I know this is practically sacreligious to some of you, but I really need to design a "Nevermind" garden... a garden that I nearly never have to mind. My poor little bed out front is looking so sad these days. I've been sick since June w/ "morning" sickness (it really lasts all day, though) and the plants are literally one of the last things on my mind. I'm still sick, and on the rare day that I feel decent I have a million things to do to make up for the days I've lost by being all green-faced. Anyway, I have literally neglected my garden since mid-June, deadheading shastas maybe 3x since then and picking out weeds maybe twice. I've not watered much at all and I haven't fertilized a single thing or babied a single plant. Suprisingly, it really doesn't look so horribly bad. Thankfully, I have some real work horses out there that are still going strong. So THESE toughies of the toughies are on my list for my Nevermind garden. Here is the plan:
Back of the border:
Boltonia 'Snowbank'
Joepye Weed 'Gateway'
Miscanthus sinesis 'Cosmopolitan'
Panicum virginiatum 'Heavy Metal'
Artemesia 'Powis Castle'
Butterfly Bush 'Black Knight"
Cleome mix
Middle of the border:
Sedum 'Autumn Joy'
Sedum 'Brilliant'
Sedum 'Autumn Fire'
Gomphrena 'Strawberry Fields'
Yucca 'Golden Sword' (I know, but just one is nice)
Berberis thunbergii 'Crimson Pygmy'
Front of the border:
Stachys byzantina 'Helen von Stein'
Coreopsis verticillata 'Moonbeam' (I did manage to shear this once)
Moss phlox
Gypsophila repens (I've been surprised)
Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hameln'
Alchemilla mollis
There you go! The only thing to occassionally deadhead is the butterfly bush. And everything has made it very well on a little rain summer w/ hardly any supplemental watering. Full sun. I'd also have to occassionally weed. What do y'all think?
My "Nevermind" Garden List :)
1st let me say ~ CONGRATULATIONS!! When is the "predicted" day?
2nd ~ This sounds really good to me. Some of the names I don't recognize (normal for me), but the ones that I do ~ it should be Great & fairly easy to maintain.:-))
LOL, at first I thought you meant congratulations on a new garden, LOL :) The baby is due at the end of February, so I have a loooooong way to go. Hopefully, though, the sickness won't last too much longer. I don't know though, my last pregnancy I was sick until I was 20 weeks along. Ugh. I know some ladies are sick the whole time, and I'm thankful that I never have been. Anyway, hopefully not much longer. I'm almost 14 weeks :) And, thank you.
Part of the need for the Nevermind Garden is that this baby makes 4, and my oldest will be just turning 6 when the new little one arrives. We're homeschooling, and we'll be doing kindergarten and preschool this year. It'll be an interesting school year ;) I still love my plants, but I don't love feeling overwhelmed and behind when I just can't get to my plants. How nice it would be to plant it purposefully to look great when I neglect it! :) Then I could enjoy the plants w/o feeling the stress of being "behind". I hate to pull up and see all those spent blooms left undeadheaded. I like a clean, deadheaded garden! :) So, if I can't keep em clean - now I just won't plant them :) LOL!
Well said. From the sound of it all...you won't have time for yourself, let alone a flower bed; and this may just be the garden you are hunting for. I didn't home school my kids, but they got some edu. out in the garden helping me. Kids that age soak up everything (while you keep their hands busy)...:-))
I was about 3 when my mom had me planting pepper plants (she was an English teacher) & I've been planting ever since! (never forgot it) :)
congratulations on #4...you definitely have your hands full. I once had what they laughingly call 'morning' sickness 24-hrs a day for 7 months, but it was my first and I could lay around and feel sorry for myself.
this sounds like a great plan. I'm just glad I have some of the plants on your list :0) I'd like a nevermind garden just because I'm lazy LOL
gram
I will miss my shasta daisies, though. They are not super high maintenance, but they do need deadheading and watering, they do best with fertilizing, dividing, etc. Another time, though! Another time! I must be strong :) I plan on implementing this little scheme partially this fall when I can divide and move some things and then the rest in the spring. I'll give my mom a few plants, too. She recently lost her shade tree, so she'd love some sun plants :)
It'll take determination, but I just have to remain realistic. I just can't effectively take care of a higher maintenance garden of any decent size w/o dropping the ball elsewhere. And, now don't wince, the plants just are not top priority. I know that I can have a lovely garden to enjoy with a lot less work than I have right now, though, and that's a win/win for me :)
I'd welcome any other ideas for no-care plants. Especially annuals that would offer some color throughout the season. No care annuals are hard to come by, I know, but they're out there. They need to be full sun, drought resistent but not scared off by rain, plentiful w/o deadheading (this is a tricky one), and light feeders. I have organic soil, but I'm not going to be out there fertilizing. I'd love to hear ideas!
Jacci
You might find some of the discussion in this thread "the best of the troublefree" helpful. Good luck!
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/628686/
Hi SalmonMe!
An annual you might try is Californian Poppy (Eschsholzia?). They love sun and dry soil, and will self-sow. The foliage is feathery, and the flowers are usually shades of yellow and orange, but there are mixes with red, pink, and cream as well. When a flower is over, the petals drop cleanly, so the plants always look good. They are low-growing, so they don't flop around in wind or rain. Also, they don't seem to mind if the soil is acid or alkaline. Best of all, you just sow them onto the ground and there's no messing around with seed trays and pots.
Best of luck with your plans,
June
Congratulations, Jacci! So happy for you and the family!
You will have your hands full with home schooling, too! No rest for the weary (and morning sick afflicted), much less gardening! I empathize, let me tell you! ;-)
Not an annual, but an EZ-care, really No-care plant, that blooms in late summer is Liriope--the landscape man planted it with palace purple coral bells here for an 'easy maintenance' garden along with oakleaf hydrangeas.
