What to do?!?!?!

We are new home owners and are looking for new inexpensive tips to make it our own. We have a few ideas but we were hoping to get some input on what to do. I don't have a picture to show, however there is really nothing there, a couple of small trees is about it. The previous homeowners did absolutely nothing. Atleast it has left me with a blank slate to start fresh! Any ideas would definitely help! Thanks! Heather

Hi Heather, can you give us some more information? It would help us a lot to know where you live, climate is very different in different areas of the country (or around the world) so you'll want very different plants depending on where you live. And some info about how large of an area you have, what sorts of things you like (big trees for lots of shade, or a pretty sunny cottage garden), etc.

Sorry about that I should have given more details.... I live in NC there is not any shade at all in our yard, just 2 very small trees. We would like something that is easily maintained, there is a large flower bed right in front of the house, of course with nothing in it. The house has a cottagy feel. I love colors so any types of flowers that can do well in clay ground and sunny climate would be great. I apologize for the lack of information. Was at work and trying to sneak it in! Thanks again! Oh and also, there is a rock bed that lines the driveway, it has white rocks in it, Is that just for decoration or do you plant something there.....or......I think I am totally clueless.... any suggestions at all would help!

Hi heatherfeather, in lots of ways, you are lucky to have a blank canvas to work with, less work undoing things you dont like, to start with, get along to your librery and seek out some books on gardens/ and designs, this will give you lots of ideas, you then start to play about with a sheet of paper, if pos, take a picture of your house, pin it to the paper and then overlay some tracing paper, this will allow you to either draw shaped flower beds, add trees/shapes. draw a decking area if you fancy that, then you will get a feel for what you like/dont like, and how it will roughly look against your new home, also have a walk around your neighbourhood and see what grows well etc, this will give some ideas if you do choose these plants, then you wont waste money on plants that you cant grow, it is also a good idea to set a budget to get you started as I am sure, in a new home, you will have lots of things you need. to get a shape right for a bed/border, I always get the hose pipe out and twist and bend it into a shape I fancy, then step back and adjust it till your happy with it, go indoors and look out as it might not look so good if it is the main view from the windows etc, so you just tweek it till your happy, it saves you a lot of digging and expensive mistakes at the start, dig out the shape and add as much manure/compost as you can to the earth that you want to plant into, as your clay soil wont hold any plant neutrients and is inclined to stay wet, plants dont like sitting in waterlogged soil, then in the hot weather, the soil bakes hard and has a crust on the top, therefore,when you do water plants, the water runs off and the roots dont get a drink, compost/manure also allows air into clay soils, another thing plants need, all plants be it shrubs, cottage plants or trees need these things, once you've worked your soil, then the fun can begin, you go select your plants and get them into the ground, like painting by numbers when we were kids, I would just consentrate on one area at a time till you know exactly what kind of plants/garden you really enjoy (remember you need to keep in mind the care and upkeep of your plants and garden, so take your time, it aint an instant job, it is more like work in progress, as you gain experience and patience, you can then extend the garden area you know you can look after, let us know a bit more about style of garden you want to a chieve, as say cottage gardens take up more time than shrub beds and other types of beds and plants, you also need to consider how much time you have avaliable to spend in the garden, like if you are at work everyday, you need something less neady than cottage, therefore you will want some other style, so think about it all and get back to us, there are a lot of talented people come into this forum who could point you in the proper direction and save you a lot of costly mistakes, Good luck WeeNel.

Thanks WeeNel, that is a great bit of very helpful information. I have some good news...a friend of mine brought me the first plant!!!! It is a big beautiful fern.... However Im not sure where to plant it...There is a large flower bed in front of the house, but it gets direct sunlight all day. I was not sure if the fern would need all sunlight or partial so I can either plant it in front of the house with all sun, or on the side with partial.....I was told they need full sun, but I'm not sure. Any Input would be great...Thanks again.

