We stared and stared at all of the lovely spring things blooming in the front garden beds at Marianne Howell's beautiful home. She wrote the thoughtful descriptions of the all the gardens in the invitation and is quite humble about her own, which could also be something from a fairy tale.
The Howells Garden is in the English garden style and is filled with flowers. Annuals, perennials and bulbs fill the front bed. In the back there's a rose arbor, shade-loving plants and a koi pond featuring Big Daddy and Big Mama and many generations of fish that bring their liveliness to the garden.
Loads of dianthus, alyssum and bolting winter cabbage in flower were interspersed with roses, some remaining tulips (alas, we missed most of them) and other emerging bulbs.
I mentioned how I neglected to take photos on the tour last spring, but I actually did get a few shots of her radiant gladiolas that are showing their foliage in this year's shots.
We admired this simple, elegant container along a calming driveway transition zone from front to backyard, enhanced by a robust Boston Ivy, which has one of my favorite multisyllabic botanical Latin names, (Parthenocissus tricuspidata) crawling up the side of the house.
Her backyard is a well ordered shady oasis with flagstone paths, hellebores, japanese maples, oak leaf hydrangea. Designed by Carl Neels, (seen below with Marianne) it has the a similar feel of enclosure. The fence is completely obscured by lush, green plants with plenty of texture, color and height variations.
Always a luxurious stop on the tour, she generously offers lovely snacks and wine for the guests, not to mention a visit to the charming bathroom in the guesthouse. We took great delight in peeking into this little backyard hideaway. Someone mentioned her mother had once lived there. I absolutely adore this old fashioned floral wallpaper along with the bamboo motif furniture and sweet little glass nicknacks.
We chatted with other guests and sat a spell admiring the koi and basking in appreciation of the lovely setting, but we finally realized we had better scoot to the final garden before it was too late.
Thank you, Marianne!