Deborah’s Garden Through the Years

Hi GPODers!

The weather outside is starting to get frightful, but the garden photos we’re receiving continue to be so delightful! Today we have another new garden to explore, and we get to experience a range of peak-season highlights. These photos are from Deborah Beacham, and showcase a range of blooms and gorgeous plant combinations throughout the years in various parts of her gardens.

In spring, Deborah’s garden comes alive with a flush of fabulous foliage that glows and shines on a sunny day, and a bright pink rhododendron kicks off the color show on a vibrant note.

Alongside the rhododendron some lovely foxglove (Digitalis purpurea, Zone 4–8) adds a pinch of purple.

As the weather heats up the displays also get hotter. This border of bright yellow blooms sizzles with lots of black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta, Zone 3–7), and some orange is added to the mix with the ‘Autumn Colors’ cultivar (R. hirta ‘Autumn Colors’, Zone 3–7) seen in the foreground.

When it comes to classic color combinations, why fix what isn’t broken? Pinks and reds always play nice with blue, and this combination of scarlet bee balms (Monarda didyma, Zone 4–9) and a light blue bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla, Zone 6–9) is a superb example.

Color might be the first thing that catches your eye in Deborah’s garden, but she also plays with interesting texture and form combinations. Spires of obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana, Zone 3–9) are a perfect contrast to the dark purple clusters of hydrangea blooms, and a variegated kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa, Zone 6–9) adds even more texture interest in the background.

Deborah’s plant combinations are marvelous, but even the most enticing designs are made a little more fun with the addition of garden art. This playful pooch appears to be enjoying the scent of these light pink roses.

With that being said, Deborah’s plantings are full of personality. Some gardeners opt to limit their plant or color palette, but Deborah put no limit on the interest and excitement in this bed. Allium, agastache, echinacea, geranium, and a splash of orange butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa, Zone 3–9) are just some of the plants coming together for this wonderful display.

The diversity that Deborah has cultivated over the years is astounding, and this is reflected in the many exciting combos she has shared. Blue and yellow is one of my favorite color pairings, so I find this achillea with cornflower (Centaurea cyanus, annual) particularly dazzling.

For even more color and whimsy, Deborah turns to containers. A white garden cart becomes the perfect vessel for a mini fairy garden, planted with a marvelous mix of verbena and calibrachoa.

When a garden is filled with an amazing array of blooms such as we’ve seen here, the pollinators are sure to follow. This monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) gave Deborah its stamp of approval when it paid a visit to this peachy-pink zinnia.

Thank you so much for sharing these gorgeous photos with us, Deborah! You have an impeccable eye for color, and the combinations you’ve created in your garden are enchanting.

It’s gearing up to be a long, cold winter here in North America and we’re going to need a lot more colorful garden photos to get us through. Next time you’re scrolling through your archive of garden photos from past growing seasons, consider sharing some of your favorites with Garden Photo of the Day! Follow the directions below to submit photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.

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To submit, send 5–10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.

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