Over The Mountain To Fairegarden*

Blogging friends~~ Are you ready for a trip over the Cumberland Plateau, east on I-40 to the foothills of the Smokies to see Frances and the lovely garden (Fairegarden) she has made? I thought so. Here we go~~~all photos enlarge with a click!

Frances had visited me earlier this summer and we had a grand time. On top of sharing a deep passion for gardening, blogging and our families we really liked one another! Now it was my turn to visit her. The soonest I could arrange to visit was in late October. Always an iffy time to schedule a visit to a garden, but we were lucky and a frost hadn't taken out the fall blooms.

As I exited the interstate and made my way to Frances' house, I wondered what the garden would really look like! I had a picture of it in my head, but hadn't been able to pull all the parts together.

Seeing Frances with a big welcome smile was wonderful. I was glad to see her, but right there, in front of my car was

Pink Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris). Fairegarden's iconic fall plant!

Isn't it magnificent? I don't think I have seen a better stand of this beautiful grass anywhere else. Frances has used it through out the garden and 

it back lights very nicely.

 I am getting ahead of myself!  We grabbed my suitcase and the other very important travel paraphernalia, dropped it off in the house and headed into the garden~~~talking a mile a minute! Perhaps, this is the time to tell you that we had so much to discuss about gardening, life, whatever, that I actually forgot to take photos! Not always, but some of the time!

We decided to pace ourselves and work from a schedule! We would explore the garden, explore the town, visit a few garden centers, eat good food, and spend a little time blogging....and dig plants!

But, really aren't you ready to see more garden photos! Who cares what we did or that we saw alpaca grazing in a  field!

Or,  that we ate a scrumptious orzo dish Frances made from the saffron she collected in her garden!

Crocus speciosus or C sativus...I forgot to ask!


 Here are the garden  photos and an answer to the big question?

...Yes, Fairegarden is on a hill!

I am standing on a piece of flat ground that is at the back of the house looking up.  You can see the garden shed  on the left side of the photo.    The top of the pond is visible at the bottom left. A very deep pond, I am told!

To the left of the pond are these fantastic stairs....concrete inset with Mexican pebbles.


Created by Frances!  I really like this planting, the color of the ajuga and its leaf shape are echoed by the inset pebbles.


Here is a much better view of the hillside garden and  pond.  This may be my favorite view of the  garden. You can see the Muhly, roses and the Sheffies. I love the combination of pinks and burgundies.  Frances, you are good!

Not all the garden is on the hill....there is a very nice level area at the top! But a good part of it requires climbing the stairway to the very top! When you arrive there you can sit on a bench overlooking the Knot Garden and the hillside. I could insert a fantastic shot of the garden as seen from above but, this is one of those times I forgot to take a photo!

Trust me it was lovely!

Standing at the Knot Garden you can look all the way over to the other side of the garden where Ferngully once resided over a large part of the plantings. 

Massive seed heads of Joe-Pye Weed near Ferngully.  When I say massive, I mean massive!


A bed next to the Knot garden...the Mistflower is never an easy flower to capture!  There are Sheffies, Pink Muhly and salvia planted throughout this bed.   Thank you Mother Nature for holding back the freeze!

 I wish I could fly you over the garden for a bird's-eye-view! 

It is a gorgeous hillside garden. Terraced with perennials, bulbs, annuals, grasses, shrubs, small trees and ground covers. Where ever you look are
colorful plantings 
and delightful vignettes;

shrubs and grasses
 thoughtfully placed to catch the sunset.


Beautiful flowers and unusual

shrubs; some with rich winter coloring, or 

colorful seed heads.

Everywhere there is evidence of Frances' passion for gardening and this garden!  

Gail

(added later) Here we are, two very good friends being quiet for a moment.

You can read Frances' parallel story here.

*Faire~~ a French verb meaning to do or make; Garden, a German noun meaning a rich, well-cultivated spot!