Planting Annuals - An Annual Experience!

It's that time of year again, NO More Frost - fingers crossed!

This is my front flower bed, that when designing my yard I was going to dedicate strictly to annuals, like my mother did... but

If I had it to do all over again this bed would be shaped much differently and I would have had more space for BackBone Plants that really make your color POP! But alas - it is what it is for a while...

So I did something last year that worked very well - inner planting annuals with my Tulip greens, so that my tulip bulbs can develop for a while, without feeling like I have to wait to plant summer annuals and beds until the Tulip greens are fading...

By doing this, I am able to have a "fuller"look when the small annuals are first planted, and then by the time, the annuals are established, and before the leaves are brown on the tulips, I caught them to the ground, leaving just my annuals filling nicely where the tulips used to be...

This way, my tulip bulbs get enough food from the leaves for next year's show, and my beds get planted and look nice when they are young beds....

This is my "What do I do with this bed" - So I had this vision of a "Temple Square" garden chuck full of annuals.... That was before I new how much they cost $$$$$ :(

So then I planted perennials in it the next year, but that didn't turn out the way I wanted either.... And the hubby didn't like too much

So this year I moved 2 of the Catmints out and redesigned where the 4 left would be, plus I removed the bunched penstemon, and I replaced the DayLilys that were peach, with much more vibrant red.

I am drawn to the cool colors in gardening but have grown to appreciate and admire those Hot ones, and recognised that this front round bed needed hot colors to make an impact on the distant viewing, and on the landscape flow overall.

I am excited to post in a month - the growth of the plants and how the beds look in June!

Container Gardening!! Easier Said Then Done ;)

In Years Past, I just filled my pots up with flowers left over from my beds, and made the most I could out of them for design.

Well this year I decided to actually read up a little and get some advice and put more effort into planting my containers... and I am really glad I did!


I purchased the e-book of of this website, and it had a ton of helpful hints and know-hows!


http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/container-gardening.html

I'll have to let you buy the book out of consideration to the author, but he does have great advice just on his site.

I am extremely happy with the way this pot turned out! Now - If I can just keep it alive ;)


The red pot has been replanted - Dang annual died in a week, so I had to redo it...



This one should look great when the spillers start to spill on all sides!

And another pot for BLUE I planted this one with Lobelia hoping for a great cascading blue wall by the end of summer - We will see!

Shade Gardening - A New Adventure

So this is last year's first attempt to plant shade to partial shade perennials in my garden next to my patio - I HATE PLANTING IN BARK! Some of the plants got scorched while I was on vacation, but....
As you can see they are all back this year, with exception to the Fern, which, I don't know if the morning sun could have survived...

I removed the bark, filled in a few more spots with new plants :) and am taking a go with Impatiens... I also bought a Hydrangea after much debate over a Shade Shrub... I soooo hope it lives and thrives!

- Note to readers... Always think about the view of your garden... I will mostly view this garden from the side of my Patio - the way the picture was taken... So The plants are planted with that in mind. The front view was also important to me, but the side view had to compliment the patio.





I am very excited with this new discovery! TRUE BLUE!!! Like I mentioned before I LOVE BLUE FLOWERS!! (dont we all) - And so with the new additions of Forget Me Nots in the shade garden, I am in HEAVEN!
This was taken before the whole transformation.... And I have to say thanks to Heather! I am loving the Coral Bells, and they seem to be doing wonderfully - I can't wait for next year when they are really filling in - Isn't that every gardener's thought - next year this is going to look GOOOD!!

Last Year's Success - Or at least Starting Point

So this was my garden last year, probably taken in July, when June blooming is fading and Late summer plants are starting to take off....

Who ever named the Catmint "Walkers Low" gave it a terrible name - it is the plant with the purpley grey spikes- I originally designed to have this area with this plant of 18" in the front, so when it was already 20" in it's first year, I knew I would be digging and moving....

This area I like and it did really well so it stayed the same for the most part...

And man those Hollyhocks, I love them but they are taking over! They are so massive at the bottom, they are squeezing out my beloved perennials, that cost a lot more than the $2's I spent on a packet of seeds!!!

Setting Up Blog

I am trying to get my background set up... does this work?