Home Entrance
We start our tour at the ENTRANCE OF THEIR HOME. This is the first thing that everyone sees when they pull up. So you really want a nice pop. And he loves what they've done with this combination of plants. Let’s talk it through. Thank you. This is a dwarf variety of Annabelle hydrangea called Wee White. Eric thinks it's the perfect hydrangea to have at the entrance of the house because it stays compact. There is also a mature size and there are four of them in this grouping. They were planted as little quart sizes. The next group is more established, they were are probably planted in 2019. So they've been here a while. They get full sun all day long.Click here
Native Species Hydrangea
They start with a NATIVE SPECIES HYDRANGEA covered in pollinators.This is Gatsby Pink and is at full maturity. It is probably a six by six plant at this point in time, it blooms on old wood, so they don't prune it, they don't do anything to it at all. It has really good cold tolerance and heartiness over the winter. What's really nice about this hydrangea and probably why it's called Gatsby Pink, by the the end of the season it is a deep, rich, intense pink and it doesn't stop there as far as colorful interest goes. As fall comes all of the big, bold foliage that you see turns deep, rich mahogany, almost like leather, it's really interesting. Click here
Planting Geraniums At The Base Of Hydrangeas
The next pairing is a case of the garden telling us what it wants to do. They planted GERANIUMS AT BASE OF THE HYDRANGEA The hydrangea at that time was two feet away. It was much smaller. But now they find the rose geranium almost climbs through it. So, in short order they're going to start having little blue blooms that pop up through.Click here
Creative Fixes For A Garden
One of the stories that Eric J. is most interested in when talking with gardeners is the kind of CREATIVE FIXES you have to come up with. Often times we discover things because of our love of a certain plant and we’re not quite able to make it work in the garden. He thinks this is a great example of that kind of passion. And it's also a really, really cool idea that he would love for them to share with our viewers. They wanted hostas and when they built their house they didn't have shade anywhere. This tree wasn't here and this is just very strong sunlight to begin with. So they planted the nishiki dappled willow. They bought it in a very small container when they first moved in. It started getting really big, and Eric discovered pollarding and decided to tree form this willow. And now they can have hostas of all kinds but they had to make their own shade. Click here
Repeated Themes
There are REPEATED THEMES in your garden, especially in the borders. They have a nice mix of variegation and then kind of a triangle of chartreuse. The lava hydrangea is very well represented. They are standing in the hydrangea room and it begins with the Invincibelle Ruby hydrangeas, which appear to really enjoy this location. They're very full. They were planted probably three years ago as quarts and this is their full size. This is as big as they'll get. Eric J. likes that they bring that height and repetition of colors.Click here
Bright Contrast Of Dark Foliage
Next is one of Eric J.’s favorite collections, it has the really BRIGHT CONTRAST OF DARK FOLIAGE. Tell us what you were thinking with this design. They do love to create garden vignettes in the garden because it really helps dissolve that overwhelming feel when creating a big space. They strive to create these special moments and this happens to be one of their favorite special moments in the garden. They started with the winecraft black smoke bush with foliage that's to die for. It's gorgeous. Click here
Added A Fountain
This spring Eric and Christopher ADDED A FOUNTAIN. They do have water throughout the garden but this particular fountain has a really subtle sound. When sitting on the bench, enjoying all all the surroundings, all the hydrangeas, they always have this little peaceful moment. And when walking up, taking this vignette in, this is the spot where everybody stops. Not just because the honeysuckle is the coolest plant you've ever seen but the layering is something they’re very proud of. In this space one really gets a sense of the red foliage and the orange foliage, then the blues and the greens. Click here
Pairing Plants That Contrast
This is another new selection that's wonderfully contrasted with the sweeping red bud. That’s one of the things they really try to do when thinking about creating vignettes in the garden. PAIRING THINGS TOGETHER THAT REALLY CONTRAST each other, but also complement each other. The foliage is a tiny bit similar in shape, but the colors really make each other pop. Eric doesn’t think that the Invincibelle, sublime hydrangea blooms would look nearly as intense green if they didn't have this darker plant to play off of. This is a pretty fast grower. Click here
Roses
Eric thinks the queen of the garden is the ROSEBUSH and it would be very hard to imagine any proper garden without roses. But there are some amazing new rose selections that are hitting the market that are changing everything. This rose is called Reminiscent Crema Rose. It’s pink, a newer collection from Proven Winners they have completely fallen in love with. What they love about Reminiscent pink is of all the roses they have, and they have old English varieties, newer English varieties, but these are the healthiest roses in the garden. When they came out of winter, there was nothing dead on a stem. There were no black tips, no black dye-back. In fact, the front three were transplanted just a few weeks ago. Unbelievably, they have been transplanted this season, and they're still doing well. Click here
Mixed Border
Next visited is a beautiful MIXED BORDER that is the latest addition to the garden. This originally was just a big line of Limelight white Hydrangeas. And that ended up being a bit much. Correct? It is, as they've developed and grown as gardeners they wanted to explore more opportunities in the garden and thought this would be a great space to add in a pond-less waterfall, to include that movement with sound happening. They worked with a local contractor, Decker's Pondscapes to come in and install this gorgeous pond-less waterfall forest. This means that there is no pond, the pond is actually underground, thus maintenance is really low. Because they have such a large garden to work in they wanted less maintenance. They then went in and when approaching this border they wanted to start with a big structure and specimen plants first. Click here
We're back in Albany, New York where Eric and Christopher show us how thoughtful plant selection brings their garden to life. Color, texture, structure, it's all intentional. Discover the plants behind the beauty, as we GardenSMART in New York.
