unusual characteristics, such as veining, speckling or a blue color, he places it next to a path where it’ll be seen. And every specimen’s unique shape inspires how it’s placed or how the path is built.

He likens building a wall or path to putting a puzzle together, considering color, texture and the different faces. See how perfectly the combination of different sizes and shapes of stones in the photo above fit together? Nadine says, “If I accidentally dislodge one, I have to get him to put it back,” because it’s such a precise art.

Moss: a shady benefit

Moss grows happily here, and the soft spongy pathway and beautiful stone faces are typical in this shady north-facing slope. However, they don’t mind its vigorous growth when in the lawn, because it remains green even when the turf turns brown.

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Unique hardscaping

Stonework isn’t the only hardscaping handiwork on display in this garden. Arbors, a pergola, a shed, a greenhouse and the miniature Gothic-inspired chapel provide visual interest and utility. Placement and construction are all done with a view of the garden in mind. Picture windows in the shed face the back of the property and look over the hillside. And their pergola is in the perfect spot to catch a cooling breeze on a hot summer day.

An affinity for upcycling

The couple repurposes building materials whenever they can for these structures. For example, Ted utilized rough-sawn telephone pole offcuts to make the chapel’s siding and hand-split roofing shakes for the shed and chapel from a 60-foot cedar tree that had fallen in the ravine and needed to be removed. He worked on the shakes for about six months, and still has a stash ready for another project.

Ted added the cupola on the shed a couple of years ago after he found a stained glass window that he thought deserved to be displayed prominently. After designing the cupola, he and their son modified the shed roof to accommodate the new feature.

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Chapel getaway

Nadine and Ted knew that they’d like to nestle a small building into this semicircle of trees, and the tight quarters inspired this Gothic-style chapel. With skills he learned along the way and some coaching from his father-in-law, Ted has built all manner of projects. At 10 by 12 feet, the chapel is just the right size for a small table and chairs, where the grandkids like to play in warmer months. Ted says, “It’s enough for a small congregation: You can get about six people in there. But we do have a choir loft!”

The plant palette

Because there aren’t many full-sun spots on this north-facing slope, Nadine has chosen to grow mostly flowering plants in the garden, although she has found a few pockets in the front yard to grow her favorite vegetables.

Creating year-round garden interest

When choosing plants, her goal is to have interest throughout the year. Nadine says, “It’s been an experiment over the years to find which plants do well here. I move things around quite a bit until I find a spot where they’re happy.”

From November through March, fragrant ‘Pink Dawn’ viburnum (Viburnum x bodnantense) in the photo above blooms alongside an early round of witchhazels (Hamamelis spp. and hybrids) and hellebores (Helleborus spp. and hybrids), followed by daffodils (Narcissus spp. and hybrids), snowdrops (Galanthus spp. and hybrids) and crocuses (Crocus spp. and hybrids) in February. Nadine and Ted are big fans of ‘Pink Dawn’ because of its long bloom time, sweet scent and its attractiveness to the Anna’s hummingbirds that remain all winter in their garden.

Add seasonal show-offs

By the middle of spring the rhododendron (Rhododendron spp. and hybrids), euphorbias (Euphorbia spp. and hybrids) and pasque flower have joined the party. Later, summer-blooming perennials such as coreopsis (Coreopsis spp. and hybrids) and black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia spp. and hybrids) in the photo above start their show, and by fall, the dahlias (Dahlia hybrids) are in their glory.

Finding drought-tolerant plants to deal with weather changes

With less rain in recent summers, the Stauntons have started taking note of which plants are most drought tolerant. Some standouts include hostas (Hosta spp. and hybrids) and rhododendrons, which put on such a beautiful show in spring. So when they’re shopping the nursery sales in fall, their favorite time for bargain plants, they’re including drought tolerance on their list of must-have characteristics. Ted chops up the plentiful leaves that fall on the property, and the couple mulches with them to help retain soil moisture as well.

Get easy repetition with reseeding plants

Repeating pools of blue flowers along the pathways has mostly happened naturally as annuals and perennials reseed around the structural trees and shrubs. Nadine says: “I tend to leave most of them unless they’re in the way or impeding another plant. Because it’s such a large garden I don’t have time to manicure every spot.” Learn more about her favorite reseeding plants here!

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The Giving Garden

Walk through Sue and Bob Olson’s Mankato, Minnesota, garden, and you’ll find just as many stories as you’ll find plants. Connections to other people are the heart of this ½-acre garden. For example, Sue says, “My brother built this shed for me about 15 years ago. I love it because it’s his handiwork.” Nearly every plant and ornament here carries a memory or a tie to a friend, family member or experience. This is why we chose the Olsons as this year’s Reader Garden Award grand prize winners. Congratulations to this creative gardening couple! Now let’s take a tour and hear their stories. Watch the Talk & Tour video above to get a feel for this impressive garden from our visit in August.

Meet This Year’s Reader Garden Award Runners-Up!

Lonna Engel's Painted Leaf Hosta Garden in Williamsport, PA
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How the garden began

When Sue and Bob moved to Mankato and purchased this zone 5 property 26 years ago, the backyard was all lawn except for a perennial-filled island bed in need of renovation. Sue had grown up in a family of gardeners and always kept a garden as an adult. So she knew that it was better to watch the existing beds for a season to get to know the property before she started executing all of her backyard dreams.

When they did dig into the perennial bed project, they found Siberian iris (Iris sibirica), garden phlox (Phlox paniculata), daylilies (Hemerocallis spp. and hybrids), purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) and many other Midwestern stalwarts. Sue says, “I kept as much as I could but cleaned that bed up and spread the plants around.”

Thanks to Jung Seed for providing a $500 gift card to our grand prize winner!

