Formal into the Wild Wood

"And, I don't want anything formal."
.
Gets me every time.  In the early years I would explain how 'formal' is your friend.  Now, I just let it rip, playing with formal elements, don't mention the word, and enjoy, "I love this."
.
Because I know what is most important in life, I checked Pinterest late last nite, hoping something new popped up for Furlow Gatewood.  This pic, below, may not be new but I had never seen his allee of mophead hydrangea from this angle.
.
Gatewood's allee has sailed a fleet of ships since its debut in Veranda in July of 2013.
.
Adore how he smashed formal into wild wood.
.
His wild wood of canopy-understory-walls-floors, a total home run.
.
Another home run?  No dinky-is-stinky here.
.
Further south than my garden, I look at Gatewood's hydrangea, nostrils flared, right eyebrow cocked/loaded, in a momentary whiff of envy.  No near decade of leisurely late freezes, in March/April, taking out hydrangea buds.
.
No, there is not next year to get this decadence, below, back.  It is several good 'next years' in a row, to get the decadence back.
.
Before you think this is a problem to maintain, notice front/left, a clearly exposed drip irrigation tube.
.



Pic, above, here.
.
Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara