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Hi, I have a strip of dirt that is 63' x 3'. To the back of it there is the privacy fence and then 3 feet in front it's all concrete. I get partial to full sun. I saw that Liriope was on sale and was considering planting that along that strip. I wanted some ideas/advice as to what I could plant in between them to give that area a little color. I don't want it to be boring. Also, trying to be budget friendly here. Any ideas or suggestions? I'm not married to the Liriope idea....very open minded here. Oh and no annuals please...I don't want to have to replant this area year after year!!

I originally had planned something else, but when I saw that the Liriope was on sale and they were so cheap I changed my mind to them.

Thank you!

Where are you located? Plants that would work in Maine would die in Hawaii and vice versa!

You may have told us this somewhere else, but I don't feel like trying to track it down. If you change your profile to show your location, it will automatically be there with every post. There are hardly any garden questions that can be discussed without regard to location/ climate.

Ga, zone 8. I thought my profile did. Thanks!

Honestly, with 63' to fill in, I would plant a few shrubs, anywhere from two to four [edit - or five or six!]. It will fill the space better and be a lot lower maintenance. Good native shrubs that would like your conditions and wouldn't get too big include:

american beautyberry: in the fall gets brilliant purple-violet berries that last a long time
sweetshrub/ calycanthus: the sweet in the name refers to fragrance
scarlet calamint/ aka red basil: it is not basil at all; it is evergreen with brilliant red flowers that hummingbirds love
Georgia basil: also not a basil, but the foliage is mint-spicy scented and is used in teas; semi-evergreen, small shrub that blooms in fall, when not a lot else is, has very pretty delicate flowers that bees and butterflies like.
dwarf fothergilla: fluffy white very fragrant flowers in spring, beautiful fall foliage color
fetterbush: evergreen, scarlet-purple new leaves turn shiny dark green foliage in spring. The entire shrub becomes reddish-bronze in fall.

Native shrubs are suited to your conditions and are very hardy. These would not be available in big box stores. Most of them would be available from mail order catalogs or if you find a good native plant nursery. Here's a list of GA native plant nurseries, you can figure out which would be close to you: https://gnps.org/georgias-native-plants ... ve-plants/

Once you have planted a few shrubs, then you can fill in with your liriope and some native wildflowers:
milkweed, butterfly weed, wild indigo, coreopsis, purple coneflower, bee balm, summer phlox, black-eyed susan, scarlet sage. These are common and would be easier to find locally in any good nursery.

The advantage of using native flowers besides their hardiness and low maintenance is that they are attractive to birds, butterflies, honeybees, etc. Planted in a boring row of liriope which is not native, your garden will be dead. Planted in a mixed row of native flowering and berry producing shrubs and wildflowers, your garden will be colorful and very lively, with hummingbirds, song birds, butterflies, etc.

Hope this gives you something to think about and is helpful.

Yes, thank you!!!!!! This helped me so much...I have been researching so much still haha. You just made my life so much easier.