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Hi, new here and in need of some advice

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Lemon_poppy  Send Lemon_poppy a private message!


My Weather
Posted on Monday, September 19, 2005 - 12:18 pm EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and fairly new to gardening as well. Finally gotten to the time in my life where I have the time to give to growing plants and tinkering in the yard. My husband and I have had a great summer, thankfully he loves digging in the dirt as much as I do.

We enlarged a flower bed in our front yard this summer. Here is a link to some photos on my shutterfly account. (you do not need to be a member to view, just click on view slide show)
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AatHDdu4ZNGYa&notag=1
The bed did very well considering the lack of rain, hot temps and our learning curve. The pictures aren't real clear and if you have any questions I'll be glad to answer.

My reason for this post is to include photos of two new beds that were recently dug. Here is the link that shows them:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AatHDdu4ZNGYL

**the tree and driveway seen in the photos belong to my neighbor.

We've planted nothing in them, just tilled them, gotten rid of any grass or weeds that popped up and then this weekend we tilled in bags of compost manure.

They are oval in size, 21 and a half feet long, 10 feet wide at their widest point. We do plan to edge them but aren't sure yet what type of edging materials we want to use. Leaning toward scalloped concrete edging in a charcoal gray color.

Now we are at the point where we need to start thinking about what we want to plant in them. They are located at the front of our house and in areas where there is no shade at all, full sun all day. We lost 6 beautiful, huge Bradford Pear trees in the span of 5 months due to an ice storm and line winds in this area and though we've planted two new Maple trees and will be planting more this coming weekend they won't offer much shade for quite some time.

Any advice? Now that we've got the beds done...we're just looking at each other with wide eyes and a feeling of ut oh, now what?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Lemon_poppy - OH, Zone "5/6"
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Lemon_poppy  Send Lemon_poppy a private message!


My Weather
Posted on Monday, October 03, 2005 - 12:43 pm EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

No words of advice or encouragement?? :(

Lemon_poppy - OH, Zone "5/6"
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Jeanne  Send Jeanne a private message!




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Posted on Monday, October 03, 2005 - 01:32 pm EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post


Sorry LemonPoppy...I need to add this forum to my settings...Welcome to GB!!...I have a landscaping program that I can use to do a work up on that area but I must be sure that this is what you are talking about...You live in Zone5/6 and this area gets full sun...I will circle the area that I think you are talking about to make sure...let me know...How are you at growing Roses?..I could envision some wonderful Roses and possibly companioning some with Clematis...let me know and again welcome to the forum..there are a great bunch of knowledgeable people that are alot of fun on here ..you gonna love it here...Jeanne
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Jeanne Texas Zone 8B Click to hear a voice greeting from Jeanne
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Nibbs  Send Nibbs a private message!




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Posted on Monday, October 03, 2005 - 02:14 pm EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Hi, Victoria, and welcome to gardenbuddies! Sorry I missed this thread too. Our planting zones are somewhat different but I'll take a 'stab' at this. Are you thinking about having plants that go from tall in the middle to low on the outside edges, or do you want most of the planting to be about the same height? I'm sure that you would find a viburnum in the center would be hardy, and there are so many different kinds. Jeanne's idea of roses is good, too. They like direct sun. How about some hardy geraniums as well. Why not have a browse through the annuals and perennials forum and see some of the plants there, and check out the zones of the buddies who posted. I can see how Ej's new plant reference guide will be so helpful when it's up and running!
Sorry for the delay in responding, and, once again, welcome to gardenbuddies!

Diane British Columbia Zone 7b
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Missgarden  Send Missgarden a private message!




Posted on Monday, October 03, 2005 - 03:06 pm EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

My suggestion is to put in several shrubs (both evergreen and deciduous) to anchor the border and provide architectural interest in winter. Something like this:
plan

Then add various other flowers for color. Some suggestions from personal experience include:
roses Bonica and the Fairy for full season bloom. Both Pink.
clematis Comtesse de Bouchard for several bloom times. Pink.
Daylilies. They come in all sorts of colors. Some rebloom.
Coneflowers
coreopsis Moonbeam. Blooms whole season. Yellow.
Campanula. I have small clumps of blue bells which give me three months of blooms.
Stachys - lamb's ears
small clumps of oranmental grasses. Various colors.
dahlias, they come in all sorts of colors.
...and then there's also annuals

I hope this helps.

