I NEED Help

I'm a new garderner. I am planting a 50' long 2' wide area. It is sunny and I am in Northern NY. I want it flowering and all perenial with little work needed. Any suggestions?

Also I have a 100' old railroad tie wall - 4' high. Any suggestions on some aggresive flowering vines??

Thanks!

"I want it flowering and all perenial with little work needed. Any suggestions?"

Concrete? *G* I'm yet to come across a garden that doesn't require a great deal of care one way or another.

What colours, textures and shapes do you like. We could come up with endless lists and still not be anywhere near your desired look. As the bed is only 2ft wide, there are going to have to be some very careful choices made on plants included.

Also do you know what zone you're in and the type of soil you're gardening with? A quick and simple pH test can be obtained from the local garden centre.

This message was edited Monday, Jul 21st 4:21 PM

Thanks,

I know work is required - but I just don't have much time

I envision....ground cover -maybe flox....then some larger plants....maybe delphinium...bee balm....blues, violets and whites.

Zone 4

Does that help?

I ran a quick advanced search for medium blue flowers in the Plantsdatabase for your zone, here are the results

http://plantsdatabase.com/advanced.php?nn%5B16%5D=10&nn%5B1%5D=0&nn%5B2%5D=0&nn%5B3%5D=6&nn%5B4%5D=1&nn%5B5%5D=0&nn%5B6%5D=18&nn%5B7%5D=0&nn%5B8%5D=0&nn%5B9%5D=0&nn%5B23%5D=0&nn%5B10%5D=0&nn%5B12%5D=0&limit=50&Search.x=29&Search.y=5

We planted a 'no work' garden a few years back. I think I spend more time tearing my hair out about that area than the other that is supposedly more work!

I'm sure others from a similar zone to you will chime in with their ideas too :)

Thanks so much!

Also - will be looking for others in our area.

The fabled low maintenance garden! I want one too! LOL!

The thing is to start with a good basis, make your 100 sq. ft. of growing area as fertile and well drained as you can. Then choose low maintanance plants suitable to your area, to the lighting conditions in your growing area and your soil.

I live in Hot Humid South Louisiana. I gave up on roses long ago. Anything that has a problem with mildew or mold is not something I have time for. No matter how much I like it, how perfect it is for my garden.

Find out what the problems are in your area, and avoid them. Mulch like crazy. Then have fun. If it ain't fun, what's the point?

That's my two cents, end of season discounted 50%.

Cheri'

PS - what are the lighting condition of your 50 ft length?

Hi kg6040!
I, too, have a sunny New York State garden. I am in south central NY, near Binghamton - zone 5 (I think 5a). We may have similar situations... How "north" are you in NY? What zone are you in? Do you want to vary the heights or do you need a certain height?

For "easy care," definately plant some daylilies...Stella D'Oro and Happy Returns bloom over and over throughout the summer, but there are so many other daylilies that are beautiful and easy-care, albeit shorter-lived.

Hopefully we'll get some more help from the pros on this site...

Meanwhile, have you checked out the Cornell Univ. Flower Guide? It's cool! You can search by easy-care, zone, plant height, type of soil, etc. Check it out at
http://www.explore.cornell.edu/scene.cfm?scene=home%20gardening&stop=HG%20%2D%20Find%20a%20Flower

-CheriNY

Wow - Cheri - Thanks! I'll check it all out.

I'm in Watertown area.

Kirk

Hey,a neighbor!

I'm near Central Square!

When I first started gardening I ran across the following quote: "Spend 95 cents of your gardening dollar on your soil". I thought that was CRAZY. I mean with all those beautiful plants out there??? Why would I waste my money on dirt? Forty years later I know the answer to that. If you have lousy soil, a lot of your plants will die (especially the expensive ones...why is that?). The ones that live will take constant work and will struggle to survive. So invest in your soil. Having said that, I recommend peonies or tree peonies for spring color; daylilies, daisies, salvias, veronicas, and rudbeckia for summer color; asters, obedient plant, boltonia, helenium, russian sage, and Japanese anemone for fall flowers. Bulbs can be planted among these to add seasonal flowers. It is difficult though to have continuous color from perennials only. I find planting some annuals really helps because many annuals will bloom all season with no work but watering. And I highly recommend mulching. It will keep your soil cool in summer heat, retain water, smother weed seedlings, and help prevent soil heaving in winter. And if you want to keep things looking neat you will have to deadhead. Or hire a gardener. LOL

The thing to remember about 'low-maintenance' gardens is that they take a large amount of planning. You aren't going to be able to just get some suggestions for plants, plop them into the soil, water once and forget about them. It would be lovely if you could, but doesn't work that way.

What you want is a bed with at least three seasons of interest -- spring, summer, fall. Very few plants can flower nine months out of the year. Most perennials only offer one or two months of bloom.

With your limited space, think about using sturdy subshrubs -- the many dwarf shrub varieties that growers are coming up with. They are going to be the 'bones' of your planting bed. They will have the foliage and shapes that will 'rest' the eyes and set off your flowering plants. Many of these subshrubs have flowers too, so work your flowering plants/bulbs around them; e.g., don't put bright orange zinnias next to a pink-flowering dwarf India hawthorn!

Using shrubs wisely will give you a border that will look good with much less care than trying to do it all with flowering plants.

And DON'T try to keep a large shrub small by pruning! It won't work and you'll resent the maintenance. There are plenty of small, narrow or slow-growing shrublets that will work for you.

