Garden Design

My name is Courtney Gorman, and I live in Buffalo, New York. I have been a gardener for almost 20 years now. My love of gardening comes from my mother. She was a huge gardener. We would do several garden walks throughout the summer months almost every weekend. It amazes me what people can do with their yards (big or small). Especially with the smaller gardens, the imagination of what people can do with their yards is unbelievable. I love to see all the different variations of flowers and colors that are available. I love to see plants that are unusual and different.

rose of Sharon tree with pink flowers in a garden bed next to houseThis is my 10-year-old rose of Sharon tree (Hibiscus syriacus, Zones 5–8). It was a very slim tree when planted and now is a show-stopper.

close up of lots of white daisiesThese are my crazy daisies (Leucanthemum × superbum ‘Crazy Daisy’, Zones 4–9). They are one of my favorite perennials.

plant with bright pink flowers growing in a pot on a tree stumpThis is a fuchsia (Fuchsia hybrid, Zones 10–11 or as an annual) plant that I bought for the first time. It did extremely well in this planter that is sitting on an old tree stump. You can see some mushrooms are growing off of the tree stump.

pink petunias growing in a pot with a wooden frameA petunia (Petunia hybrid, annual) is sitting on a wooden picture frame that was made for me by a dear friend of mine. This is a huge hit when people come to visit my garden.

white, pink and red begonias growing on both sides of of path leading to front doorAnother show-stopper is the line of begonias (Begonia hybrid, Semperflorens Cultorum group, Zones 10–11 or as annuals) I plant every year along the walkway to my front door. They last until mid-October or until the first frost. They grow huge and are just beautiful in color.

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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