Title
Big Idea:
Serenity Garden has been designed as a garden for reflection and tranquility.
Within this small corner of the Idea Garden an oasis of serenity has been created. It is a garden where one can take pause and find a state of calm and peace while sitting on the bench of the Meditation Station. A maroon Japanese maple tree behind the bench provides shade. Gazing outward from the bench a Rock River has been created. A mass of ‘Blue My Mind’ morning glories with true blue blossoms create the sense of a flowing river current. A riverbank is formed by a curved line of ‘Purple Petticoat’ Heuchera.
Beyond the river, one can see the raised limestone flower bed with tall lavender ‘Denim Lace’ Salvia. A variety of catmint named ‘Cat’s Pajamas’, with fragrant indigo blue flowers lines the edge of the bed. Both of these perennial plants are bee and hummingbird magnets. Inter-spaced with the catmint are white SunPatiens, a popular sun-loving annual. Two gray obelisks flank each side of the limestone bed where your eyesight will follow the curling upward vines of the pink Mandevilla blossoms that reach out towards the peak of the nearby Gazebo where a hawk will occasionally perch.
Refreshing cool colors; white, blues, lavender, and pastels predominate in the theme of the Serenity Garden. Subdued colored annuals are inter-spaced in the garden beds along side the perennials and shrubs to extend color continuously from spring to fall. The west side of the garden along the fence is designated as a white floral bed with cool-colored lilies, upright Shasta daisies and ‘Immortality’, a re- blooming white iris. There is also is a white panicle hydrangea named ‘Firelight Tidbit.’ As its name implies, it is a hydrangea specifically bred for smaller garden spaces. An unusual honeysuckle named Kintzley’s Ghost clings to the fence.
Plants of Interest:
First to bloom in the spring is the Meyer lilac by the west entrance, which has fragrant lavender flowers on stems with ruffled leaves.
Along the west fence is the Sawara False Cypress tree, native to Japan. Its yellow-green threadlike foliage retains color throughout the four seasons. Normally, this variety of cypress is cultivated to stay 20-30 feet tall. In the Serenity Garden, it receives an annual “mop haircut” every spring to keep its conical shape.
In the White Floral Bed are Asiatic lilies: ‘Purple Dream” for mid June blooms of purplish-pink petals and Sweet Sugar with lavender pink flowers. Unfortunately, rabbits find the early spring lily tips a snack, often reducing the lily display. Faring better are the fragrant Orienpet lilies, a hybrid cross between Oriental lilies and Trumpet lilies. They do not bloom until mid-July to early August. Perhaps by the time they emerge from the ground, the rabbits have moved on to other delicacies in the garden. The Scheherazade lily with crimson blossoms 8-10” wide and up to 7 feet in height. The Silk Road lily with white flowers with crimson pink throats, also reaches an impressive height. These lilies are appropriately nicknamed “Lily Trees.”
Behind the meditation bench is the Rose Campion with fuzzy silver foliage and masses of small deep rose blooms. It is a biennial that readily self seeds. It is prolific once established and sometimes invasive in the garden. Serenity gardeners do enjoy the addition of the splash of rose color in the garden and the plants have behaved, staying in place behind the bench. In the center bed is a hibiscus, ‘Perfect Storm,’ whose large white blooms with a red eye attract hummingbirds and bees until frost. This hibiscus has been bred for smaller gardens or even a large pot. The Serenity gardeners always look forward to this reliable late emerging perennial that does not disappoint.
The newest addition to the center garden is an Itoh Peony with sturdy heavy stems and large yellow blooms in early May. This peony is a cross between the familiar herbaceous peony and a tree peony. It is claimed that the Itoh Peony can live 50 to 100 years. Revisit Serenity Garden at your leisure. Sit on the cushioned bench and listen to the buzzing bees and feel the presence of hummingbirds that may dart close by you. Serenity is a resting place; a place to slow time and refresh one’s spirit. The brilliant dwarf Pugster Blue butterfly bush sits near the “bank” of the rock river.