My worst garden spot -my walkway that everyone sees .Yikes!!

My very first garden area is my source of most frustration. I've learned as a new gardener to move plants where they are most happy, but I've moved, and moved...
My pathway to my front door curves in from my driveway. In the curve on both sides is about a 12' long by 7' deep garden. On the right side, which faces north, I tried a shade garden out of a book. I used hostas, bleeding hearts, astelibes, and lily of the valleys. The hostas grew scraggly and yellowish. The bleeding hearts nearest the porch have come up the best, but the astelibes and lilies never arrived at all. I had my mom, who lives on the hill above me, look down at my yard a few times. She said that, although the porch shades that part of the yard, and even though it is north facing, it still gets a LOT of sun.
So, I planted a burning bush plant where nothing had grown, left my bleeding hearts there for now, moved my hostas, and tried the other side of the path.
I decided to make the other side of the path an herb garden, since it was south facing and my mom said it got a lot of sun. However, apparently it doesn't get ENOUGH sun! All of my herbs grew sideways. So, last year I moved them to the butterfly garden, which is a dry spot on the north side next to my driveway which still gets a lot of sun, and they thrive there. I planted tulips in place of the herbs, and so far they have come up last year and this spring.
My question is, what would look pretty as a planting near my porch? I've looked at several garden designs, but none seem to fit the sunlight situation or small layout. I thought of a mass planting of tulips and daffodills and hyacinths in the spring, and lilies and maybe irises in the summer, but I don't know if that would be substantial enough for a foundation planting. I have a hydrangea bush that needs more sunlight and thought of moving it there, but would it get too large?
ps- I lined all my pathways with lavender, and it is growing well and about 3ft tall so I'd need something that would look good with lavender and be tall enough to be seen.
Thanks! Here is a picture of the area, please excuse my porch which is a mess right now.

This message was edited Mar 15, 2009 11:04 AM

This message was edited Mar 15, 2009 11:06 AM

Here is the other side of the pathway. I really shouldn't park bikes and yard equipment on my porch in the winter, a bit embarrasing, I hope to get some wicker furniture this year!

Here is what my herbs looked like before I moved them to this butterfly garden. They've straightened up a bit, they used to look much worse. This is a rosemary tree I've had about 3 years now.

An finally, this is what my paths of lavender look like. You can see the rosemary bush I moved, and the butterfly bush on the far end of my yard. This is the one day of snow we got this year (grin) and it shows the lavender really well (better than the above pics). I have it lining my butterfly garden on the north side, my rose garden on the east side, and my pathways to my house on my NW and SW side. It looks great with my rosebushes and butterfly garden plants, but I'm not sure what to plant near my house that would look good. And also smell good, I love fragrant flowers (lilies and hyacinths are some of my favorites).

okay if the flowers are going where the gnomes are at the problem may be that the leaves and stuff is not letting the flowers have air and enough light. second mulch is good but you have to let the root ball top breathe. mulch also holds moisture so bulbs dont do good under it as they rot.


as for the plants hostas do better in complete shade like under trees and stuff. bleeding hearts i have never gotten one to live in my life.

but first thing i would do is clean the area of all debris and leaves and stuff. see how wet it is under neath it. second when planting dont have nothing around the plant. leave a hand width or two uncovered from mulch or anything( this lets the plant breathe and water get to the roots and sunlight) .
and i have found plants dont like to compete with rocks. they cant grow around them.

hostas like to be somewhat shallow planted.

and fertilize the area and you may have to get a soil sample as your dirt may be lacking something.

good luck

Consider that it may not be as much of a light problem as it is a soil problem. Soil that is not cultivated and that is too dry may be the issue. Perhaps the bleeding hearts made it near the porch because water settled there and helped the situation. Can you till up the area and add compost and amendments? How deep can you go? Is the ground hard? When you plant do you cultivate the ground enough around the root or are you just able to dig a marginal hole for the plant? I would go for a shrub or two that you like for interest and scale and then put in annuals seasonally. Anchor the corners of the porch with a shrub that is fragrant and large enough in scale. Work from there.