Good luck! I won't offer plant suggestions as my zone is very different from yours, I think the others have already offered some good suggestions for you. You might want to lay a soaker hose in the bed before planting, then put the mulch over it. You'll save a lot of water that way and cut down on the powdery mildew problem that many plants have.

My tip would be plant so the plants will be very close together when established. Mature plants will shade out a lot of your weeds when established, keeping weeding to a minimum. You will have to weed, just not as much. I'd also suggest a wide variety of plants that can ramble and reseed where they please, for a natural look. Kind of a wild exhuberance thing. It all depends on what 'look' you are going for though. Just remember to repeat plants along your border for a well blended look...keeps the eyes moving.

naturepatch

Ooo - Such good ideas. I really like the idea of dwarf flowering shrubs. Also, variegated leaves and different colored leaves on plants will add color, even if the plants don't flower.
Dwarf burning bush (Euonymus alatus 'Compacta')
Dwarf spirea - several varieties with different colored leaves, and flowers - pink, white (long lasting color in 5a, don't know about 4)
Weigela - many varieties

How about a butterfly bush?

You mentioned needing an "aggressive flowering vine"... I just bought a few trumpet vines (campsis radicans) to cover a long fence. It will grow well in zone 4. Attracts hummingbirds! Either orangy red or yellow.

So, kg6040, when do you start planting?

You might not want to put the trumpet vine in your new bed. It will send out runners and put up new plants. That isn't too much of a problem in a lawn because you can just mow them down but in a flowerbed you will be constantly digging up the runners and the plants the roots are running through. And every little piece of root you leave will turn into a new plant! Sounds good now but it is a real pain to try to control. I speak from bitter (ongoing) experience. LOL

kg6040 said

"...Also I have a 100' old railroad tie wall - 4' high. Any suggestions on some aggresive flowering vines??"

so I assumed it was not part of the bed.

ANewYorker - your memory is much better than mine. I forget what I read from post to post!! You are right - the trumpet vine is ideal for someone looking for aggressive vines. The following thread on trumpet vines might be helpful....

http://davesgarden.com/t/388970/

My recommendation would be daylilies, chosen for a long season of bloom, from the very early lemon lily (Hemerocallis flava) to the very late altissima hybrids (H. 'Statuesque', H. 'Autumn Minaret', H. 'Challenger'. These can be planted with daffodil bulbs, which will bloom earlier, before the daylilies are all leafed-out, extending the flowering time even more. This will be as close to carefree as one can get!

Another important aspect height. In a 2' wide bed (any chance you can widen it another foot? It'll make a big difference on how spacious the bed seems...) at any rate, you probably won't want 8' tall perennials or shrubs, as they would be out of proportion to the width of the bed. (Or if you do have some tall ones, aim them for the middle of the bed, rather than on the ends where they might flop about.

And where is this bed located in relation to how you'll approach it, and what else is around? Will you stroll along one side of it, or is it accessible from both sides (a la an island-style bed?) Will you approach it from one end, or straight on ("broadside", so to speak?) If you will only be able to view it from one side, is there a fence or other focal point behind it?

The reason I ask these questions is that you don't want plants to "tower" over you or seem to jump out at you when you approach the bed or walk beside it. Wherever you naturally "start" when you're working on this bed, you'll want to have somewhat smaller, tidier plants in that part of the bed because it's likely where you and others will launch a tour of the bed when it's been planted. (But don't take that to an extreme - you don't want to have to get down on your hands and knees to see the plants, either!)

It's kind of like deciding what length of dress looks best on someone; a little subjectivity mixed in with some general common sense will yield the most flattering height for your plants. If it were me, I'd want some variety, and not everything to be 2-3 feet tall. I'd also want some variety of shape - some spire-like plants, some rounded ones, some with "harder" definition, and some that are softly outlined.

And think about planting in good-size clumps - at least 3-5 plants of one kind all together, perhaps repeated every so many feet. Largish clumps of plants that are repeated (or at least the color and form are repeated, even if the plants are different types) will give a "rhythym" to the bed. The more frequent the repeating pattern, the "faster" the rhythym.

I won't suggest a list of plants because your zone is quite different from mine, but another easy-care plant would be some irises. Not too many, but enough to provide blooms in due season, and their leaves can be a nice counterpoint to the more rounded shapes of peonies or sub-shrubs.

Terry said:
"The reason I ask these questions is that you don't want plants to "tower" over you or seem to jump out at you when you approach the bed or walk beside it"

so the Plume Poppies are out than?

DeepRoots,
I just looked up Plume Poppies, cuz I didn't know anything about them. Wow - they're big! I suppose we'd need to hear from kg6040 where this bed is, in relation to everything else in the yard. If it's a big yard, maybe the Plume Poppy would be ok!

Good ideas, Terry. I'll amend the daylily suggestions to add Peonies and Iris. Nice foliage contrast then. Repeating the 'motifs' here and there would be great. Oh, and maybe some Phlox for August.

Ladies Mantle, Catmint, Creeping Phlox, Purple Coneflower have all been pest free. If you have a lot of deer in your area you may reconsider daylilies or even tall phlox, unless you have the time to spray deer repellent after it rains - or can build a fence.

Alyssum, I have a border of daylilies with tall Phlox behind, and one morning EVERY flower head was cleanly bitten off. The deer had to cross a major highway, then climb down a steep hill to do so. You are right!!!

Wow - thanks for all the suggestions....really helping!

The Bed is on a side lot that is about 4' higher in elevation from what it overlooks...other yards...woods.

No deer in our town.