My daughter's new house needs a garden!

My daughter has purchased a home in Kansas City with her husband. This is their first home. It is a city lot, average size, with a deck at one end, pretty flat with no trees. She asked me for suggestions, but I am pretty new at this myself. She is a schoolteacher & doesn't have a lot of time except in summer. She would like bulbs, I know, and perennials, She doesn't want to have to plant every year. The yard will be used for the usual young couple BBQ's and at some point, they may get a dog. The only thing she says for sure is peonies & lilacs. The house was built in 1919, and she would like it to match the period. Flowers? Vegetables? Flowering tree in the middle maybe? OK, you experts out there, go crazy in your imaginations! We can post progress photos. Remember, we're working with the budget of a school teacher & a musician (musician = $0.00 or close to it, LOL)

The best advice I could give is for them to look at magazines, local gardens, neighbors yards, etc. Make a scrapbook of looks they like and then pare down to what they can afford. They will no doubt need to amend the soil if flower beds are wanted and a separate space for a pet. If they do plan for a tree it would be best to start with that feature and plan around it. There are still a few gardening shows on HGTV for new home owners that don't have lots of $$ to spend. Best of luck to them.

Its difficult to pick out plants for others.Gardens are very subjective. I grow lots of herbs.My mother thinks that they are a bunch of weeds LOL.The best prices on perennials is in the fall.At the end of the season prices are slashed.The best selections are in the spring but that is when prices are at the highest.The best way to keep dogs out of your flowers is to put your garden in raised beds.My sister installed an invisable fence with a shock collar.They are not cheap but very effective.I love my daisy garden.Purple and white coneflowers,shasta daisy, black eyed susans and gallardia.Knock out roses do great also.Edge

What direction does the house face? A shade tree would be best where it can shade the house in the summer. And, like bugme suggested, get that in first then garden around it. I would start out with easy things that multiply GENTLY, like iris. you can use full sun perennials that won't mind some shade when the tree gets big, iris is one, peonies also. If it's lilacs they're after, I would suggest the dwarf Koreans, since they don't sucker and won't take over a small yard. Daffodils and tulips are also great for growing under trees. Edge suggests coneflowers, daisies, blanketflowers; all very easy to start from seed, and all will reseed, if she doesn't mind starting small. I've grown most of my garden from seed, you have to be patient, but it really saves $$! I could keep suggesting for pages...
BTW, I have 3 iris I'd be glad to send her way if she likes them, peonies also, and shrubs. Have a look at my tradelist. I remember what it's like starting out, and would be glad to help!

Do they have a Lowe's? They usually have a clearance table with plants that may look sad but most of them can be revived with a little TLC. Great for those on a tight budget.

Thank you everybody! The house faces east & the south side has no lawn, just a steep terrace. I think she's heading toward a smaller flowering tree, crabapple or greek olive in the center, a raised bed of natives (hmmm... daisy garden) on the north fence , peonies & iris on the south side. We have to wait to see if water is gathering anywhere, in which case a rain garden will be in order. The back fence may get some spirea (because her mother likes them) and maybe the lilacs (I have dwarf korean, very sucessful). You guys got us thinking! Has anybody naturalized under trees with bluebells? Will they mix in with daffodils? She closes next Friday. Then we have to paint a little. Of course my yard will suffer. That's a whole other terrifying story (the older woman who lived her went out with her wagon and collected big rocks, pieces of concrete, etc. and put them all over the back yard for ten years). Anyway, we will be checking back in regularly for more ideas. Thanks again!

If she has a boggy area, and wants fast coverage, she might try yellow flag iris. Mine get 4' - 6' tall, and have gotten a little out of hand. Luckily, I know someone at work that wants some for by her pond.

This is a better picture, but still not the one I was looking for

If she's putting in a rain garden, it needs to be sited where water doesn't collect, because you want it to drain well, otherwise you'll be making a bog garden...

Irwells50: Those irises are beautiful the way you have them around the tree. What are the other plants between the tree & sidewalk?
Triudastra: You are right about the bog garden. There aren't any boggy areas; when I do a rain garden, I look for the natural slope first. I love rain gardens. Here's picture of mine in the first year (it's a lot better since all my natives reseeded)

Beautiful rain garden, kcviolet. The other plants are liriope, lime mound spirea, and mums, which are currently out of control. I need to work on them. Also have some variegated miscanthus, leatherleaf mahonia, loropetalum, and gardenia on the other side of the walk. I don't know how many of these would be hardy in KC.

Here's the lime mound spirea. I really like it. The leaves fall off in the winter, and you can prune it if you want to keep it small. It blooms off and on from spring to frost.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/124710/

We have some lime mound spirea by Union Station downtown (between the bus stop & my job). I was wondering what it was. I really like garland spirea, probably because it was around the house I grew up in. Does the lime mound kind smell lovely, too? Liriope is a good suggestion. That is going crazy in front of my house. It makes good edging. After a couple years, nothing can get past it. I could transplant some of that to her house. I wonder if it would hold on on that steep terrace she's got. I think it was your mums I was looking at. They don't get a chance to multiply like that here; although my hardy mums do come back every year & put on a show between Halloween & Thanksgiving.

The liriope should do fine on a slope, we have it planted to anchor the soil in our creek.

I would suggest leaving the middle of the yard open and do your gardening around the fence lines. Observe where the sunshine falls during the seasons and use plants that match the amount of sunshine recieved. On an east facing lot, it sounds like the house will start providing some shade in the afternoons and lots of plants really appreciate that during a hot summer day. Leaving the center open provides a good place for a young families children to run and play and a place to throw the ball for the dog to chase and to have barbeques, etc, etc. But most important, the upkeep and mowing is greatly simplified if you dont have to thread and wind your way amongst randomly placed trees and flower beds and around the muddy edges of bog holes. Fill in the mosquito infested bog holes with good fill dirt. Use fill dirt to level the yard so excess water drains off. The most well "designed" garden in the world can become a continuous pain in the neck if maintenance and upkeep is not a major part of the plan especially for young growing families where spare time comes at a premium.

I found an article mentioning flowers found in a classic garden: http://www.russonflowers.com/tips/fresh-flowers/best-cut-flowers-selecting-cut-flowers-to-beautify-your-garden/

Gives a few ideas :) I'll keep thinking.

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Hope this will help:)