What to do what to do

I am wondering if I can get some input on this bed that I have. It is so narrow and unexpandable. Love color. Love smell. At one time had miniature roses in it. But that led to no height. It is by the main entry walkway in full sun but being on the south side it does get pretty hot there. Right now all that is in it that needs to stay is a fernleaf peony and it is down by the porch. Have considered putting roses there but don't want stuff that is going to overhang the sidewalk to much. It measures 21" wide by 16.5'
Any suggestions would really be appreciated. Oh yeah the tree roses show no signs of life therefore they are heading to plant heaven.

Heres another angle

I had an area like that at my old house and the previous owner had planted roses there--believe me you do not want roses there! They will overgrow the space and then snag you with their thorns as you walk by. Honestly with an area that width you probably don't want any sort of shrubs unless you can find a super dwarf variety that won't get wider than the garden bed. To add some height, you could put in some trellises and train some vines up them, then plant some colorful annuals and perennials in the front part of the bed. That's what I'm doing with the area between my sidewalk and garage, it's not quite as long as your area but the width is about the same.

How about some yarrow? Comes in different colors - loves full sun, tolerates drought, and you can get types that are mounding, about two feet tall, and will fill in the area. Here is a pic of mine from last year. Sorry I don't have a good one in bloom, but there are three mounds in the top third of the pic. This type has silver gray ferny foliage so looks good all the time. The blooms are bright yellow in mid-June and it will re-bloom if deadheaded. Should fit that space nicely with little maintenance. Dax

And here are some coreopsis that are mounding, about 2 1/2 feet high, and will re-bloom. Neither of the ones I've sent are fragrant, however. Dax

Oops - hit the send too soon - These were blooming on June 6 for the first time -

Thanks. Hadn't thought about those. Fragrance isn't a necessity. It is just along the main walk so I thought that would be nice. I had a few short stocks in there last spring that smelled nice. Of course once summer was in full swing they didn't do anything until in the fall again.

Dax,

is that early sunrise ?? (the coreopsis)

very vibrant.

Hi, tcs1366 - It's called Creme Brulee - (can't get that accentague thingy in there) - it's been a very good performer for me, and the flowers are bright deep yellow - Dax

gotcha.... i'm doing the early sunrise, and they too are quite yellow. I can't wait!!

it's quite ironic.... when DH and i first planned our flower beds, he picked out 2 coreopsis, and honestly, after 2 seasons... i hated them. The flowers were not attractive, and they always "fell" over in winds and rain and just were nasty looking... so the next year, i yanked them out.... only to have DH a month or so later ask what happened to them... I don't think he was pleased with me when i told him i tore them out and put a peony in it's place.... at the time, i didn't know really what they were.... but now i like'em. go figure........

(creme brulée) to get that e use Alt+0233
(Who's idea was it to put the character map in "system tools" anyway ??)

This message was edited Mar 29, 2007 3:00 PM

My mom has a similar bed on the side of her house. You could add a few tulps, iris, and daffodils for spring bloom. Some of them have a nice fragrance. Snapdragons are a good self seeder and moss roses too. They are smaller and could go near the walk and if you add a trellis in the back like ecrane mentioned that will give you some height too. Mom used a small white picket fence (only about a foot high) to give it a cottage look and help hold some of the flowers from falling onto the walk. Dianthus usually has a nice fragrance and is smaller. Daylilies like the sun, hollyhocks, gladiolus, veronica speedwell are all sun lovers. Sedum and mums could be added for fall color.

This message was edited Mar 29, 2007 11:34 AM

I had a narrow bed on the south side of my white house in Los Angeles. Talk about HOT! I put Aspargus in it & the white just gave it more sun to grow! I was eating lots of asparagus the next year. They are pretty, ferny plants & the femails get red berries. I always take the females out, but you could keep them for the berries.

Echinaceas would give height and many of the new varities are fragrant as well. Don't get very wide, lots of new colors & varying heights to chose from, and bloom till fall.

Do you really want to water that close to the foundation of your house?

Its a trailer house. Nothing to worry about on the watering end. Have to worry more about plants leaning and draping over the sidewalk.

I have an aunt with a space like that also. She attached the white vinyl lattace (sp?) to the house and let a trumpet vine and honeysuckle scramble up it and planted some coneflowers and other flowers in the space to fill up the bed. I didn't make the space seem so narrow by giving it some height with the vines by combining them with the flowers below. Also, the Evergreen Sky Pencil will give you something green and only gets two feet wide at maturity and I think about 6 or so feet tall.

Andrea

What about Canna? It gets tall, but is not too wide.

One of my faves is a Butterfly Bush. Its very fragrant. To keep it small you just cut it back.

Why Not plant a Lavender LOW hedge, you get some lovely ones that dont get too tall and floppy, English Lavender has the best smell, as you brush by, the smell wafts into the air, you can also cut and dry it for lots of things around the house, I have heard that it also keeps flies at bay, but I dont have mine that close to the house, so cant tell you if that is the case, it looks after itself other that a light prune AFTER flowerng so that new growth is encourages for the next year, also a nice Clemetis, put up the frame work and either go for a rampant one, maybe (MONTANA RUBENS pink) or a HyBRID from the Florida group, they have larger DOUBLE flowers, again in a variety of colours. Befor you plant anything that stays on top of the soil, a good idea would be to plant some spring bulbs, Tulips, Daff's, crocus etc, so they will grow through the hedge and give early colour, add some lilies for summer flowers, the perfume ones are great and like the spring bulbs, stay in the ground undisturbed for years.
If you go for any Clemetis, always plant it about 6 inches deeper than the pot depth as they can all suffer fron wilt, they just, for some reason grow fine, then all of a sudden, die back at the bace, if planted deeper, they come back again and are as good as ever,
Hope this sets some pictures to your thoughts and sets you on your way.
Good luck anyway, WeeNel.