Clark Cottage Gardens 🌱 The Garden of Erin Clark 🌱 Talk & Tour with Garden Gate

[Music] hey everybody welcome to erin clark's garden here in maine it's called the clark cottage gardens and it is just beautiful we're here in mid-june and i can't wait for aaron to show us around come on let's do it [Music] i cannot believe that this garden is only not even two years old no it's not the year and a half wow the plants are so lush and so healthy and huge what was the secret here well i think the secret is definitely the compost um we use final stage loam here um it's a biosolid it's a biosolid yep we can bring it in by the loads and um just really work it into the soil so did you till it or how did i tell that we had a big tiller actually out back here and um tilled it right in oh wow and i love this started before you started so and so first you put the compost down and then did you build the fence or did you build the fence first we built the fence first this is a really charming fence i just love this design with the finials the globe finials on top and then the repeated uh circles in the pickets yes so beautiful and you did you design that i designed that yes and my husband lovingly helped me with a project yeah so every single picket every picket wow he drilled holes in and sanded and painted it's so charming it really makes a huge difference i mean it's just it's beautiful it's such a great backdrop for all these um all these plants and i love the repetition of the the plants how did you decide how to lay it out well i like to have your eye kind of flow from one end to the other and i think if you have repeating plants and i like a mounded effect so repeated mounds um yeah that makes sense both sides of the courtyard so with the nepeta yep and the ladies mantle the silver mound and the hardy geranium yeah all such great mounding plants that's really nice and then the punctuation with the we had alliums blooming a little bit ago and then i see you have some fox gloves poking up here and there yep i've got some more for next year so hopefully next year this will all be yeah fox glove in between pretty and the hollyhocks will be going pretty soon too that's just perfect that's like that classic cottage garden look with this i love the hollyhocks with the with the pickets and the hollow so beautiful thank you and uh i'm seeing so many pollinators and bees oh my gosh the bees love the nepeta though walker's low oh i bet i love it i bet oh there's one right as we're speaking that's right ah and a little bit ago when we were walking through here i was um smelling the stalks they smelled so good smell them i just caught a whiff a little bit ago those are really sweet those must start pretty early in the do you plant them when it's done i planted it in the early yeah yeah so those are may uh-huh so those are blooming about the same time as your bulbs then probably yes i put them in um kind of around my bulbs so that when the bulbs die back they'll still be some color in that area that's really pretty thanks oh they're one another b now are your roses fragrant i haven't gotten yes they are oh are they so sweet yeah and what's the variety that you have that is john davis climbing rose john davis so pretty and so um and your fun touches here of um with the furniture the white the white wicker and the metal pieces i love antique pieces i like to mix that in with the flowers i think that just as a little accent and your baskets are so pretty too we'll have to look at those in a few minutes [Music] well i know we're on our way to look at some containers but i really wanted to stop and talk about the pergola and also your beautiful new cottage out here too but so this pergola you built it all you designed this and built it yourselves too right yeah my husband and i um we just kind of go back and forth i don't really know how to build anything but i know what i love sounds like a great partnership so i um drew it out and originally it was going to just be a regular um arbor and he said well why don't i make a hip roof oh perfect and then um i added the benches i said i think that would be so sweet to just be able to go in there and sit even if it's raining right yeah yeah and the chandelier and the chandelier very very charming thank you and and i see you have honeysuckle and more john davis roses yeah i also have morning glory and um cup and saucer vine growing up the front hopefully that'll be nice oh yeah so it goes all summer long it'll go all summer long yeah that's nice that's a good idea yeah and and the little detail work here yeah i drew i drew the corvos out and um my husband dan cut them out and put them together and put them up i love the little circle detail that matches the pickets yes i do like spheres i love circles it's really really perfect and then this um charming charming cottage out here you're just telling me you've just named it i just named it today and it's called uh sweet pea cottage oh it's perfect because i wanted to paint it first and see what it felt like oh it's perfect thank you and so how do you plan to use it i think it's going to be like your typical she shed uh-huh i'm probably going to go out i don't like to call it a she it's a cottage it's a cottage but um i'm just going to go out and basically if you open up the two doors you're going to be looking out at the garden oh that's great so a little getaway yeah just a little getaway so some furniture and i've bought all the supplies to paint because i used to paint when i was younger so i think oh yeah perfect so i think i'm going to get back into it looks like a great place to get inspired yes that's great [Music] well okay so we took a little detour but now i do really do want to talk about these containers okay i love all of your watering cans these are so beautiful yes i have quite a collection so you've been collecting them for a long time i have yeah yes i love them i plant them my husband made a watering can that actually had water that went oh yeah fountain right right and so that used to be a fountain in your garden and then there was a hole in it i decided we'll just turn it into a plant that's right oh that's a good idea and so do you normally drill holes in them i do some of them and then if i'm just impatient then i just go ahead and plant them and they don't seem to be too bad if it's going to be a big rainstorm or something i just gather them all up i either put them in the gazebo um the ones on this side and the other ones i run into the garage to keep them from getting water locked if you've had a lot of rain that makes sense that makes sense and how do you keep them do you feed them do you feed your containers or i do i mean i use miracle grove right just right every week two or three times a week oh yeah oh yeah oh wow that's great well it pays off look at that they're so they're just probably crazy a week ago oh my gosh that's amazing it's really pretty really sweet combos [Music] so the watering cans aren't your only repurposed containers i love this bike this is so charming thank you very much my husband dan and i were on a little boat trip in uh camden and saw this bike at an antique store for about 35 dollars i said oh we