Hi folks,
I'm a novice gardener. Perhaps like some of you, to fund my garden and a place to stay warm in the winter I ,unfortunately, must work outside of my garden more than on my garden. So I'm attracted to high performing, low maintenance and easy to grow plants. I look forward to learning from all of you!
New to Forum From Northeast Ohio
Welcome Kathleen!
Hi Kathleen - welcome to Dave's
Your gardening plan sounds common sense to me, although for me having low maintenance plants frees time up for some high maintenance ones.
Al
purple cone flower, daisies and black-eyed susans are about the lowest maintenance highest yield plants for me.
Welcome Kathleen!
Dave47
Hi Kathleen,
I would add sedum, hostas and hardy geranium to that as well. Daylilies too if you don't have a big deer problem.
Victor
Hi, Kathleen. Welcome to gardening, and Dave's Garden, and the northeast forum! You can learn a lot here. and make some good friends. Many of us work to support our plant habits LOL.
gram ~a girl~
Welcome to Dave's and to the Northeast Forum, Kathleen. Glad to have you with us. I'd vote for Japanese iris for wet and sunny spots, Heuchera for almost anywhere but constant hot sun and Hinoki cypress for a lovely and well behaved shrub.
Hi Kathleen,
Welcome! I just joined DG at the beginning of January. Everyone at this forum has been very supportive of this rookie. I am sure you will like it here :-)
I like my thymes for easy care in the sun and creeping jenny for the shade. And if you want a plant that is big and splashy, smells good and gives you spice (fennel seed) - plant bronze fennel and it will take over the yard and fill every nook and cranny. (See my post on the evil plant thread.) LOL
Welcome to Dg Kathleen. And to add some vibrant color in larger shrub form think about some Knockout roses. No fuss. no muss. Interplant with the perennials and annuals.
Welcome to DG, Kathleen! Although I am not new to DG, I am new to this forum. I think you have received some great advice.
May I suggest too, if you have sun, try sunflowers, very cheerful and easy easy to grow, as are zinnias. There are many varieties of both available as seed. No fail, low maintenance beauties that bloom for a long time.
Looking forward to getting to know you too!
Zinnias are just great, aren't they. I second the knockout rose, or for that matter many shrub roses. Low maintenance & high output. Just the opposite of what I associated with roses. I'll add hollyhocks too. I like height in my garden.(Zinniz & Holly hocks are easy from seed, Kathleen)
Thank you for such a warm welcome and great advice. I've listed all of your recommendations on my "to plant" list. Can't wait to get started!
Hi Kathleen:
Welcome from someone originally from NE Ohio (born in Cleveland). If you want clues to easy-to-grow, low maintenance perennials, see if you can pick up a copy of "Easy Care Perennials" by Patricia Taylor in a used book store. ISBN 0-671-67330-3 or 0-671-67283-5 (paperback). Simon&Schuster 1989.
I found a copy of this just as I began gardening and it helped me get off the ground running. A few of their nursery sources are out of date but the advice is good. If you can't find it, I can send you a list of the plants she recommends by email.
Thx DonShirer. That's just the kind of resource I'm looking for! Born in Cleveburg?!? Then you surely know how our "whichever the way the wind blows off the lake" kind of weather can surprise us with unusual highs, lows, droughts and rains. Please keep the advise coming!
Hello to all,
I just joined the forum today and I'm really looking forward to learning and contributing as well.
Canfield, Ohio
Hi, EarleAve, Welcome to the forum. I'm from the Buffalo, NY area. Great bunch of people around the NE forum here. Jump right in, introduce yourself, and start posting :0) look forward to hearing from you
jan (aka gram)
Hi Jan, I have been to the Buffalo area quite a few times. I have relatives in Buffalo proper and Cheektawaga (sp) and family friends who used to reside on Grand island(I believe).
Where's Canfield, Mike? My grandparents lived in Canton most of the time I was growing up and I spent many happy summers there (long, long ago LOL)
Canfield is about an 45 min to an hour north east of Canton. Canfield is a suburb of Youngstown, Ohio.
Hi Kathleen and welcome!
How about starting off with shrubs to anchor gardening areas? The right shrub in the right place will give your garden years of pleasure without much fuss.
Welcome Kathleen and Earle, my husband's aunt and uncle live in Bedford.
Gram how much snow do you have????
It snowed only 2-3 ins here and almost all melted but this past week we're in a deep freeze my rhodies look really droopy.
jen, we don't have all that much snow (less than a foot, I guess)...we're north of the regular snow belts in western NY. but we're frozen up solid, that's for sure. they've been getting all that horrible feet upon feet of snow south of Syracuse, NY and I guess people assume it's in the Buffalo area. I really feel bad for them. after a while there's just no place to shovel or plow it to any more.
Guess what Maine's getting for Valentine's Day? Snow! About 2ft of it by the looks of things. Don't mind the snow, it's the 50 mile an hour winds that are coming with it that have me concerned.
Glad your not buried in the white stuff Gram!
We're supposed to get the snow, too, but only 5" and if it's not cold enough it will be more like sleet. I'd prefer the snow. We both dislike the wind, too.
we're supposed to get a foot tomorrow night. they're already calling it the Valentine's Day storm.
I'm just willing to bet that the florists shops and chocolate shops will keep their walks shoveled quite well!
I just hope that it stays cold - I hate shovelling sleet/slush. I also worry about the possibility of an ice storm.
Agreed! If we ever have the driveway repaved I'd love to have the electrically heated matting installed - true luxury! Shoveling the slush is a widow maker.
wow...a heated driveway......could we extend that to the walkway too?
Yes, if you're repaving everything. I'd rather have a blizzard than that heavy icy slush.