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Shrub for Fall Color – Highbush Blueberry (American Blueberry)

Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum)

Highbush Blueberry provides delicious fruit in the summer and gorgeous color in the fall. They don’t need much space and can easily be tucked into a small garden.

Highbush Blueberry turns deep red in the fall. The color adds pretty contrast to any space. But that’s not all! These shrubs produce big, juice blueberries mid to late summer! This is the most popular part of the garden among the kids. Especially since the blueberry shrubs are underplanted with strawberries.

Pants two shrubs of different variety for best fruit crop

Highbush Blueberry gets 3-4ft tall and wide (90-120cm). They need full to part sun and acidic soil. To get the most berries make sure to give them plenty of fertiliser.

Although blueberries are self-fertile, cross-pollination produces the best fruit crop (larger berries and larger yields). It’s therefor recommended to plant at least two shrubs of different varieties.

Limelight Hydrangea After Frost

The garden is slowly taking on more and more fall colors. The first frost made the blooms of the The Limelight Hydrangea turn from pink to brownish. I think that they’re absolutely beautiful. They will keep this shape and color though the winter.

If you’re going to get one shrub for your garden make it a Limelight Hydrangea!

Limelight Hydrangea peaks up from behind the pergola
Fall colors in the garden

Giant Bird Feeder

Giant Bird Feeder from Wildlife Garden

I love wildlife in the garden! We get quite a lot of birds, butterflies, bees and occasionally a mouse and a toad. Since the garden is small and can’t fit that many things at once I usually swap the bee boxes for bird feeder in the fall.

  • Bee boxes in the summer…
  • … and a bird feeder in fall and winter

This year I’ve got this giant bird feeder from Wildlife garden. I hope to pack it full so it will last more than a few days before I need to go out and refill it.

Giant Bird Feeder from Wildlife Garden
Giant bird feeder
Giant Bird Feeder from Wildlife Garden
View from the pergola. The bars are there to keep our bunnies out of my plants =)
Giant Bird Feeder from Wildlife Garden

First frost of the year

We had our first frost of the year. Night temperature went down to 25 °F (-4°C).

The garden looked different this morning. The feeling of greenery and lushness has begun to disappear. While most of the perennials are still hanging in there, they have changed shape and color during just one night.

The ferns have begun to turn color
Mums can take some frost
Heuchera ’Obsidian’ will keep most of its foliage throughout the winter
Frozen bird bath
The Hostas have begun to look tired. They will soon disappear altogether. Hakonechloa to the right and Heaucheras in the front will keep their shape during winter.

I’m happy to have a lot of winter interest in the garden. Heucheras, Hallabores, Yews, Boxwoods – all of them keep their shape and most of their color all year round.

The hostas though will disappear altogether. They will leave empty whole in the flower bed. I haven’t figured out what to put there. Any ideas?

Smooth Serviceberry ”Snowflakes’ – a tree for a small garden

Amelanchier Laevis ’Snowflakes’

The serviceberry glows in the morning sun. It has just begun to turn color and the orange and red leaves are looking beautiful.

We planted this tree in early spring. It’s still quite small but has already given us a taste what it will bring in terms of year-round interest: pretty white blooms in spring, red berries in the summer and gorgeous colors in the fall.

It’s a perfect tree for a small garden since it only gets 13-15 feet tall and wide.

It can grow in sun to part shade. I did read that it needs full sun to get the prettiest fall colors. However, mine get only 6h sun a day and it doing just fine.

Baneberry ’Pink Spike’ brings contrast and drama to a shady area

Actaea simplex ’Pink Spike’ (Baneberry) has grown quite a bit in just a few months. In a uear or two it will get 3-5 feet tall (90-150 cm) and 1-2 feet wide (30-60 cm). The size and the dark foliage bring drama and contrast to the garden.

Most Baneberrys prefer part sun. However, the ’Pink Spike’ variety can grow and bloom in full shade. The delicate pink blooms glow in a shade garden.

Oh, and the blooms smell like strawberries!

Hakonechloa Macra – Japanese Forest Grass

Hakonechloa, Heuchera ’Sweet tea’ in the front and Heuchera ’Obsidian’ in the back. Iris and Hostas peaking up form the right.

It’s hard to describe how beautiful the Japanese forrest grass is with just a photo. The picture is still while the beauty of this grass lies in its movement. When the wind blows it looks almost like these settle green waves flowing around in the garden.

Hakonechloa, Heuchera ’Sweet tea’

I’ve planted it together with Heucheras for contrast. The combination makes both the plants stand out.

Hakonechloa gets 12-18 in. (30-45cm) tall and 18-24 in. (45-60cm) wide. It prefers part shade, although in my garden it gets only 3-4 h of sun. It’s a slow starter and grows very slowly for the first two years. Year three it takes off and proves it was well worth the wait!

Hakonechloa, Heuchera ’Sweat Tea’, Sweet Woodruff and Clethra alnifolia ‘Hummingbird’ (Summersweet) in the background

My plants are three years old so they have just begun to do their thing.

Make a Small Garden Look Bigger – Incorporate the Surroundings

At the end of my garden is a green boxwood hedge. The green color of the hedge is similar to the color of the large trees in the background. They blend together so well that if you look quickly, it almost looks like they are the same. The hedge adds an impression that these huge trees are part of the garden – making the garden appear much bigger.

Take advantage of you surroundings and incorporate the colors, structures and plants into you garden, especially to the borders.

Behind the boxwood hedge is a small road that the hedge hides so neatly. All you see from the garden are the gorgeous trees.

Simple Water Feature for the Garden

It really doesn’t have to be more complicated than this. A simple shallow container is everything you need to bring a touch of water to the garden.

Make sure that the inside of the container is dark. Darker colors bring forth the reflection in the water.

Planting Helleborus Orientalis Viv. Victoria

Helleborus Orientalis ’Viv. Victoria’, Heucherella ’Sweet tea’, Japanese Maple ’Orange Dream,’ Boxwood

I’ve been looking for a plant to match my newly planted Heucherellas. To get some inspiration I made a visit to the garden. I didn’t have to look long before I found the Helleborus Orientalis ’Viv. Victoria’. What a beautiful perennial! It matched the Heucherella perfectly with the purple and orange/yellow colors.

The Helleborus and the Heucherella are both evergreen. They will keep their foliage all year-round. They will bring winter interest to the garden when all other plants are sleeping.

Helleborus Orientalis ’Viv. Victoria’

Helleborus Orientalis ’Viv. Victoria’ is a perennial. It grows 10-15 inches (25-40 cm) tall and preferens half shade.

The amazing thing with Hellaborus is that they bloom in the winter for 3-4 months!

This variety will bloom sometime between September and April. It will keep blooming for 3-4 months!

The purple flowers look pretty next to the deep purple Heuchera ’Obsidian’ as well