What to put here ???

I have this rather unsightly area on the edge of my property.

It is along the fence, and adjacent to the alley. I don't see it from day to day yard activities, but do when I drive up to the house from work. (I don't see it in the morning because my vocational choice has me doing more before 9am than ....

Well, anyway, I have put some cannas under the ground ... did that about two months ago. I am zone 7b. The cannas have not started to break the soil ... okay, one of them has, but I am not optimistic. You see, if you take a look at the picture, because of the drainage in the area, this particular portion is like a marsh. Granted, in the summer, this will end, as we will hit a drought and it will be bone dry. But it does get the runoff from both my french drains and the back yard of the neighbor beside me.

Enuff yappin. Any suggestions on what (else) to put here? Remember, I have the cannas, but I am not holding my breath. And it is wet now, but at the most, it will be moist come July and August.

Thanks
W J

Bald cypress is supposed to be able to handle situations like that, but I believe the tree has to be well established before being exposed to stress. Those are very harsh conditions for plants and I doubt that there are many that will flourish under those conditions. Is there a way to drain the area? The backyard of our last house drained out to the front street.

It could be the perfect place for a garden room. You might consider putting a pond in the low area(s), build up the others. You can plant a few shrubs at the entrance to the area to give it privacy. Use pots of varying sizes to add greenery and color to the area. Add some outdoor furniture and voila — a garden room.

Is this area part shade? If so, fern plants like maiden hair fern would do great in the moist soil. If this area is more sun, I'll have to do some more thinking. There is a swamp hibiscus? I think? Will get back in a bit.

This is a challenging spot--boggy in the spring/fall and bone dry in the summer. I figured that if you planted cannas, it's more sun than shade. With the close proximity of the fence, I'm guessing some shade. The best option would be a tough shrub like glossy abelia. To widen the planting options, you could consider putting some edging down and dumping landscape mix in the contained area to build a raised bed. This would be the easiest way to improve drainage. You could also divert some of the water coming out of the drainage pipe with a PVC elbow, but I'm sure the extra run off would be helpful in the summer.

This is a great place for native Texas grasses. There are grasses that love to sit in a bit of water and yet can take the bone dry. After all, that's what WAS here over the prairie that was central Texas.
I would look at clumping grasses - some cold weather and some warm weather. There are some that work well in shade and part sun and those that work well in full sun.
Check with the NAtive American Seed company in Junction. They have a web site and you can order live root plants from them. They provide lots of information on what to plant.

You can do the entire thing in grasses that have gorgeous plumes and lots of bronze/pink/gold as they grow and dry in the fall. Very impressive.

Good luck and send pictures.

excellent input. thank you all.

as this is a small area (6X20) and along the property edge, there is an easement, but not a problem for foliage ... just construction.

i probably would not raise a bed there, because some nilly down the street would cut their cable with a shovel or something and then the trencher would have to come back to that utility box ... more work for me to repair the bed ...

... i like the grass idea. I am actually headed to get some shade plants from Northaven Gardens today (since I will be down that way) and I will inquire about what grasses would work there. The grasses would CERTAINLY hide that eyesore, and I do have some pampas and mexican in the back yard. yellow and cropped right now, but whispy and beautiful 6 weeks from now.

these are all great ideas. but keep em coming. dont be shy :)

W J

I have Yellow Flag Iris in my pond and in a well drained flower bed that both do well. They get faily tall .
Also there are the Louisiana Iris that love moist areas.
Then you could put a screen in the area for a vine to hide the corner.

sheila_FW

awesome Iris!

I am thinking that a Buttonbush , Cephalanthus occidentalis, could be very nice there, and it attracts butterflies like crazy.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1515/index.html
I hope it helps.

I have decided that my goal for this area fits into three parameters

(1) less than $100

(2) very extremely incredibly low maintenance.

(3) little to no initial prep or work

I am going to hope that the cannas come up. In the meantime, I have planted pampas around and in between the ugly boxes and pipes.

I had suggestions of clearing the ground and putting in expanded shale for the water issue, but this is in direct violation of #3.

I am going to get a few bags of mulch and use some bricks (existing ones from my house that are just sitting in a pile) to make some sort of bed and border. I consider this in agreement with 3.

I will also snap off a few of my salvia branches this summer from my planters after they come up and bury them around the cannas so that next year it will come up on its own.