This message was edited Jun 24, 2007 2:03 PM

Oh! I forgot. We also have kind of a patchy yard in the front. I am not sure what the previous owners did, but the back yard is fine, the front is very patchy. My question is...is it already to late in the year to try to plant some grass? Or to early rather, should I wait until fall?

This message was edited Jun 24, 2007 1:44 PM

Many ferns prefer shade but there are some that like sun--did it come with a tag that says what fern it is? If not, can you take a picture and post it, maybe someone will recognize it.

As far as your grass, I don't know what the right time is to plant grass in your area but the middle of summer isn't the right time to plant anything. My guess is that fall would be fine but hopefully someone who lives closer to you will come along and confirm.

Thanks! I have also checked the zone, it is zone7 I did not realize how much to take in account when you do landscaping. It is a good thing these beginner landscaping forums. You all have saved me time and not to mention lots of money and water for that matter. Since the purchase of our home, being only 22 and 24, we kind of draw blanks when we are asked what we want to do with this yard. Hopefully I can post some pictures soon.... The house is very cute itself, however the yard not so much...will definitely post when I have something going. Thanks again to you all!


P.S Im sure I will think of more questions to ask.... :)
and I will definitely check to see if there is a tag on the fern to see what kind it is. I know it is huge though and really dont want to kill it....Im gonna turn this brown thumb green dang it!!!
This message was edited Jun 24, 2007 4:11 PM

This message was edited Jun 24, 2007 4:13 PM

Alrighty, I am back. I have really been on this flower finding kick! I have several in mind. I wanted to get some opinions....it has been a slow day at work LOL :) I have come to realize that I absolutely love Wisteria, I have personally never seen one, however I have been online doing some reasearch and I think it is wonderful! I was just wondering if there are any of you out there that have this or know the upkeep of this? The pictures that I have seen are just breathtaking...they are able to flourish in zones 4-9, but I have also seen that it can take 5-10 years to actually get their first flowers :( Is that true, would this be a good task for a newbie? Thanks. P.S sorry for all the questions and thanks to everyone!

Wisteria are nice, don't get the Japanese (Wisteria floribunda) or Chinese (Wisteria sinensis), they can be rather invasive and aggressive. Unfortunately they're also the ones most commonly available at nurseries.. American wisteria (Wisteria frutescens) is a much nicer choice. When you heard that they take 5-10 years to get flowers, that is true but only if you're growing plants from seed. If they're grown from cuttings, they will bloom after a couple of years, and if you buy a decent size plant from a nursery it'll probably already be a couple years old so should bloom for you fairly soon.

Thanks for that information ecrane you are a lifesaver!

I love love love hydrangeas as well, this is a picture I have found to give me my inspriration! Isnt it amazing? Do they need a special type of soil to grow? I heard they need aluminum sulfate, is that just to make them blue or is that a necessity?

This message was edited Jun 24, 2007 7:02 PM

They only need aluminum if you want to make them blue. If you're growing them in the garden (as opposed to in a container), there is often some aluminum already present in the soil, so as long as your soil has an acidic pH your hydrangeas will be blue. But if your soil is higher pH, then the flowers will be pink. You can add things to make the soil more acidic (or less acidic if you have acidic soil but want pink flowers) but personally I think it's too much trouble to do that, so I just let my hydrangeas be whatever color they want.

wow....I want that hydrangea! I love em too!

Kristie

Thanks! I also have a question about landscape lighting, so sorry for all the questions :0) We are thinking about adding some landscape lighting along the rock bed that lines the driveway. The previous owners dug up a sidewalk width trail that lines the driveway and put white lanscaping rocks in there. We were thinking maybe to put some landscape lighting in that bed to line the driveway. Anyway questions have stemmed from this, is it better to use solar or electric? And what would be good for ground cover to put around the lights as the bed only has the rocks? Thanks for your input once again!

