Flower beds have no imagination

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LorraineR Gilmer, TX(Zone 8a) Aug 21, 2007

Hi, I have a terrible time being creative. I have a big oblong bed around two trees. I put begonias around the border, then marigold around that, etc etc. The plants are pretty but not very creative. I also have beautiful hostas and caladiums together in a bed next to the house. They look terrible as well, but it's my landscaping, not the plants, they are georgeous, but I did the same thing, a row of hostas and a row of cal. behind them

Is there any place that shows how to plant things to give it a pop. Maybe if I go through this whole forum, I might find some, but I thought you might know a site or a place here to look at beds

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ginnylynn Blyth, ON(Zone 5b) Aug 21, 2007

Hi again :-) Have you tried Landscaping.com http://landscaping.com/ ? It is another of Dave's wonderful sites.

--Ginny

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missingrosie Hillsborough, NC(Zone 7b) Aug 22, 2007

Hi Lorraine
Maybe you can post a photo?

It sounds like maybe you need something high in the bed as a backdrop / interest for the shorter plants to play off. Even tho you have a tree or two in there - the trees won't function the same way as a clump of shorter bushes will. I have a birch tree in an oblong bed (I trimmed the bottom up to form a decent sized/shaped canopy so there is considerable 'trunk' in the line of vision in the bed but not a lot of leaf because the birch is tall) and alongside it in a shaded area behind the trunk sits a fairly substantial boulder with a clump of fern planted around it. The sunny front of the bed contains vinca as the majority groundcover, but along with the low groundcover, are several pieris clustered (but spaced appropriately) and a small low cedar ..then I just fill in seasonally with annuals. It sounds like a mess but it works out well. It is interesting, the textures are nice, and it is easy to maintain. Just clump some taller bushes (depending on available space you will have to size appropriately - stick with odd numbers -even if it is just 'one') away from the tree trunk ..then go to a few lower spreading plants and then finally to the choices you have already made. If you have room for something extra and still feel like something is lacking maybe a low birdbath with a few sparkly glass stones in it would add interest. I feel sure that in the end you will figure it out and it will look great. Same with your hosta/caladium bed.... could you put a birdhouse on a pole in it for vertical interest? A bottle tree or something tall?

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