Home's

Many, many years ago at a property that I no longer own, a neighboring farmer teased me when I was painting my old, weathered barn. He said "A little bit of powder, a little bit of paint will make it look like what it ain't."

It was true that the old barn had warped boards and a rusty metal roof. It needed more help than a coat of paint. Fortunately, my metal garden benches were showing only a bit of rust and faded color—easily remedied by a good scrubbing and a coat of fresh paint. After seven years in the garden, I was ready to use some color.

I bought the spray paint, Valspar® Satin Leafy Rise, as my color of choice. It's a pale green that looks so much cooler than the dark bronze of the cottage garden bench or the black of the gravel garden bench. I also painted a rusty metal plant stand and a pot.

I'll have a solid color deck stain mixed to match the benches to use on our two wooden bridges. One wooden bridge is in the cottage garden over the flowing stream and the other is over the dry stream in the gravel garden.

For the last few days and the last cool temperatures of June, we've enjoyed sitting on both benches. With temperatures soaring to above 105°F today and tomorrow, we won't be sitting outside on the benches again soon!

Cottage garden bench was painted from bronze to green. The willow tree has matured over seven years. I removed a jasmine from the stone fence column as well as two large shrubs on either side of the bench. I've been replanting the areas with perennials and will finish the make-over in the fall.

The gravel garden bench was black (and rusty) before being painted. I'm still using containers that I had on hand, but continue to look for upgrades that I like (or paint all containers to match). The lavender plants in the urns have just been trimmed and a few annuals were added around the juniper.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

The last rays of the sun shine on the willow at the end of lower path. There is order to the path edging plants, but there are"wild" flower pairings mixed in the rest of the deer resistant meadow garden.

1. Around 8:00 pm on a June evening in the deer resistant meadow garden.

When the summer sun heats up and the temperatures rise, the best time to walk through the garden is late evening.  The light is soft and the true colors are easier to capture with the camera.

1. The purple spikes of meadow blazing star (liatris ligulistylis) are backlit by gold/yellow black-eyed susans (rudbeckia hirta). White shasta daisies (leucanthemum x superbum 'Alaska') truly shine in the low light of the fading sun. Wisps of feather grass (stipa) provide a backdrop for the tufted blooms of deep raspberry bee balm (monarda 'Raspberry Wine').

2. Different views provide different combinations in the mix of meadow flowers in the deer resistant gadren. Shasta daisies and susans sandwich the bee balm. Susans are sometimes nibbled by the deer when food is scarce or a mother doe stays close to her fawns and forages in the garden instead of the wild fields and woodlands. The rudbeckia hirta grow so fast that the rabbit damage is minimal compared to what they do to the rudbeckia fulgida!

3. Grey-headed coneflower's (ratibida pinnata) delicate drooping rays begin on stems so thin and straight. This native flower grows quite tall and I place hoops in the spring and allow the plant to grow up through the support to prevent leaning. The deer will unfortunately munch this plant, so I try to "bury" it among plants that they don't like.

2. Daisies, bee balm and susans.

3. The forming blooms of grey-headed coneflower (ratibida pinnata).

4. Coneflowers (echinacea) are allowed to self-sow in my garden. Since all are grown from seeds, the cross-pollination makes it difficult for me to provide the names of each bloom. I started with 'Ruby Star', 'Prairie Splendor' and 'Pow Wow Wild Berry' as well as the native echinacea pallida. While the deer have been relatively kind about not eating the coneflower, the rabbits will go after the plants when young and within reach. Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) is just beginning to bloom and is reliably deer and rabbit resistant.

5. Hummingbird mint (agastache 'Salmon & Pink') is just beginning to bloom while the raspberry blooms of yarrow (achillea 'Pomegranate') fades. These two are reliably deer and rabbit resistant, but many agastache cultivars can be short-lived. This particular variety is the oldest and hardiest in my garden, having been divided and transplanted so that I have several clumps in the meadow garden.