Heather

Solar is easier but low voltage electric lighting will give you better light. Solar lights are nice because you can just stick them in the ground anywhere you want (as long as it gets a lot of sun), but the amount of light they put out isn't very good. If all you want to do is have lights so that you know where the driveway is so you don't accidentally drive into the lawn at night, then solar should be fine, but if you need to illuminate a path so that people don't trip on things and can see where they're going, then you're better off doing the low voltage lighting. There's definitely a lot more work involved in the installation, but you'll get much more light.

As far as the rocks--white rocks are going to reflect sunlight up onto whatever plants you plant there, and since you already live in a fairly warm climate you'll want to make sure you plant things there that really, really love full sun, otherwise they could fry. I'm not familiar enough with what grows well in your area to have specific recommendations, only thing I can think of offhand is Lantana, but I know that can be weedy in Florida so maybe it is a problem near you too.

Personally I've never liked the look of those white rocks so I'd be tempted to take them out, then you can plant what you want and put plain mulch down instead of the rocks. If you decide to do low voltage lighting there you're going to have to remove a bunch of the rocks so you can dig a trench to bury the wires anyway.

I'm with ecrane3, I think white landscaping rocks lack a natural look, and its hard to plant around them.
I personally love the look of a dark soil pep, or mulch, really makes the plants pop!

I am totally with you on the white rocks, my boyfriend thinks they are cool, I think they are well tacky. I have had the most trouble figuring out something to put there as the white rocks are just ugly. I'm thinking about digging them up while he is gone one day... SUPRISE!!!I think for now we are going to go ahead with the solar lighting, save us on electricity and work to bury the wires. Maybe later we will convert over to the low voltage when we know what we are doing and get a little more established. :) thanks!

Nope, no go on the rocks:( maybe I can plant something along there to hide the ugliness...... Ugh....Ill keep trying though. :)

Just wait until he goes away on a business trip or something, then pretend someone came and stole them in the middle of the night! Or find a plant that he really likes and wants to plant there, then tell him about how the sunlight reflecting off the white rocks is going to fry it and you need to take the rocks out so it can survive.

lol....sneaky....very sneaky. Don't those white rocks cause cancer or something? ;)

Great! Iam trying everything I can! :-) Still working on it...... I will keep you all posted!

get them out, rocks I mean, and stack them somewhere else, tell him they needed to come out so you could dig the flower bed you want to enhance the very prety home you have just bought, then do the solar lights and a few nice colourful plants, then as you ask for help to add these tack white rocks that look like mashmallows at a kids party, remember to tell him that the lovely plants will prob die in among the rock and the new solar lighting wont have the same affect, it will be FAR too light, seriously, as someone else said the rocks will throw up the glare of the sun and fry the plants, they will also store heat and fry eggs on them, so you wont get any cool period in the evening for the plants to cool down a little, anyway tell him they are a danger to the new global warming thing that everyone is talking about and you were advised to remove them and build a low wall that will make a raised bed for less money than renewing burnt plants, just any excuse so long as he knows we all think they are tacky, what young guy wants to spend money on a lovely home and it be called tacky, thats his street creg done and gone for good he, he he, these are for people who have no imagination, no taste, no clue about plants and no idea of what damage they do to the environment, there, is that enough to get him thinking he should loose the tack. OH dear, do you think I have gone too fer, poor chap, he sure dont know what woman is like when they want to stress a point, I actually feel sorry for him now, OH just give him a hug, say please and be done with it. Good Luck, WeeNel.

