13,520 Garden Web Discussions | Perennials
You have lots of other options besides Nellie Stevens holly! I agree that boxwood is so ordinary.
You live in an area where both coniferous and broadleaf evergreens are very common. It's certainly possible to maintain many of them for a time in a small container, but Nellie has such a big frame.
Make a list of your specifications....full sun or shade, narrow or wide profile, height at which you plan on keeping it pruned, etc., and visit a few locally owned garden centers or nurseries where some reasonably knowledgeable assistance might be available.
I love Sedum "Angelina'. Does it spread? Definitely? Is it easy to rip out? Even easier. And if I want to plant something where it currently is, simple dig a hole right in it and plant. It will surround your new plant, making a delightful weed suppressing mat.
Here it is underplanted with Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla mollis)
and here it is with Coreopsis 'Zagreb' (and a whole lot of other stuff.
Sure looks like it. One thing good thing is the plant doesn't mind dry soil or heat. It seems like the hotter and dryer it gets, the more mine bloomed last year. I had it planted in unimproved soil last year down by the street where the reflected heat baked it everyday and it never stopped blooming. It would make a great background plant. In my experience it beats any sunflower or rudbeckia by a landslide when it comes to numbers of flowers and length of blooming time (May through Frost) and the leaves stayed looking nice + I like that blue.
Seedlings were up by early March this spring, last year was my first year growing it.
Native American Seed says its one of the larva food plants for bordered patch butterflies.
Yay! Thanks, TR, for your comment. I thought it looked like cowpen from photos but I've never seen it in real life as you have, so I'm really glad to hear you think it sure looks like one. I can see it would indeed be a good background plant. I will try to collect all the seeds before they drop so I can put them where I want them to come up next year. I really appreciate all your useful info about it derived from your personal experience.
I dug mine out, this was many years ago when I was extending the size of the beds back when I still had a lawn and a more conventional landscape. I dug out the main parts, shook out & sorted through the dirt carefully and tossed the roots/plants, then I spent the next two years digging out any that popped up from roots I'd missed but it wasn't that bad really. I don't think you can dig it out in one session or get completely rid of it in a single year. Actually, I've had worse-- namely some type of campanula that was here when we bought the house and pink Mexican Primrose, both have lots of small brittle roots and any left in the ground will sprout.
The stuff smells so bad I couldn't stand it especially when weed eating around the beds but it also got ratty looking in summer, it was coming up mostly green and invading the lawn. The smell was a big reason I wanted it gone. I had 4 fairly large areas of it.
I started this thread 4 years ago, and here's what happened since. The houttuniya plus bishop's weed that migrated from another spot have definitely won. The Italian musk strawberries look like they're going to make it in early spring, but then the other two monster plants start coming up like gangbusters. The area in question is a triangular space surrounded on all three sides by a low stone wall ( on two sides the wall goes up about a foot or so, on the third side the wall goes down about two feet. It's a very hilly neighborhood, both north-south and east-west). So I can't even hire a backhoe - which is probably the only way I could get rid of the damn thing. I give up.
On nurseries (not big box) in general, they mostly carry plants that will thrive in their planting zones. I noticed a beautiful pine on my last visit to our local private nursery, and asked about it. The owner sold their previous house to us, and she assured me that that tree would NOT grow on my property. I asked her why they even carry it and she responded that people up in our local mountain resort often come down to purchase plants, and it will thrive up there. So native to the East will not work here in the hot dry West. I do admit to zone envy, but sometimes all the work and effort trying to grow something that has different requirements just isn't worth it.
Rouge - no, I haven't just misplaced it :-) I planted it across from the small path off the patio leading to the north alley so it would be easy to see and make a nice show from the patio. Conditions seemed good for it there too. I waited anxiously for it to reappear this spring, but no sign of it...:-(
I didn't mean to confuse anyone. What I was hoping to find I have found here......somebody that would help me via email and phone with a design.
Thanks again for everybody's input and I'll post pictures and details once the bed is completed for this growing season.