I am a big cedar mulch fan, but since I am looking for something that I won't have to bother, I am leaning toward cypress mulch. I don't mind it turing to concrete (as the oils seep out of the cypress) and figure it will be a bit less need for (#2).

Thoughts?

(- I will post a picture once I am done ... if y'all care)

Lemon grass? Elephant ears? Muhly grass?

We have a slope in our yard and a neighborhood storm drain at the end. After a few downpours have washed my orgainc mulch and pine bark mulch away, we have gone to Cedar. I love it because it doesn't float, and the plants are fine. Home Depot had it for $2 here last year for a huge bag, so the price was right too. It sometimes has a few large pieces that need to be tossed aside, but I wouldn't hesitate to use again.

brigidlily,
- so far, only pampas grass ... but I am open to any additional items that meet criteria #1,2, and 3 above :)

- got three pampas ($15) and some buried canna bulbs ($0 - from a friend). Will be getting some mulch today (probably cedar ... I'll take your advice Sheila) so that's another $9 or so. So still under budget.

- hmm ... elephant ears ....

W J

so far .....

Pampas - $4.99 ea X 3
Mulch - 3 bags at ~ $3 each
My time is billable at $270/hr, so I have donated it (charity, possibly tax write-off?)
Bricks - leftover from 3+ yrs ago

way under cap

.... still thinkin about more. need to do something outside the brick wall, probably more grass

:)

W J

That looks great and will continue to improve as the grasses grow. Well done.

Not to put a damper on anyone's fun BUT do you have AC - central or window units? Pampas grass when it blooms is H*** on these. Really plugs them up. Just thought I would throw that in.

Ann

I don't have any because my friend curses each time she has to cut her Mom's back or thin it out. She says it is like razor blades and very tough.
I still think a trellis with Crossvine, passion flower or another type would be wonderful there. I am going to see about getting some Cattle pen wire to make trellis' out of this year. Someone on Dave's showed a picture of a three sided one. They are real sturdy and tall.


Here it is! http://davesgarden.com/forums/p.php?pid=3091545
The whole thread has some great ideas in it.

This message was edited Mar 17, 2007 3:00 PM

I planted some Pampas grass when I first moved here, loved the big plumes. After a year it became huge and the edges of the blades were like razor blades, they will hurt you. I had a heck of a time getting rid of it. I would not plant it there, the space is too small.

There are other grasses that are more manageable, like the Muhly mentioned or Purple Fountain grass.

I well remember how a next door neighbor planted one pampas grass clump in front of his AC unit and it grew so huge he had to chop it down w/a machete (sp) and then use another big tool to get the roots out. Everytime he had to mow he ended up w/cuts all over from the "leaves".

Ann

Yeah ...

(a) that stuff is S H A R P! - no kidding. the good thing is .. I don't really care how it gets when it turns brown; in fact, the tassle effect is kinda nice, and I don't mind doing a trim in Jan, as I can put on the heavy coat, pants, gloves, and the sharpness becomes a no factor

(b) closest A/C vent is 100 feet away, so we are good there

(c) the soil is crappy, and I doubt these will get too big.

The project is at a plateau, and we are quite a bit under budget. Let's see if the cannas come up. Maybe shoulda put some salvia down before mulching. Could do it now ... maybe I will.

W J

Well then plant that Salvia!!! Mexican Bush Sage is a great proformer for me, it bloomed forever so long. I don't think you said, does your area get sun? Maximillon Sunflowers reseed like crazy and are tall. They would show up behind the Pampas too.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/2856/
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/57026/

Sheila,

RIght now, the area gets about 6 hours of direct and in the height of the summer it will get about 8.

Yeah, what the hey - I'll pick up some salvia on the way home and throw it down there. The salvia in my beds in the back yard are still dormant ... haven't poked through yet. I'll get four plants ... red, white, purple - maybe something yellow, and put them in before the deluge of rain this Thursday.

W J

Getting a bit better .... and more fun!

Three salvias ... ten bucks! Cannas popping up in the back

............

Strong work. Lookin good. How do you do the picture-in-picture? Is this with the camera or computer? Photo shop?

cctx,

Long Long Long time ago, I bought a usb scanner - when usb was brand new. came bundled with this program called photostudio. i guess it's still around. anyway, it's with the computer, not the camera. take a few pictures and then sit down at the mac.

WJ