Jacki Kellum Garden 2022

I subscribe to the gardening principle that gardens should be layered, with taller plants in the back, medium-sized plants in front of those, and the shortest plants in front of the other two layers. T

in 2022, I was gardening in the Ozark Mountains, but in 2023, I moved to my current home in Water Valley, Mississippi. I spent most of my first year here creating a raised garden area above a lawn that was gnarled by a covering of  Bermuda grass. I have already ordered several perennials that should arrive here in early spring. As usual, I’ll place the plants in ascending height. Following is a list of those plants from shortest to tallest:

Phlox Creeping Snowflake (Phlox subulata)
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 2-4″ tall

I have created brick walkways in my garden area, and one of my first goals is to fill the space around and between the bricks with creeping low-growing plants. Last year, I placed some ajuga and low-growing sedum around the bricks, and this year, I am adding some creeping phlox there. Phlox is a native plant, a pollinator, and it is evergreen.  It blooms for about 4 weeks during mid to late spring.

“Creeping phlox is a fast-spreading and hardy ground cover that has been used by gardeners to naturally suppress weeds in their garden or landscape. The secret is in the soil. It’s a carpet of flowers chokes out weeds by stretching underground through the soil.”  Great Garden Plants

Creeping Thyme (Thymus Serpyllum)
Image Credit: Vistatu Store
Height: 2 – 3″

Phlox Creeping Amazing Grace (Phlox subulata)
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 4-6″ tall

Phlox Creeping Candy Stripe (Phlox subulata)
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 4-6″ tall

I have read that if you cut back Candy Stripe after it blooms, it will bloom again during the fall.

Phlox Creeping Lavender (Phlox subulata)
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 4-6″ tall

Chandler Strawberries
Image Credit: Ison’s Nursery

Because the taste like my grandmothers’s strawberries, I grow Chandler Strawberries.

Chandler – Best Strawberry Plant for Mississippi – Excellent Flavor

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 6-8″ tall

Phlox Woodland ‘Blue Moon’ (Phlox divaricata)
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 7-12″ tall

Loropetalum Purple Pixie (Loropetalum chinense ‘Peack’)
Image Credit: Pixie’s Garden
Dwarf Weeping Habit
Height: 1.5′ xy 3′

Yarrow ‘Cerise Queen’ (Achillea millefolium)
Image Credit: Eden Brothers
Height: 12-24″ tall

Yarrow ‘Moonshine’ (Achillea X Moonshine)
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 12-24″ tall

Yarrow ‘Vintage Red’ (Achillea millefolium)
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 12-24″ tall

Spiderwort’ (Tradescantia subaspera)
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 12-24″ tall

Low Scape Mound Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 12-24″ tall

Coneflower ‘PowWow Wild Berry (Echinacea purpurea) – 1 plant
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 20-24″ tall

Lady Fern (Athyrium filix-femina
Image Credit: U.S. Forest Service
Height: 24-36″ tall

Catmint ‘Walker’s Low’ Nepeta (Nepeta faassenii) – 3 plants
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 24-30″ tall

Mountain Mint ‘Blunt’ (Pycnanthemum muticum)
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 12-36″ tall

Wild Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
Image Credit: Grower’s Exchange
Height: 12-36″ tall

Coneflower [Pale Purple] (Echinacea pallida)
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 24-36″ tall

Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Image Credit: American Meadows (Asclepias tuberosa) – 3 plants
Height: 24-36″ tall

Milkweed ‘Soulmate’ Swamp Asclepias incarnata) – 3 plants
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 24-36″ tall

Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris)
Image Credit: American Meadows (Asclepias tuberosa) – 2 plants
Height: 24-36″ tall

I am adding this plant because of its unique color and winter interest.

White Baptisia or  False Indigo (Baptisia alba)
IImage Credit: American Meadows (Asclepias tuberosa)
Height: 24-36″ tall

Joe Pye Weed  ‘Baby Joe’ (Eupatorium dubium)
Height: 24-36″ tall

Pink Mammoth Chrysanthemum – Image Credit: Michigan Bulb Co.
‘Twilight Pink’ chrysanthemum from the University of Minnesota. Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station
Height: 36″

I already have some hardy mums growing in my garden. They are delightful. I’ll add as many colors of the hardy mums as I can find.

