2017 Garden Bloggers Fling - Day 2

The second day took us to some private gardens in Maryland and to a public garden where lunch was served. All but one garden in the entire weekend contained shade and a water feature or two, or three, or more that allowed us to tolerate the summer. Weather was typical hot and humid the first two days but not overly oppressive as it can be.

Private Garden 1, Bethesda
The house at the end of a cul du sac, and featured gardens sculptured with uses of materials in ways unexpected.
Very inviting front porch.

Foundation plantings along the front included very few evergreens, but a lot of perennials.

Unusual use of wood for stepping stones, and twig branches forming large balls as lawn ornament in the background.

Now that's one use for bamboo that you cut down.

Water feature on the terrace. Another notice of most gardens: outdoor entertaining spaces were often broken into several areas, not on the same level, not of the same materials. This lower terrace held seating and the water feature, while the upper deck the dining table.

Among the hydrangeas.

Some weird seed pods held small succulents for the table centerpiece.

Private Garden 2, Bethesda
This was the backyard (I hate to call it 'yard') of a landscape designer. It was without a doubt, the most impressive residential landscaping of a yard steeply sloping down to the house that I have seen. Photos could not capture the entire feeling of a landscaped hillside.
Steps at the back terrace beckons one to begin an ascent to enter the landscape instead of merely observing it on the terrace.

The bottom of the hillside and the stream is a fish pond. THe sound of water is a relaxer.

Shady path between the front and back around the side of the house.


The stream starts at the top of the hillside and tumbles down into the pond filled with fish and water lilies. The gazebo at the top of the hill invites one to climb, and provides a visual point to draw your eyes up.

Inviting shady path to the other side of the house.

And close where we started -- on the front porch.