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| Hi All,
Spring right around the corner and trying to decide what to plant along the border of my walkway in the front of the house. In the past, I used Vinca and other annuals. The Vinca were the best in my part as they flower from late spring all the way to the fall, nice and colorful. The only issue I have is that I have to replant all these flowers every year and its costly and time consuming! Can anyone recommend a perennial that will come up every year and provide nice flowering through the season? The highest I would want them to grow is around 12" or so. I haven't really found anything that flowers for the entire summer as a perennial as the Vinca does.
Here are two shots (I can widen the beds if need be) Specifically the beds between the walkways and the lawn:
Anyway, any opinions or suggestions will be appreciated! Thanks!
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Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by gottagarden z5 western NY (My Page) on Sat, Feb 24, 07 at 13:30
| Hi, I'm sorry for not answering your exact question, but when I look at your pictures, your house is screaming at me, "Trees! Trees! Please somebody tell him he needs shade trees!" There is a cottage garden forum where the regulars like to recommend different types of flowers for specific requests. You might want to try there also. |
Here is a link that might be useful: cottage garden forums
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| You know its funny, I was walking past my house the other day and could have sworn I heard my house say "please dont let me cook in the sun again this year!" :-) I totally agree with you. The house was recently renovated so I was wanting to put a nice tree in the lawn. May sound crazy and figured Id try, I have a Butia Yatay tree coming to me. Im going to give it a shot to see what happens. Thanks for your input, I'm going to post this in the cottage garden forum... |
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| When you say "vinca" do you mean what you have planted as shown? |
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| Actually, the last year was the only year I didn't use the Vinca as my local garden center for some reason didn't get them until real late. If I recall correctly the ones in the picture are Petunias. They grew too wide and just couldn't tolerate the heat even with much watering. The vincas grow slightly wide but more upwards and really take the sun well. -Chip |
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| You see this is why I am asking because what you describe doesn't sound like vinca and it is not that I want to score points only to get an idea of what turns you on. |
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- Posted by foxesearth 8b (My Page) on Sat, Feb 24, 07 at 19:53
| Annual Vinca, Madagascar Periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus) -- is that it? Confounds us all. If you're planting a jelly palm, you might want to look over at the Tropicalesque Forum to see what they plant with Butia yatay in your area. On second thought, look at this link: |
Here is a link that might be useful: Tropical Garden at SUNY, Farmingdale
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| I'm not familiar with your zone but in zone 5/6 there are very, very few perennials that will flower from spring to fall. The only one I can think of that will, meets your size requirements, and can handle plenty of hot sun is Gaillardia 'Fanfare' in two tone orange and yellow. You might consider combining it with something that gives interesting foliage contrast--perhaps one of the purple sedums. |
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| What about 4 o'clocks. They tolerate heat very well and will reseed so you don't have to replant. |
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- Posted by wonbyherwits z7 NC (My Page) on Sun, Feb 25, 07 at 19:21
| You have a lovely and tidy home. There are many small trees that will work for your lawn. Heptacodium miconioides is a fast-growing 20x10 small tree with flowers and fragrance (deciduous). It would be a wonderful place (in a wider bed) for Knock-out Roses which are very carefree and mine bloom from May until Thanksgiving. However, they will grow to 3x3 and they do have thorns. If you aren't opposed to yellow flowers, hypericum calycinum is a ground cover St. John's Wort that blooms fairly well and is evergreen here in my zone 7 NC. It needs to be contained in a border since it can spread rapidly. I'm attaching a link to hypericum, only to give you a reference for a photo and info --- I've never purchased from this nursery (and I think the price should be $6.00-9.00 for a 1 gallon pot). Other perennials will look good in season, but not during the winter. With annuals, you're probably cleaning out the beds and mulching? Cranesbill (perennial geranium) has a long bloom season, but that may be too much direct sun on your lawn? Nepeta has a long bloom season (light blue spikes) and a full fast-growing mound of silver foliage. Dianthus gratianopolitanus 'Mountain Mist' blooms in spring, is more heat tolerant than other varieties and is evergreen here. If you want colorful foliage instead of blooms there are some small shrubs that will work in full sun. Abelia x grandiflora Confetti™ has colorful foliage, but I have no experience with it.
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Here is a link that might be useful: example info only
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| Wow, many replies! Thank You for all the your suggestions and compliments! I wont have enough time until a couple of days to check out all the suggestions made, but I appreciate it. This same topic is on the Cottage forums as well. I ask any further replies go in that forum as it could get very confusing for me! :-) Link provided below. Chip |
Here is a link that might be useful: Cottage Garden
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| So I am curious...6 years later, how does the yard look now? Can you post a photo? |
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