Outlaw
Newly Registered
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2010 7:20 pm
Location: Utah

Blank Slate

Hi all, new here. Seems like a helpful place so I thought I might ask for some guidance/suggestions.

I have a new small flower bed in my front yard this year. The center piece is a flag pole with the American flag. I have 4 low voltage landscape lights and 3 50w floods to light the flower bed and flag.

I want to do something different and interesting with the bed. Something long-lasting and vibrant. The front of the house has a few hundred tulips, daffodils, lilies of many varieties and I'll be putting in some annuals later in the year. The backyard has a small pond, roses, lilacs, tulips and a few more lilies. In total, I put in 500 bulbs last year and about 1000 the year before.

The new spot is 6' in diameter and will be watered daily or every other day by way of lawn sprinklers. I am in Zone 6 - Utah. Not terribly concerned with the amount of work or cost - just want it to look good.

Suggestions?

User avatar
Kisal
Mod Emeritus
Posts: 7646
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2008 1:04 am
Location: Oregon

Welcome. :)

Full sun? Part shade? Full shade?

Eastern, western, northern or southern exposure?

Are you thinking along the lines of shrubs, or more on the order of perennials?

Any particular color scheme?

joshbuchan
Senior Member
Posts: 178
Joined: Wed Dec 02, 2009 8:40 pm
Location: Clevedon, UK

maby use some railway sleepers, make some high rasied beds in the middle, then smaller going around the outside.

just a idear.

Outlaw
Newly Registered
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2010 7:20 pm
Location: Utah

Full sun. Thinking more of perennials. I do not have much experience, only been doing this for 3 or 4 seasons.

Don't have a color scheme in mind - leaving that open to what I find most interesting.

Outlaw
Newly Registered
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2010 7:20 pm
Location: Utah

joshbuchan wrote:maby use some railway sleepers, make some high rasied beds in the middle, then smaller going around the outside.

just a idear.
Interesting thought. Hadn't thougth of splitting the bed into a couple of sections.

What would you plant?

User avatar
rainbowgardener
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 25279
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

Sounds like you have a whole bunch of spring flowering things in the front already. Why not plant a little bit of early spring stuff to get the season started (crocuses, grape hyacinth, etc) and then fill it with summer fall stuff:

mums and asters are the classic fall flowers, but perennial salvia if kept deadheaded will keep blooming into fall as well as coneflowers. Lavender is gorgeous, fragrant and re-blooms in fall. Perennial sunflowers (helianthus) and veronica bloom into fall. Since you said "small" space, pick just a few of those and you can make something vibrant.

My personal taste is to have a color scheme for your yard. Something like a main color and one or two minor/accent colors. They can be complementary like blues and purples or contrasting like purple and yellow. But I think it gives your color a lot more impact than just having a rainbow scattered around.



Return to “Flower Gardening & Garden Design”