have to have it that's right and so we loaded it up onto the boat brought it home oh good and so um so the baskets did you uh did they come with the baskets or did you did you add those actually it came with the metal basket in the back and uh dan made a box for me with old barn oh yeah right and then each year i get a different front basket i usually go with the plain wicker but this year i decided to paint it white it's just the and the plants you chose are just perfect do they last all year the nemesias yes everything lasts all summer i just love everything spilling out with the calibrachoa and the the nemesis oh it's so charming very cute [Music] so we talked about the repetition a little bit ago when we were talking about the different plants in this garden the other thing that i think is so interesting is not only are they repeated but it's there's symmetry here so did you picture that in your head when you imagined the space i did picture it um i drew a picture of it and um just sort of plotted it out how i wanted both sides to look alike they're not exact because plants sometimes i mean the sun hits this side a little bit more yeah then it hits that side so these ones are a little bit ahead of that one but overall there's quite a bit of symmetry the bones and they have the same sort of main structure and bones right yeah that's really great what um what's it like gardening here what zone what zone are you in um if you look on the map it says zone 5a okay but i think a little bit we're going into zone four so four five four five uh-huh and what um so what's what's the garden year look like when do you when can you start gardening in spring and when do you have to quit in the fall every year is different but this year seems to be a little bit ahead because we had such a mild winter but normally speaking i'm out in the garden by [Music] may okay i'm able to work the ground in may and bulbs up then bulbs start coming up early may okay this year they were up in april okay yeah so that was kind of exciting yeah something different yeah we got a little extra time right here because sometimes you get snow in may sometimes we get snowing yes we do so what are the winters like when you said you had a mild winter last year but what are they normally normally speaking every week oh wow or more like it used to be every wednesday we would get sometimes it could be that predictable yeah it's easier if it's a weekend you always have to drive to work yeah it's nice if you can clean it up more easily so it starts in um early as october okay sometimes so you can rely on or you can rely you have reliable snow cover yes oh definitely so that's in some ways that's kind of nice because the moisture and also it protects yeah i was kind of wondering what it was going to do this year because there were times when it was just a very um thin layer of snow but oh but it seems things seemed like they didn't know everything looks just fine thank you so um yeah so that's interesting uh what the what other challenges would you say you face here are there insects or pests that you struggle with yes there are at the beginning of the season we have a lot of uh black flies that pretty much devour you and then so not hard on the plants hard on the garden oh yeah the black flies and you said mosquitoes yeah but that's early in the year mostly yeah um usually by father's day mid-june that's all start to go away yeah that's helpful merciful that they quit at least so um and no deer problems particularly problems no not in this my house right um we have deer out back that come by and we can look out and take pictures but they don't seem to they're well fed they don't need that's right they'll eat dance right tomatoes first that's the diversion you hope anyway yeah let's uh so with all of the um all of this beautiful garden you also have so many great seating areas and sort of relaxing spots which is perfect with such a great garden of course you'd want to have some spaces to enjoy it yes and i see right here we have a fire pit yeah this is really nice at night oh yeah we've got the lighting here and then also the the fire going keep you warm on cool nights and um more for ambiance really yeah and the ta i i like the table that's really nice to be able to use it yeah we have to leave that out all year because it's so heavy but it's right it's real nice yeah that's good and then um and then up on your deck um so so many great little spots yeah we have the gazebo where you can go if it's raining um and just we have our afternoon coffee in the gazebo because the sun's not hitting you right oh good idea yeah and we like to rest in there we've got the um little area where you could just sit around the couch and chairs and stuff in the dining area yeah so a conversation spot in the dining spot and then the the place to gather with friends around the fire pit yeah this is uh and and the lighting is so um so great it's a perfect spot to be at night i'm glad we're here at this time of day i can get to enjoy all the we get to enjoy all the uh the lighting and ambience here but the string lighting over the um over the deck is really charming and that you said that was started because you'd hosted a wedding here yes our um son ben got married out here so we put the lighting up just to have it for the evening for the party and just decided to kind of keep it it's so boring that works we'll keep it that's good and i'm excited to see what the spotlight on the um cottage looks like i just put that up last night and it looks so pretty i bet yeah it's sweet it's a really nice view and the and we talked about the chandelier already very nice and the post lights and the poke yes my other really husband dan is very much into lighting very much lucky you i know i'm so lucky he has them go on at certain times and off at certain times so when we wake up in the morning to have our coffee it's all prepared for you it's gorgeous yep thank you so much for this great tour i'm really really happy to meet you and see this uh amazing garden thank you i'm so glad you came [Music] so we couldn't talk about these great seating areas without having a seat and enjoying it for a little bit thanks aaron you're welcome if you'd like to see more of what erin's garden looks like the rest of the year be sure and follow her blog at clarkcottagegardens.com or follow her on instagram at clark dot cottage dot gardens good you did well i got them all in thanks aaron thank you [Music] hi i'm jack from garden gate magazine i hope you enjoyed our video be sure to check out our youtube channel and press the bell to get notified each time we upload a new video you'll get content with useful gardening tips design ideas and how-to help for all levels of gardeners i especially enjoy the garden tours and talks with fellow gardeners across the country be sure to follow us on all of our social platforms you can see the list below thanks for watching

Channel: Garden Gate Magazine

Views: 154,536

Keywords: gardening, plants, flowers, backyard, cottage garden, nature, landscape, garden design, roses, gardens

Id: nPexpV4sBIA

Length: 16min 22sec (982 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 08 2021