Annual additions to the garden
Since I’m not a millionaire and cannot afford to create the garden of my dreams in one fell swoop, I have to abide by the “a little at a time” rule. Every year I add just one (or three) more thing(s) to my garden. Some years, it’s fresh mulch or a slightly expanded flower bed. Other years, I’ve added a flowering bush or a fruit tree.
The newest additions last spring were two wildflower beds filled with a beautiful mix of cosmos and zinnias, marking my first time growing either flower. But my family surprised me with another wonderful garden surprise for Mother’s Day, a lovely cedar arbor to grace the entrance of my garden. She sits between our perfectly imperfect, chipped white picket fence — which keeps the rhubarb and hibiscus from infringing too far into the yard — and the new stone patio and fire pit area we put in last fall.
An arbor has been on my wish list for a while now, but I was slightly particular about it. It needed to be wood, preferably, and not too ornate. The simpler, the better, but it had to be sturdy enough to last. I wanted it to have a similar vibe to the raised garden beds, but not so matchy-matchy that I would be tired of it in a year. Sounds simple . . . right? No. My honey had his work cut out for him to find the exact right arbor, but he found the ideal one!
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Designing around my new arbor
Just before my third kid graduated from high school, we installed it. That naturally led to staining the cedar on the garden beds to match the arbor and beautifying with fresh mulch. Now it just needed a gorgeous something climbing up and over it. I may or may not have an obsession with recreating an English garden in my backyard, so I did some research on what I could theoretically adorn my new arbor with in my growing zone. Wisteria? Clematis? What I settled on was a hardy climbing rose that I shouldn’t have to winterize here in Iowa. It was the perfect growing season for this rose, and within three months, it had already tripled in size and climbed three-quarters of the way up the arbor.
July in the garden was simply stunning this year. The veggies and herbs were plentiful, and the wildflowers at the back of the garden took center stage while we waited for the first dahlias to bloom. The climbing rose produced tiny fuchsia buds the size of raspberries that matched the color of the hibiscus on the opposite side of the arbor. Coneflower, salvia and lemon balm filled the garden with color, delicious smells and pollinators galore.
Next year’s new addition is a buttery yellow hibiscus, already planted, so it can get an early start in spring!
Jamie’s love for English gardens is so strong that she even wrote it into her book, Weight of Water, released in 2024. If she ever manages to add a greenhouse to her existing garden space, she may never come back indoors again.
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