I'm joining in for Wednesday Vignette again this week, hosted by Flutter & Hum. I've written a lot about how badly the driveway island needs to be redone, tweaked, and generally overhauled, so I thought it would be nice to show that it isn't all bad. This is mostly to remind myself, since comments left by readers are always much more generous than my opinion of my own work.
I do love the colors, silver, blue-green, gold/orange, and burgundy. It's wonderful when the plants that carry those colors all cooperate and grow well in one area, looking full without smothering each other. So this is sort of a "what went right" shot of the driveway island. The barberries are leafed-out and providing those spots of burgundy that contrast with the silver and gold and echo the maple in the center. The bearded iris and crocosmia provide big leaves that contrast with the finer textures of the sedge and heathers.
Oddly, the two barberries in this photo are the only two that still have the attractive, compact look that actually fits the space intended for them. The others all went bonkers after a few years and grew 3-4 feet tall and wide and got straggly and ugly. The two that stayed compact aren't even the original plants. They're branches that rooted. Meanwhile, the original plants are thin and barely alive.
I've decided the barberries are definitely going. Maybe I'll replace them with something evergreen like Euphorbia 'Blackbird' or 'Ruby Glow'. Sedum 'Dragon's Blood', heucheras, and bergenias were part of the original planting in this bed, but they were dispatched by the deer. I will definitely be reintroducing a burgundy-colored sedum of some sort, and I'm debating about the bergenia, heucheras, and other plants with larger leaves. Even the 1-inch wide leaves of Sedum 'Dragon's Blood' would be a welcome contrast to the fine-textured heathers in winter. Larger leaves will help bring some of the spring and summer lushness in this photo into winter. Maybe I can start to get closer to having the sort of look pictured above all year long.