Some opinions/suggestions about my garden?

[mkat]

Hello, I'm new to this forum. I was impressed with how helpful people seem to be on here
My front garden needs some help.
It is a large flower/shrub/tree garden in the front of our house. I created the garden on a whim about 3 years ago because I was tired with how boring the monotonous grass looks (keep in mind our neighhours have large lots with grass as well.. so it can get quite dull.)
Anywho I feel the garden needs some more filling in... in addition to some direction and guidance because it seems to be all over the place. It is being tended to by two amateur (beginnerish) gardeners- my mom and I.

I've attached some photos.
But here are some of the types we have in the garden: butterfly bush (two different kinds), crab apple tree, day lillies, potentilla, baby norway spruce (that should be moved), a little lavender in the middle, blue juniper shrubs, a forsythia (there are others as well.)

I couldn't figure out how to add multiple photos

All helpful suggestions are welcomed

Thanks

Edit: Hello, my mistake for not putting which zone I live in. I live in Zone 6b, the Niagara region (Niagara Falls to be exact . I have about 8 different pictures of different angles and will try to put the rest of them up. As for the colour scheme, yellow and purple are the dominating colours of the bed. Yellow is the most prevalent colour in the bed and purple is secondary (when the butterfly bushes and lavender grow in it's more noticeable.) So preferably looking for flowers/shrubs with those colours. It is also an island bed. This is generally an ornamental garden however it was also placed there to provide some privacy from the street. In addition, I hope to help out the bee's and butterfly's which is why I planted butterfly bush's

[imafan26]

It is a good start. First thing though would be to update your profile with your zone and location. It helps when you ask for advice for people to know that.

Can you send pictures of different angles of the garden. It is important especially with center beds that will be viewed from more than one side to see what it looks like from all of the view angles.

I this an ornamental bed?

What kinds of plants do you like and what colors. I see yellow. When designing a planting scheme and you are not selecting a cottage style, colors should be limited and you would be looking more for flow and uniformity.

Is this a garden you want to be able to walk through or just view? How does it connect to the other 'pathways' in the yard or is it an island bed? Do you want the bed to have a focal point?

[GardeningCook]

Yes - where you are located is important as far as specific advice goes.

But just generally try to come up with a "theme". What type of garden - apart from breaking away from the boredom of lawn - would you most enjoy. Think along the lines of color schemes, as well as progressive blooms from Spring thru Fall. Heights/spreading (especially when plants are mature), etc., as well as what is purported to perform well in your area. Sounds boring to plan, but it can be fun research, especially during the winter months when reading is sometimes all a gardener can do to pass the time - lol!

[rainbowgardener]

It would also help to know what direction the house faces/ how much sun the garden areas get. It looks like you have some shade stuff and some sun stuff.

As far as helping out bees, butterflies, beneficial insects (and maybe think about hummingbirds and song birds too!), you so far have very little that is of any value to them. Even the butterfly bush, which is an exotic invasive, provides only nectar, but no value as a host plant. If you don't have host plants that are good for the caterpillars, you will have no next generation of butterflies. See "three reasons never to plant butterfly bush": https://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/wellb ... y-bush-bad

In order to provide habitat for your bees, butterflies, beneficial insects, you need to be thinking mainly about native plants. Those are the ones your native fauna of all kinds evolved with and have relationships with, are able to use and benefit from. Suggestions for butterfly caterpillar host plants include various milkweeds/ butterfly weed, blue wild indigo, golden alexander, violets, asters, black eyed susans. If you grow herbs or veggies, carrot family plants (including carrots, dill, fennel, parsley) are caterpillar host plants for swallowtail butterflies. Often butterfly caterpillars benefit most from shrubs and trees, including black cherry, spicebush, pawpaw, willow, aspen, oak. Nectar plants include mistflower, joepye weed, ironweed, coneflower, coreopsis, liatris/gayfeather (hummingbirds also like it), bee balm/monarda (also bees and hummingbirds)

For beneficial insects (that will help control the bad guys in your garden) you want things that have nectar in tiny florets. That includes all those carrot family things, alyssum, the ironweed and joe pye weed, yarrow,

For honeybees: dogbane, the lavender you mentioned, herbs like thyme, sage, oregano, if left to flower, sunflowers, yarrow, anise hyssop. Penstemon is attractive to bumblebees and hummingbirds.