Good advice above. My two cents--I think a clematis or two growing up your porch pillars would look just gorgeous. They take about three years to get well enough established to really put on a show but they are well worth the wait! They will flower the first and second year but start looking real spectacular about the third year. I also agree with missingrosie that a couple of flowering shrubs in front of your porch would look real nice. Personally, I'd check out some dwarf varieties so you don't completely hide your porch and block air circulation.

Another thought
If the ground is too hard for you to manage. Too hard to till --or you don't have enough help to do it -- consider a long planter box to run (ground level)along both sides of the porch. By going in this direction, the planting will be easy for you to manage and you can change out the plants according to what pleases you from year to year. If you like lattice ---you could place lattice between the posts up on the porch level. The lattice would provide 'enclosure' not just to define your porch space, but for the wicker seating you plan to get. (Not too tall with the lattice...maybe two feet or so) You can go 'artsy' and paint the lattice and the planter box in a bright pleasing color --- or you can go soft -- like a dove grey and a soft purpley plum, both would go well with your green roof. Choose plants that compliment colorwise and height wise for the boxes. You can even plant a climbing vine on a trellis near the front porch posts on each side of the walkway to the porch.
Do you think you might like something like that?
If so, plan your boxes well (the construction) check out how to's on the internet. Consider spending a bit more for the 'plastic' lumber (like Trex or other big building supply choices) Be sure to leave drain slats. Depending on the construction style you may have to line the sides with small mesh fabric to keep the dirt in. It will last, can be painted, and no maintenance for you. Place a birdhouse on that post on the porch in colors to compliment the box and lattice. You can always work over time on the side areas next to the house as you have time since not as noticeable.

You can move your knomes to the area beyond the lavender - nearer the birdbath. Sort of a knome garden. Try to keep the area closest to the house spare with garden ornaments to show off your planter boxes (which should be the main focus) and to play up the porch area that you plan. I hope this helps and gives you some ideas. I know it will be beautiful. Send us some pictures when you get done with whatever you decide to do.

Edited to make sense!
This message was edited Mar 15, 2009 1:36 PM

This message was edited Mar 15, 2009 1:38 PM

Cross posted with Nature. I think the clematis is a great idea and if you have deer etc., they probably won't come close enough to bother.

LOL--we were pretty close there weren't we rosie! That's O.K.--the more ideas we offer the more choices LadyA will have to choose from.

Wow, thanks everyone! I do have lots of questions. (grin). When I started that garden, I found the ground was very hard, backbreaking red clay. So, my mom and niece and nephew and I dug it all down a shovel width, broke up the ground underneath it, and added big bags of potting soil and mulched on top of it. It seemed to make the ground softer, and it's still pretty soft 3 years later; however, the weeds love it more than my flowers ever did. I have these strange weeds that trail along the ground with fruit on them that look like tiny strawberries. They wrap around my flowers and I have to pull gently because they have fingers everywhere!
So last year, I tried laying paper on the ground and mulch on top. This spring, I don't notice that weed, though I have a lot of those green flowery weeds that crop up in the grass sometimes. My mom thought that putting all the leaves on the garden over the winter would add mulch. She said to remove it in the spring. Do you think it is safe to remove it now, or would I need to wait until "danger of frost is past". Or was it a mistake to use leaves in the first place?

Secondly, I love the ideas of using small shrubs. Where I have the burning bush, the ground is nice and weed free for about 3 ft around. It would be nice to have less weeds to worry about and pull! I had the rocks as a walkway to get to the back of the garden plots, and I did notice that I got more grass around them (after all the struggle to make the plot grass free!) than flowers. If I had a shrub, I would only have to plant around the front area and wouldn't need little pathways. I did hope to figure out a place for my favorite annuals. That sounds perfect!