6. Another native, Mexican hat (ratibida columinfera) continues to thrill me with the unusual blooms. The deer still haven't bothered this favorite, so I'm encouraged. The blooms form so slowly, but they are fascinating all the while.

With the unseasonably cool and rainy June, the meadow garden has peaked weeks earlier than usual. Everything is blooming at once, but how long will it last? A mass planting in bloom...could it be a mess of plantings later?

4. Coneflowers in bright pink with grey foliage and light purple spires of Russian sage.

5. Agastache, fading yarrow blooms and bright coneflowers.

6. Mexican hat (ratibida columinfera) works well with susans.

The top of the deer resistant meadow garden...a mass planting or a mess?

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Left of house is west and driveway with entry gravel garden.  Right is east with the red/white and orange/yellow flowers. Front is south-facing with 2 acres of open meadow grass. There is no garden in the back (north) as our woods (2.5 acres) come up to the back deck.

Paved driveway (west) ends in the gravel entry garden.

The gravel entry garden is the first thing a visitor sees when arriving. There is sufficient space for a car to park in front of the bench. In a few years, the dwarf Burford 'nana' hollies will create a hedge to separate the gravel garden from our concrete parking area for our garage. A large oakleaf holly and a crepe myrtle flank the bench area. A row of rosemary lines the opposite side of the gravel parking space. 

The gravel entry garden along the front of the garage wall.

From the gravel parking area, a hedge of hollies line the garage wall. The arched bridge crosses the dry stream to the meadow grass. A crepe myrtle on the lower right is underplanted with dusty miller and sedum. A ground-level birdbath is not shown from this window shot. Crepe myrtle, nepeta, buddleia, monarda, amsonia and salvia greggii are planted in the gravel garden.

The flagstone path splits. One goes into the cottage garden and to the front porch. The other goes to the right along the front deer resistant meadow garden.

Perennial scutellaria suffrutescens 'Texas Rose' and thyme are planted as ground cover at the base of the right stone column at the garden gate. Just inside the gate, along the fence, I'm redoing this narrow strip. My project is on hold due to ground bee nests! I pulled out nigella and was fortunate not to be stung. On the outside front of the fence, three more crepe myrtles and carissa hollies are growing in the gravel and that is why the flagstone is pushed to the right in the deer resistant garden. We are leaving space for the trees and shrubs to mature.

Larger round decorative rock is used on the horseshoe-shaped cottage garden path (only half visible here).

In the cottage garden, the flagstone goes to the porch while rounded, small rock is used on the loop around the front and back of the running stream. 


I recently planted a new narrow strip (right of bench) of phlox 'David', asclepias incarnata 'Ice Ballet', hydrangea 'Little Lime', geranium 'Rosanne', sweet alyssum, hardy ageratum and annual polka-dot plant. I removed two shrub roses that were no longer receiving sufficient sun as the trees are maturing. 


I also removed a jasmine from the stone column behind the bench. It had begun to be nearly uncontrollable as the willow limbs provided a place to climb. I have plans to extend the narrow strip around the corner behind the bench to fill space where the jasmine was removed.


A few days ago, I spray painted the rusting bronze metal bench and a small iron table to a light green. There are false agave in the matching concrete urns (stained light green). I'd like to stain the bridge, but I'm having trouble finding a deck stain in light green and hesitate to use paint since we walk on this bridge so many times each day.

I'm redoing the corner, having painted the bench and changed out the plantings on either side while removing a jasmine from behind the bench.

Cross the cottage garden bridge and open the gable gate to the secret patio waterfall garden. A bistro table and chairs aren't showing up in the photos, but this is the perfect spot for morning coffee or evening wine.

The waterfall patio garden is now totally secluded since we built it in 2005. With all of my sunny gardens of blooms, the focus of this garden is foliage. There are three containers of heuchera, heucherella and tiarella and a planter of trailing tiarella and a pulmonaria. A hanging basket includes another heuchera and purple heart. Gold creeping jenny softens the rocks along the stream bank. 