[mkat]

The house faces North. We get plenty of afternoon sun, not too much morning sun though because of the neighbour's tree. In all it is a sunny area. Thank you very much for your advice. I didn't know the butterfly bush was not helpful to wildlife let anyone a menace... I haven't had too much luck with native plants...I tried planting alyssum, black eyed susans, sun flowers (in the back) and lavender. The only successful one was one single lavender. I will be sure to try again though.

[rainbowgardener]

Native plants "should" be easier than exotics. They definitely are easier once well established. Like anything else they take some care to get established. But sometimes people love their plants to death. If you are talking about decent sized transplants of things like black-eyed susan and coneflower, they shouldn't need much more than being stuck in the ground and not allowed to dry out before they are well rooted in. They don't do well with being over watered, over fertilized, etc.

[GardeningCook]

But it also boils down to what YOU want in your garden. Yes, natives can be nice, but there is also NOTHING wrong with wanting to plant what YOU want in your garden - native or not.

I like some natives, & do understand their usefulness in the grand scheme of things, but I also understand that life is short, & if I want to enjoy non-natives in my garden, so be it. So don't feel guilty and that you HAVE to plant natives if that's not what you want.

[GardeningCook]

Rue is lovely, but do be careful working around it. It can cause a skin rash.

[imafan26]

When building any bed. Put in your perennials first. It is better that they be in clumps of three or more for greater impact and for an Island bed you want the tallest things in the middle or slightly off set. It is visually better to balance the planting but it looks more natural for the tall plants to be offset in the bed rather than in the middle of a round bed.You want to position the tree, shrub or tallest plants then walk around it to see how it affects the view. If you want privacy that is one thing, but you want a pleasing sight line across the property as well.

Select perennials for their leaf texture, color and shape. Perennials usually have a bloom season and are not in flower all year, but since they persist from year to year, they provide structure. You could plant a red dogwood as the tall point. It attracts pollinators and the red twigs will give winter color. However if you have browsers like deer, they may make a meal of it. Select perennials that will bloom in successive seasons and whose colors will be complementary if they bloom at the same time.

Perennials will take a while to fill in, but in the mean time annuals can fill the garden with temporary color. Still using the same idea of planting in clumps and drifts for impact and selecting plants that have long bloom periods or bloom in succession.

Monarda (bee balm) perennial bluish lilac to pink flower. Spreads more in the shade so prefers the sun for most blooms. Medicinal uses and attracts bees and beneficial insects.

Penstemen- deciduous May be annual or perennial some may be sub shrubs anywhere from one foot to 9 ft depending on cultivar. Adapted to dry alpine regions, does not need a lot of water.

Borage annual blue flowers. Hairy leaves have medicinal and culinary uses. Flowers and leaves have a slight cucumber flavor. Annual, but will reseed itself. 2-3 ft with 2-3 ft spread.

Basils- Annuals many different kinds. Most are edible with different flavors. If allowed to flower they will attract bees and pollinators. Spreading 1-4 ft plants depending on cultivar.

Zinnia- long bloom season. Attracts butterflies.

Marigolds- Dwarf French and African cultivars do have nematode repellent properties. Good trap plant and attracts ladybugs and beneficial insects. Yellow-orange-reds
Coreopsis- spreading perennials with yellow flowers good for low edging. Attracts butterflies and birds. Long bloom season with daisy like yellow flowers.

Thyme- herb creeping thyme medicinal with pink flowers does not taste very good. Can be planted in path ways. It is steppable. Lemon thyme also makes a good ground cover in pathways or between stepping stones. Lemon flavor and smell when leaves are crushed. Crushed leaves insect repellent.