Thirdly, I think the idea of clematis is awesome if I can get it to grow. I went to England in 1999, and I loved how the houses had leaves and flowers growing all over them. I suggested English Ivy to my mom, but she (and Dave's Garden and BH+G, etc) said it would be way too invasive. So it would be great to have clematis, they're so pretty. What is the best way to plant and train them? I've tried it on my arbor, but nothing really came of it, but it was just 2 years ago so I might need to be patient.

Fourthly, are too many garden statues...too many? My gnomes make me happy, but again it seems like more weeds than flowers like to grow around them. I'm thinking of setting them in my backyard, which is a blank slate that I'm thinking of making my woodland/fairy/children's garden for the nieces and nephews.

Fifthly, I've always wanted lattice around my posts, but didn't know if it would look good since my roof is so low? I've looked at 3ft tall, though. I might try the 2 ft tall, it sounds good. That leads me to

Lastly, does anyone else have the trouble I have of loving two styles that seem very disparate? I call my styles "cottage and castle". My favorite furniture is big, heavy mahogany colonial pieces, and soft, pretty wicker ones. My favorite room colors are gold, red, and dark blue, but also sage green and lavender and pink. My favorite house styles are colonial, victorian, and Tudor, but also Crasftsman and English country cottages. With my garden, part of me likes gnomes and fairies and cottage flowers. The other part of me likes angels and lions and fountains and ordered paths and flowers. How does one work both into their yard? Maybe one style in the front, and one in the back?

Whew that was a lot of questions but your posts were so terrific and gave me so much to think about! Thank you imzadi, missingrosie, and naturelover1950! You're all awesome.
-Lady A

This message was edited Mar 15, 2009 4:44 PM

Lady A,
I'm so glad we were able to give you some ideas to think over. I don't see anything wrong with having your cottage and castle gardens--one in front and one in back. Kind of like having your cake and eating it too! One currently popular idea is to make "rooms" from trees, shrubs, flowers and other plants--that's certainly a blend of ideas. And I know lots of folks who love the little garden gnomes and fairies. I've been looking for the past few years for just the right angel to stand next to a beautiful peach colored rose I have. She has to be just right because she will stand in honor of my stepdaughter who we lost in a car/train wreck nine years ago. The peach rose was planted for Jennifer. I think gardens can represent anything we want. It sounds like both of your gardens would be beautiful and I think you will thoroughly enjoy them.
BTW, if you want a pathway, have you considered digging it down a few inches, laying black plastic or heavy landscape fabric, and then covering with paving stones or pea gravel? The black plastic or landscape fabric would keep the weeds out. Also, I can't get out in our very hot summers to weed (I have a condition where I don't sweat so I overheat very quickly) so I've started putting out a pre-emergent around all my shrubs. Of course, it can't be used anywhere you want to plant flower seeds. But it's a big help for me in keeping weeds out of all my shrubs.
Clematis isn't hard to grow but it does take some patience. It needs to be planted an inch or two lower than it is in the pot. Also, it likes cool roots. I mulch mine well and plant small flowers in front of them to keep the sun off their roots (I have day lilies in front of some and small azaleas in front of others). As I stated earlier, they will bloom the first and second year but don't put on a real show until their third year. I started out with a Jackmanii--it's four years old now and just gorgeous. I ended up buying 9 more--I just don't get tired of them. They grow easily on trellises. I have two Guernsey Creams that will be delivered later this month that I plan to put on a section of split rail fence along the edge of our patio as a centerpiece for my butterfly garden. They would work in well with either one of the garden styles you mentioned. BTW--thank your mom for keeping you from planting that ivy. It is highly invasive and you would have likely ended up regretting it.
I don't know how hot it gets up there in TN but down here where I'm at it gets terribly hot (95-100 all summer) so I keep my flowerbeds mulched year-round--winter to keep the roots warm and summer to hold in moisture. Leaves are a good mulch but probably do need to be moved aside to allow flowers to emerge in the spring. You could leave them in between flowers to decay and add compost to your soil though.
Hope this helps some. Good luck and have fun designing your new gardens--the will bring you years of enjoyment. And if your like me, they will be an eternal work in progress :-}