An ever-evolving garden

They raised their children in this house and now welcome grandchildren to visit. Once she had more time to garden, Sue really ramped up the outdoor projects, and every spring she and Bob seem to add another element to the backyard. (The latest project is a series of raised beds filled with cut flowers at the back of the garden.) You can see in the overhead view that the plantings extend around the backyard’s perimeter and surround the house, incorporating the 8×12-foot garden shed as well as several raised vegetable and flower beds. Over time, the couple has learned how to protect plantings from deer that live in the wooded area at the back of the property and how to keep a garden colorful from spring through fall.

A welcoming space

The property slopes down from front to back: The second-story floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking their patio creates almost a bird’s-eye view of the backyard from the couple’s living room. It’s a year-round show. In warmer weather, they enjoy eating alfresco on the lower patio, which has two dining sets that accommodate their growing family. Up a few steps, visitors can retire to a comfortable lounge area complete with the wood-burning fireplace above, perfect for cool evenings in spring and fall.

As all gardens do, this one has evolved. In the early years here, the couple dined on an upper-level deck and had a hot tub on the nearby patio. Over time, habits and space usage changed. When entertaining became a bigger priority, they removed the hot tub, renovated that patio and added the fireplace. Then Sue and Bob built a second patio large enough to comfortably accommodate a group.

Of course the Olsons enjoy entertaining in their backyard, but this isn’t the only way they create memories and connect with people in the garden. Experiences with friends and family have contributed to the garden’s décor and design as well.

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Work + Play

The Olsons don’t only host guests on their patios for leisure time. Every spring, family and friends gather with their wheelbarrows for a mulch party to help transport 42 cubic yards of shredded wood mulch from a single pile in the driveway to several smaller ones around the backyard. Sue provides the food and drinks, and Bob spends the next 10 days spreading the mulch throughout the beds.

A Garden Full of Mementos & Memories

Beds and borders throughout this backyard are filled with reminders of loved ones and different experiences. Several years ago Bob drove three hours with his car’s hatchback open to bring home the pew in the photo above from his childhood church. (On this trip he learned that if he turned the music volume high enough, he could drown out the dinging trunk alarm!) Sue painted a favorite quote on it and sealed it with Gronomics^™ Cedar Garden Bed Oil to protect it.

She says, “We used to carry every ornament and pot indoors every fall. But we got to the point that we couldn’t do that anymore.” She felt emboldened to leave glazed containers outdoors when she saw that a nearby nursery left their stock out in winter. Now the couple empties the pots, turns them upside down and leaves them where they stand. Sue says that they haven’t lost one to winter damage yet.

Custom mosaic art

This colorful mosaic is made on window frames that Sue saved from Bob’s grandmother’s house. She has a few of these “stained glass” windows positioned throughout the garden and plans to store them indoors in winter.

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Reflections of Life in the Garden

Viking-themed garden bed

When they establish a new garden bed, the couple often adds meaningful mementos. For example, Bob finally talked Sue into purchasing a football-shaped stepping stone a few years ago with the agreement that he would maintain the part of the garden where it was displayed. He leaned into his love for the Minnesota Vikings NFL team, and planted a Velvet Viking^™ Japanese maple among purple and gold plants, including the annual angelonias (Angelonia angustifolia) planted in a “V” shape in the photo above. He even planted a ‘Cheesehead’ potentilla (Potentilla fruticosa) nearby as a nod to the classic Vikings-Packers rivalry.

A special butterfly garden

Ten years ago, Sue was diagnosed with breast cancer in April. She says, “I knew what I was faced with, but I didn’t want to let my gardens go. So I threw myself into the yard that spring.” As she was working the night before treatments began, a butterfly landed on her again and again. She says, “In that moment, I knew everything would be OK.” She later added some butterfly ornaments in the area where she was working to remind her of the peace the butterfly brought her that day.

Family memories

And when Sue’s dad passed away, they planted the river birch (Betula nigra) above in his memory and added owl statuary beneath it. Sue says, “We always said Dad was the wise owl of the family.”

Plants Connect People

Gardening is a family pastime. In fact, many members of Sue’s extended family grow pieces of the same bearded iris (Iris hybrids), peony (Paeonia lactiflora) and clematis (Clematis spp. and hybrids) passed down from her great-grandparents’ garden. And her dad “kept gardening until he absolutely couldn’t do it anymore. Then he loved to come here and give me ideas.”

Sharing the plant love

Receiving and sharing divisions has been a key part of the garden’s success. Filling these large beds wouldn’t have happened as quickly without pass-along plants from other gardeners. Not only is this a budget-friendly way to acquire plants, it’s also a good way to find those that you know will thrive. If they’re already doing well in a neighbor’s garden, you know they’ll survive your particular climate’s challenges. (Just do a bit of research before accepting divisions. Sometimes well-meaning friends share plants that are a little too aggressive!)

Friends have passed along speedwell (Veronica hybrid), more bearded iris, tall sedum (Hylotelephium spp. and hybrids) and garden mums (Chrysanthemum spp. and hybrids). They even have a division of the old-fashioned bleeding heart (Lamprocapnos spectabilis) that Bob’s mother received from a friend when he was born.

Annual spring plant division

Every spring, Bob and Sue grab their spades and look for perennials that are spreading too far or are overcrowded and need rejuvenation. Some go into new beds on their own property, but they plant the rest into recycled nursery pots in preparation for a giveaway. At this annual spring event, they set 250 or more potted plants onto the driveway and put out a call to gardeners in their neighborhood and in local social media groups, offering free plants.

Sue says, “We love the idea of our passion being shared and nurtured, and we hope that some of it will be paid forward.” It’s a fun way to connect with old friends and make new ones (and a good way to recycle those ubiquitous plastic nursery pots, which often make their way back to the Olsons to be refilled another year!).

Lasting garden labels

To keep track of plants for herself and visitors in this ever-expanding garden, Sue inserts the Wren stainless steel plant markers you see above near most perennials. She writes the plant name on the front of the tag and important details, such as its size, who gave it to her and the year it was last divided, on the back with a paint pen.