Alyssum- White spreading mounds attracts bees and other beneficial insects sweet fragrance provides nectar. Likes poor well drained soils. Best planted directly on prepared soil. Seed to bloom in six weeks. Can be sheared back to rebloom. Annual.

Salvia- Tall blue flowers. Some salvia relatives like pineapple sage have red flowers. Pineapple sage leaves and flowers have a slight pineapple flavor good in fruit salads and flowers to decorate punch.

Bees are attracted to fragrant blue and yellow flowers and want both the nectar and pollen.

Sunflowers- annuals. Mammoth sunflower produces a single sunflower with edible seeds very attractive to bees. Other cultivars like lemon queen (yellow) chianti (red) Autumn Sun (orange) are shorter about 5 ft tall but have multiple branches and flower heads. Plant in succession for a steady supply every couple of weeks.

Cosmos- attracts bees and other beneficial insects. Frilly foliage on plants that are 3+ ft tall. Foliage is not that pretty so I would plant these between other plantings. Flowers shades of pink to white.

To make it easier to work in such a wide bed I put down stepping stones in a spiral pattern so that I have a place to step going through the bed taking annuals in and out, weeding and maintenance. Creeping thyme, blue daze, alyssum royal carpet, or other ground cover flower planted between the stepping stones give it color and the spiral pattern of the bed integrate the stones into the design of the bed. The path in a spiral form gives the bed a layered look. If you build up the middle of the bed into a mound instead of being flat, you can give the center of the bed height without necessarily needing a very tall plant. If you do use a tree or a shrub pruned into a tree form. Hang nectar or sugar feeders in the winter to provide winter food. Add a saucer with round pebbles on a pedestal with some water in it to give the butterflies, and bees and beneficial insects a water source especially during the hot days of summer. It is best placed where there is some shade and protection. Fallen logs, broken pots turned on their side and integrated into the garden provide habitat for insects and toads that will help protect the garden. Hang bundles of bamboo with 1/2 tubes in a tree for solitary bees. Carrots can be planted and some of them allowed to go to seed. Flowers are attractive to butterflies, bees and other beneficial insects.

[imafan26]

I agree with Rainbow that is is wise to incorporate as many natives as possible. Those plants will have the best chances of surviving as they are already adapted and you would want to limit the alien species that might have negative impacts just because they will either survive, thrive, or die in foreign environments.

The pollinator partnership has a website that you can look up the best plant, and natives for where you live to attract bees butterflies and native birds and insects.

https://www.pollinator.org/guides.htm

Often native plants and animals fit hand in hand with the survival of both species dependent on each other and threatened by alien species that compete for habitat, food, and may bring diseases and predation the native populations have no natural defenses for since they evolved in isolation.

Plants that are controlled by the limitations of their environment or the balance of predators may become invasive and out of control in a different environment. Case in point Kudzu is taking over the South but was introduced as an ornamental plant.

Kang Kong, aka, water spinach, Ung choi is a popular vegetable here and in Asia, but it is not allowed to be imported to the US because of the potential risk it imposes to waterways. It grows easily and invasively in water. While it is cultivated in Asia, it is eaten a lot so the spread is usually controlled. If it were to get into US waterways, it would be difficult to remove.

[mkat]

Thank you all for you advice!
It is truly invaluable. I like the idea of placing stepping stones in the garden and possibly putting mounds in the garden for different height/texture. I know it is difficult to see in the photos but my mom has tried placing some of the plants in groupings of three (the potentilla for instance.)
In the mean time I will also try to find some more (native) plants or anything that really catches my eye but this time I will certainly lean more towards native plants.

[rainbowgardener]

I was (of course) not suggesting that anyone HAS to plant natives. But mkat in the original post said that it was important to her " to help out the bees and butterflies." If that is what you want, the only way to do that is with native plants. Nothing else is of any value to them, at least in terms of producing future generations.

[Susan W]

What a fun and rewarding project! Just beware, can easily become addictive as you stumble upon and research more plants you think you have to have.....