NatureLover1950,
Thank you for another great posting :-D I forgot to mention that this area might look overmulched because I got my arbor day trees last fall and decided, since nothing else would grow there, to use it as a tree nursery. They seem to be doing really well, I can't wait to transplant them in a year or so. I'm glad to hear of someone else who uses a lot of mulch- it is cool and pleasant in the spring here, but the summers are murderous and that's when the ticks and strawberry weeds take over!
I cleaned out my yard some today of leaves and the ground was pretty wet underneath and some flower leaves were bent over (ps-thank you imzadi for the advice on how far away to have mulch from plants- I was never sure about that, and the plants look a lot springier now that I've cleared the leaves away!). I love working in the yard in the spring, it's so cool and pleasant, though it got too cool by 3 p.m.
I saw a whole yard done in clematis in a garden magazine once, and I thought it was so beautiful! I got discouraged by the lack of growth from the ones I planted near the arbor, but I'm going to just grin, roll up my sleeves, and try again!

I'm so sorry about your loss of your stepdaughter. Having a rosebush in her memory sounds lovely. I saw a crying angel at Design Tuscano that's beautiful, though rather costly:
http://www.designtoscano.com/product/code/DB1111.do
I moved into my Granny's house in 2004 because she was sick and had to be in rehabilitative care at the nursing home. The home was in bad shape, lots of mold, so I redid one room completely for myself and started working on the rest of the house. This first garden I started in spring 2005 so she'd have something lovely when she came home, but she never did (died July 2005). I bought the house and made a memory garden in the south corner. It has a dog statue to remember my dog Beauty, and an angel and cross etc. I hope to make paving stones sometime with names of my grandparents and others I've lost. It looks really pretty in spring, but I need more white flowers for summer.
The reason I mention it is, the same year I planted it I tried a rose garden in my east side. I planted 7 bushes and only 4 survived. I planned it carefully: white, then white climbing roses, then yellow climbing, then pink, pink/yellow, and I can't remember the other 2. Well, the "white" one in my memory garden had a shocking dark pink rose, just like one on my Granny's rose bush that got mowed down by mistake and never came up. I thought it was Granny greeting me and telling me she was happy in Heaven, though my sister thought the garden center just made a mistake (cynic). The rosebush has never bloomed since, though, white or pink.

I like the idea of shrubs more and more. The prettiest parts of my yard are where my Granny's shrubs (rose of sharon, pink one I can't remember the name, climbing wild roses, and forsythia) or my shrubs (burning bush, lavender, rosemary, butterfly bush) are. Here is a picture of my garden in later spring with all of the bushes on that end in bloom. You can see a corner of my porch garden before it started to look so bad. The rosemary is already starting to look crooked there (picture from 4/1/08). It looked really bad by last fall, when I moved the poor plant!

I'm really getting excited about the idea of lattice planter boxes, missingrosie. My mom gave me small boxes about 8 inches high, but they didn't really stand out and I wasn't sure about using them ( they are the clay colored boxes in front of the bikes in 1st picture). I'm going to go to Lowe's and do some planning!

I hope ya'll like this picture. It shows my garden in a better light than the dead of winter ones above (grin). Don't worry, my nephew knows to stay on the grass paths with his ATV. He loves driving around my garden and under my arbor.

Lady
Glad you have gotten ideas. The long planter boxes - ground level - was to give you a place to tend and use imagination from year to year. The lattice I thought would be porch level from post to post --just to define the space and bring some texture and perhaps color. That way as you tire of one element you can remove. (It worried me when you said lattice planter boxes as in one entire unit.)