Missgarden - Ontario, Zone "5b"
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Lemon_poppy  Send Lemon_poppy a private message!


My Weather
Posted on Thursday, October 06, 2005 - 11:24 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Hi and thanks for the tips and advice so far.

Jeanne: The area you circled is indeed the area I'm talking about. Since I took those photos there've been a couple of changes. To the right there is now a Norway Maple and where you see a blob of dirt at the upper portion of the oval...about 4 feet beyond that is now a Red Sunset Maple. The bed to the left of the U shaped driveway now has a October Glory Maple where the Red Sunset is planted on the picture above and an Autumn Blaze Maple where the Norway Maple is planted.

Nibbs: You're right on target with "plants that go from tall in the middle to low on the outside edges". That's what I have in mind. I like the cottage garden effect. But unsure how to achieve it.

Missgarden: The idea of anchoring the bed with shrubs hadn't occurred to me, I'll have to do some investigating.

Any other thoughts or ideas? :)

Lemon_poppy - OH, Zone "5/6"
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~spring~j~  Send ~spring~j~ a private message!




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Posted on Saturday, October 08, 2005 - 05:51 pm EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Lemon_poppy wrote on Thursday, October 06, 2005 - 06:24 am:

I like the cottage garden effect

Since you like the cottage garden look... Some flowers that you may want are hollyhocks,canterbury bells,lavander, sage and maybe clematis and or morning glory's, black eye susans, shasta daisies. These are just some ideas. The typical cottage garden was a mixture of what ever flowers were available and herbs.
I hope this helps ya a little bit.
Good luck
Spring

~spring~j~ - West Virginia, Zone "6"
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Jeanne  Send Jeanne a private message!




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Posted on Saturday, October 08, 2005 - 06:33 pm EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post


Victoria...I don't the relation of this part of your Garden to the rest but I love Roses and thought maybe a structure with some Climbing Roses ...a birdbath..some Bulbs and Geraniums..Hope you like...Jeanne
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Jeanne Texas Zone 8B Click to hear a voice greeting from Jeanne
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Lemon_poppy  Send Lemon_poppy a private message!


My Weather
Posted on Sunday, October 09, 2005 - 12:22 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Jeanne! That's beautiful! I probably won't be able to do the arbor though since we are putting a pond in the side yard and plan to use 2 arbors there. But I could probably get just about the same affect using a nice trellis...don't you think? This mock up of yours is completely different than what I had invisioned for the space...but I like it :) BTW...what program are you using to do these mock ups?

~spring~j~: I'm definitely a lover of hollyhocks, BES's and daisies! I also would love to have some gladiolus and I saw some Baptisia 'Carolina Moonlight' in a friends garden and love it. Some other flowers I've seen recently that I've fallen in love with are: Salvia pratensis 'Rose Rhapsody', Caryoptersis Clandonensis Petit Bleu, and Bergenia cordifolia 'Winterglut'.

So many choices...only so much ground...sigh

Lemon_poppy - OH, Zone "5/6"
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Jeanne  Send Jeanne a private message!




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Posted on Sunday, October 09, 2005 - 09:39 am EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post


Lemon_poppy wrote on Saturday, October 08, 2005 - 07:22 pm:

But I could probably get just about the same affect using a nice trellis...don't you think? This mock up of yours is completely different than what I had invisioned for the space...but I like it :) BTW...what program are you using to do these mock ups?


Victoria..By all means hon..plant the flowers that you love..Here ya go with a Trellis..I made it white as I saw the white fence up by the road...I think white really makes things just pop in the gardens...the program I am using is called "Sierras Home and Garden Suite 8 Products in 1"...I bought it at Best Buy for $18.88...Jeanne
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Jeanne Texas Zone 8B Click to hear a voice greeting from Jeanne
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~spring~j~  Send ~spring~j~ a private message!




My Weather
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Posted on Sunday, October 09, 2005 - 12:27 pm EST :   Last Buddysize PhotosCopy highlighted text to new message Edit Post Delete Post Print Post

Jeanne,
You did a great job on your designs they are beautiful!!!


Lemon poppy...
Whatever your choice is for flowers will be perfect! Remember to have fun. Cottage gardens look great with whatever you put in them, they are suppose to be a "no fuss".
Good luck to ya, and show pictures when it's done. I know it will be beautiful!!!

~spring~j~ - West Virginia, Zone "6"

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