Variegated carex are still going on one side of the waterfall, while those planted on the other side are getting shaded out. This will require a re-do in the future. Calla lilies grow in the waterfall. The large green trees are cryptomeria and there are gold mops on the right side across the stream.

Not possible to photo from above is yet another patio, sunken lower to the left that has a large teak dining table. Just as well not to photo as we're redoing the gardens there as the curly willow and sweet bay magnolia are now mature. In other words, I'm not showing you the weeds! With a theme of fragrance from white blooms—other plants surrounding that patio include butterfly ginger, jasmine, gardenia and osmanthus fragrans.

The east deer resistant garden (couldn't be photographed from house) has been undergoing renovation this year with wider paths and a gravel section. Sun-loving plants have been moved from beneath the willow to open areas. There are two color scheme gardens here—a red/white garden and a yellow/orange garden. There is much yet to do beneath the willow and back to the dining patio. Those projects will be tackled in the fall or in spring 2013.

East side deer resistant garden of red/white and yellow/orange...and a lot of green.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Iris ensata. June 2012

Although I always dread the fall chore of digging up big clumps of Japanese iris every three years, I must admit that doing so opens the opportunity to try different vignettes.

The purple Japanese iris (tag long gone and so it is unknown) is a great bloomer. With my last division of this iris, I planted it graduated—or staggered—up a slope rather than on the same level.  My logic was that each clump grows quickly and by planting each divided piece up the slope instead of grouped on the same level, I could hopefully extend the number of years before needing to divide again.

Was the resulting design a "staggering" achievement or defeat?

Overhead view of the "staggered" planting.

Path view of the staggered planting on the slope. Combination includes: Foreground: spirea, Japanese blood grass, hardy ageratum. Middle: echinacea foliage, shasta blooms. Beside irises: monarda foliage, nigella seed pods, white iris blooms.

The staggered planting adds to the layers of foliage, flowers and even seed pods as the garden fluxes with different bloom times of the surrounding plants. In such a large garden, I have to rely upon foliage that looks good throughout the growing season.

I'm particularly fond of the deep purple striped seed pods of nigella damascena 'Miss Jekyll Blue' (love-in-a-mist) and lacy foliage with the purple iris blooms.

The monarda and echinacea foliage provide wider leaves, while the Japanese blood grass foliage is pointed and echoes the deeper red from the spirea. The frilly foliage of spirea and ageratum keeps the mass of from looking the same with the gold and bright green colors.

This is a large section of garden, so there are many more perennial players to the sides as well as up and down the slope. The month of June, everything changes so quickly. The blooms of Japanese iris last only a short time, but the long, pointed foliage can be easily blended into the garden.

If you want to grow iris ensata (Japanese iris), the perennials are suitable for zones 4-9 in mostly full sun with moist, acidic soil. Deer will occasionally pick the blooms, but not bother with the foliage. The rabbit will sometimes eat the points of the foliage when it first emerges in spring. Neither has damaged the plants enough to discourage me from using the irises in the deer resistant meadow garden or the gravel garden.

Stepping back from the nearest-companions from the left view. Evening light casts a blue tone.

Looking at the iris another way (right side), the wide green foliage of persicaria amplexicaulis 'Firetail' and deep purple eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate'. Narrow green foliage of asclepias incarnata is front left.

After the iris blooms are gone (right-side view), the foliage blends into the deer resistant meadow garden. Full sun casts amber light.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

OVERVIEW: Red and white garden, straight ahead, left. Orange and yellow garden on the near left by a new path cut-through. Green shrubbery (osmanthus fragrans and hollies) on the right.  June 2012

The "red" in my "red and white garden" is delivered through monarda 'Jacob Cline' along with a mass planting of bright red salvia greggii, crocosmia 'Lucifer'. The red salvia blooms first, followed by the monarda, then the crocosmia.

The white daisies are planted uphill and for now, provide most of the "white" in this garden. Note: A yellow-blooming St. John's Wort shrub (left of the bench) provides the axis between the "red and white garden" and the "orange and yellow garden." The yellow centers of the daisies tie in with the yellow blooms of the shrub.

