I am very new to the gardening scene. Needing some advice on colorful and fragrant flowers to plant. I love to look at them and sit on the porch smelling them when the wind blows. However, I have 3 kids to run after and not alot of time to tend to gardening work. I do make time about once a week so I guess that will suffice. I did some planting last year BUT ( and you cannot laugh at me) I cannot remember what I planted and whether they were annuals or perenials.
I live in Lenexa, Kansas........Zone 5B.
Any suggestions would be great. Also, I read a link in the beginners flowers forum that said seeds were available for newbies but cannot seem to get to it; says its for paying members only. Maybe I misunderstood.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge,
Sherry
This message was edited Mar 17, 2007 4:13 PM
Help choosing perennials
Sherry~ BOUQUETS and a big welcome to DG! Alyssums-annual; sweet william-a short lived perennial which will bloom the second year from seed;4 o'clocks, tea time rose has a nice scent in early evening hrs. annual, but self sows too readily and needs to be deadheaded to cut down on the number of volunteers. Dame's rocket-perennial, hyssop- perennial, roses, some annuals : stock, petunias and nicotiana and there are many more. Just a tiny start pf the list... I have some seeds of the above if you would like to try some . I'm sure some others will jump in, also check out cottage gardening and container gardening for some additional ideas with beautiful photos and suggestions. ;0)
Another type of plant you might consider is the scented geraniums. They have many different fragrances and leaf types. You would not be able to smell them from a distance but if you brush their leaves it is wonderful. Many of the old fashioned roses have great scents. My favorite is a deep velvety red named Mr. Lincoln. It has very nice blooms and a very strong "rose" fragrance. If you are gardening for fragrance do not forget the herbs like lavender, rosemary, thyme and mint. I second on the dames rocket it has a wonderful strong fragrance and is maintenance free. You will want to deadhead it because it tends to self seed prolifically.
You might check out the Missouri Botanical Garden Plants of Merit list. It is available online.
SB, you planning on coming to RU?
Thank you all for such wonderful advice. I will definately be checking the botanical garden lists you suggested stressbaby. Tetleytuna, I have no experience with roses or rose bushes. Are they difficult to grow? And I love, love, love the smell of lavender. That would be a terrific addition to my garden.
Thank you Garden6, I would love to try any seeds you may have to offer. It is very kind of you. You will have to verify for me which are annual and perenial.......LOL. I had ALOT of zennias last summer. They were nice to look at but too big for the spot I had them.
I look forward to a summer of watching my children play outside while being spoiled by the wonderful smells of my garden!
I thank you for the wealth of help you have all offered. It is a nice feeling to be welcomed into such a community so openly and without prejudice. Think I'm really gonna like it here!!!! :)
I have chosen to grow the older rose varieties because they seem to be more fragrant and have not had problems with them. My soil is not the best either(it is old strip mine ground... yuck). When I originally planted them I made a raised bed of a couple of feet with the compost that our city parks and recreation dept sells each spring. It is very inexpensive. We have an old grain truck and get that filled. I add a few inches on top every year as it breaks down. Something I had not thought of before was bulbs. You would not get to enjoy them this year but the daffodills, wood hyacinths and grape hyacinths are very fragrant.
New_to_ this, we would love to see your family at the MO DG RoundUp in Sedalia April 28th. It is not limited to people from MO. There will be lots of free plants there to take home. Lots of them will be perennials and some will be fragrant. I'm glad you have joined the DG family.
New, we definitely hope you can make it. The more the merrier!!
Roses just might be the right choice Tetleytuna. I will have to consider them for sure. I have an entire flower bed in front of my frontporch that I have completely emptied. It was occupied by this HORRIBLE thorn bush thing!!!! It took me all of last summer and this spring to get the stump out of the dirt. However, after breaking a shovel in half and grabbing the hammer out of complete frustration I finally prevailed. Probably a fairly laughable scene now that I think about it.
I would love to join you all at the Roundup. We'll have to see how that will work out.
I have so many ideas of things I would love to do immediately in my front and back yards but I am at a place right now where the finances aren't exactly cooperating. So I must be patient and do things as cost effectively as I can. :( (Hard to do even as an adult sometimes).
Thank you all again for your kindness,
Sherry
This message was edited Mar 18, 2007 8:32 PM
Pepper23, I don't have plans to come to the RU at this time, but I love to trade. My "have" list is mostly up to date. Ignore my "wanted" list, it is really only for the GH.
hi, My name is kathy. i live in zone 5a. my kids are grown now, that is about the only reason i have time for gardening. I know how demanding kids and a family can be. i babysit for a 4month old 3 days a week. I would reccomend perrennials if you can afford them because they come back every year, I use annuals for containers and for filling in beds and places where i want a little extra color. For sunny areas I would suggest coneflowers, yarrow,daisys, buttercups, lillies, catmint, tall phlox(all perrenials) none of these smell much(except phlox) but they are pretty ,easy, they grow in the worst soil, and always look good. I have tons of them and you can mostly ignore them, they spread like weeds.i only have one rose and they can be very persnickity, especially if you have a rainy spell, i think they require alot of time. For shade, hostas are great, they bloom late but the blooms can smell great on certain varieties, along with the hostas in the shade, sweet woodriff is a great ground cover and smells wonderful as do lillies of the valley.If you want a great vine that is a perrenial and grows like a weed try a porcelin berry vine. I have about 6, all from cuttings from the original plant. good luck! happy gardening! kathy
WOW Kathy. That is alot of information. Thank you so much. I will check into all these flowers. It is time consuming to chase after the little ones for sure. I also babysit for my brother-in-law (6 month old) two days a week. They keep me running for sure!!! Think this summer I will be taking the play pen outside alot.
