garden ideas, plants and projects

Many species (different types of plants) find a happy home on this sunny back yard berm. A good rule to follow is to plant tall things in the back and short things in the front.

Pagoda Dogwood, Cornus alternipolia (upper left corner), has a handsome horizontal habit. It has beautiful large white flowers that bloom in the spring.

A nice garden like this draws you out to the back yard where you can sit on the patio and enjoy the view.

Beautiful Fall colors and textures in this Downers Grove backyard in mid-October 2010. Not much is flowering but that does not matter.

This garden is a mix of natives and ornamentals. They go together nicely as you can see.

It isn't fair to healthy, pretty plants to pop them if they get along with the natives.

This rain garden is in "going to sleep" mode. The grasses will keep their form and color throughout most of the Winter. The red-orange leaves of the American Cranberrybush, Viburnum trilobum, are a pleasant treat for the eyes.

This nice scene is created mainly by non-native ornamentals except for the New England Aster, Aster novae-angliae. Isn't the red Fall color of the sedium pretty?

A Low-gro Fragnant Sumac lies under the Pagoda Dogwood, Cornus alternifolia, which usually has a distinctive horizontal branching habit.