The Keys to Long-Lasting Color

Because the view of the backyard is so prominent from inside the house, it’s important that it has year-round interest. Sue has achieved this by mixing hardscaping, ornaments and a variety of different types of plants. You can see the effect in the photo above.

An artist’s perspective in the garden

In many gardens, even with careful planning, there are lulls between bloom times throughout the growing season. But not here. Sue says, “I’m always paying attention to where I need more color. Will this spot need more purple when this plant fades? Do I need more yellow here?” The flower show begins with daffodils (Narcissus spp. and hybrids), grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum), peonies and Siberian irises in spring, and ends with garden mums and New England asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) in late fall.

Better with begonias

Ribbons and splashes of annual begonias (Begonia hybrids) like those in the photo above knit the garden together. Sue loves them because they’re so easy to grow, “and they give you a lot of wow factor!” She buys several flats and pots of varieties in the Dragon Wing^® and Big^® series (especially those with bronze leaves) every spring. And she also tries several new varieties every year.

Multiplying begonias

She plants begonias in containers and in clusters along border edges, and throughout the growing season, she pinches back new plants regularly to encourage branching and more flowers. Instead of tossing the cutoff stems into the compost pile, she strips off the lower leaves, dips the ends in rooting hormone and plants each cutting in the soil wherever she sees a hole. The photo above shows what a new cutting looks like — spindly at first, but with some extra water and a bit of time, it will grow. By the end of the summer, she has a garden full of begonias.

Before the first frost, she cuts some plants back, pots them up and sets the pots on a shelf in the basement with no lights. They lie dormant until late winter, when she starts to water regularly. Sue says, “You’d swear that they’re deader than dead, but they come back every year.” Come spring, she begins taking cuttings again so she has plenty of little begonias to jump-start the year.

Meet Our Previous Reader Garden Award Winners

• Multiseason Beauty With Perennials & Flowering Trees
  
• Grand Garden Experiment
  
• Charming Southern Backyard Garden
  
• Beautiful Hillside Garden
  
• Urban Garden Retreat
  

Pest Patrol in the Garden

A few years ago, Sue and Bob installed a 6-foot-tall aluminum fence around the perimeter of the backyard to keep deer out of the garden. But like many of us, they still struggled with rabbit damage. Over the years, they’ve sprayed vulnerable plants with Liquid Fence^® Deer and Rabbit Repellent in spring and caged shrubs in winter to deter nibbling critters. But as the garden grew, these extra chores became too tedious to manage.

Backyard protection

Eventually they discovered that planting vegetables and cut flowers in 17- to 32-inch-tall Vego Metal Raised Garden Beds made them difficult for bunnies to access. This year, Bob purchased 700 feet of 2-foot-high fencing and used plastic ties to secure it to the bottom of the fence, extending to soil level. So far, it’s kept rabbits from entering the garden. He knows that he’ll have to patrol regularly to check for vulnerable spots and secure loose areas in the fence. Since the backyard is the only fenced part of the property, they’re still spraying and caging the unprotected front yard plants.

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“Count the bunnies”

Sue acknowledges that even though the rabbits frustrate her, she thinks they’re cute and has a large tongue-in-cheek collection of rabbit ornaments scattered throughout the beds (check out a few examples below). “Count the bunnies” is a fun game to play with grandchildren. Congratulations to Sue and Bob for earning the Reader Garden Award title this year. We’re so glad they shared it with us!

To kick off our 2025 garden tour season, we traveled to Spain’s Andalusia region in May for a week among the vibrant architecture and gardens of Seville, Granada, and Cordoba. This region along Spain’s southern coast is rich with history and art that reflects the many different cultural influences that have left their stamp on its diverse landscape. The abundant inspiration found around every corner was too great to keep to ourselves and the small group of fellow garden lovers that joined us. So we scoured our camera rolls to share some tour highlights, starting with our time exploring the striking palaces and iconic gardens of Seville.

Travel with us!

Learn more about Garden Gate Travel and join us on an upcoming tour, plus check out all of our previous destinations here: GardenGateTravel.com

Casa de Pilatos

The Casa de Pilatos combines the beauty of the Italian Renaissance with traditional Moorish design. Also known as El Palacio de los Adelantados Mayores de Andalucía (The Palace of the Greater Adelantados of Andalusia), it was built between the 15th and 16th centuries and consists of elaborate courtyards, halls, and gardens.

The Small Garden (Jardín Chico), with greenery and fountains, is the epitome of peace in a bustling city and blends the Renaissance ideals of nature and architecture in perfect harmony.

Unlike other European palaces, which often feature lots of cold white marble and gilded everything, the Casa de Pilatos is a monument of color. This is evident in the bright tile work and architecture but can also be found in the bold plantings. In the Courtyard of the Halt (Patio del Apeadero), a century-old bougainvillea is a spectacular cascade of blooms.

Real Alcázar de Sevilla

We also visited the most famous and revered palace in the city, the Real Alcázar de Sevilla (Royal Alcázar of Seville). The Alcázar is one of the official residences of the Spanish royal family and one of the oldest palaces still in use in the world.

The main courtyard of the Real Alcázar de Sevilla is the Patio de las Doncellas (Courtyard of the Maidens). According to tradition, the courtyard was given this name because the ladies of the court used this room for leisure and entertainment. With intricately ornate arches, a reflecting pool down the center, and sunken gardens on either side, it’s easy to see why they congregated in this room.

More Gardens Worth Traveling to:
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Of course, the gardens at Real Alcázar de Sevilla extend far beyond the confines of the elaborate interior. Around the grounds a maze of meticulous hedges weave around a menagerie of tropical trees, bright blooms, and gorgeous water features.

Murillo Gardens

Just outside the Real Alcázar de Sevilla, and once a part of the palace’s grounds, are the Jardines de Murillo (Murillo Gardens). Incredible art and magnificent water features can be enjoyed throughout the gardens, but stay for the collection of flowering and fruiting trees. Some of the most famous are massive Moreton Bay figs (Ficus macrophylla), which create interesting patterns in their snakelike buttress roots.

