Garden

A growing guide to the garden beds, borders, and seasonal planting notes we are keeping in Fairview.

A small but expanding collection observed through the seasons in The Patient Garden.

Magenta gladiolus flower spike in close view

Featured

Gladiolus L.

Gladiolus

Gladiolus sends up bold sword-like spikes of summer color that few other plants can match for vertical drama; a cormous perennial that thrives in Salem's warm season if you give it decent drainage and full sun.

Garden Featured

Hellebore

Hellebores bloom through the darkest months; elegant evergreen perennials that thrive in shade and deliver flowers from midwinter into

Lavender

Lavender is the anchor of the sunny garden; a fragrant, drought-tough Mediterranean shrub that brings structure, pollinators, and scent to

Anemone

Spring anemones bring daisy-like flowers in clear blues, deep crimsons, and soft pinks to the early garden at a time when most other

Bee balm

Bee balm is a vivid summer perennial that earns its name; bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds find it irresistible. It spreads by runners

Brunnera

Brunnera is one of the most reliable answers to the shaded Fairview border; tiny forget-me-not flowers cover it in early spring, and then

Clematis

Clematis brings flowers up into fences, trellises, and shrubs, giving Salem gardens vertical bloom without the bulk of a full climbing

Creeping Phlox

Creeping phlox covers a sunny slope in solid color for two or three weeks each April, then spends the rest of the year as a tidy,

Crocus

Crocus are the first real color of spring; low-growing corms that push cheerful cups of purple, gold, and white through cold soil when

Daffodils

Daffodils are the most reliable spring bulbs you can plant; deer-proof, squirrel-proof, and willing to come back for decades in Salem's

Magic carpet thyme

Magic carpet thyme is a ground-hugging mat of aromatic foliage and pink summer bloom that softens edges, fills gaps, and feeds bees in the

Muscari

Muscari gives us that dense blue bottlebrush look in early spring, weaving between larger bulbs and under deciduous shrubs just when Salem

Ranunculus

Ranunculus brings layers of tissue-thin petals in jewel tones to the cool spring garden; a corm plant that thrives during Salem's mild,

Rosemary

Rosemary is an evergreen culinary anchor that shrugs off drought, poor soil, and neglect while adding structure, fragrance, and winter

Tulips

Tulips deliver concentrated spring color and clean vertical form that punctuates the emerging garden; though on heavy Salem clay, treat

This guide is growing gradually, with new field notes added over time.