In this episode GardenSMART returns to Albany, New York, for another visit with Eric and Christopher, two creative YouTube gardeners with a stunning private retreat. Host Eric Johnson dives deeper into their garden to explore the thoughtful plant selections that bring structure, color, and seasonal interest to every corner. From rare specimens to tried and true favorites, their choices reflect both artistry and experience. It's a master class in planting design right from their backyard. Eric J. welcomes Eric and Christopher, thank you so much for being here, welcome back to the show. Eric and Christopher in turn thank Eric J. and GardenSMART for joining them again in their garden.
Eric J. sets up what we’re going to do in this episode. We're going to take a tour of a three year old garden and he would invite the guys to talk through the things that are working, the things that aren't working and then, of course, we want to hear about all their favorite plants. We start our tour at the ENTRANCE OF THEIR HOME. This is the first thing that everyone sees when they pull up. So you really want a nice pop. And he loves what they've done with this combination of plants. Let’s talk it through. Thank you. This is a dwarf variety of Annabelle hydrangea called Wee White. Eric thinks it's the perfect hydrangea to have at the entrance of the house because it stays compact. There is also a mature size and there are four of them in this grouping. They were planted as little quart sizes. The next group is more established, they were are probably planted in 2019. So they've been here a while. They get full sun all day long. This is the front of their home, it faces south. They do have a little bit of drip irrigation underneath. Eric J. couldn't imagine a cuter way for people to come up the driveway and get this basically bouquet of hydrangeas just coming out of the ground. Christopher and Eric chose them for the foundation bed of the house because they're in a suburban neighborhood, they didn't want to get too busy, too overly cottagey with it. It's a much tidier border, and they love using the artist blue floss flower as a hedge. It's this lovely little tidy annual that stays smaller. Some ageratums get kind of tall and leggy, but this one stays nice and tidy, it provides a really nice contour to the front curve of the bed. The next plant is called called Double Play Blue Kazoo spirea. It's just come out of flower, but gets really bright white flowers just before the We Whites come out. But the cool thing is it provides this multi colored leaf structure. They're mostly in a cooler blue tone, but they also bring in kind of a reddish feel. Tucked in between, which won't really shine for probably another month, is purple fountain grass. One day, someone's gonna come out with a purple fountain grass that is hearty in their cooler zone. They always plant it in the same spot so you can just imagine as these transition, as they get into the fall they're going to have this big plume of red foliage which Eric thinks is fantastic. Then the next layer behind - In the springtime they had ambassador alliums. They chose to pair them with another Annabelle style hydrangea Invincibelle Spirit. This is an awesome trick that Eric discovered, if you plant your big alliums at the base of arborescens hydrangeas that really big, ugly foliage of an allium gets buried by the new growth of the hydrangea, then just as they're finishing they have beautiful pink flowers. It looks like a flower arrangement in a vase. It's a really, really beautiful effect. And he thinks it also lends itself well to this border that is a little formal-ish. But it's also playful and a great backdrop for all of this. Eric J. thinks it's really, really nicely done.
Because Eric and Christopher’s home is contemporary and rectangular they have developed a gardening style over the past seven or eight years that exudes a cottage feel, they call it contemporary cottage. Every border is curved. Eric J. thinks they've done a great great job in their garden of creating these vignettes and finding wonderful and whimsical ways to make plants play together well.