Historic City Center

In Seville’s historic city center, there is plenty to see. A walk through the heart of the city brought us to the Palacio Arzobispal de Sevilla (Archbishop's Palace of Seville). Outside the palace, and throughout the city, horse-drawn carriages offer a different way to tour the sites. Our visit coincided with the Festival de Abril, a week-long celebration of Andalusian culture with music, dancing, food, and where many dress in traditional clothing.

The largest wooden structure in the world

You can't miss this modern piece of architectural art, the Metropol Parasol or Setas de Sevilla (Mushrooms of Seville), when visiting Seville. Currently the largest wooden structure in the world, this attraction opened in 2011 after German architect Jürgen Mayer won a design competition to revitalize the square. It is now home to an archaeological museum, shops, bars, and restaurants.

Parque de María Luisa

The Parque de María Luisa (Park of María Luisa) is hard to miss in Seville. This 99-acre green oasis along the Guadalquivir River, which cuts through the city, is the largest park in Seville. The famous Plaza de España can be found adjacent to the park, which has a large water feature that wraps around the square, but don’t stop there. The park is home to many different water features, including the Fuente de las Ranas (Fountain of the Frogs).

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Photos courtesy of Kristin Beane Sullivan and Eric Flynn

2025 Reader Garden Award Runner-Up:

Congratulations to Becky Short from Macungie, PA!

For Becky, the joy of gardening has been in the journey. Meaningful memories can be found throughout her yard, from the knot garden inspired by a vacation in England to an outbuilding that is a replica of the historic Tayloe House in Colonial Williamsburg. Pieces of inspiration get stitched together throughout the space to create something cohesive yet completely unique.

A beautiful and beneficial garden

While her garden is oozing with style and interest, it also emphasizes environmental impact. The plants she considers signature to her designs are natives like milkweed (Asclepias spp.), goldenrod (Solidago spp.) and black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia spp.) that welcome flocks of pollinators to her garden. Becky also chooses to garden completely organically, and the wildlife that visits her beds and borders are welcome guests rather than pests that need to be deterred.

Sharing the love for gardening

Becky’s garden is also a space to teach her two granddaughters. An herb garden is a treasure trove of sights and smells, and a mini meadow in an old wagon is a fun way to demonstrate the beauty and importance of native plants.

Thanks to Jung Seed for providing a $100 runner-up gift certificate prize to Becky!

Spreading plant joy outside the garden

Becky’s garden generosity expands beyond the realm of her home garden as well. The joy she found in gardening with her grandchildren inspired her to form a garden club at their elementary school, and she now helps run garden clubs at three different schools in the area. In addition, she has been a part of gardening projects throughout her area, including a community garden next to a local homeless shelter, a healing garden at a nearby hospital, and a native plant garden at their library. All these projects demonstrate why Becky finds so much joy in gardening, for the beauty that it creates and for the benefit it has in our own environment and public spaces.

Photos courtesy of Becky Short

Enter for a chance to be one of next year’s winners

For details on entry guidelines for submitting your garden in the 2026 Garden Gate Reader Garden Award, click here.

See Our Previous Year’s Reader Garden Award Winners:

• 2024: Multiseason Beauty With Perennials & Flowering Trees
  
• 2023: Grand Garden Experiment
  
• 2022: Charming Southern Backyard Garden
  
• 2021: Beautiful Hillside Garden
  
• 2020: Urban Garden Retreat
  

Tour an English-inspired garden in Oregon

Considering herself an English garden groupie, Lisa Graff has visited the United Kingdom several times to see gardens and take design classes. So when she and her husband, Brad, built their home in the hills around USDA zone 8 Portland, Oregon, 15 years ago, it was a given that she’d include design elements from her favorite English gardens: a beautiful borrowed view, curved pathways, a water feature, borders packed with flowers and dry-stacked stone walls. And her passion for flowering plants inspired her to start her business, Lux Perennials Nursery.

Watch our fall Talk & Tour With Lisa to learn more about how this garden came to be!

Frame a beautiful view

To emphasize the sight of Mount St. Helens in the distance, Lisa added the fountain and rill, or small stream. The water feature is centered on the house and flows down the slope, leading your eye to the mountain. Even if you aren’t lucky enough to have a mountain vista, you can take advantage of a nearby flowering tree or stately evergreen by selectively pruning a hedge or keeping a fence at a lower height in one spot. You could also lead the eye with colorful containers to the scenery from a nearby park or greenbelt.

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Colorful English-garden-inspired flower borders

Keeping the flowery beds to the edges of the backyard also preserves the mountain view for maximum appreciation. By choosing similar color palettes in shades of pink, purple and orange, the borders have a cohesive look even though they’re on opposite sides of the yard.

An English garden wouldn’t be complete without a few boxwoods (Buxus spp. and hybrids), and Lisa has several small hedges that supply structure and color all year. She achieved a similar effect along the path below using ‘Purple Dome’ New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae). This densely growing hybrid works well as a substitute hedge because it stays upright.

Create a tranquil garden space

At the bottom of the slope is a gazebo near the pond. It’s one of Lisa’s favorite places to sit, even on a rainy day. She can read a book or enjoy the peaceful scene of the pond and wild wooded area just beyond. The subtle colors and natural features contrast with the borders packed with colorful blooms behind her.

Tips for growing dahlias in clay soil

Dahlias (Dahlia hybrids) are a staple in Lisa’s fall borders, and though they’re cold hardy in her zone 8 garden, she used to lose them regularly to rot because of the dense clay soil. After talking with nursery professionals that specialize in dahlias, she discovered this method that helps them survive:

• At planting time in spring, dig a wide hole 6 to 7 inches deep.
• Mix equal parts native soil, compost and clean quarter-ten gravel (gravel with no sand in it) in a wheelbarrow.
• Partially refill the hole so the tuber sits 4 to 5 inches deep, and refill with more of the mixture.
• Add a 3-inch layer of gravel mulch to keep crowns from getting too wet.

