Today Julie Esteves, a garden designer in Massachusetts, is sharing a garden she restored for Susan Lemkau in Osterville, Massachusetts.
We were hired to restore her garden starting last fall, so it’s been a process, with many planned steps for an evolving spring, summer, and fall garden.
This was a restoration of an existing parterre garden. We removed the original vegetation out of the parterre beds, transplanting and dividing to create a multiseasonal garden with the use of annuals.
We added custom-built obelisks and planted our own nursery-grown asarina (Asarina procumbens, annual) and black-eyed Susan vines (Thunbergia alata, annual) to grow up the obelisks. We also added early-blooming lupines (Lupinus polyphllus, Zones 4–9) and delphiniums (Delphinium elatum, Zones 3–7) for a May-June garden that transitioned to summer and fall with Browallia americana (annual), giant zinnias (Zinnia elegans, annual), and many native perennials for full season color. Coleus (Plectranthus scutellarioides, annual) was added in the corners for the final pop of color to anchor the garden.
A parterre is a European style of garden with carefully trimmed hedges in geometric patterns. In this garden, the strict formality of the hedging and design contrasts with the more informal growth of the plants within the hedges.
Annual vines growing up the obelisks add height to the plantings.
On both sides of the front door, tall zinnias bring color and informal charm.
The warm color of the beautiful old brickwork paths is echoed by the coleus at each corner.
A pink phlox (Phlox paniculata, Zones 4–8) is one of the native perennials growing in the garden.
Not one, not two, but three bumblebees are all visiting the zinnia flowers at once.
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