I am going to help my sister redo a bed in the front of her house this fall. She lives outside McKinney and she is not a gardener. We want to plant some things that are easy care but will give some color throughout the year. Big expectations here! We also have to prune some abelia bushes that are growing in front of and covering her dining room windows. Does anyone have any suggestions before we get started? Here is a picture of the area.
Help with flower bed redo
whoops, here is the picture
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Plant Turk's Cap, it is beautiful and care free.
http://wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=MAARD
Yea that is a good plant. I planted mine about 8 years ago. I have never done anything to them... They come back year after year... and I get lots of little pups from them too.
They die completely to the ground in the winter. I cut the dead stems off and they come back every spring. Very invasive. I have had mine about 10 years and wouldn't take for it but don't know that they would fit your request for year round growth. I would suggest going to some commercial places, such as restaurants and other places that have constant growth in your area.
You are some 65 miles further north than I am and I have an almost barren prairie in the winter.
Spring, summer and fall, I have a jungle. I'm not a fan of shrubs so that is the main reason. If there is a "Mimi's Cafe" in the McKinney area they always have wonderful landscaping. I find the commercial landscapers are better about using native plants than I am.
The first thing I would suggest is taking down the big tree right next to the foundation. If her house is on clay soil, that tree will cause foundation problems (if it hasn't already).
A nice, colorful, stress-free plant is Cosmos.
Carla
Thank you all for your suggestions. They are all helpful.
Bonnie
I'm having a hard time getting a big picture of the area, or where the sun goes, but fwiw:
- yaupon or possumhaw are good for winter color. For anything deciduous, think about the form when the leaves are gone. Is it just brushy, or is there a shape that might be attractive (in a lowkey winter way) even without color.
- a bird feeder or water source also adds winter interest
- well-chosen natives will take the least care. I _think_ you've got prairie soil, with actually shade added, and probably she could do a little watering if she had to. So look to plants that would be growing at the edge of a prairie hummock for the least required care.
- variegated leaves add color interest, not just flowers. (There's a thread in the garden design forum now with some nice examples.) Less variation with the changing seasons, but low care.
- if the area will have sun after the abelia trimming, you could get blooms almost all year. Gayfeather for the fall, prairie verbena will last almost the whole winter, spring snowflake and prairie onion start pretty early, spiderworts
- Mistflower, columbine, some of the shady sages, throw in some rain lilies, drummond phlox, cardinal flower, violet, bush honey suckle maybe even (western white honeysuckle),
Great ideas realbirdlady!
I'd consider cutting the abelia back to two feet high and giving them a season to see how they fill in since they have gotten so out of hand. They may have to be removed. And the tree does look too close to the house like Loonie1 said. Abelia is really a wonderful evergreen shrub, it has color and has the beautiful flowers and turns bronze in the cooler temps. If your goal is to stay below the windows completely then you will have to put in boxwood or something that can be maintained short. Some of my favorite perennials include bulbine, columbine, verbena, esperanza, knock-out roses, and crape myrtles.
I think she would be ok with the abelia if we cut them down a little shorter and then just thinned them out some so more light could get into the dining room. I also like bulbines and we will definitely use them. I am not sure there is enough light for knockout roses to do well but I really do like those too. I think it faces southwest but there are some trees that filter the sun part of the day. The front of her yard has a lot of pecan trees.