I don't do much gardening but I have a flowerbed at the front of my house that could really use some help. It is sparse, even when in full bloom. I typically plant a few annuals in the spring, for fun, but what I really need is to make a plan and get some plants that will come back year after year to fill up the empty spaces. Right now I have a few 2' tall hot pink azalea bushes, one white rose bush, one red rose bush, a blue-violet hydrangea, and a few yellow daylilies. I am rethinking my choice of the daylilies but the rest I'd like to keep. Maybe some kind of column flower like Larkspur or Hyacinths and some kind of dahlia or colorful daisy type looking flower would be good? I'm in zone 6 and my flowerbed gets shade in the morning, sun in afternoon. I appreciate any help you guys can give. Thanks.
Some people really like their perennials because they are there for the duration. keep in mind though, most don't bloom continuously all summer long, each variety flowers for a short period of time. In order to have color there all summer you need to plant flowers that bloom at different times. there are exceptions such as the newer daylillies. They are developing varieties that rebloom all summer long. As long as you don't mind the strappy foliage they have. There is a lilac called Josie, but I am not impressed with the pictures I have seen, that is supposed to bloom all summer long. Larkspur and hyacinths are good choices, but won't bloom all summer long. The Dahlias are not going to be perennials, but are a great filler and you can pull them and store the tubers for the winter in a cool, but not freezing place. Getting a pack or two of perennial mixed flower seeds and just sprinkle them in where you want them, then wait to see what comes up and what thrives. That is what I would do for the healthiest plants, most durable plants or hardiest plants. To get a better idea of what you like start by looking at flower magazines at the library (no extra expense there) going to the local nursery/lowes or whatever you have close that carries a selection of plants, checking out what the neighbors plant that you like...etc. What grows well for one person may not be a great choice for another. I personally don't like the work of a perennial bed. Weeds are difficult to get out of a perennial planting without disturbing the whole plant. They need divided regularly, also. Which means you need to do work in that bed every spring (give them away or replant them elsewhere, have a plant swap or pot them up and sell them). Just a few things to keep in mind for a perennial bed. Now, others will tell you they LOVE their perennials....each to his/her own. I just don't have the time to do this every spring. I would toss ( with a huge degree of guilt) most of anything I divided into the compost just to be done with them.
If your area is prone to drought then perennials are the best plant to have, they put down a tap root which helps make them drought tolerant and since they do come back year after year they are cheaper in the long run. My gardens are almost totally perennials for 5-10 years and none have yet needed to be divided .... other than Iris, Lilies and other bulbs. Re-seeding plants are another issue completely, those you have to stay on top of every spring and all summer long so be sure you know what you are buying. Take a walk through the garden centers in your area to see what they recommend for your zone. Talk to local gardeners about what has grown the best for them, just make sure their growing conditions are the same as yours. While morning shade and afternoon sun sounds like part sun, make sure the plants you buy don't require morning sun with afternoon shade. You could have fried plants pretty quickly in that case. I wouldn't put much faith in gardening magazines unless they are specific to your area....not all zone 6 areas have the same growing conditions. For instance, I am in zone 8 but I have drought, excessive heat and black clay for soil....so gardens in zone 8 in other parts of the country will not experience the same conditions my garden does. Some herbs will be good too, there are plenty that are perennials so you can have great plants and eat them too.
I live on the wet side of Washington state, zone 7b. I have primarily perennials. Spring starts with bulbs and hellebores. You might want to consider a flowering ground cover like pink blooming strawberries. They have prolific flowers close to the ground and bloom most of the summer if kept watered. Phlox have a variety of colors (with dead heading and pruning some plants hard in the spring) can bloom most of the summer. The beds are intermixed with evergreen ferns, daylilies, hydrengea, a small rhodedrendron, bee balm, oriental lilies, campanula, and summer bulbs of glads and some years dahlias. On my fences and trellis a variety of clematis and scarlet runner beans (or sunset beans) provide color and/or food. Calendula is an annual that self seeds and I encourage blooming almost year round. It blooms with the last flowering purple monkshood. Sounds like you have a good start and can easily be filled in.
