Sharon Shook Garden

My garden has two special areas – a Cutting Garden for bouquets and a Kitchen Garden, both fenced to keep our deer friends out. In May the raised beds in the Cutting Garden contain among other things iris, peonies, roses, campanula, delphinium, and Chinese ground orchids. A grapevine-covered arbor connects the Cutting Garden to the Kitchen Garden, centered with an Asian pear tree. Asparagus planted in 1987 are still going strong. Other beds contain Triple Crown blackberries, a Gogi berry, and tomatoes in copper cages built by my husband. He also built a gazebo in the Cutting Garden, a favorite spot for relaxing and dinners. Open the same day are our neighbors, the Aitkens Iris Garden; nearby are the Clark, Andrews, and Skalicky gardens.