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Long-lasting garden color

The backyard was full of clay soil when they moved in, so Lisa needed to do something if she wanted to grow all the plants on her wish list. Amending it with compost at the beginning and topping it off every two to three years has improved the texture, and the plants are thriving.

Flower bed combos

Easy-to-find long-blooming plants, such as hardy geranium (Geranium hybrid), Jupiter’s beard (Centranthus ruber), geum (Geum hybrid), catmint (Nepeta spp. and hybrids) and sage (Salvia spp. and hybrids), make up most of the plantings.

Unusual specimens, such as the ornamental rhubarb (Rheum palmatum) that’s blooming in the photo above, punctuate the more common finds. Once the spikes fade, the plants’ enormous leaves take center stage. In other parts of the garden, Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa), tall Peruvian lilies (Alstroemeria hybrids) and ‘Red Feathers’ echium (Echium amoenum) grab attention.

Design for all-season color

Lisa plans for a succession of blooms and has a collection of plants that provide color from April to November. The two photos above show the same area in summer and late fall. Early in the season, the geum and Jupiter’s beard catch your eye, with loads of bright orange and deep pink flowers. With regular deadheading they go until frost. Soon after, the low mounds of Rozanne hardy geranium begin flowering at the front of the border and continue for up to five months through late fall, creating a mat of lavender-blue blooms.

The towering dahlias and panicle hydrangea fill in by late summer, taking over the starring role the other plants once held. Throughout the garden, different types of hydrangeas — bigleaf (Hydrangea macrophylla), smooth (Hydrangea arborescens), oakleaf (Hydrangea quercifolia) and panicle (Hydrangea paniculata) — provide large, beautiful flowers from June to October.

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Add interest to the garden without blooms

Foliage plays an important role at every level of this garden. Lisa loves how burgundy-leaved plants, such as ‘Royal Purple’ smokebush (Cotinus coggygria) and Wine and Roses^® and Spilled Wine^® weigela (Weigela florida), help all the hot pink and orange flowers really pop.

In addition to pretty foliage, Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) have interesting growth habits. ‘Twombley’s Red Sentinel’ grows into a columnar shape 10 to 12 feet tall and 3 to 5 feet wide, so it’s easy to work into tight spaces. Its red new foliage matures burgundy. Though much smaller, the weeping form of ‘Inaba Shidare’ is a real attention-getter. This pint-sized tree is covered in delicate red leaves and grows just 6 to 8 feet tall after 10 years.

Besides colorful foliage, ‘Sango-kaku’ Japanese maple (also called coral bark maple) sports coral-pink stems that are most prominent once its lacy yellow leaves drop in late fall. Seeds and berries add to the seasonal interest and support wildlife too. For example, rugosa roses (Rosa rugosa) offer months of color, first with pink flowers in spring and summer, then with the large red to purple hips you see in the photo above in fall and winter, so Lisa's garden is brimming with interest all year.

Easy-care curb appeal

As you walk up the sidewalk to Joyce and Dave Ludlow’s Iowa front door, you know that you’ll find a gardener here. This beautifully manicured zone 5 garden is filled with plants carefully chosen for their ease of maintenance and combined for long-lasting interest. As she adds plants and redesigns beds, Joyce’s goal is to keep the garden manageable so she can continue to enjoy her beloved hobby for years to come. Enjoy our summer garden tour with Joyce in the Talk & Tour video above and keep reading to learn more about her low-maintenance plant palette.

Create a view from the front porch

When the Ludlows moved in, the front yard contained only a grouping of ‘Green Velvet’ boxwoods (Buxus hybrid). The couple had the retaining wall in the photo above built to surround the front porch with a spacious border that would lend curb appeal to the house without obstructing the view of the street. Now they can sit on the porch with a cup of coffee and feel a part of the garden while still seeing passing neighbors.

For several years, Joyce grew roses in this bed until chronic Japanese beetle infestations caused her to throw in the towel. She dug them out and planted panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata), birchleaf spirea (Spiraea betulifolia) and a sterile barberry cultivar (Berberis thunbergii), which are naturally globe shaped and need only a light trim every spring to maintain a compact habit. They form the structural base of a planting that includes reliable perennials, such as lamb’s ear and three cultivars of allium (Allium hybrids), which can take this south-facing hot spot without complaint.

Plant drought-tolerant annuals

In addition, Joyce plants drought-tolerant annuals because she prefers not to spend all of her time watering in summer. These include Meteor Shower^® verbena (Verbena bonariensis), Skyscraper^™ Pink salvia (Salvia hybrid), Senorita Rosalita spider flower (Cleome hybrid), and Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Lime sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas). She likes their long-lasting color and somewhat loose, casual habit. And when they’re planted tightly between perennials, they help deter weeds and reduce the need for mulch.

Using repetition in the garden

Many of these plants are repeated throughout Joyce’s garden. She likes the continuity of color and texture that ties all the beds together, and you will see them in this full-sun front yard foundation planting, as well as in the backyard. Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina) is a particular favorite — this dense ground cover fills in quickly, smothers weeds, only needs to be cut back in the spring so maintenance is minimal and is easy to divide and spread around.

Joyce favors flowers and foliage in the pink, lavender, silver, white and chartreuse shades. In the front yard, this palette blends with the neutral tones of the house and subtly makes the full-sun garden feel cooler.

A serene garden scene

Next to the driveway, Joyce and Dave carved out an island bed and edged it with concrete pavers. A line of arborvitaes (Thuja occidentalis) screens the neighbor’s driveway and gives the spot a bit of privacy. It is especially pretty in spring when daffodils (Narcissus spp. and hybrids), moss phlox (Phlox subulata) and other spring-blooming bulbs fill the bed with color. Under the Japanese lilac (Syringa reticulata), Joyce placed a bench and an angel statue in memory of her father. Creating the bed was a source of comfort for her after his passing.