Don't forget to allow for each plant to have enough space as it matures so they aren't crowding each other unless you want a country wildflower looking garden. Some plants don't like to be crowded and will wither away. Look for plants with interesting foliage, not necessarily flowers. to give it depth and interest, too. I have a couple books that I am sure you could find at least the encyclopedia at the library, that have great pictures and growing information in them. The other one has "mix and match" pages that you can flip back and forth to get a better visual on what plants look like together and it tells you all their growing information on the opposite page. ( photo / image / picture from carolyn keiper's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from carolyn keiper's Garden )
Thanks everyone for the great tips. I will make good use of them. Carolyn Keiper, I like your idea to try a seed mix to see what grows and what doesn't. I could even use them on a test patch of dirt and then transplant the ones I like into certain spots. Sounds fun. Thanks for the book and magazine suggestions, it never even occurred to me to try looking through a book. The library used to be my first stop when researching something new. Funny how books get overlooked now that the internet is at everyone's fingertips. I had no idea just how many flower types I've never even heard of until now so I better crack open a book. Toni, I don't have to worry about drought here, it seems like there is water everywhere. However, I do love seeing the flowers come back every year without having to get them started. Could you explain in more depth why re-seeding plants are more difficult than perennials? I had re-seeding Alyssum and Marigolds, when I lived in another state, that would come back year after year without any work on my part. I tried Marigolds here because I thought they would re-seed themselves and be back but they didn't. I have no idea why. Maybe the ground here gets too soggy and rots the seeds? Or maybe the rain washes them away? You're right about the zones being skiwampus. It's confusing because it seems like I will read online that a certain flower will not grow in my zone and then I go to my local garden center and they tell me the exact opposite. Jewell, your garden sounds gorgeous! I had to google about half of what you named off because I had no idea what they looked like. I've never even heard of hellebores but they are really cute. They remind me of some dahlias I've seen and for some reason I'm always drawn to that shape of flower. The bee balms are really cute with their fuzziness and the gladiolus are so colorful. I'm glad you mentioned the Phlox because I was trying to remember their name just the other day but it wasn't coming to me. They are cheerful flowers and seem to grow well around here because I see them in a lot of gardens.
Tanoh, re-seeding plants aren't more difficult to grow...sometimes they are quite the opposite but they can become quite difficult to keep under control. Some of the more prolific ones will re-seed where you planted them originally but they will also see a spot on the other side of the garden that they like and pop up there. And if you don't want them there then you have to dig or pull them up to move or compost or give away. And some re-seeding plants can become very thuggish in their effort to dominate a garden .... I have a Pavonia lasiopetala (Texas Rock Rose) that is yearning for world domination and just won't take no for an answer, but I just keep pulling them up to give away or move elsewhere. My gardening began many years ago with one small Malva sylvestris (Common Mallow, High Mallow) plant. It was soooo pretty, covered with purple striped blooms. Two years later I had to dig up 60+ seedlings and give them away to reclaim that one flower bed, but I still love it. Your Marigold that didn't re-seed could have been a hybrid...hybrids may produce seeds but most often they are sterile and will not germinate.
Marigolds don't winter over very well here in our zone. The only ones that I have found to truly be sterile are the triploid varieties, which are very expensive and generally sold by the singles. The tag will even tell you the are "self-cleaning" which means they don't set seed and you don't have to deadhead them. All the rest will set seed and grow something, maybe not looking like the ones you saved the seeds from, but they generally look very similar.
I don't think I got the triploid marigolds because they weren't expensive but some of them looked similar to them. Oh well, I can always use them as annuals. Toni, I get what you mean now. The alyssum we had did spread each year but not to the point of being a problem because it is so short. It was just ground cover and one year it hopped across the sidewalk to the lawn. As a kid, I found it quite amusing. I could see how something like that could get out of control and really mess with a person's gardening plans.