And before I forget...the width of the planting bed will be 14'...not 30'. I don't know what I was thinking when I said 30'.
babs.....you put so much time into your post I will address your questions where I can:
For instance do you like Daisy shaped flowers or tall spires like ironweed or roses or big fluffy heads like Annabelle hydrangea or all of the above?
All of the above. It will be a butterfly (bflys) garden and I'm not concerned about flower shape. The correct placement for their size is important.
Are you someone who only is interested in flowers, or are you wanting a garden that looks good when little is blooming?
Varied, season long blooming is important for bflys. 75% perennial and 25% shrubs is my thought at this time.
Do you want winter interest since your winter must be long, or do you not see this garden from the house? Do you like foliage with colors other than green?
Winter interest = yes. Garden is on mainly the side of the house. About 1/3 will be viewed from house. Other colors? = yes.
Have you done a web search for photos of Piet Oudolf's gardens and is that what you mean by a meadow? How do you feel about grasses?
PO meadow = yes. The bed will be a bit more "formal" than a meadow (if this makes sense) . LOVE grasses! Especially miscanthus (sp?) for winter effect.
We don't know the growing conditions other than zone (moisture, soil texture and pH, sun conditions),
soil texture = 4-8" of topsoil over "beach sand" subsurface. VERY well drained. Full sun. PH = 5.9 (tested early summer) but are liming to bring it up.
With a garden that large, mulch will be your friend while plants fill in. I usually put down cardboard or several layers of newspapers and then cover with mulch. I find this easier to do before planting, and then when it's time to plant I pull the mulch aside, cut the cardboard, and put in the plants.
I love the cardboard/paper idea! The site as it sits today is all lawn grass. I was going to mark out the exact area and then use grass killer to kill the grass. Wait the proper amount of time before recommended replanting then put 4" of mulch down. Then plant
FYI - if you recall I said "think of the shape of a boomerang" when you envision the bed. This season I'm going to work on the LH leg of the boomerang. This will be 80' L x 14' W.
Have you though about access to the garden for maintenance? I imagine you will need paths of some type in the garden so you can remove weeds or invasives, cut back dead stems and foliage in the fall or early spring, etc.
Yes there will be paths
Is there water available if you have dry spell? New planting will need watering until plants are established.
Water is really the least of my worries! :) We have a well with a constant pressure pump. We have a "pump and dump" geothermal heating and cooling system and in summer when the AC is on, the geo water can be (almost always is) diverted to the outside to be used for watering the lawn and existing beds.
Hope this all helps.
here is an example.. of such:
crocus early spring
tulips later spring
roses june july,
sedums in august ...
and then the fall flowering plants ..
a real good gardener ... plans out.. the progression of flowering.. so there is always something new blooming ... as compared to focusing on a monoculture... that peaks and fades.. all within a week or two ...
ken
Rouge, is that a current picture? My Tuff Stuff petered out long ago. But I noticed all new growth and some buds further back in the stems from the original flowers, so yesterday I snipped all the old flowers off. Curious to see if I get a second bloom this year.
I'm glad you are backing off the pear tree. The hated tree has been planted around here for some decades now and they literally disintegrate over time. Any wind or storm results in more big limbs being blown down. If thats not bad enough, they stink when blooming but the worst part is the way the surrounding countryside is becoming invaded.
Wherever there is another new subdivision, they are planted, 9 times out of 10, with more of the ever popular pears, lining the streets which is done so often because the tree is (in the beginning) so "perfectly" formed & behaved making a nice, very unified look so everyone seems hell bent on planting them or maybe they are just unimaginative, I don't know.
This is the inevitable result in the surrounding countryside--wall to wall trees all of one kind-- its awful --- an ever widening Callery Tree Forest Monoculture pops up very quickly. I mean, does anyone notice?? This is scary stuff in my opinion.
Just remember, the hydrangeas will be dormant in winter. So you'll have a line of bare sticks along the driveway. Maybe that will be okay with you, especially with the evergreen hedge behind it, but just wanted to make sure you were aware of that.
Tex, I agree completely - that is indeed scary stuff. I'm sure there are some who drive by and sigh and say how pretty it is, without really thinking what is happening there.