Driveway garden

[nes]

Because you guys were so good with the back garden, I'm giving you another one!

[img]https://i654.photobucket.com/albums/uu269/knitness/DSC00652.jpg[/img]

Yeah, it's a mess...

I hate the rocks so we're taking them out. Not 100% yet on what is going in there place but I'm thinking we'll just build a nice box. I was to bring the entire garden up a bit to hide the house's foundation.

The bush on the far right side is a Spiraea (vanhouttei) it can stay or go honestly... It was SUCH a mess when we moved into the house & is finally starting to take on a nicer shape, but I'm not a BIG fan & it's still got a long way to before it looks decent.

Problem: Those pipes are for Heating Oil so I need to make it so they can walk over the garden to get there.

The garden is partial shade with the left side receiving almost full day sun and the right receiving mostly shade (the house faces NE so the sun goes diagonally over top).

I haven't really made up my mind about what I want this garden to look like yet. I would like to keep a few of those poppies, maybe add in a more cultivated variety as well.

I've got several rose of Sharron to get clippings from, either pink/white, white or blue. I'd like some bells of ireland (just because they are so neat looking) and some Coleus. No other flower decisions yet .

I just can't seem to picture putting this bed together.

My preference is for perennials or at least re-seeding annuals. I don't care if it takes a year or two to grow in, I'd rather do it for cheap!

Oh & we have to add some extra insulation on the left side (the corner facing us in the picture) so we want to grow some sort of vine or plant something to cover up the fact that there will be plywood instead of cedar singles for a few feet around the corner .

(You can see my back garden in the "garden update" thread. The opposite side of the house is going to have some lillies & hostas, so I don't want to repeat on this side).

I feel like I should go outside with big brown-paper cut outs of flowers, but the neighbours may finally have me hauled away to the nut house if I do that...

[bullthistle]

You said you want to hide the foundation by building a box but won't that look as bad as the foundation? You might want to think about some smaller evergreen woody plants and move the bed out farther beyond the rocks. Yes the spirea can be moved to where it has more room. Smaller plants in the front of the bed larger ones towards the back and I'd focus on evergreen perennials that way you won't see the foundation as much and spend more money on plants then on a box. There are many perennial websites around like perennials.com where you can search for evergreens and their bloom color and height. Then get a piece of paper and sketch out what you want to plant where.

[nes]

I should have been more clear I meant I wanted to hide the foundation with the flowers, not the box. We're thinking railroad ties all the way around, or maybe something with cedar logs.

The evergreens are a good idea, but we actually rent so I don't want to put a whole lot of money into a place we're only going to be another few years. Although, their tend to be some good sales this time of year .

What would you suggest for evergreen perennials?

I was thinking if I put some rose of sharron in, they would at least be a nice woody cover on the house.