This is my first time posting to this board, so bare with me if things aren't completely clear...
That being said, I would like to design a garden border for the area in front of my house. Currently, there are 4 evergreens evenly spaced and about 2 feet tall with day lillys in between them.
While this looks good for part of the year the rest of the year it looks like nothing. I am looking for some ideas on how to go about designing this border.
The area is in sun for pretty much all of the day, I live in NJ which I belive is zone 6. The area is about 40 ft long and about 3 feet wide, but could be made more wide for the right design. Thanks in advance.
Jamie
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garden_mom
- Senior Member
- Posts: 105
- Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 7:12 pm
- Location: Detroit, MI
Here are a couple of suggestions. First, you can take a picture of the front of your house and make a few large copies. Then you can actually draw in ideas with a marker to give you an idea of what it would look like. Also, you can use a garden hose to lay out the outline of garden beds in the places you are thinking of, to see how you like the shapes and sizes of them. Once you have a good layout, then think you can think about where you need height, color, etc. Hope that helps you get started.
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GreenBayMike
- Full Member
- Posts: 48
- Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2006 9:08 pm
- Location: Green Bay, WI - Zone 5a/4b border
Hi Jamie,
Great advice so far. Consider plants that have a long season of bloom or rebloom. Also think about spring bulbs. There are many and they start appearing through the snow and bloom until the perennials come into bloom if you plant a large variety. You can plant in clumps and have a carpet of color. Most spring bulbs like it dry in the summer, so for them being around trees and shrubs is a good thing. If deer are an issue you will have to select carefully and not use tulips. If deer aren't a problem you can plant species tulips and some hybrids that will multiply each year. Since you have daylilies I'm thinking that the deer aren't an issue. Camassia is a native bulb that blooms in early summer. Allium comes in many heights, colors and bloom times and are carefree with most blooming in summer. Here's some sites to give you some ideas.
https://www.bulb.com/templates/dispatcher.asp?page_id=snw_article_public&item=100&tg=public
https://www.theplantexpert.com/springbulbs/Perennial.html
https://www.slate.com/id/2138844/
https://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/PDF/FSA-2096.pdf
https://hcs.osu.edu/plantfacts/Plant/Action.Lasso
https://brentandbeckysbulbs.com/
There's a wonderful hardy geranium that blooms from May to frost and will spread into a lovely 2' or 3' clump and is not invasive. Geranium 'Rozanne' is the longest blooming hardy geranium.
https://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/05111.html
https://www.burpee.com/images/us/local/products/detail/B22436.jpg
https://www.pioneergardens.com/images/43b.jpg
Here's some sites on garden design.
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/design/2003/landscape.html
https://www.gardendesigner.com/exp-fir.htm
https://www.gardendesigner.com/exp-res.htm
https://www.garden.org/articles/articles.php?q=show&id=1362
https://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/fg_feat_garddes.asp
https://gardening.about.com/od/gardendesign/
Consider looking at some books in the library about garden design. Many have an encyclopedia in the back with pictures of plants. You can research the plants more at google using the botanical name and you'll probably get more info then with the common names.
Newt
Great advice so far. Consider plants that have a long season of bloom or rebloom. Also think about spring bulbs. There are many and they start appearing through the snow and bloom until the perennials come into bloom if you plant a large variety. You can plant in clumps and have a carpet of color. Most spring bulbs like it dry in the summer, so for them being around trees and shrubs is a good thing. If deer are an issue you will have to select carefully and not use tulips. If deer aren't a problem you can plant species tulips and some hybrids that will multiply each year. Since you have daylilies I'm thinking that the deer aren't an issue. Camassia is a native bulb that blooms in early summer. Allium comes in many heights, colors and bloom times and are carefree with most blooming in summer. Here's some sites to give you some ideas.
https://www.bulb.com/templates/dispatcher.asp?page_id=snw_article_public&item=100&tg=public
https://www.theplantexpert.com/springbulbs/Perennial.html
https://www.slate.com/id/2138844/
https://www.uaex.edu/Other_Areas/publications/PDF/FSA-2096.pdf
https://hcs.osu.edu/plantfacts/Plant/Action.Lasso
https://brentandbeckysbulbs.com/
There's a wonderful hardy geranium that blooms from May to frost and will spread into a lovely 2' or 3' clump and is not invasive. Geranium 'Rozanne' is the longest blooming hardy geranium.
https://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/05111.html
https://www.burpee.com/images/us/local/products/detail/B22436.jpg
https://www.pioneergardens.com/images/43b.jpg
Here's some sites on garden design.
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/design/2003/landscape.html
https://www.gardendesigner.com/exp-fir.htm
https://www.gardendesigner.com/exp-res.htm
https://www.garden.org/articles/articles.php?q=show&id=1362
https://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/fg_feat_garddes.asp
https://gardening.about.com/od/gardendesign/
Consider looking at some books in the library about garden design. Many have an encyclopedia in the back with pictures of plants. You can research the plants more at google using the botanical name and you'll probably get more info then with the common names.
Newt