First Snowdrop Sighting!

Galanthus elwesii

One of the most exciting January moments is finding that first snowdrop, usually in the Birch Walk.

Stay warm friends! 

-Julie

Welcome 2017

Sunset on New Year's Day in the Woodland... light until 5:30pm!

Goodbye 2016!

Some of my favorite shots from this year, clockwise from top left: Clematis 'Etoile Violette' on the lamp post, The Knot Garden, Agastache near the blue garden door, The Postman's gate into the Birch Walk, Centurea, The Rose garden at sunset, Hardy Gladiolus byzantine, Birch Walk with flowering mustard in late spring. Center: David Austin Rose.

Thank you, friends, for joining me in my garden this year! 

Happy New Year to you! 

~Julie 

Merry Christmas!

The Garden door dressed for Christmas

 "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, 

and the government will be on his shoulders. 

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, 

Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

Winter solstice

Christmas Rose, Helleborus niger, lifting to the light.

There is still hope growing, even on this day, the shortest day of the year...

December 2016 ~ GBBD at Havenwood

English holly for a proper English garden, even in PA ;)

Welcome to December in my Pennsylvania garden! 

The snow has fallen on Havenwood and all that was brown is now fresh & clean again in time for Christmas. We are celebrating our third anniversary of being in our beloved garden, with most of it being just 1-2 years old. I love the kind of garden that most Americans would consider an English-look, though in reality it is really a combination of the formal hedges from the Italians, French styling in materials and colors, and an English-style planting.

Enjoy your look around! 

Foggy November morning...

Happy Thanksgiving friends!

Autumn views around Havenwood

Last photo of the dahlias and cannas unmarred before frost.

Hello friends! There is so much busy living and gardening going on around our little world right now. Here is a glimpse...

The Hot Border

Coreopsis is a great choice for a perennial that pumps out the color for a long period in the summer and fall.

Things were warming up this week in the Hot border!

August Gardening ~ Garden Blogger's Bloom Day August 2016

The Hot Border in August

    Hello all! August this year has brought some much needed rain, which has largely improved the garden.  Yes, there is more blight on the tomatoes. But everything else is really greened up and looking less tired than it did in July. The big pruning/dead leafing in July has done its job to create a nicer garden picture that will carry us through the autumn.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day ~ July 2016

Lily 'Honeymoon' shining under blue skies with the blue larkspar

Welcome to Havenwood! Our one-acre garden in Pennsylvania zone 5 is bursting with all the high summer favorites for July. It has been a beautiful summer around here! It has been unusually dry, but it is hard to complain as the temperatures in the 80s everyday make it perfect for pool going with the kids. :) I need to get out and do a bit more watering, but this is surely one of the most pleasant jobs in the garden.

Pretty Peonies

Peony 'Coral Charm' in the Knot Garden at Havenwood.

Havenwood Comes Alive in May

European Hornbeam, Carpinus betulus fastigiata, leafing out in the Rose Garden.

May is here! I think it is my favorite month, because it is in May that spring truly arrives in my zone 5 garden. We have had many beautiful days of sun, many quiet days of rain, and the last of the frosty mornings. Blooms are popping out daily and are deeply appreciated after our long winter. 

Forget-me-nots in the Rose Garden

Astrantia major rising above the blue sea of Myosotis this week in the Rose garden.

See all that is blooming away in my garden these days on Instagram!
Happy May to you!
~Julie

Spring Flowers for April ~ GBBD April 2016

Welcome to Havenwood!

It has been such a roller coaster spring, as I am sure you know or have heard from many other eastern US gardeners. We had more buds in January than ever before, as our true cold did not arrive until February. Then a especially mild March, with more snow and cold in the first two weeks of April. And now it is 70 degrees again today.  This is not totally abnormal for our zone 5 garden, but the high temps have been much higher than usual. This has brought the garden further along than it normally is at this time of year.

Many flowers that were doing so well, so soon... too soon... did meet a cruel end with the frost.

The star magnolia blooms were blackened after one day of blooming all around our town. The taller daffodils did not stand up as well to the snow that covered them soon after they were full out, but the shorter ones have stood the test. The pretty star of Bethlehem, that I recently posted, were soon snuffed out with cold. But still, the garden and the gardener marches on...

There are still a few pretties to see today for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day in our western PA garden.

New Snowdrops

 Galanthus 'S. Arnott'

Crocus tommasinianus for Early Spring

The bees are out drinking it up in the spring sunshine.

This is undoubtedly my favorite early spring crocus, as every year it spreads its cheery purple all around both of my gardens, here at Havenwood and Gilmore as well. I cannot get enough color at this time of year. Inevitably, I think, "Why did I not plant a few hundred more?"

January 2016 - Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Creamy Lenten rose, Helleborus orientalis, already beginning to bloom on the warmer days this month.

Welcome to Havenwood! We have been having an extremely mild winter so far, and so we have more blooms this January than any other. Enjoy your walk around!

Rose 'Scepter d' Isle'

Rose 'Scepter d' Isle' with the amazing feather reed grass, Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster', in front of our dark arbor vitae and Pieris japonica.

Autumn Scenes at Havenwood

Dew drops on the last of the blue annual love-in-mist, Nigella 'Moody Blues' in the Rose Garden.