Going with native plants good, but not an end-all. Going for pollinator and host plants often goes outside of the realm of native. Some we use as traditional are not native. This includes zinnia (S Am), most culinary herbs incl lavender, verbena, borage, shasta daisy (hybrid 1900).

Look at plants that flower from early to late. Most perennials flower for 6 -8 wks at most, so you need various varieties to balance. Also you want different flower shapes (daisy -coneflower types, tubular (salvia) type, different colors.

Some suggestions include Baptisia (false indigo), does well with cold winters and blooms early. Bee balm aka monarda aka bergamot aka oswego tea. The red is more associated with the tea then the lavender. It is a magnet for powdery mildew here with our humidity and rain. Garden phlox. Has an interesting history. Yarrow. White is the native, but there are other colors including a striking yellow. Coneflower. The standard purple is a must. Asters. Oh my, there is a New York and New England, your basic fall blooming purple asters, and definitely pollinator magnets. Anise Hyssop. Has become a standby for me, easy, and the bees are thankful. Salvias -check out varieties for your region. Sunflowers, (check for native to your area).

For your feathered and 6 legged friends, you need a birdbath. A suggestion would be to incorporate a stepping stone path into center with a birdbath. The shrubs and large trees you have provide cover and landing sites.

As for plant sources, check your local garden centers, and sometimes friends and neighbors offer up divisions of plants. I'm advising staying away from the box stores for flowering plants as many have been treated with a systemic (neonics) that kills pests, and the pollinators we want.

Hope this helps.

[imafan26]

Gardening can be addictive. I think most of the people here are definitely addicted. Although your garden does not look full now, perennials do take time to fill in. That is why I suggested annuals as fillers.

Think of a garden as a work in progress, it never really gets finished. As it ages, the plants will get bigger and perennials should be divided every three years. The bed still could use some compost as mulch and fertilizer to keep it growing.

While we have given you a lot of choices, it is better to research the plants and only pick a few. To get color most of the year you want to see what will bloom when and how long the blooms will last. Perennials need to be spaced for their mature size which gives them a lot of space between plants while they are growing. But plants are living things and they eventually die and some won't fit in so they need to be moved around or replaced. Think of yourself as an artist working on a blank canvas, have a vision for what you want the garden to look like in general in terms of color, shape and function. You don't need to have specific plants in mind when you start, but it helps.

If you want to attract pollinators and beneficial insects it is important to plant nectar and pollen plants that will bloom most of the year, but to also provide habitat and a chemical free environment.

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollin ... torsV5.pdf
https://pollinator.org/guides.htm
https://pollinatorgardens.org/2013/02/05 ... gardeners/

There are basic principles in designing a garden bed. I would look on the internet and my favorite spot, Sunset magazine, or BHG , or you could even go to a public garden in your area to get ideas for plants and styles. You don't have to use the same plants but you would want to follow the general principles of taller plants in the middle. Using a tree, shrub, or tall spikey plants for the anchor and focal point. Look at the number of different plants and how they are groups in clusters or drifts. More formal gardens will repeat the same plant or colors in a drift. More cottage style gardens will have a profusion of colors and blooms that fill the space but while they tend to be better for attracting wildlife, they have a less organized look. Yellows are good since on the color wheel they are pretty neutral and go with blues and reds well. If you want to incorporate attracting wildlife to the garden. Over turned broken pottery, drift wood or logs with holes drilled in the ends, providing water for pollinators especially in the dry season and plants specifically used for nesting sites. Milkweeds for instance for monarch butterflies, if they are legal in your state. Milkweeds are invasive and some states are getting rid of them and that has impacted the monarch butterfly population adversely.

https://www.provenwinners.com/learn/bas ... arden-beds

[mkat]

Again thank you again to all who replied. I haven't had time yet to buy more plants but I will have time tomorrow. I do understand that as time goes by everything will fill in. And yes I realize that gardening (and even life) is a journey or process and not about a destination. It shall be a fun journey