Up the hill: White shasta daisies sown from seeds provide contrast to the red monarda 'Jacob Cline'. June 2012

View from lower path: The blade foliage of crocosmia 'Lucifer' is surrounded by monarda 'Jacob Cline. June 2012

Monarda is a favorite hummingbird feeder! June 2012.

Salvia greggii 'Navajo Bright Red' in lower left corner bloomed again on June 11. Post updated to add photo.

Not yet in bloom is a recently-planted persicaria polymorpha that will provide white blooms in future years. I'm very excited about the giant fleeceflower and hope the white blooms will be in synch with the monarda. I've coveted this plant, having seen it used in several vignettes on Nan Ondra's Hayefield blog. I tried this perennial in 2010, but it couldn't get established in our drought with 90 days over 90 degrees. This year, we've had plenty of rain and cool temperatures and the fleeceflower has quadrupled in size since being planted in early May.


A eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate' and asclepias incarnata 'Ice Ballet' are also in the mix for foliage and additional white blooms. The 'Chocolate' should mature between four and five feet in a few years, making more of an impact with the red monarda.

Gaillardia, nigella and perennial hardy ageratum 'Wayside' (eupatorium coelestinum name has likely changed) have been allowed to free-range as ground-cover at the feet of the monarda and I pull out these to adjust the vignette.

A few of my Japanese iris had to be divided last fall, so I stuck those in as well. The divided sections haven't bloomed this year, so I don't know if I was lucky enough to transplant white 'Mt. Fuji' or if I moved purple! Time will tell and I'll adjust accordingly as I've now marked my white bloomers in the deer resistant meadow garden!

Deer will occasionally nip the iris blooms during the birthing season. This typically happens when a doe wants to stay close to her fawn and rather than going out to forage with the herd, the mother forages in my garden. The damage is usually minimal and I must admit that after seeing the fawns up close, sometimes sleeping in my garden during the day, I tend to forgive the damage.

Even though this is a section of the deer resistant garden, I've created color vignettes here that set it apart from what I call my "deer resistant meadow garden" that is located after a left turn at the big willow.

Eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate' was recently added (primarily for the foliage), but will bloom white. Gaillardia (in bloom), nigella (seed pod top left), eupatorium colestrium 'Wayside' (will bloom blue),  are allowed to self-sow. June 2012.

Step back and imagine eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate' taller and blooming white with the monarda 'Jacob Cline'. June 2012

Green/white striped Miscanthus 'Cosmopolitan' needs another year to make a good show. June 2012

A green/white variegated miscanthus 'Cosmopolitan' and spring-blooming white itea 'Little Henry' are other white plants. The itea has finished blooming and the miscanthus, a division of my larger original, should be more noticeable when it grows up next year.

An osmanthus fragrans, another white-blooming shrub is on the right side of the bench. I keep this one pruned to a lower height than the "wall" of osmanthus on the right side of path. When the osmanthus blooms, usually three times a year, the fragrance is glorious!

Red and white—I like the contrast and look forward to the future to see if this design still pleases when all the players add their roles in the color scheme.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

The hollies in the foreground will mature to create a hedge behind the bench. May 2012.

Je ne regrette rien. I regret nothing. The conversion of several hardwood mulched garden beds and gravel parking space to one large gravel garden is working. Over one year later and I'm a very happy gardener. The history of the gravel garden can be viewed with this link.

Gravel gardens aren't for everyone. We don't live in the southwest or west coast where gravel is widely used. This is the southeast where folks love lush lawns, flower-packed or woodland gardens.

We live on a large rural property of over four acres with two acres of meadow grass out front while the back half is in woods. We have a sufficient proportion of soft grass, forest and gardens to balance the portion of gravel used.

Our house is English-inspired, but adapted for our climate. The same is true for the gravel garden. The inspiration comes from England, but it must work here in the southeastern United States. When using gravel, I had to use something locally quarried to be affordable.  No expensive pea gravel here. Our house is gray cedar shakes. Our gravel is gray.