Tough-as-nails plants for clay soil

In full sun with hard clay soil, this bed can be inhospitable for many plants in the hottest part of summer. In addition, the maturing trees’ roots compete for water and make digging to plant around them difficult. Joyce has found a good mix of tough-as-nails survivors, including allium, ground cover and tall sedums (Hylotelephium spp. and hybrids), calamint (Calamintha nepeta) and perennial geranium (Geranium spp. and hybrids). Though they thrive, Joyce notes the plants in this bed are not as big and are slower to flower than the same plants repeated elsewhere in her garden.

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Create a restful patio

Faced with a steep slope from the house to the back of the property, the Ludlows brought in truckloads of soil to level a portion of the backyard so it would be more usable (and to keep the kids’ sports balls from rolling down the hill). Joyce worked with a landscaper to design the 13-foot circular patio in the photo above and install the hardscaping. Initially, she wanted a firepit in the center with seating. But Joyce found that she prefers the harmonious feel of the open, circular space without clutter — a calm, centered place to spend a few quiet moments.

The 2-foot-tall tumbled concrete block wall encloses the patio for a cozier feel. An arc of Bobo panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata) and ‘Autumn Frost’ hostas (Hosta hybrid) fill up the 3-foot-wide space between it and the circular patio. These plants are more reliable bloomers in this zone 5 garden than their predecessors, a row of bigleaf hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla). A few of those remain along the wall of the house on the opposite side of the circle. They only get one or two blooms a year, but Joyce likes them more for the lush green foliage that gives your eye a place to rest.

Warm up the shade

Joyce prefers a cool color palette, saying that red and orange “make you feel hotter in the sun.” But then she discovered coral bells (Heuchera hybrid) and became a fan of adding these warm colors in the shade. She sprinkles her favorite cultivar, ‘Caramel’, around to brighten the borders even when there are no flowers.

Clay soil no more

Between the corner of the house and the stairs leading to the second-story deck is a bed Joyce lovingly calls “the clay garden.” The ‘Pinky Winky’ and Bobo panicle hydrangeas planted here were always chlorotic, suffering in the unforgiving clay. Once she started top-dressing with compost every fall, Joyce noticed how much the soil improved and was easier to work in. She also collects leaves each year, puts them in plastic bags, pokes holes in the bags, then tucks them behind the plants all winter. By spring, the leaves have broken down into a nice mulch that she spreads around on the bed. It has made such a difference in the soil there that the hydrangeas are not yellowed anymore. “I’ve got to stop calling it the clay garden!” she laughs.

Include plants with long-lasting appeal

Joyce plans to work in her garden until she is “a ripe old age,” and ease of care is increasingly top of mind. She knows that gardening is “the healthiest for your attitude, mentally and physically. If you want a de-stresser, plant a garden!”

Joyce’s favorite low-maintenance plants

As you walk through Joyce’s garden, you’ll notice many of the same perennials and shrubs in different spots. She chooses plants that remain attractive even when not in bloom, and looks for varieties that don’t require much maintenance. Check out the gallery below to meet a few of her favorites.

2025 Reader Garden Award Runner-Up:

Congratulations to Lonna Engel from Williamsport, PA!

In 2016 Lonna decided to plant a single garden bed that showcased a variety of hostas. But she couldn’t stop with just one planting: Now Lonna has a collection with more than 900 hosta cultivars, including specimens as small as a dime to those as large as 7 feet across and in almost every color and variation imaginable, including a new ‘Bloodline’ hosta, whose leaves remain burgundy until midsummer, when they turn green.

The Painted Leaf Hosta Garden

She calls her garden the Painted Leaf Hosta Garden and has woven other shade perennials through the collection into a beautiful tapestry. Visiting the garden much like the experience in a museum: The longer you stand and look at a plant, the more details you notice.

The crystal chandeliers hanging in the tree above add a romantic, peaceful feel to the garden and dance in the breeze and catch and reflect light. She hangs these homemade ornaments in spring and takes them down in the winter.

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Lonna’s hosta tips

Lonna says that the best fertilizer for hostas is water: If a plant gets too dry, it’ll stunt its growth and burn the foliage. In fact, when Lonna tires of a hosta in the garden, she floats it in her pond, where it provides cover for the koi, who push it around the pond. The plants seem to thrive as floating water plants.

With 14 acres of neighboring woods, deer could be a real problem on her 1⁄3-acre property. In addition to running fishing line between the garden and the woods, Lonna mixes 1 cup of ammonia into 1 gallon of water and sprays it around the perimeter and over plants monthly. She theorizes that the ammonia odor keeps the deer from being able to smell predators, making the area too risky to enter.

Thanks to Jung Seed for providing a $100 runner-up gift certificate prize to Lonna!

Enter for a chance to be one of next year’s winners

For details on entry guidelines for submitting your garden in the 2026 Garden Gate Reader Garden Award, click here.

See Our Previous Year's Reader Garden Award Winners:

• 2024: Multiseason Beauty with Perennials & Flowering Trees
  
• 2023: Grand Garden Experiment
  
• 2022: Charming Southern Backyard Garden
  
• 2021: Beautiful Hillside Garden
  
• 2020: Urban Garden Retreat
  

Small garden with big impact

If you were walking down a sidewalk in British Columbia and happened upon this beautiful garden, I can guarantee you would stop to take a closer look. There’s a lot going on in this small space. And if you noticed owner Susan Koelink working outside, you’d probably want to ask her some questions. Would you ask the name of those starbursts in the center of the border? Would you want to know how she gets so many good-looking plants in a garden that’s only 70 feet wide and 35 feet deep? Maybe you’d just want to tell Susan how much you enjoy walking past her garden in every season. Let’s take a tour, and we’ll find answers to these questions and more.

