Gardening & Landscaping
julieandjojo
member
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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.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
What's in your garden?
What have you recently planted or what kind of garden/plants do you have? I am a newbie @ gardening but having so much fun! Right now I have 2 mophead hydrangea (not yet flowering, maybe another year) in the front, along with some cala lilly and lilly bulbs I just planted, and a climbing rose I just started yesterday. Then yesterday I also transplanted a "Go Tell" peony. I hope it roots and grows b/c it's gorgeous! I have two blackberry canes, babies really, in the backyard and some wildflowers.
Daisy & Picabo 
Proud Newbie Gardener
Proud Newbie Gardener
Re: What's in your garden?
I've lived here 18 years, so I have a lot of mature plants.
In the front of the house I have an Endless Summer hydrangea (grows on old wood so it's really full, really fast), 2 rhododendrons, some lillies, a large day lilly plant, and about 60 tulips that look lovely in the spring. I prepare the front of the house for "curb appeal", the backyard gardens are for us to enjoy, and to have flowers that bloom for bouquets. In the front of the house every year I have 6-8 potted planters with a variety of annuals which bloom all spring & summer, but don't last year to year. This is how I get color in the front of the house all summer long. After so many years of trying different annuals (petunias and others) I've realized my best bet for potted plants are impatiens and geraniums. They are very hardy and require less watering. I also have a rock garden near the front walk where I plant annuals every spring, this year it has Irish moss, some moss roses (portulaca).
On the driveway side of the house I have 2 lavender plants, and 2 rose bushes, one a long stemmed white rose the other a red climbing rose. There's also 2 peony bushes that I planted a few years ago that have had more flowers year after year.
In the backyard along the back fence I have 5 lilac bushes, 2 white, 1 pink, 2 standard purple. In other garden areas I have several Stargazer lilly plants, a few day lilly plants, bee balm, coral bells, 3 rose bushes, one garden that is pretty full of lilly of the valley (they grow like crazy with underground roots). I also have a standard daisy plant.
The key to having a garden is planting things that bloom at different times, plus, will bloom in your geographical area. For example, in the same small round garden area in the front I have about 20 tulip bulbs and a large daylilly plant. The tulips bloom in the spring, and about the same time the leaves are starting to pop up from the daylilly plant. The daylilly will bloom about 4-6 weeks after the tulips have died.
We also have a small (3 ft x 3 ft) raised garden for veggies & herbs. Last year we overplanted by a LOT, and planted too late. This year we just planted tomatoes and jalapeno peppers (my husband loves spicy stuff) and herbs like dill, rosemary & oregano.
Climbing roses really only bloom once a year, but my long stemmed rose bush is just blooming now, I will cut those for bouquets around the house, it will bloom another 3-4 times, the last ones always die on the bush around November. I've had 2 babies breath plants over the years, and for some reason they don't take in my soil or yard. I'd love to try again though, because when they were blooming, they were great to cut and insert into my garden bouquets.
If you are interested, I'm sure there are tons of articles on the internet on how to plant a garden of perennials that will bloom at different times from spring to fall (mums). Most of what I've learned about gardening I learned from my Mom. My goal has always been to plant the types of flowers that don't require a lot of attention.
And you are right: hydrangeas usually don't bloom the first year.
Another thing I'll caution you on is "critters". We live in a busy suburb of Detroit, but have a rabbit "problem". Last year all my Stargazer lillies had the buds eaten off the tops of the plants almost as soon as they were out of the ground. I've heard putting human hair (from your hairbrush) near them will keep them out. Haven't tried that yet, LOL.
Good luck with your garden over the years. The most important part is to pay attention to the instructions for depth of planting, time of year to plant, and care (watering).
I've found weeding is my least favorite task around the house, but it does have to be done, LOL.
My yards are forever a work in progress. I feel like I take on one or two major projects every year, and otherwise just try to keep up! I love gardening and can always find something to do in the yard, whether I have 10 minutes or the whole day. My first advice to you is to get your soil tested to find out what you're working with - it will help you know what plants will do better in your soil, or what you might have to do to amend the soil to make the plants that you want to grow better.
This year's biggest project is taking out a lot of the old shrubs in our big front landscaped bed and redoing that whole thing. About 2/3 of our front yard is landscaped with one GIANT bed centered around 2 trees, plus a smaller island bed focused on 3 azaleas, and another smaller bed with a japanese maple. So far we have ripped out 2 sad rhododendrons that I think were diseased, seriously pruned back an andromeda and 5 azaleas, removed 1 of 4 of these smaller mounding evergreen shrubs that we just really don't like, and spread a yard of new loam. I just got my soil test results back, and next I need to add lime, remove those other three evergreen shrubs, mulch it all, and decide what I'm going to plant in all that newly opened up space. I confess to seriously neglecting this bed for the first four years that we lived in this house, hence there being so much serious pruning to be done this year. I was overwhelmed by it, I think. But it's completely under control now.
I also have 4 peonies scattered around (two along the driveway and two in my perennial bed), one is a shrub and three are herbaceous. They're my favorite flowers, and I want more and more of them. Don't be upset if the peony that you just transplanted doesn't flower for a couple of years. As long as the plant looks healthy and is doing well, it should be fine, but they are sensitive to transplanting, and spring is probably the worst time of year to do it because they're putting all their energy into flowering. So smetimes after they are transplanted, they take a couple of years to get well established before they are ready to flower again. The three that I planted at my house were all purchased from garden centers and planted in spring, and they all did fine, but I've heard that they sometimes take their time after transplanting. I have to move two of mine this fall, and I'm dreading it.
We planted a raised veggie garden this year for the first time (there is a picture in my thread a little further down the page called Square Foot Veggie Gardening). So far it's doing great! I think my one winter squash was overwatered and I'm pretty sure it's past recovery now, but everything else looks great. I love having lettuce right outside!
My perennial garden is smaller, but I think it will get a bit bigger this year (I'm always trying to take lawn out, much to my DH's disappointment). It's got day lily stands and bearded irises on either end, lupine, jupiter beard, balloon flowers, two peonies, a few lavender, bee balm, and a couple of different kinds of daisies. I'm planning to overhaul the whole thing this fall. The peonies are too close to the house and need to be pulled out some, and the same goes for the lilies and irises. The lilies are gigantic and need to be split, and the irises have started taking over and spilling into some other plants, so they're starting to look more messy than I'd like. I'm putting in a new edger bed down a whole side of my back yard (though probably a little at a time over the next couple of years), and some of the split off lilies will go in there.
Sugar & Spice
**6.30.12** I have found the one whom my soul loves.
I mainly have perennials because it is so much easier to maintain. I have the best of everything because I had my wedding in my garden :)and a lot of help from my family!! A few of my plants include Mona Lisa, Goldwing and Stargazer Lily's, Hidcote Lavender, Heritage Raspberry's, Scotch Broom and my Knockout Roses do wonderfully. My shade plants consist of a beautiful white bleeding heart more lily's (that just bloom later), Italian lavender and hostas galore!!!
I have so many more but I don't want to bore
Be sure you water your newly planted peony and best of luck with it!!
I would love to see pictures of your gardens!
Sugar & Spice