A Closer Look

Here's the closer look . . . that I promised . . . of the picture-perfect landscape beds leading up to the Hotel Iroquois on Mackinac Island, Michigan. This space is no longer than . . . maybe 25 feet and you can get a good feel for the width . . . but you'll be amazed at the variety of plants it packs into this small space.

It has a nice back drop of green on the left side and a couple of medium-sized trees on the right to frame it all.

It all starts with a welcome sign at the very front. You can already get a good feel for how they intermingle a number of different plant varieties and colors. The colors seem to be repeated down the line . . . white, dark red, and green.  A row of higher growing plants fill out the back of the bed . . . hydrangeas, alocasias and some other green shrubs.

Flipping over to the left side this colorful combination shows off nicely in front of the evergreen trees. So many different varieties packed into one small space.

Here I see some hostas hidden in the back, coleus, impatiens and some more Autumn Joy sedum up front.

Some of the plants I can identify are more of the sun-tolerant impatiens, hostas, sedum, petunias and sweet potato vines. I really like this layered look with the flat stone.

Here's a little higher stone wall with a beautiful color combination of flowers. The buds on the dark leaved plant with the yellow flowers resemble peony buds but I'm not familiar with the plant. It is a stunning color especially when contrasted with the yellow flowers. 

Here's a little closer look. The black and chartreuse leaves next to each other are absolutely fabulous!

Another beautiful spot that contains impatiens, elephant ears (2 different varieties) a grass that grows in water, lilies and petunias.

The master behind this piece of artwork definitely has a green thumb and a talent for combining colors, textures, shapes and sizes.

Love how the chartreuse and black foliage play off each other and then add the beautiful soft pink flowers and WOW...it's gorgeous! When you think it couldn't get any better . . . take a look at that soft fluffy grass at the base of the pink flowering plant.

A combination of ornamental grasses look beautiful against the white bark of the birch tree. So much color in this photo with mostly foliage.

A  crisp and traditional look with simple elements - a white fence, green plants, stone wall, impatiens.

Another birch tree simply planted with two varieties of fern, two different large-leafed plants and impatiens. This gardener knows how to make impatiens sparkle.

The detail is incredible. The dark color in the coleus is picking up the dark color of the stems of the alocasia. Nice combination of leaf shapes - large, spiky, soft and rounded. All it takes is 3 plants to create such an eye-pleasing look. This would make a great container combination. 

Great example of the varying heights in this border and as you can see the bed is not very wide at all.

There are so many lessons to be learned from these beautiful garden borders. I know I'll be studying these plant combinations over and over, and in the future I'll be definitely looking at my own beds from different angles to see if I can accomplish something even 1/10th as beautiful as this. 

Hope you enjoyed a close-up look at this magnificent garden space.