Be bold with color

By contrasting two colors, like the shrimp pink of the door and the chartreuse euphorbias (Euphorbia spp.) framing the steps, you can pull off some really unique combinations. Repetition is another great use of color. See the purple smokebush (Cotinus coggygria) in front of the left window? Touches of purple and burgundy like this help tie the garden to the purple gate and the peak over the door.

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An invitation to enter the garden

It always pays to start with a good design. In a small garden like this, your temptation might be to leave as much lawn as possible to simplify maintenance or do away with grass completely and fill the garden with shrubs and perennials. But this design has struck a happy medium. There’s enough grass for visitors to stand and view the garden. Yet there’s lots of space for plants that, in many gardeners’ opinion, are much more interesting than grass. And that small bit of smooth green lawn on both sides of the garden provides a frame for all of the shrubs, perennials and bulbs.

Curved beds lead the eye

Walk through the gate and turn to the left. A gently curving edge like this along the planting bed leads your eyes, directing you to the backyard. Notice how crisply the flower beds have been edged and mulched above? If you have a small garden, maintenance is important because you see everything up close. There are no distant vistas where you can fudge on maintenance. A sharp spade, used several times a year, is the way to keep bed edges neat.

You can get a bit of privacy even in a front yard

If you turn right past the gate instead of left, you’d discover a narrow brick path. It’ll take you to the shady, secluded corner in the photo above. There are several ways you can make a private retreat more secluded. First, tone down its hardscaping. These bricks are mostly mossy — it’s a more subtle path than bright-red bricks would be. Second, you can narrow the entrance. The big hellebore (Helleborus spp.) on the left and the hosta (Hosta hybrids) on the right almost obscure this path. And a light-green full moon maple (Acer japonicum) and a saucer magnolia (Magnolia x soulangeana) help screen the view at eye level and above. Add a comfortable place to sit, and you have a perfect hideaway in your own front yard.

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Creative plant combinations

I bet you’re thinking it’s the plant selection that really makes this garden. I’ll agree with you — from the minute you come up the sidewalk, you’re greeted with gorgeous and creative combinations. Let’s take a look at some of these unique plantings.

Choose plants that fit the situation

Try to select plants that will fit the growing conditions you have or you’ll spend all of your time babying them along. The euphorbias, thyme (Thymus spp.) and alliums (Allium schubertii) above are perfect choices for this raised area because it’s dry there and they don’t require lots of water to keep them growing.

Give plants room to breathe

Want to know how to achieve the lush, yet uncrowded combinations you see here? Start by studying the ultimate sizes of the plants you want. See the hellebore (Helleborus spp.) between the ferns and a red astrantia (Astrantia spp.)? If you crowd them for a full look when you plant, before long you’ll be dividing them. But even though this is an established plant, notice how it still has room to grow? However, don’t be afraid to cut back shrubs you want to keep small, like the purple smokebush in the photo above.

A garden is often a reflection of the owner. And a beautiful, well-designed front garden like this is a sure way to introduce yourself to lots of folks who pass by.

Garden update! Watch our latest Talk & Tour with Susan

In 2025, we had the chance to revisit Susan and tour the same garden — almost 20 years after this first feature in Garden Gate Magazine! She's continued crafting a space that delights all the senses and welcomes every guest. Watch our Talk & Tour video above to see what she has done with the space.

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Designing a drought-tolerant landscape

Starting a garden from scratch is a big challenge. But it was one that garden designer Rebecca Sweet looked forward to when she and her husband, Tom Urban, moved to Granite Bay, California, 7 years ago. The 1-acre property had plenty of room and potential, so she brought a rental truck full of plants from the old garden and started ticking off others that had been on her wish list. Rebecca was excited to experiment with new plants and design combinations in her zone 9 garden to find the ones that are tough, drought-tolerant and resilient. She shares the results with her clients as well as those following her blog, Harmony in the Garden. Watch the Talk & Tour video above to get a personal tour of the property, and read on to learn more about how she went about designing this impressive garden.

Sunny drought-tolerant slope

It can be hard to know where to begin when the whole yard needs work. So Rebecca started with the large berm next to the driveway because it was well defined and the area she sees most often. The 6-foot-tall southwest-facing berm above is one of the hottest spots in the yard —it’s in full sun with lots of reflected heat from the driveway. This region can go without rain for months, and temperatures regularly reach 110 degrees F in summer, so plants growing in this spot have to be tough.

Spring bulbs kick off the growing season, followed by the pink blooms of ‘Long John’ grevillea. The Stoke’s aster (Stokesia laevis) and tall sedum (Hylotelephium hybrid) are in full swing by summer, with ‘Wynyabbie Highlight’ westringia (Westringia hybrid) blooming off and on all year. ‘Meerlo’ lavender (Lavandula allardii) doesn’t flower, but its variegated foliage is a real head-turner and has a strong fragrance.

The sturdy shrubs provide plenty of structure for the design and screen the view from the neighbor's backyard. And now that the plants are established, their extensive root system helps stabilize the slope along with a line of carefully selected stones help prevent erosion. Rebecca found the stones in the yard and likes the colors, shapes and textures they add to the border.

Water wise front yard

The driveway turnaround has become one of Rebecca’s favorite spots to enjoy her morning coffee. It doesn’t rain much in this area during the summer — some years not at all. On the other hand, winter often produces downpours. Rebecca expanded a low spot in the border here to create a rain garden. It catches the water from the driveway so it doesn’t flood the neighbor’s yard or rush into the street.

Design a garden border with multiple seasons of interest

Layers of trees, shrubs and perennials around her morning coffee bench help dampen the sound from the street and provide privacy. It looks especially pretty in fall when the Japanese maples glow with color. Oak trees (Quercus spp.) provide dappled shade, but Rebecca and Tom have lost six of the originals since they moved in due to age, storm and disease. Though she’s always sad to lose a mature tree, there is the consolation of new planting opportunities. Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) are one of Rebecca’s go-to plants for filling empty spots in the garden and grow beautifully in full sun to part shade. If the loss of an oak tree leaves Rebecca with the need for some screening, she chooses evergreen plants, such as knife-leaf acacia (Acacia cultriformis) that has blue-gray foliage and fragrant yellow spring blooms. Horned spurge (Euphorbia ceratocarpa) is another favorite with slender blue-green foliage and long-lasting yellow-green blooms.