Shrubs sometimes are the best way to start when you have a lot to do. You mentioned that the ground was wet after raking the leaves.... that doesn't necessarily mean that you have enough moisture in the ground. Under leaves after the winter or after a rain etc., it frequently damp --but in order for your shrubs/plants/flowers whatever to do well --- water needs to be able to pass below the ground into the soil. You mentioned it was hard to dig there and so --maybe more cultivation is needed. I am not sure about putting potting soil in the ground - it can contain amendments that don't make for a good 'ground' soil. (Sometimes there isn't any 'dirt' in it!)

It sounds like your gardens are going to be just gorgeous. Like I said, they will probably be a life-long work-in-progress. But you sound like most of us here on DG--you really enjoy working in your gardens. I love spring when everything begins to pop up and bloom. This time of year makes all the hard work so worthwhile. One more suggestion--as you buy shrubs, flowers, trees, etc., while they are still in their pots, place them in areas where you think you want them, then stand back and look at them from every angle to make sure they will be pleasing to your eye before you plant them. It's sooo much easier to move them around while they are still potted. Can you tell this is experience speaking? :-}

Edited to add--if you'd like some evergreen with winter flowers in your garden, you might want to consider a camellia tree. I have two and their blooms are so beautiful and a welcome sight in the dead of winter. Down here they bloom sometime in December.

This message was edited Mar 16, 2009 7:04 AM

LOL missingrosie, we seem to run on the same schedule!

im glad i could help. i learned the hard way about mulching right up the the plant. disaster in the making.

shrubs are a good choice too. and once you get them going some of the shade ones might do under them. monkey grass and stuff like that loves under a bush. the variegated type is a stand out one.

the the clay lime is a good source and cow manure. but the first thing i would do before adding anything is take a soil sample to your county extension agent. this way you know exactly what your soil does and doesnt need.

good luck and feel free to ask us all questions. we have been there.

an idea my husband made me was like one of those wooden planter beds with raised levels. now you can buy them. they would do as your annual planting box like for pansies and stuff.

You're getting a lot of good ideas here Lady A--you'll have to post some pictures of your gardens when you get them going good (notice I didn't say "finished" LOL). I'll bet they're going to be beautiful.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, my dear gardening friends! Thank you so much for all of your wonderful ideas! I've been at it a couple of years, but I'm still very much a beginner. It's been hit or miss, mostly miss, the last 3 years until my garden seemed to finally start to take off last year, mostly due to the terrific people I've met online.
When I think of all the gardening magazines I've bought, mostly for the photos, but all my best advice was from DG and BH+G!
Imzadi, last year I had trouble with my new rows of lavender, so I looked up online I found out not to bury the roots deep (oops!), not to use pine bark mulch (uh oh!), and not to overwater (yikes!). So, I promptly dug them up, mounded them above the soil some, used river rock mulch, and threw in a handful each of lime and manure. It seems to have perked them up. I noticed that you said lime and manure were good- is that for all flowers besides lavender then? If so, I'm off to buy a bag of each this weekend :-D

Missingrosie, yeah I did read that wrong. I was sitting here worring about how to keep dirt from creeping out the sides of lattice porch rail boxes, and when I read your post I burst out laughing. Oops! I see what you mean, now. I'd probably have to keep planter boxes on my porch instead of ground level, because my house doesn't have gutters and it's like a waterfall on the edge of my roof. I probably really need to fix that. I've got more ideas than $
I didn't realize that about potting soil! I know it said "fertilizes for 9 months" but I didn't really think of it beyond that. We don't have many scraps of food leftover, so I wonder if the newspaper, leaves, and lime and manure mentioned above are enough compost?
Naturelover1950, the camillas sound very pretty. I looked at some photos and I like the shades of pink and the rare yellow one. I miss the beauty of winter in Michigan- pine trees and conifers everywhere. Though spring and summer is sure prettier down here.
What do you think about gardenias? Or varigated Weigela? I thought that the area was large enough on both sides of the walkway that I could try several shrubs to have all season interest. If it didn't look too busy or weird. I tend to overgarden and need to think more about complementary plants!
PS- I didn't know burning bushes were considered invasive!!! I bought mine at Lowe's 2 years ago, and it's the prettiest thing I've ever grown myself (besides the butterfly bush I got at Lowe's, which I also read may be invasive). I really need to read before I leap I guess!