They start with a NATIVE SPECIES HYDRANGEA covered in pollinators.This is Gatsby Pink and is at full maturity. It is probably a six by six plant at this point in time, it blooms on old wood, so they don't prune it, they don't do anything to it at all. It has really good cold tolerance and heartiness over the winter. What's really nice about this hydrangea and probably why it's called Gatsby Pink, by the the end of the season it is a deep, rich, intense pink and it doesn't stop there as far as colorful interest goes. As fall comes all of the big, bold foliage that you see turns deep, rich mahogany, almost like leather, it's really interesting. When they were thinking about what to pair it with they took into consideration, obviously, the bloom color, the size and structure, but also the structure of this foliage. The shape of the leaf looks like an oak leaf, hence the name. Going the complete opposite direction and taking it down to something smaller is the delft blue geranium, which has a really interesting flower on it, it looks like it's just been painted with a tiny little artist brush. Christopher's favorite pairing of all is pairing a rose with a clematis. He loves taking a climbing rose and pairing it with a clematis, especially type 3 Clematis because then you can cut it down to the ground almost every season and clean out that growth so it doesn't take over when you want to prune your rose. The rose is Teasing Georgia from David Austin. He loves the color and paired it with Superba, a Jack Manning clematis sport, a lovely blue. Depending on the heat he finds that some David Austin roses change color. This can be a little more of a yellowy tone and then it's sort of gotten into this more apricot, almost white, but when it has that yellow, it really pops against the clematis.
The next pairing is a case of the garden telling us what it wants to do. They planted GERANIUMS AT BASE OF THE HYDRANGEA The hydrangea at that time was two feet away. It was much smaller. But now they find the rose geranium almost climbs through it. So, in short order they're going to start having little blue blooms that pop up through. One thing about making content that is an unintentional bonus is they now have a video journal of the garden. So from month to month, they can look back and say, "Wait, where do we need to add in a little bit of red?” And then, oops, Surefire Rose begonia pops in. It does tie the whole thing together. So this is something that happened because they make content.
One of the stories that Eric J. is most interested in when talking with gardeners is the kind of CREATIVE FIXES you have to come up with. Often times we discover things because of our love of a certain plant and we’re not quite able to make it work in the garden. He thinks this is a great example of that kind of passion. And it's also a really, really cool idea that he would love for them to share with our viewers. They wanted hostas and when they built their house they didn't have shade anywhere. This tree wasn't here and this is just very strong sunlight to begin with. So they planted the nishiki dappled willow. They bought it in a very small container when they first moved in. It started getting really big and Eric discovered pollarding and decided to tree form this willow. And now they can have hostas of all kinds but they had to make their own shade. There's a bungee cord holding some together because they're just trying to shape it into more shade than they have currently, but in order to have coast to coast hostas they can't have them in full sun. So the willow provides just enough shade. Also, the willow selected really plays well with all of the different colors. They have some beautiful little splashes of chartreuse and the variegated foliage works well against the variegation in the bruner as well as in some of the other hosta selections. It’s a very cohesive and also a very clever plan. Thank you. Eric J. points out another spot in this newly created shade area. He loves that this Yellow Coast hosta plays with the coral bells underneath the invincible ruby hydrangeas and then it also brings the gold from the gold smoke bush down and around. It just ties it all together really nicely.
There are REPEATED THEMES in your garden, especially in the borders. They have a nice mix of variegation and then kind of a triangle of chartreuse. The lava hydrangea is very well represented. They are standing in the hydrangea room and it begins with the Invincibelle Ruby hydrangeas, which appear to really enjoy this location. They're very full. They were planted probably three years ago as quarts and this is their full size. This is as big as they'll get. Eric J. likes that they bring that height and repetition of colors. The invinciblelle sphere has two hydrangeas further north in the bed and it bounces that pink back and forth between them. This is another great example of a creative composition of plants that really draws your eye into it. Much of your garden is creating these little, almost like independent standalone gardens, so that as the viewer's walking through every different direction that you turn is a brand new experience with a new collection of plants, yet there are repeated themes throughout the garden that tie it all in together. So it's very cohesive, but it's also just a very fun garden to experience.
