Would LOVE some gardening advice before I make a mess! PIPs

s_angel

Hi all, I am new to this board and have spent some time looking over old posts - tons of great info! I am in zone 6A. We bought our house 7 years ago and the previous owner had the garden at the end of our driveway looking so beautiful (see pic below). But it has been a LONG time since it looked like that. This year I dug up everything and want to start from scratch. The pics below are what it used to look like, what it looks like now and a bunch of perennials I went out and bought (hopefully won't be a waste of money!!). The flowers are Yarrow, coneflower, coreospsis. phlox, verbena and some others. The area has a large rock, some ornamental grass, two hostas and a sedum in it now. This area gets about 80% sun. I have some bags of compost that I will mix in. I spent last weekend loosening the soil. Any words of wisdom for me??? Thanks in advance!

 

pdxmouse

What about irrigation -- how are you planning to water? You could do a sprinkler, but you'll probably end up watering the pavement. You could also wind a soaker hose through the area and just hook it up when it needs a good watering. That should also keep the weeds down.

 Speaking of weeds, you'll want to mulch around your plants to hold moisture in and block weed seeds from getting established. Bark chips look nice, imo.

pdxmouse

Oh, and follow the directions on the tag for spacing. If you have blank spots this year, fill them in with annuals. Otherwise in a few years you'll have a tangled mess of stressed-out plants.

FoxinFiji

Looks like you have a good start!  I'd break up that ornamental grass if I were you and either put some in other flower beds or give it away.  I'd also probably move the hostas to the outside where they can be seen better.  Preferable an area that gets some shade.  Of all the plants you have listed they are the biggest shade lovers. 

Then I'd organize things by height and bloom time.  Taller things in the center and shorter around the edges (because it will be seen from all sides).  Things that bloom at the same time should be spread apart instead of right next to each other.  For a more natural look you can group like plants together (usually a group of 3 or 5).  If you'd like a more formal look you can line them up for a bullseye look.  You also might want to look into adding some more spring bloomers that like sun like poppies, salvia, or blubs (daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, etc.).

Do you plan to mulch the bed?  If you're adding compost and then adding mulch you'll need to remove some of that old soil.  Ideally you want 3" of mulch to help prevent weeds/make them easy to pull out, to keep the ground shaded which in turn means you have to water less, and to decompose and improve the soil so you won't have to add compost in the future.  You'd want the mulch to be about flush with the driveway or it will be constantly falling onto it. 

HTH!

s_angel

pdx: "Otherwise in a few years you'll have a tangled mess of stressed-out plants."

This is exactly what I am afraid of! I have to wrap my head around the fact that this will be an evolving project. There is no way I can make the garden look this year what I would like it to look like next year. Does that make sense?

fox: awesome advice. So i need to get rid of some of that soil huh? I was wondering if that was the case. My SIL recommended some shrubs (mini holly) lining the sidewalk side - I thought that sounded nice. I agree - I think I need to get rid of some of that grass (believe it or not it is trimmed down to less than HALF what it was a few weeks ago!! yikes!). Def planning to mulch - didn't realize it should be 3" thick - good to know!

Question - if I were to plant bulbs this fall that bloom at different times of the year - say alium and late summer lilies - can I plant the bulbs practically on top of each other? Do they still need to be spaced even though they bloom at different times? And I love alium - can I buy that now in bloom at a nursery and put in my garden for enjoyment this year?

FoxinFiji

Yes good advice from pdx! 

Gardens are always evolving so don't worry about that.  It will take a few growing seasons for everything to fill in but when it does it will look really nice.  After that some of those perennials will need to be divided every couple of years like the grass for example to keep it in line.  

A shrub would be nice I was actually thinking of suggesting that but I wouldn't used holly.  They are sharp and very hard to get rid of if you ever change your mind.  I'd put some kind of small evergreen like a dwarf boxwood (they like a little shade though) or maybe a dwarf dogwood that will give you some winter interest with it's red stems.  A variegated leaf dogwood like 'Ivory Halo' would add some nice white accents all summer long.

Yes when I started gardening I had no idea I needed that much mulch either but I really wish I had done that with my earlier beds now that I have some beds I dug down and put 3" of mulch in.  So much easier to keep looking nice!  You can also use a product like Preen to keep weeds that spread by seed from growing in your mulch.  

Well they can't be directly on top of each other.  They need a little space for multiplying and root systems especially if they are planted at the same depth (different bulbs need different depths it should say on the directions when you buy them).  For most bulbs you'll need to leave the green foliage after they are done blooming so they can create next years blooms.  After the foliage turns brown then you can cut it down.  I don't have allium or lilies (I only have shady beds) so I'm not sure when their foliage browns but I'm guessing they overlap time wise. 

Now make sure to come back and post pics when this bed is all finished!

pdxmouse

s_angel:

pdx: "Otherwise in a few years you'll have a tangled mess of stressed-out plants."

This is exactly what I am afraid of! I have to wrap my head around the fact that this will be an evolving project. There is no way I can make the garden look this year what I would like it to look like next year. Does that make sense?

Yes, that makes sense. Believe me, I've been cursing whoever had our house before us and consistently did not give plants enough room to grow. It looks great for about 2 years, and then starts pushing over fences (current vexing plant that there's no way to remove it because it's right over the gas line). So don't do that.

This is where annuals come in because they do us the kindness of dying. Or are cheap so you don't care so much when they get crowded out if they reseed. You can also use them to experiment with height and color without the long-term commitment. Just pick out some that you like and plop them in where it looks bare.

Foxi has great advice on groupings. I usually plot the containers out where I think they should go and then walk around a few times to see it from different angles before digging.

s_angel

Thank you both SO much! I will definitely come back and post pics. Thank you Foxi for the shrub recommendations - I think I would prefer one of the ones you mentioned over Holly bushes since I have 3 holly bushes already - I actually love them and love love love seeing those red berries through the snow! so pretty!

 I hope you don't mind when I come back with more questions!

FoxinFiji

If you like berries you could also try snowberry or coralberry for either white or pink berries.  I just realized your daughter is named Holly so I'm sure she loves seeing those too.  But having a mix of shrubs is always nice. 

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The biggest thing with upkeep every year is timely mulching and weeding. You are gonna have to get out there sometime in April and maybe in the fall as well and fill in any bare spots. I always get my butt out there too late in the year (like now) and its too late for a lot of plants. I was better this year for the first time!

 

kcpokergal

I am not much of a gardener, but a couple of thoughts--I also give holly bushes a thumbs down. They are pokey and kind of ugly anyway. I am considering getting rid of the ones that came with my house.

I fear your hostas might burn up if it's mostly sun. I think I am also in zone 6 and a couple of my hostas have more sun and just fry in July.