Garden Design

Carla Z. Mudry is a frequent GPOD contributor of beautiful images from her garden in Malvern, Pennsylvania. If you want to look back on how it looked during winter, you can start here: End of the Year at Carla’s. Today, however, we’re celebrating how it looks in spring.

Welcome back to my garden! Daffodils, narcissus, bluebells, and fritillaria have stepped aside for azaleas, red rhododendrons, and tree peonies. I have started planting up my pots. I also temporarily opened the fern farm to rehome the giant ostrich ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris, Zones 3–7) I have. They are VERY happy, so I needed to thin some out. My friends were happy beneficiaries! Next to open will be the first flush of roses. I gave all of them a late February pruning, and now they are raring to go. Happy gardening!

Hostas in a white metal container with ferns behindSmall hostas (Hosta hybrids, Zones 4–9) open up their leaves in a container backed by an enormous stand of ostrich ferns. This fern can spread a little aggressively, especially in moist conditions, but who could mind having lots of these beautiful plants?

yellow-and-green variegated hostas in white potsHostas grow happily in pots, and this can be a great way to show them off.

Large azalea shrubs next to roses and tree peonyIn the transition from early spring, daffodils have faded, as have some of the azaleas, while the tree peony (Paeonia hybrid, Zones 4–8) on the right is coming into full bloom and the roses are putting out new growth before their time to shine.

Tree peony with huge white flowersThough called tree peonies, these plants are more shrubs, with woody stems and enormous flowers in the spring. Tree peonies bloom earlier than their herbaceous relatives and are a little more tolerant of light shade.

Closeup of peony flowers, white with faint pink centerThe tree peony flowers are simply breathtaking.

A table and chairs set in a large garden with trees and flowering shrubsI’d love to sit at the table next to that azalea in full bloom and just drink in the spring beauty.

A shade garden filled with fernsThe woodland garden is filled with graceful ostrich ferns.

Blue hostas just coming into leaf, surrounded by other woodland perennialsDeer love to snack on hosta leaves at this unfurling stage, so Carla applies a repellent spray to keep them untouched.

large rhododendron shrub with many dark red flowersThis unusual rhododendron (Rhododendron hybrid, Zones 5–9) has rich, dark red flowers.

A pale pink clematis with a darker edgeWith nearly white flowers delicately edged with pink, this clematis (Clematis, early large-flowered group, Zones 4–8) is so perfect I can’t stop staring at the photo!

Have a garden you’d like to share?

Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!

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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