Next is one of Eric J.’s favorite collections, it has the really BRIGHT CONTRAST OF DARK FOLIAGE. Tell us what you were thinking with this design. They do love to create garden vignettes in the garden because it really helps dissolve that overwhelming feel when creating a big space. They strive to create these special moments and this happens to be one of their favorite special moments in the garden. They started with the winecraft black smoke bush with foliage that's to die for. It's gorgeous. They do cut it back to the ground, so they forfeit the blooms, but like it this size. And when they cut it to the ground and compost it, it provides extra bold, big foliage, and that's why they grow this shrub. And the way it pairs with the Kintzley's Ghost honeysuckle is really dreamy. It's such a cool honeysuckle with its big bracts that come out in the spring, it'll flower yellow, then gets red with berries on it, the birds just eat it up quickly. The other thing they love, it is a European variety of honeysuckle, so it's non invasive, it's not gonna spread around the garden. It's gonna stay contained here on the trellis that they put on the fence where it's just beautiful. Then to ground the space they went ahead and did a dwarf mugo pine that will grow very, very slowly. It's not going to be one of those giant ones that'll overtake the space. Then tying in perennials they have a nice color block of the Peach-Berry Winecraft Coral bell, which plays really well with the purple of the Winecraft black foliage. They’re both bold foliages, but are totally different in color and texture. They then connect it with the purple of the Ever After Veronica, which is just coming into flower. Once it is in full bloom, this spot is so eye catching, it's incredible.
This spring Eric and Christopher ADDED A FOUNTAIN. They do have water throughout the garden but this particular fountain has a really subtle sound. When sitting on the bench, enjoying all all the surroundings, all the hydrangeas, they always have this little peaceful moment. And when walking up, taking this vignette in, this is the spot where everybody stops. Not just because the honeysuckle is the coolest plant you've ever seen but the layering is something they’re very proud of. In this space one really gets a sense of the red foliage and the orange foliage, then the blues and the greens. They all play so nicely together. What really frames this vignette is the eastern redbud tree. Not only does it have gorgeous spring flowers that bloom all over the trunk and all over the branches, but it also has big bold foliage. Eric J. agrees, you've got the beautiful composition of big, bold foliage playing really nicely with each other. They just kind of make your eye dance around the space.
Additionally in this area, there's a sprinter boxwood and the Mugo pine, meaning there is additionally winter interest. They also have a ton of tete a tete, the really tiny daffodils. They have high enough leaves that they get covered by all the Perennials when they come out, so they don't have to go in and do too much clean up with them. There is a bit of four seasons of interest too.
This is yet again another wonderful example of just how diverse hydrangeas can be. This is another new selection that's wonderfully contrasted with the sweeping red bud. That’s one of the things they really try to do when thinking about creating vignettes in the garden. PAIRING THINGS TOGETHER THAT REALLY CONTRAST each other, but also complement each other. The foliage is a tiny bit similar in shape, but the colors really make each other pop. Eric doesn’t think that the Invincibelle, sublime hydrangea blooms would look nearly as intense green if they didn't have this darker plant to play off of. This is a pretty fast grower. They only started this three years ago? Yes, in 2022, these were planted. There are five of them in this hedge and were little quarts when planted. This is about their mature size, about 4 by 4. They stay this green color. Sometimes they’ll be a bit darker green, they really have this sublime color and they have pink pollen. When looking for those bright splashes of colors and great plants for contrast, especially with dark foliage, it's hard to imagine a better selection. And they’re really easy to grow in this growing zone because it blooms on new wood. It's nonstop green color for the entire season.
In the world of Flower and shrubs, there are so many amazing new selections that come out every year and Eric J. thinks as a gardener the ones he's been most impressed with are all of the new hydrangeas. They have a wonderful example. Let's talk about it. They are really excited about this hydrangea. It is Let's Dance Sky View. They’re in zone 6, upstate New York, so they've really struggled being able to grow big leaf hydrangeas with big, beautiful flowers in their garden - until now. This Incredibelle hydrangea, which will eventually grow to three to four feet tall and wide is a continuous bloomer, it blooms on old wood and new wood. The blooms are always appearing quickly. Eric loves that this is so easy to turn blue. They have added a little bit of aluminum sulfate, because in their area, most macrophylla hydrangeas are going to come back on the pink side. Eric J. did notice a couple spots that did have some pink, which he likes. It is such a versatile plant with the ability of tinting it more blue than pink. But then again the continuous blooming is what makes it such a high impact garden plant. Plus it's not just that one sneeze in the spring, there are basically three seasons of interest. Regarding one sneeze in the spring, in their growing zone a big leaf hydrangea traditionally has their one big sneeze in October. Because they've died completely to the ground they spend all season trying to get one flower out and it doesn't come until October. But here it's the very beginning of summer and they're loaded with flower buds and they've already had things in full bloom, so that's really awesome. This is one of their absolute favorites.