Degrees of dryness

The front yard slopes down to the street. A 3-foot-wide strip with a slightly higher water table along the front of the yard allows Rebecca to grow plants that, while drought tolerant, need more moisture to thrive than the ones at the top of the slope, near the house. It’s a great spot to grow the Little Lime panicle hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata), Arkansas amsonia (Amsonia hubrichtii) and New Zealand sedge (Carex tenuiculmis) above. In fall when the hydrangea’s blooms fade to brown, the amsonia has bright yellow foliage.

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Repetition creates unity in the garden

Trying out lots of different plants in a space is fun but can result in a garden that doesn’t look pulled together. Rebecca’s solution is to stick with a color palette of yellow and cream. Threading flowers and foliage with a similar hue through all the borders creates a cohesive look, even if the plants themselves are different. Repeating a favorite plant here and there helps too but isn’t strictly necessary. ‘Meerlo’ lavender’s creamy yellow edge in the photo above echoes the bright yellow of the Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa), ‘Peaches and Cream’ grevillea and quirky drumstick flower (Craspedia globosa) throughout the garden.

Rebecca's favorite yellow plants

Here are some of Rebecca’s go-to plants with yellow flowers and foliage and what she likes about each.

• Blanket flower (Gaillardia x grandiflora)
  Perennial; yellow and red daisy-shaped blooms in summer; 1 to 3 ft. tall, 1 to 2 ft. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 3 to 10. “Its long-lasting blooms attract every butterfly in town.”

• Drumstick flower (Craspedia globosa)
  Perennial; yellow globe-shaped blooms summer to frost; 24 to 30 in. tall, 12 to 24 in. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 7 to 10. “Ball-shaped blooms appear to float above lower-growing plants.”

• Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticosa)
  Perennial; bright yellow blooms at each leaf joint in late spring to summer; 2 to 6 ft. tall, 2 to 5 ft. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 7 to 10. “Whorls of yellow flowers provide a unique flower shape, and the felty foliage is soft to the touch.”

• ‘Peaches and Cream’ grevillea (Grevillea hybrid)
  Shrub; spidery pale yellow to peachy pink blooms all year; 6 to 8 ft. tall, 8 to 12 ft. wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 9 to 11. “This variety blooms off and on through the year and is a hummingbird favorite.”

• ‘Wynyabbie Highlight’ westringia (Westringia hybrid)
  Shrub; small lavender blooms all year, variegated green and cream foliage; 3 to 4 ft. tall and wide; cold hardy in USDA zones 9 to 10. “The variegated green and cream evergreen foliage complements neighboring canary-yellow flowers.”

Backyard makeover

The backyard sits just off the driveway and several steps down. Thousands of cobblestone pavers, which Rebecca calls “ankle twisters” surrounded the pool when the couple moved in, and she determined that they needed to go. But because of all the steps, they couldn’t just pull a truck up and start tossing them in. Rebecca and Tom hauled them all out by hand, filling 5-gallon buckets and dragging them up to the drive. Sometimes they got up early to get a couple of hours of work done before heading to their day jobs. It took them several months to finish the project. Tom estimates they moved 5 to 6 tons of cobblestones, offering them free to anyone who was interested. They replaced the cobblestone pavers with mortared stone and steps that are smooth and easy to walk on.

Designing with boulders in the garden

Several unique boulders — some are up to 5 feet tall — stand in and around the patio. The challenge has been to find ways to soften the look of these behemoths and bring them into scale with the surrounding patio. Rebecca tried lots of plants around different stones but is happy with the results of this grouping above. The maple’s burgundy foliage turns a wonderful shade of orange in fall and as it grows, it will screen the view of the pool’s pump house behind. Even now the tree helps make these 4-foot-tall stones seem slightly less massive. Midsized Lime Tight mat rush (Lomandra confertifolia) and ‘Silver Mound’ artemisia (Artemisia schmidtiana) stair step down to the patio for a more graceful connection to the landscape.

Super succulents

A craggy old oak tree near the house creates a wonderful view from the kitchen window. But it was surrounded by lawn, and the irrigation that keeps turf happy often kills oak trees. So Rebecca replaced the turf with dry-loving succulents. And with all the stone in the backyard, there’s not a lot of room for borders, but there’s plenty of space for containers. Larger pots filled with drought-tolerant bulbs, perennials and small shrubs are hooked up to a drip irrigation system. Rebecca keeps smaller pots filled with succulents and cacti near the house so they’re easy to water by hand. Even these tough customers need afternoon shade to avoid burned foliage. Find more of Rebecca’s growing secrets below. She’s learned by trial and error which ones work best — just like the rest of her garden. 

5 Tips for growing succulents successfully

Succulents and cacti are easy-care container plants, especially when it’s hot and dry. Here’s what Rebecca does to keep hers looking great:

• Water Wisely Don’t water too much or they’ll rot. Aim for every 10 days or so, even during the height of summer.
• Feed Occasionally Feed every 6 weeks with an all-purpose water-soluble plant food at half strength.
• Get Soil Savvy Use a fast-draining potting mix labeled “cactus” to prevent root rot, and repot every few years to freshen up the mix.
• Pinch Stems If succulents get leggy, pinch them back by ¼ to ⅔, depending on the plant. You can let the cut portion harden off for a few days and plant that too.
• Carefully Clean To keep cacti tidy, use long tweezers to pluck out leaves or debris. Avoid prickles by wearing thick leather gloves and wrapping a narrow piece of cardboard around the plant for repotting.

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