Specialty Gardening: Looking for inspiration, 4 by cathy166

cathy166 wrote:
Herman, that's my idea, too. If Dcart had posted 10 days ago, I could have really come across with a bed that is almost all irises and peonies. The first photo has the Siberian irises and clematis, almost the same color.

The peonies have been more fleeting than usual, especially due to all the extra rain. The only bonus is that they don't all bloom at once, but the rain does make a mess of them. In the second photo you can see the single peonies, and some of the allium are still in bloom, but alas, the monarda is as high as an elephant's eye due to all the rain. Mondarda (bee balm) will probably start blooming within the next 2 weeks.

In the third photo you can see the beautiful accents of the Globemaster allium and the tall bearded irises, today all gone. The smaller allium will be coming up within a month.

Because this bed is near the front sidewalk, and we have a lot of foot traffic, I like to make sure this is some curb appeal. It started out with spring flowers, and while the in-ground plants are getting ready to bloom, I added some of the containers. In the largest containers, I, too, have added a tomato plant, and there are tomatoes at the rear of the bed. While some of the containers are very large, I've add false bottoms, so they are not as heavy to move. As the containers fill in, they will spill over the top and look like they've been there forever.

One of the easiest ways to add early color especially in shade is to start caladiums in containers indoors. I pride myself on always having something in bloom. In a short while the asiatic lilies will be in full swing. They have already started opening. While we all have different varieties of flowers that are pretty much guaranteed to bloom, there are few perennials with long periods of blooming or reblooming. Because most of the lilies have finished blooming early to mid-August, the echinaceas, balloon flower and a few others are still going strong, but I like to supplement with dahlias that continue to the first frost.

Here in the northeast we have experienced extremely unusual winter weather: low precipitation and not a lot of cold. To make matters better (or worse), we had a colder April than March and lots of supplemental rain. So quite frankly, we haven't a clue what is coming next. That's what I like about a cottage garden.