Hi heatherfeather (and all)
I just wanted to say "Hi". I'm also new to this site, and relatively new to gardening, and have been enjoying reading your posts. I can relate to your enthusiasm about finding beautiful plants, and the planning.... and then I get sort of overwhelmed. My husband and I just had our garage rebuilt, and the driveway redone, and I now have all these blank canvases in my yard, thoughts in my head, and plants that I just couldn't resist buying, but I've no real vision of where they should go. Plus, I'm in the process of redoing my raised beds in the front yard, and making them sunken beds (thanks for the advice, WeeNel!), so I probably shouldn't tackle more than that for the summer. Anyway, I wanted to finally join in some gardening conversation, instead of just eavesdropping. But I feel I should have an official question, so let me start off with this--as we're levelling the ground around the new garage and retaining wall, I'm finding that we have very rocky dirt. How much of a problem is this going to be if I want to put in flower beds? I'm pulling out the very big rocks (like the size of a head), and fist sized rocks, but there are tons of smaller rocks (like thumbsized). Should we just level the dirt, and then dig out the portions where I want the beds to be, and put in soil? Or is it OK to have some of these rocks for drainage? I can get really obsessed, and I'm having visions of myself spending entire weekends sifting rocks out of dirt...then smaller rocks...until I've finally lost my mind and am filling the wheelbarrow with 1/4" pebbles, while I drool and babble.....

lol...I can relate to being obsessed. I don't think the rocks will hurt any, unless there's more rocks than dirt. If nothing else, just take out the big rocks and maybe add a little topsoil to it. I have a bed that I spent every day picking out rocks.....until I realized everytime it rained there were a gazillion more revealed. I still obess, but not as bad. Now, in my veggie garden I keep a bucket nearby so if I find a rock(or a few more) I throw them into the bucket. Or, I'll send the kids "rock hunting" in the garden with the bucket. Works out just fine...if they miss a few, I try to ignore it! I just had to say that your story of sifting rocks out of dirt reminded me quite a bit of me...right down to the drooling and babbling ;)

Kristie

I agree, I don't think the rocks will cause a problem for the plants, just for you as you're trying to dig holes! So they're more annoying than anything.

hi all.. im new to the landscaping forum and landscaping for that matter.. I live in southeast Arkansas and the winters are failrly mild the summers are hot and dry... I just bought a new house with 2 acres of land to beautify there is lots of shaded area as well as full sun areas ive planted some azealas and a few iris i dug up along the roadside .. If anyone has any quick and easy flower to grow ideas or pictures to share i would be delighted to hear from you ...Especailly any ways to down grass in the flower beds.. My husband is a perfectionist and if theres grass im in trouble :-) .. If you have any flowers you would like to share id very much love that because im on a very limited budget... My Email address is huneybunch_2000 id you have something to share( Please) you can contact me there and i will give you my address.. again thanks in advance for any help or suggestions .. ive spent all morning ordering seed and buuld catalogs and looking for general imformation on gardening an dlandscaping ... thanks huney

Hello All! Back Again....more questions.... :) Anyway, one of the trees in our yard appears to be a young Crepe Myrtle. The tree is blooming, however it looks as if it is about to die. Do you think it just needs to be pruned? I was not really even able to tell it was a Crepe Myrtle until it bloomed and I looked at the bark. But it seems as though it is almost dying.....but its blooming...Im confused. Maybe it was never pruned and I just need to do that. But before I did that I needed to ask my trusty confidantes :) I wasnt sure If this is the right time of year to do that, or what. But it must be alright if its blooming? Am I right? Maybe just needs a little trimming? If so what time of year is good for that? Thanks in advance to you all! :)

Sometimes plants if they know they're about to die will still flower because they're trying desperately to reproduce before they die. Can you post a picture? If it looks like it's about to die I'm sure it probably needs more than just pruning, but without a picture it's hard to tell what it needs.

Unfortunately, I have lost my digital camera :( so I am unable to post a picture. I really hope it lives. They are so pretty when they bloom. There is also a little sprig blooming below the tree, that part looks healthy, just the top of the tree is dried out and dead, I really wish I could post a picture...maybe I can find one online that looks similar and post it. I will try.

Heatherfeather
It takes a lot to kill a crepe myrtle in NC. Pruning those trees is common here and the landscapers are always screaming about because it does the tree no good and it eliminates the natural shape. It has been awfully dry here, maybe it just needs water.