Also don't forget asclepias tuberosa--the perennial milkweed (orange or yellow)--for the monarch butterflies, is pretty easy and the girls would like it. (Home schooling, you know!)
--although it sounds like you have a great garden plan already and don't need any more ideas....
Take care of yourself! t.
Jacci,
Hi there, I know you must have changed your name but I can't remember now from what.
My cleaning lady in Ft Lauderdale home schools her girls. On the days when I was home and she was cleaning, I would take them out to the garden and they helped to gather seeds, package plants, weigh boxes, do postage, pollinate flowers and pull weeds. Let's see, there is science, sex ed, math, phys ed, she was always able to account the time spent in the gardens to some school subject matter.
Good luck and I hope you feel better soon.
Molly
:^))))
Sounds beautiful and congrats on the upcoming baby. Just a question on the Cleome. I planted tons of cleome seeds in various spots in the yard from a variety of sources and oddly, not ONE has come up. I've heard these self seed each year so I'm surprised none of mine have come up this year. Maybe I should ask this in the annual forum, but saw the thread and figured I would ask you about it. My soil isn't as great as I'd like it, but I've never had problems growing any other plants. Weird huh??
Yeah, that is weird about the cleome. I'm not sure what to tell you. I've planted them from seed directly in the garden as well as from transplants. I haven't had all of the volunteer seedlings folks talk about, but then again, I get pretty vigilant in the spring with my "weeds". I probably yank them w/o knowing ;)
Hi Judy :) Thanks for the tips, although I have to ask when your liriope was planted. I don't ave any experience with it here in Ohio, but in Virginia it was a rampant spreader, by underground rhizomes, I believe. This is L. muscari I'm talking about. I just wondered if yours was a new planting that hadn't really started spreading yet or if maybe it's a different species of Liriope that is better behaved. I'd love it if you'd let me know :) Thanks for the congrats, BTW :)
Molly, yes you're right! You do know me. I was hugahosta before :) That is my plan for working gardening and homeschooling together when the girls are a bit older. Honestly, even though they are hard little workers, a 5 and 1/2 yo and 4 yo can only do so much. I'm hoping to make little gardeners out of them as they get older, though :) Right now, though, my man power is limited. A friend of mine keeps reassuring me, though, that after 7 years old or so, the man power starts to increase exponentially, LOL :)
Y'all take care! Thanks for the posts!
Jacci
Jacci--my liriope is the variegated kind and it was planted years ago, and yes, it is robust but not rudely aggressive. It just grows, and doesn't need much water or fussing over. But then, it's not too exciting, either! A nice EZ care plant for a new mothers' garden.
They say nice things about it in Plant Files
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/53516/index.html
If you want some let me know--I will drop it off!
Thanks, Judy, you're a sweetheart ;)
Oh, I thought of adding 2 more, Liatris (I have the purple) and the second, I guess, is really more like a question. Do y'all think the 'Teddy Bear' sunflower would fall into this no care category? My girls have been wanting me to grow it for 2 years now. I have to get some seeds for next year! :)
Browsing around on the internet, wanted to make a list of native plants that looked interesting:
Helianthus occidentalis
Rudbeckia triloba
Silene regia
Solidago nemoralis (needs support?)
You might try some Laura Bush Petunias from seed. They germinate quickly and are very hardy here in zone 8b. I have some that are still blooming like crazy in this miserable heat. They don't require much attention at all. The blooms are a very pretty pinkish/purple. A little lighter in color in sun. They reseed well here too.
Thanks :)
Jacci--
I don't know much about sun flowers but the one year we had them our kids loved it and were so excited by them (and they were ages 23, 21 and 18!) and I paid no attention to them (the sunflowers!) at all.
The birds loved them too. And when they got too ugly I just yanked them.
Your natives sound interesting. Are you giving up your front lawn to a 'meadow' effect? I bet the neighborhood association up there would love that!!!
Not native and not perennial here , but the butterflies love it --is the verbena bonarienses. It would be pretty with your rudbekia and sunflowers and golden rod and joe pye weed. Easily reseeds. Some people even consider it a bit of a pest in the garden but I love it because of the long bloom season and the monarchs and swallowtails love it.
We have a butterfly meadow and natives garden in our park (Woodland Mound Park)--if/when you feel up to it, load the chicks and their bikes in the car and come down for a walk (stroll) through it and a picnic (I would love to have you for a visit) and some fun on the playground. The monarchs are migrating through the first half of September.... I will be around most of the month.
Judy, you are sooooo sweet :) I'll let you know how I'm feeling. I'm 14 and 1/2 weeks, still not much of a let up, yet. Sigh. But, I'd rather be pregnant than perky if those are my options :)
No, no, not a meadow. We'd have a little yellow paper on our door within seconds, I assure you :) It's still all confined to the bed, and the bed is "structured" with repeated plants in the very front and some medium sized rocks for weight. It stands out from the neighbor's super trimmed boxwoods, to be sure, but I'm not breaking any HOA rules or offending any neighbors :) Well, my browning hanging ferns might be offensive by this point. Poor things. I think it's time to call it a day for those guys, LOL.
Thanks for the tips, BTW. I'll have to check that one out :) We went to a butterfly house today and all the fat, little monarch cats would have warmed your heart. The girls each got to hold one, and we sat and watched them all munching away on the asclepias. Neat morning. A bit chilly and wet, but cocoa and dry clothes fixed that pretty quickly :) Hubby was with us, so I had more "get up and go" than I do by myself these days. Thanks, again, I'll be in touch :)
Jacci