Hardy Chrysanthemums -Great Flowering Plants that Will Survive Tough Winters

Coneflower ‘Magnus’ (Echinacea purpurea) – 1 plant
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 28-40″ tall

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) – 1 Plant
Height: 30-36″ tall
Image Credit: American Meadows

Iris Southern Blue Flag Iris – (Iris virginica var. shrevei) – 2 plants
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: up to 36″ tall

Liatris Blazing Star or Gay Feathers’ (Liatris spicata)
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: up to 24-48″ tall

Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) – 1 Plant
Height: 36-48″ tall (3-4 ft)
Image Credit: American Meadows

Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 24 – 48″ tall

Bee Balm ‘Jacob Cline’ (Monarda didyma) – 1 plant
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 36-48″  tall

Aster ‘Purple Dome’ (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) – 3 Plants
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 36-48″ tall (3-4 ft)

Shasta Daisy ‘Becky’ (Leucanthemum superbum) – 3 plants
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: 36-48″ tall

Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium Yuccifolium)
Image Credit: Grower’s Exchange
Height: 48″ tal

Oakleaf Hydrangea ‘Ruby Slippers’ (quercifolia Ruby Slippers)
Image Credit: Grower’s Exchange
Height: 36 – 48″ tall

Ruby Slippers
Image Credit: American Meadows

Henry’s Garnet Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica)
Image Credit: Grower’s Exchange
Height: 36 – 48″ tall

Henry’s Garnet Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica)
Image Credit: Grower’s Exchange
Height: 36 – 48″ tall

Mr. Poppins Winterberry
Image Credit: Arbor Day Foundation
Height: 36-48″

Ironweed – (Vernonia fasciculata) – 2 plants
Image Credit: American Meadows
Height: up to 36-72″ tall

Forsythia – Image Credit Fast Growing Trees
Height 3′ – 8′
I brought a nice forsythia plant with me from my previous garden, It is already about 4′ tall and wide. Forsythia is the Queen of my early spring garden.

Radiance Rhododendron – Image Credit Jackson Perkins
Height: 4′ -5′
I added 2 of these plants last summer. The heat killed 1, and the other is limping along.

Quickfire Hydrangea – Image Credit: Proven Winners
Height: 6′

I brought 2 of these plants with me. They are about 4′ tall and wide.

Quickfire Hydrangea – Image Credit: Proven Winners

Quickfire Hydrangea – Jacki Kellum Garden in 2021

Canadian Goldenrod
Image Credit: North Carolina State Extension
Height 6′

Canadian Goldenrod
Image Credit: North Carolina State Extension
Height 6′

Stand of Canadian Goldenrod at the rear of Jacki Kellum Garden. This is one of the plants I won’t need to buy. God has planted a healthy crop of Goldenrod next to the rear of my backyard.  I am in the process of transplanting a hedge of these plants along my side yard, too.

Old Field Aster (Symphyotrichum pilosum) Also Called Frost Aster
Image Credit: University of Arkansas State Extension
Height: 4′

Old Field Aster is growing in the same spot in my yard. I’ll also transplant more of those plants to my hedgerow.

Goldenrod – Gifts from an Empty Lot & How to Dye with Goldenrod

Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)
Height: 4-8 ft tall
Image Credit: American Meadows

Berry Heavy Winterberry – Image Credit: Arbor Day
Height: 6′ – 8′ I have ordered 2 of these to plant this spring.

October Magic Camellia – Image Credit Southern Living
Height 6′ – 8′

I added one of these plants during the fall.

Yuletide Camellia – Image Credit Fast Growing Trees
Height 8′ – 10′
I added 1 of these plants during the fall.

Zepherine Drouhin Rose Jacki Kellum Garden 2022
Height 8′ – 12′

During the fall, I planted 2 Zepherine Drouhin Roses in my garden. Zeph has no thorns, and I have planted her on both sides of the entrance to my rose garden. I have grown this rose for years.

Amethyst Falls Wisteria (Wisteria frutescens)
Image Credit: Woodies Garden
Height: 10=12′

This is an American Wisteria that is more controllable than other wisterias.

