Making beauty all year
Today we ’re chitchat with Rachel , a gardener and creative person hold up in Elgin , Illinois ( Zone 5b ) . She move in 2022 to 1.5 acres and is in the process of designing and planting a fabulousfront garden . She ’s also diving into timberland regaining for the back half - acre — making it beautiful forwildlifeand her kiddos .
She also visits and draws beautiful gardens whenever she can , and designs and installs gardens for clients .
It is the interrogative sentence every nurseryman gets ask : What ’s your favourite flora ? Rachel say hers is probably genus Nasturtium ( Tropaeolumajus , Zones 9–11 or as an one-year ) . She loves it because the big seeds are easy to seed ; it ’s loose for her kids to manage and help industrial plant ; itvinesand trails , helping to pull a new garden together ; and every part of the plant is edible .

Rachel took a trip toLongwood Gardensin Pennsylvania recently and sketched some of the beautiful garden sights she took in .
This spot of Rachel ’s garden is starting to come together . It has been a difficult spot because of herclay soil , butmulchhas amend conditions , and thing are start up to fly high .
The kids make tiny houses while Rachel commit outinvasiveweeds to serve the forest thrive . She says that the time spent out in nature is so worth it , even with the bank check for check and shower in showcase ofpoison common ivy .

Rachel holds a sensational sword lily ( Gladiolushybrid , Zones 9–11 or as a bid bulb ) . It ’s awe-inspiring how something so gorgeous can grow from a small , unassuming corm .
Speaking of growing something terrific from something unassuming , here ’s a shot fromFebruaryof wintertime sowing — seed ofnative perennial , planted out . The cold weather will indicate the seeds to germinate make out spring , and the honest-to-goodness Milk River cartons give them protection .
Fast - forward toMay . The seeds have germinated and the Milk River jugs are full ofseedlings . Winter sowing is an easy , price - effective way to get tidy sum of new plant life for your garden .

A sweet , fragrant piffling bouquet of sweet pea ( Lathyrusodoratus , one-year ) adds some perfume to the body of work space . Rachel say to commend to cut the flowers from yoursweet peasso they ’ll keep flower . If you let them go to seed , they ’ll fizzle out and stop flowering .
Summer is Rachel ’s happiest meter . It ’s easy to see why from this beautiful scene ofconeflowers(Echinacea purpurea , Zones 3–8 ) and ornamental onions ( Alliumhybrid , Zones 4–8 ) fromAugust .
The big bluff leaves of common milkweed ( Asclepiassyriaca , Zones 5–9 ) seem great in the garden , and there is a little monarchbutterfly caterpillarchomping away on them .

In springiness thesecool - season flowersin a plantation owner really showed off : pouf ( Viola×wittrockiana , cool - time of year annual or unawares - survive perennial ) , ranunculus ( Ranunculus asiaticus , Zones 8–11 or as an yearly ) , and a some grapevine hyacinths ( Muscariarmeniacum , Zones 3–9 ) .
If you need to see more from Rachel , curb out her Instagram:@gardenrach
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photo to portion out ? We ’d lie with to see your garden , a particular assemblage of plant you love , or a marvelous garden you had the probability to visit !
To pass on , send 5 - 10 exposure to[email protected]along with some information about the plant in the pictures and where you take the photos . We ’d make love to listen where you are located , how long you ’ve been gardening , successes you are lofty of , failures you learned from , hope for the future , favorite plants , or funny stories from your garden .
Have a nomadic phone ? track your photos onFacebook , InstagramorTwitterwith # FineGardening !

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