Color and Seating in the Garden

July 17, 2012
Stephanie Fleming
Private Gardens
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From the street, a hint of what’s to come.

You know what I like even more than the grandest of professionally designed gardens? Personal gardens, the funkier and more colorful the better. And I found a fabulous one in Rockville the other day, thanks to a garden-coaching client wanting to show me the best garden in his neighborhood. Indeed it is.

The gardener, middle-school teacher Jeannie Bloomer (great name, right?) is a collector of not just interesting plants but of interesting stuff. But I love her garden most of all for her lavish use of exotic colors – and for the half a dozen or so seating areas she’s created in a relatively small space.

Incredibly, the outdoor dining room above is perched on the sloping side yard, just outside the kitchen door.

AAAAJuly20126 — I love the complementary house colors.

In the back yard, more seating and ponds.

IMG_1062-001 — Even the utility zones are fun-looking.

The back patio served as a yard-sale display area the day I visited.

Spreading bamboo is under tight control in this trough-shaped container.

Now this isn’t the type of garden I’d ever have myself – I’m not artistic enough to pull it off. But for visiting and hanging out in, it’s my favorite.

Posted by Susan Harris.

Stephanie Fleming

Stephanie Fleming was raised at Behnke’s Nurseries in Beltsville. Her Mom, Sonja, was one of Albert & Rose Behnke’s four children. She was weeding from the moment she could walk and hiding as soon as she was old enough to run, so many weeds, so little time. Although she quickly learned how to pull out a perennial and get taken off of weed pulling duty.