How’s Things Going with the Perennial Border

In July 2018, my Mother-in-Law moved into the house behind us. One of the first landscape tasks was building a perennial flower border. I wrote an article about building the border from scratch. Check it out if you want to see the start of the project. I thought it would be fun to check in and see what’s happening in the garden today.

There were a few requirements for this new garden.

  1. Deer-resistant plants
  2. Easy to maintain
  3. Affordable

Below you can see some photographs of what the garden looks like a little over 2 years after work started. I am happy to report that even though the garden is a work-in-progress, it met its design requirements. It makes my Mother-in-Law happy, and that was the purpose of building this garden.

Perennial border in July 2017
Perennial border in June 2020

To make this garden as affordable as possible, we recycled from other areas of the landscape, purchased shrubs and perennials on clearance at the end of the season, and grew plants from seed. This season, we will add structural plants and continue to divide perennials to fill in space.

All Gardeners will tell you. Gardens are a constant work-in-progress. You are always editing and refining. That’s the joy of garden-making. I hope you enjoy the photographs.

View of the border August 2021
Long view of the perennial border. The color scheme is shades of purple, pink, white, and chartreuse.
Side entrance leading to our garden next door. We plan to build a gate and path leading through both yards.
The existing garden had several bleeding heart plants that we moved around the garden.
The heirloom iris ‘Wabash’ was introduced in 1936. The year my Mother-in-Law was born.
The small tree hydrangea was moved from our garden when we installed the Hornbeam hedge. It will fill out this space nicely.
Last Fall we added Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ bulbs to the border. They just finished blooming.
This peony was part of the original garden. We did not want to disturb it and left it in its original spot.

Napeta is the perfect deer-resistant plant for the border. The deer never touch them.

It’s fun to watch this new garden develop. There is still lots of work to do. It’s a great way to spend time with my Mother-in-Law. Happy gardening!

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