Looking through container lavender to a low hedge or rosemary. Purple Japanese iris grow from the gravel in the dry stream. Buddleia hedge in the gravel garden along the meadow edge. May 2012.

Rosemary, Japanese iris, Buddleia are all thriving with gravel instead of hardwood mulch. May 2012.

The gravel entry garden is easy to keep tidy and weed-free. View is looking away from the house to the driveway. May 2012.

Yes there are a few weeds now and then. The roots have to reach a long way down to find soil. A gentle tug and wiggle easily removes unwanted weeds.

So far, I've not watered the shrubs, herbs or perennials that are planted in the gravel. The exception was to get the rosemary and hollies for the hedge established with one or two waterings around the time of planting. The buddleia, crepe myrtles, existing hollies, nepeta, salvia greggii and Japanese irises were already mature and have not been watered at all since we added the gravel in April 2011.

View (from rosemary hedge) to cottage garden front gate. Existing hollies, sedum and dusty miller around crepe myrtle (left). Nepeta, patches of thyme (front & right) were existing. May 2012 Containers on right are barely visible (see next photo).

April 2012, containers were added beside flagstone path. Euphorbia (front) container hasn't done well and will be replaced. Lavender (middle) is now in bloom. Salvia (large container) has been blooming non-stop.

To keep the gravel from looking stark in some spots, I'm gradually adding containers of plants that are drought-tolerant. The salvia jamensis hybrid (large container) and lavenders (various containers), junipers and succulents are doing great.

We've been getting regular rainfall so far this year, so I've not had to water the containers. Even without rain, I've selected plants that don't need to be watered often and I'm enjoying the low-maintenance. All plants used in the gravel garden, whether planted in containers or in the ground, are deer resistant.

Perhaps one of the best rewards from changing to this gravel garden is that so much of my time has been freed up to focus on the deer resistant meadow garden and the cottage garden. (We also changed the mulched flagstone paths to gravel/flagstone paths along the deer resistant meadow garden in March 2012.)

Due to this gravel garden and path conversion, I've not been working in the garden full-time.  This redesign has considerably downsized the work that I was doing when I tried to grow more plants in many beds along the driveway, parking area and sidewalk—not to mention all the weeding that I had to do in the mulched paths along the deer resistant garden!

Gardening has been much for fun for me in 2012.  Je ne regrette rien. 

Along the dry stream, a clump of existing monarda will soon bloom. The salvia greggii is also quite happy to mulched with gravel. May 2012.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

1.  Jenny's White Garden at Fearrington Village. Pittsboro, North Carolina. March 2012

2.  Duke Gardens, Duke University. Durham, North Carolina. July 2011

3.  Duke Gardens. July 2011

4.  Central Park, New York City. June 2011

5.  Musée des Impressionismes, Giverny, France. May 2009.

6.  In a Paris, France park. April 2011

Sprinkles, masses or entire gardens—the use of white flowers can be a huge success or a total fail. These six inspirations were gathered on visits to gardens at home and abroad.

1. Jenny's White Garden at Fearrington Village changes with the seasons. Since this is located only five minutes from my home, I've seen the changes. In early spring, the white blooms are primarily daffodils and other spring bulbs.
2. I've seen the Page-Rollins White Garden at Duke Gardens only in the heat of July where it was splendid in the 90+°F heat of the summer sun. There are succulents, perennials and annuals as well as foliage plants. I've not located a list of their plantings as this section of the garden is very new.
3. The yucca container in the center was surrounded by sweet alyssum, a plant that I grow from seed that overwintered here in my zone7b garden during our mild winter of 2011.
4. White hydrangeas and large, blue hostas provided a cool vignette in the shade on a hot June day in Central Park, New York City.
5. For more information on the black and white flower garden, see my story about the Musée des Impressionismes in Giverny, France.
6. Walking through a random park in Paris, France, I photographed these white tulips underplanted with white forget-me-nots.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.