Linda Vater’s Garden

Over spring break, rather than stay at home by myself while Paul was at a conference in Oklahoma City, I decided to tag along. Some people would relish the alone time, but I can’t stand it! While he was at the conference during the day, I went out and explored Oklahoma City, seeing Myriad Botanical Gardens, the zoo, and on the last morning, Linda Vater‘s garden. I have been following her on Instagram (@potagerblog), and I happened to notice that her location tags were for Oklahoma City. It also happened that just about that time she posted that she does garden tours, so it was meant to be! It’s definitely been a little while since spring break, so her garden has changed considerably since then, but I thought it would be fun to reflect on some of the highlights of her garden now that I have a little more free time.

Her container game was also very strong. In individual containers, you can see the “thriller, filler, and spiller” approach. She creates this with boxwoods for height, pansies for color, and ivy to spill over. Some containers had bulbs like muscari or tulips. Some had gorgeously sculpted boxwood topiaries. Her windowboxes had evergreen shrubs sculpted into cone shapes, a variety of filler plants like hyacinths, pansies, or heuchera and spillers including variegated ivy. She also creates this looks with multiple pots grouped together. In one of her quick tips videos for the Southern Living Plant Collection, she calls it the papa bear, mama bear, and baby bear.

What I loved the most were the separate “rooms” she created in her front and back yard. She has two seating areas in the front, one by each door.

Her back yard even has a beautiful entrance like a foyer. The redbud, Japanese maple, and evergreen trees chosen create a beautiful, multi-colored canopy.

The garden in her backyard had multiple seating areas. Each area created a different room – some are places to congregate, converse, or eat, while others are for solitude, contemplation, and reflection.

And, the most glorious of all the rooms, is where she has an arbor entryway to the pièce de résistance – a masterfully shaped potager.

What Linda does with her yard is truly incredible. She doesn’t have acres to work with. However, with all the different rooms she creates, styles of gardens, and groupings of plants, it feels like so much space. I left that morning truly inspired. But not in a completely far off, impossible to achieve way. I left invigorated with tons of ideas to implement in my own garden. And, on top of it all, Linda is such a supportive, helpful, friendly person. She was more than willing to answer all of my questions and give great advice. I can’t thank her enough for allowing me to meander through her garden, pick her brain, and take some of her time on what was a busy day for her. Check her out on Instagram (@potagerblog) for inspiring photos and videos from her garden, and her YouTube channel for informative videos on different plant combinations, creating beautiful containers, topiaries, and more. Hope you are as inspired as I am!