I'll keep you all posted as I work on the porch walkways this summer! Thanks again so very much!

ROFLOL Lady A--we've all made plenty of mistakes and I think it's a good sign that you can laugh at yourself for yours! We could improvise on an old saying--"The road to a really nice garden is paved with many mistakes." But it's fun learning, isn't it?
Camellias are beautiful and I sure do love mine. Gardenias are beautiful too and they smell wonderful. That's the joy of gardening--so many choices and all of them are yours to make.

Lady: You may also want to consider raised beds bordered by stone in these areas so that you get the added soil amendments, but definitely need to improve that red clay! We have that and something here called bull tallow, which is grey, sticky clay, impossible to work with!

You've had lots of good suggestions above and I can't add anything else to what's already been said. Good luck! Keep us posted on your progress.

lime you throw out every other year and yes the whole yard. especially with red clay as we have it here. manure once in spring and once in fall. black cow is great.

there is something out there also called clay buster i think it is.

but i lime the whole yard and manure 2 times a year here. just follow directions on the bags.

Hi, all! I finally got to add some shrubs to my front walkway garden. On my right side, I kept the burning bush and added a white camellia. I thought it would be nice to have a red burning bush in fall, then the camellia will have white flowers in winter, than I'll have spring and summer bulbs and annuals with the evergreen camellia and leafy green burning bush as background interest.
I also planted a camellia on the left side, but found out that the left side was 2 ft shorter due to the stoop, so it was way too crowded over there. I wish I realized that before I killed off a few tulips in bloom trying to move it around to fit!
I also realized it would be 6 ft tall, and my porch is only 7 ft tall, so I wouldn't be able to see off my porch! So, I dug it up to give my mom and planted a weigela bush instead (4 ft tall by 5 ft wide). Pictures coming soon. My mom liked my weigela so much, I bought a second one gave it and the camellia to her for early mother's day!
This is a picture "before" with the camellia.
ps- ya'll will be so proud of me. I took time getting the weigela at Lowe's by hunting down a camellia and burning bush and placing other bushes around them to see which two looked best together. I also checked plant height and depth and spacing requirements. I'm getting a bit better as time goes by!

This message was edited May 6, 2009 12:17 PM

I decided to experiment with the lasagna garden on my front porch gardens. I've used paper and mulch before, and have come up with lovely soft dirt, but weeds still pop through. Since I'm starting fresh in these gardens, I decided to try carboard first.

I also moved my astelibe to my new north (shade) garden next to the house. I kept the tulips for the spring interest next year, and the three green leafy plants next to the weigela are a red bud and 2 crabapples which will be transplanted this fall.

Here is the lasagna garden with 2nd layer, newspaper. I forgot to mention earlier that I also moved oout the walkway, since my shrubs take up most of this garden plot and I no longer need a walkway to the back plants.

Finally, here is the completed lasagna garden with mulch. I love how neat it looks, although rather empty. I can't wait to figure out which flowers to put out for summer. (I love the tulips for spring color). I'm thinking yellow since it would complement my green roof nicely, or maybe more pink or some blue. Any floral suggestions? Gerber daisies, irises, and geraniums are some of my favorite summer flowers.
PS I've kept my gnomes, at least for now. They're so cheerful! The weigela is called "emeralds and rubies" weigela. Can't wait to see what it looks like bigger!

This message was edited May 6, 2009 1:17 PM

I did have one gnome casualty in April when I was struggling with that camellia bush...

What a change! You've done excellent work.