Oakleaf Hydrangea  ‘Alice’ Quercifolia – Image Credit Pixies Gardens
Height 6′ – 10′

I already have 2 of the Alice Oakleaf Hydrangeas growing in my garden. They are currently about 5′ tall. I hope to add more of these plants this year.

Oakleaf Hydrangea Alice – Behind Pond in Jacki Kellum’s Garden 2022
In my garden, I use Oakleaf Hydrangeas as the immediate backdrop of my perennials and other closer garden elements.

Oakleaf Hydrangea Alice- Behind Patio in Jacki Kellum’s Garden 2022

Oakleaf Hydrangea Alice – with Jeri Louisiana Iris in Jacki Kellum Garden 2022

Chicago Fig Tree – Image Credit plantingtree.com
Height 10′ – 15′

i will plant 2 of these young plants this spring.

Black Diamond Shell Pink Crape Myrtle – Image Credit plantmegreen.com
Height 12′
I added 2 of these plants to my garden during the fall. They are about 4′ tall now.

Black Diamond Mystic Magenta Crape Myrtle – Image Credit Home Depot
Height 12′

I added 1 of these plants to my garden during the fall. It is about 5′ tall now.

White Dogwood – Image Credit Arbor Day
Height: 12′ – 15′
I planted a 6′ tree in August of 2023

Now that I have shown you the plants I am adding this fall, allow me to add that I also like to add other vertical features throughout my garden plantings, too. I like the way that these vertical spots add variety to what otherwise might become too much the same.

Better Homes and Gardens has a great online site that offers all sorts of garden tips and free garden plans. In regards to adding height in gardens, they comment about how one featured couple “… group attractive containers on a plant stand to make use of vertical growing space in their small Southern California garden. The effect has a big impact without taking up a lot of ground”

Jacki Kellum Garden

In the above photo, you see that I have staggered the heights of my containers by placing them on varying heights of other containers. I did not stick with this plan, but you do see how I had intended to create incremental heights with pots or containers.

Jacki Kellum Garden with Waterfall – 2022

Ultimately, I moved the waterfall away from the wall and created height around the waterfall/pond area in other ways. I used raised beds of incremental heights, and I also used tall plants at the focal point of the waterfall to add higher spots in my garden.

Better Homes and Gardens adds:

“Here’s a tip: You can do the same thing by displaying your favorite collections on vertical surfaces such as walls or fences.”

Jacki Kellum Second Story Wall Garden in 2020

Jacki Kellum Garden Wall Planting 2022

Jacki Kellum Garden Wall Planting Spring 2023

Jacki Kellum Garden Wall Planting August 2023

Jacki Kellum Garden Wall with Zepherine Drouhin Climbing Rose – 2022

Zepherine Drouhin Rose is a thorn-free and disease-free rose. Although it has no noticeable fragrance, I often use this rose to add height to various spots in my garden.

Jacki Kellum Garden 2022

In the above photo, you see that I have used a small water fountain to add height. I have used King Tut papyrus to increase the impact. King Tut is a papyrus and it is not an actual grass, but I do use grasses to add height to my garden, too.

Jacki Kellum Garden 2022

The lighter green grass is lemon grass, and the burgundy is purple fountain grass. The pink is an Arct Fox foxglove. It is much shorter than the regular foxglove which grows earlier in the season, but it is still taller than most garden plants, and I use taller plants to add height and variety in my garden, too.

If you look closely, you will see that lemon grass looks very much like the leaves or blades of daylilies. I grow daylilies both for that greenery and for their blossoms.

Siloam Double Classic Daylily in Jacki Kellum Garden

Jacki Kellum Garden

In the above photo, you see my cannas from behind. I plant cannas at the back of my garden. They create a natural wall against which to set the plants in front of it. I also have Russian sage, pineapple sage, and hollyhocks back here, but none of them are blooming now. Note: The greenery of plants is almost as valuable in the garden as the plants are after they have bloomed.

I grow clematis vines to add another source of height.

Jacki Kellum Garden 2022

Over and again. I will say that I am a true cottage gardener, and the cottage gardeners of old were peasants who had very small gardening spaces. Utilizing vertical spaces was essential to the success of peasant gardens.