Beside the front steps, I have a small bed that was filled with overgrown and ugly foundation plantings when I bought the house. Last summer, I paid a guy $20 to remove everything. In December, I tilled the area and pulled out what I hope are the last of the nandina roots. Those things propagate easily from root cuttings so the chances that I got them all are nil. I left the one camellia and it's regrown to a height of about 18". I had planted two "August Beauty" gardenias in this area last summer. Like most of that variety, they committed suicide shortly after blooming. I've got rooted cuttings of a gardenia from a neighbor that I'll plant here in the spring. It will take a few years for them to grow to a decent size, so I'm thinking of filling in with impatiens and other shade loving plants this summer.
Before. There is a camellia in there somewhere.
Today.
Other plans include trying to decide what will go where from the wintersown sprouts. I may sketch out a few plans while sitting in my adirondack chair. Or I might just make some mental notes knowing that it's all going to change as I go forward.
From the front steps, you can see two different beds. The one against the house doesn't retain a lot of moisture when it rains. I tilled this area in December and added a lot of organic material. I hope it helps, but I'm planning to use a lot of drought tolerant plants here just in case. I've got coreopsis, coneflowers, salvias, and creeping groundcover plants to put in here.
And then there's the back beds, the north side garden where I planted hostas, the perennial bed, the front slope, etc and so forth. All in all, I need LOTS of plants to fill everything in. I don't have a lot of patience, but I do have a lot of sprouts and rooted cuttings.
Sunday's picture.
Believe it or not, there are things popping up out there.
Daffodils
Ditch Lilies
3 comments:
Say, Tom. Will you be putting back up the shutters? I always think shutters on a cottage are so friendly. Great pic of the liter bottles. Do a lot of dumpster diving to round them up? *grin*
How exciting to see those first daffs poking their little heads through the earth. It looks like you've got a great plan -- I love your brick cottage style house. You have a very cozy lot.
Kris, I'm planning to build new cottage style shutters at some point this spring. I'm still trying to decide on a paint color for the trim. The windows are vinyl so I think it will be either black or white since I can't paint them.
The bottles were saved by my mom, sister, me, and several people they know. I don't drink a lot of soda, but they do. I've still got another 100 or so in the basement to use.
The daffodils here have been sprouting for a while. Some as long as a month ago. I have some older varieties that are already blooming in the woods and around the old oak tree.
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