New Blooms in a Cool Garden: Gibbs’ Le Jardin in Summer.
By Barbara Schneider, Gibbs Gardens
Photos courtesy of Gibbs Gardens
Le Jardin was replanted early June with more than 29 different plant varieties
Le Jardin—Gibbs Gardens newest garden—is all about color, design, texture and shapes. “Visitors to our gardens love color—so I created a very special color garden just for them,” said Jim Gibbs, owner/developer/designer of Gibbs Gardens. “This garden is also special in another way. Le Jardin becomes three very different gardens depending upon the season.”
Gibbs started planning and planting his new Le Jardin serpentine flower beds in 2021. Each year, he adds more combinations of perennials and annuals, new colors, plant sizes and shapes to create hundreds of singular artistic arrangements within the now nine planting beds.
Serpentine beds are designed to draw the eye forward, to follow the color.
This June, Gibbs removed all the spring plants from Le Jardin and started over with new plants, specially selected for their shapes, colors and textures. The overall design of each planting bed changed too. Dramatic new designs for July, August and September are enhanced by unique flower varieties selected for Le Jardin’s summer theme.
The combination of colors, sizes and shapes creates dramatic plantings
The more than 29 colorful plants added to Le Jardin this summer include:
When this summer season slips into fall, Jim Gibbs will again remove all the current plants, add pansies by the thousands and later tens of thousands of tulip bulbs to create a spectacular 2025 Le Jardin to greet members and guests.
The height of blooming season
Le Jardin is just one example of nature-perfected colors throughout Gibbs Gardens. In July the Valley Gardens and Manor House Gardens are filled with blossoms at the height of their season. Vast S-shaped ribbons of roses and daylilies adorn sprawling bright green lawns in the Valley Garden. Set against a wooded hillside, mature hydrangea and rhododendron plantings show off their abundant blossoms in shades of blue, pink, white and violet.
Golden Shrimp Plant and Strobilanthus Persian Shield
With a backdrop of fragrant magnolias, The Manor House Gardens offer picture-perfect views of artistic annual and perennial gardens set against rose-covered trellises, fountains by a magical pool and breathtaking views of the North Georgia Mountains.
A cool place to visit
From Gibbs Gardens’ Flower Bridge entrance, along the Arbor Grove, though The Pleasance and Fern Dell, cool water from the springs gently flows under wooden bridges over water falls and then into ponds crowned with vividly colored tropical waterlilies in the Monet Water Lily Gardens. Next the spring-fed water flows into several to ponds in the 50-acre Japanese Gardens where it drifts around mystical boulders, hand-carved Japanese lanterns and gorgeous blue water iris before leaving the Valley Gardens.
Gibbs Gardens is a cool place to visit—especially on a summer morning.
“It’s nature’s version of air conditioning,” said Gibbs. “Our fresh spring water comes out of the ground at about 63 degrees and circulates via our streams throughout the gardens to help lower temperatures and cool the air in the Valley Gardens from morning until early afternoon. There’s nothing like an early morning stroll through the gardens to start your day off right,” said Gibbs.
Caladium Miss Muffett
A world-class garden experience
Honored with the National Garden Clubs’ Award of Excellence, Gibbs Gardens has been named one of the “Thirteen Best Botanical Gardens in America,” “2020 Best American Botanical Gardens,” one of the “World’s 10 Best Places to See Daffodils,” a top garden in Georgia by the Atlanta Journal Constitution and Explore Georgia. To learn more about Gibbs Gardens go to gibbsgardens.com.
All articles are copyrighted and remain the property of the author.
By Laura Root
Photos courtesy of Jackson & Perkins
Gardeners are always thinking ahead to the next season or the next year. And, fall is the ideal time to think about spring. Flowering shrubs, perennials and spring bulbs are great choices.
Click here for an interesting article about spring bulbs.
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