Gardening & Landscaping
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Planting perrenials in fall?
I live in Madison, WI right between Zones 4-5. I am pretty much an amateur gardener and want to plant a foundation garden in my front yard that I have been delaying. I am determined to get this done tomorrow but want some opinions on planting in the fall. I know it's only early September but is it too late to plant my foundation garden this year? Obviously I will wait to plant any annuals until next year. I was looking to plant the following garden in the front:
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plans/shade/bold-woodland/
TIA!!
Re: Planting perrenials in fall?
It's not too late - actually it would be sort of early. I'd wait another week or two - just as long as you get them in before the first frost. Did you order them already or did you get them at your garden center?
I really want to get ferns since we have a lot of shade too. I love the plan! It looks great! I want some astilbe too!
SIZE: It's ony 12' long- is that big enough to cover the length of the front foundation?
DESIGN: One of the first principles of design is compatibility and sense of belonging. What does this design have to do with your achitechture? Does it work in the neighborhood? What style of architecture do you have?
PLANTS: This is a woodland garden- is your front yard full shade? And considering most foundation plantings use evergreens, will you be happy that your plants disappear every fall?
IMO, it's a mistake to use a preplanned garden, because it has nothing to do with YOUR house. One size does not fit all.
This does meet the criteria for what it is: a woodland garden; but I would never suggest these plants, and this design, for a residential foundation.
Hmmm, lots to think about! Yeah, 12' is actually BIGGER than what we have. We have about 11'x3' to fill. Our front foundation is full shade. I guess my biggest problem is I do not know a lot about plants and I don't want to choose the wrong things. I have gotten really overwhelmed trying to figure out the design aspect on my own so I thought the pre-planned garden would work. Any suggestions on great foundation plants? You seem to know your stuff!
Glad you found some plants you like. Sorry I couldn't get back to you- I got busy. Keep them watered!
Dang I'm too late! I'm also in the Madison area, have a lot of shade, and just redid our front foundation beds this weekend. We put in some dwarf conifers so that we have some plants that look good all year round.
Yes keep everything well watered. If you have an overhang on your roof the plants in the back which I'm guessing are the boxwoods and dogwood are going to be dry even with all this rain we've been getting. Boxwoods don't always do very well in our area actually. Multiple people in my garden club have had problems with them. What kind of boxwood are they? Most get to be pretty big so you'll have to trim them back so they don't block windows or overtake that small of a space. The 'Chicagoland Green' aka. 'Glencloe' seem to do the best and stay small at 2.5' tall and wide.
It also doesn't sound like you have anything short (depending on what type of hostas and astilbe you got). You could put annuals there every year or just a bunch of short perennials that bloom throughout the year. Come next spring there will be a much better selection for shade plants. I know a bunch of places that have sales in the spring and plant swaps if you're interested. One of my favorites is a place that sells every kind of native plant you can imagine for $2 a piece! They only have the sale for one weekend a year and it's packed. And don't worry they are propagated not wild.