Lantana is an annual here. Rarely it does come back and that is usually because it has been an exceptionally warm winter. The lantana are beautiful and you could use as an annual. They can take very dry conditions so if you want instant color - now - even in the dead of summer you can plant.

If you have deer/rabbits you should be sure you explore the most critter resistant plants.

Landscape plants of the Southeast is a great resource to get the foundation of your garden plants chosen.

You may want to think about a tree or two along that rock 'trail" whether you take the rocks out or decide not to - also think about the position and numbers of lights and how you use them or it may look like you have a runway going down your drive. If you put a few trees along the way you could uplight them... get the benefit of light and direction and enhance/highlight the trees at night at the same time.

I can give you a list of flowers that do well - but it would help to know if you have critters that will eat or pets /children that can be harmed by plantings that are poisonous.

Can you just give us a really good description of all the symptoms then? Someone might be able to figure it out from that. Also, did you notice any changes over time--did the tree look nice at one point and then decline, or has it always looked like it does now, is it staying the same or getting worse, things like that would be helpful.

Yes, the tree has always looked pretty rough, I thought maybe it just needed some water, it has been raining cats and dogs lately so, I dont think that is the problem anymore. There are places on the tree that are blooming but other places are so dry and dead that you can just snap them right off, some stems are green and blooming while others are dead and brown with little dry bulb like things at the end of them. It has been raining each day for the past week. So I really dont think it is the water...but maybe since its so hot? A list of flowers would be great, we dont have any children and we live in a subdivision so no real wildlife, there are a few rabbits. We dont have any pets as of now. Thanks for all your help out there! :-)

Heatherfeather
Could you be mistaking spent blooms that were left over from last year??? Maybe since we had a really really mild winter - there were some left. I may be wrong because I never had a crepe myrtle but I think the bloom is on new wood.. So you may be looking at the old as well as the new. Maybe that is it and your tree is OK.

I will try to put together a list for you - maybe this weekend and I will post it here. The rabbits have eaten what the deer won't but if you don't have deer - that is great news. Off the top of my head Baptisia (false indigo) does well, (once placed doesn't like to move), coneflower (some great new colors) bee balm (monarda) Blue Star Amsonia,Powis Castle Wormwood,oranges and lemons gallardia, Snowbank Boltonia Asteroides,Blue Fortune Agastache (brush it and it smells like licorace), jean davis lavender, Brazilian Verbena, butterfly bush, peony (sometimes need to be staked). These all can be kept fairly dry....are for sun....critter resistant...good for cottage gardens (not very formal) and most are either fragrant or attract butterflies. If you live near the Raulston Aboretum in Raleigh - you can see a great many N.C. friendly plants. Go different seasons. Also when Tony Avent opens his property to visitors (plant delights) go!! you will love it. Great ideas and if the property is open then you can purchase on site - otherwise it is a catalogue (free) Products there are sort of pricey and if you wait a year or so..the local nurseries and also sometimes Walmart will have the same items.

Yes, they do bloom on new wood, and unless you prune off the blooms from last year, you'll end up with dried things on the end of the branches left over from the year before, I think that's probably the bulb like things you're seeing. Is it just the ends of the branches with those on them that look dead, or are you seeing brown/dried leaves too? If you're seeing a lot of dead looking leaves, could it have been from that spring cold snap that hit a lot of the country? That hit a lot of tender new growth pretty hard, but I'm not sure how bad the temperatures were by you.

>>If you're seeing a lot of dead looking leaves, could it have been from that spring cold snap that hit a lot of the country? That hit a lot of tender new growth pretty hard, but I'm not sure how bad the temperatures were by you. >>>

That's right! my pomegranate's leaves got completely black and dried up ...took a month or more but new growth started and all is well - But it could be related to that if you have shriveled leaves as well as the dried buds from last year.