Beginner Gardening: My worst garden spot -my walkway that everyone sees .Yikes!!, 1 by LadyAethelwyne

LadyAethelwyne wrote:
My very first garden area is my source of most frustration. I've learned as a new gardener to move plants where they are most happy, but I've moved, and moved...
My pathway to my front door curves in from my driveway. In the curve on both sides is about a 12' long by 7' deep garden. On the right side, which faces north, I tried a shade garden out of a book. I used hostas, bleeding hearts, astelibes, and lily of the valleys. The hostas grew scraggly and yellowish. The bleeding hearts nearest the porch have come up the best, but the astelibes and lilies never arrived at all. I had my mom, who lives on the hill above me, look down at my yard a few times. She said that, although the porch shades that part of the yard, and even though it is north facing, it still gets a LOT of sun.
So, I planted a burning bush plant where nothing had grown, left my bleeding hearts there for now, moved my hostas, and tried the other side of the path.
I decided to make the other side of the path an herb garden, since it was south facing and my mom said it got a lot of sun. However, apparently it doesn't get ENOUGH sun! All of my herbs grew sideways. So, last year I moved them to the butterfly garden, which is a dry spot on the north side next to my driveway which still gets a lot of sun, and they thrive there. I planted tulips in place of the herbs, and so far they have come up last year and this spring.
My question is, what would look pretty as a planting near my porch? I've looked at several garden designs, but none seem to fit the sunlight situation or small layout. I thought of a mass planting of tulips and daffodills and hyacinths in the spring, and lilies and maybe irises in the summer, but I don't know if that would be substantial enough for a foundation planting. I have a hydrangea bush that needs more sunlight and thought of moving it there, but would it get too large?
ps- I lined all my pathways with lavender, and it is growing well and about 3ft tall so I'd need something that would look good with lavender and be tall enough to be seen.
Thanks! Here is a picture of the area, please excuse my porch which is a mess right now.

This message was edited Mar 15, 2009 11:04 AM

This message was edited Mar 15, 2009 11:06 AM