Beginner Gardening: Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum Virgatum), 1 by todd17jk

todd17jk wrote:
Thanks for the compiment - here's a wider angle view. The picture is a week old - it looks a lot better now that I've removed the dying astilbe, amended the soil in the annual bed, and put down some new hardwood mulch. I'll post an updated picture.

I really wasn't trying to replicate the look of the astilbes - I just asked the nursery owner what would look good and tolerate the area, and he brought me to the loosestrife. I have no idea what I'm doing - I'm trying to do stuff for myself becauce the big landscapers in the area - even the one that installed all of this for me a few years ago - don't pay much attention to you unless you have an annual maintenance contract, which I don't see a real need for. So I'm trying to do what I can with what little knowledge and time (two toddlers in the house) I have. I actually like the way the loosestrife looks and I was quite pleased with everything - until I found out I might be creating more issues than it's worth. But the nursery I bought it from is very reputable - I'll check back with them this weekend at the farmers market again.

I've thought about doing other things around the stone wall, as you suggest - originally the plans called for sedum, but I honestly don't remember it ever coming up when this was all planted (fall of '05), so it may have been omitted alltogeter. Last year I got the idea of putting in annuals - I did begonias last year, and petunias this year. I like the idea of having an annual bed, because there aren't a lot of bright colors in the garden (except for the black-eyed susans which are about to bloom in the middle - sure you'd appreciate being from MD). The redbud had done really well and having color in front of all the green is a nice touch. In the fall, I plan on replacing the petunias with potted mums

I'll put in a new pic tomorrow - thanks again for your help.