Eric thinks the queen of the garden is the ROSEBUSH and it would be very hard to imagine any proper garden without roses. But there are some amazing new rose selections that are hitting the market that are changing everything. This rose is called Reminiscent Crema Rose. It’s pink, a newer collection from Proven Winners they have completely fallen in love with. What they love about Reminiscent pink is of all the roses they have, and they have old English varieties, newer English varieties, but these are the healthiest roses in the garden. When they came out of winter, there was nothing dead on a stem. There were no black tips, no black dye-back. In fact, the front three were transplanted just a few weeks ago. Unbelievably, although they have been transplanted this season, and they're still doing well. This rose smells amazing, it has a lot of an English quality to it. The collection comes from Serbia thus is in a different location than some of the other roses that have been bred in this garden. They love the color, love the smell and it comes out in really giant clusters of roses just as one is finishing. Look at the size of this spray, it's going to be incredible. Also, look at how clean the folds are. That is something they've noticed. A few of the older roses do get black spot. They’re lucky in this climate, they don't get a tremendous amount of black spot, especially on newer bred roses. The David Austen's that are within five or 10 years since being released are much more resistant to black spot. They stay clean, they look fantastic, Eric J. too is super excited about Reminiscent. It's got to be one that ends up with his garden.
They do have bunnies and do have deer. Coming up with solutions for those have been some game changers. They never thought that vinyl coated black chicken wire would be the difference between having roses, having yarrow, having Gomphrena, or not.
Next visited is a beautiful MIXED BORDER that is the latest addition to the garden. This originally was just a big line of Limelight white Hydrangeas. And that ended up being a bit much. Correct? It is, as they've developed and grown as gardeners they wanted to explore more opportunities in the garden and thought this would be a great space to add in a pond-less waterfall, to include that movement with sound happening. They worked with a local contractor, Decker's Pondscapes to come in and install this gorgeous pond-less waterfall forest. This means that there is no pond, the pond is actually underground, thus maintenance is really low. Because they have such a large garden to work in they wanted less maintenance. They then went in and when approaching this border they wanted to start with a big structure and specimen plants first. Thus started with this big Japanese maple, an Arctic Fire Japanese maple, then underplanted it with some hydrangeas, then this gorgeous Kodiak jet black Diervilla. The foliage is stunning, especially next to the verbena bariansas, the meteor shower verbena. They like the way they play together. They have a lot of annual plantings in this space, including Christopher's favorite of all time and Eric's favorite annual - hands down. That plant is Supertunia Mini Vista Indigo. He loves the new color. You get that really saturated color and then it almost goes to this kind of powdery, ghosty version as it fades. It provides a multi colored effect. When they were looking at this space, they had this idea they would contour along the way to the pond-less waterfall. The blue Petunia provides such a nice effect. They're also learning, for the first time, about pond plants. There are plants that are marginal to a pond that they can actually now incorporate. There's an iris here, it's called Purple flame. It starts out a dark purple, the neon green color and the bloom are beautiful. So it's a fun time to learn about new plants they never planted and get to play with annuals. They did add hydrangeas back in, including the Tough Stuff Ah-Ha, which is an improved version of Tough Stuff, it has enormous flowers. One is blue, then two of them are pink, something that's really fun. The other hydrangea they chose was something they’ve been wanting to get their hands on for a long time, it's called Let's Dance Arriba. It’s a prolific re-bloomer, providing pinks or purples. One of the things they wanted when it came to these hydrangea types was no maintenance, because these are blooming on old wood. They’re old-wood type hydrangeas so they don't have to prune them, really they don't have to do anything with them. Whereas with the limelight hedge they do have to, every late winter, early spring, go in and cut them all back and get them all perfect, but these can just be left alone and they get all the flowers they want.
Eric J. tells them it’s been so much fun spending the day, your passion for gardening is really contagious. It's going to be so much fun over the years to just see how this garden evolves. We will all learn from your ideas, we can all learn from each other's successes and failures. Thank you for spending the day with us. And thank you and GardenSMART for joining us. Thanks for coming by.
In this episode we took a deeper look at Eric and Christopher’s garden. We explored many plant choices and design decisions that make it a truly special garden. If you have questions about anything in the show visit us on the web at gardensmart.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. And remember, even if you're a master gardener, there's's always more to learn. So join us next week for more gardening tips and ideas as we GardenSMART.
Taking steps now to protect roses during the colder months ensures a smoother start to the 2026 growing season. For an informative rose care article, click here .
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