I could use alot of these flowers and plants you have suggested. When will the plants I planted last year come up so I know where to plant the new ones?
I am planning to go with mostly perenials as you suggested. Not only because they will come back but to reduce the cost involved. My little ones take most extra money that I have available. They seem to never run out of wants!!!!
Thanks again Kathy. I appreciate your kindness and helpfulness. I will let you know how it all works out.
Sherry
Hi Sherry!
My husband works in Lenexa. I used to work up there, in Olathe, but now I stay at home with my little tyke. ; )
I'm more of a houseplant kinda gal, but I've recently started flower areas around the house, too, so I'm new with you in that area.
Just thought I'd send a warm hi since we're so close to each other! ; D
Cheryl
New-to-this----I have been watching this and the thought accured to me are you looking to create a garden in the sun are the shade. I was just wondering. I am one of the frew shade gardeners on this forum with only a small bit of sunny yard for sun loving type of plants. very hard to find fragrant plants in the shade.
I have alot of shade too. Not as much as we used too but enough. I have planted wildflowers under one tree, along with hosta. I also have daylilies in the shade, tulips, and irises. In the back right now I only have perennial sweet pea growing on a lattice but will soon get some ferns to go with that. The sweet pea is also growing under a walnut tree and thriving. Also have peonies in shade.
A warm "HI" back at cha Cjolene. Nice to know I'm not alone!! Makes you feel kinda silly sometimes asking the questions that are old news to most. But it's the only way to learn and gain the knowledge others have to offer. I have already learned soooooo much thanks to everyones kindness.
Ozarkian...... I have both sun and shade areas to address. The front and back of the yard are mostly sun but the sides on the house are shaded most of the day. A blank slate pretty much at this point. I received some seeds from garden6 today and need to find out what to do next!!! Not sure. :)
Pepper23 is the sweet pea a ground cover? I have a large area under a pine tree that has no grass and is UGLY. A real eyesore. As I said before it is a pretty large area about the size of 2 parking spots. Weird comparison I know but I couldn't think of anything else at the moment.
TREASURE LIFE!!!
Sherry
Sweet pea is a climbing vine. You might be able to make it a ground cover though if you experiment a little.
What kind of tree is it that has the ugly ground spot. It sounds like a maple to me. If it is I would advise putting down some ground sheathing and covering it with rock are mulch in a interesting pattern. You can add things to it like statue are bird bath later on. Maples are about the hardest thing there is to grow other plants under. But some ground ivy will grow. Then you got to control it.
LOL.......Not sure if I'm ready yet for experimenting Pepper23. I can barely plant a flower at this point. :) But I'm sure I will get there.................. eventually. Have a great day.
TREASURE LIFE!
Sherry
The UGLY eyesore I spoke about is under a pine tree. The branches on it had grown down completely to the ground. So when I bought the house and began working on the yard last fall I cut the branches up on the tree about 6 feet. This of course exposed the bare spot underneath. The utility boxes are also back in that corner of the yard almost under the tree. I am having such a hard time getting grass to grow in the rest of the yard I don't even have the courage to attempt grass under the tree. I am sooooo frustrated with the grass situation I just give up!!!
I could take a picture I suppose but am not sure how to include it in the threads. Thanks for the advice Ozarkian. I appreciate it greatly.
New_to_this You could put several types of plants under there. The main thing with the pine is what someone recently called shade dry. It means the rain water does not get thru the branches to water the plants below it. So you have to water that place rain are no rain. It might be a real nice spot for a Hosta layout but they are not very fragrant except for a very few varieties. One thing about hosta. Be forewarned it is easy to get swept into the crazyness that surrounds hosta people. It can become very expensive(not for me it isnt) collecting. So if you go that way big cheap ones like Blue Angel. I will be bringing a few hosta to the RU but I will not be selling them.
hi new_ to_ this. i have 10 giant pines up to 75 ft. tall. they are weepy looking and sound like yours. there are 6 of them in my front yard. forget grass ; it will not grow!! my pines are topped off at about 8ft. from the ground. i had grass when the builder first built my house. he warned my about it not growing. my front yard has NO GRASS! i put in all shade perrenials and a winding mulch path.. this has taken some time to acheive, and i have to constantly water because the trees take up all the moisture. my well failed after a year here and i had to have a new one dug. they totally tore up the yard and i had a mucky clay mess. i had to have someone come in and remove all the clay and silt and i had to raise up most of the yard with about 8 yards of dirt. i hauled boulders from the farmers field and planted several varietys of hostas, lungwort, sweet woodruff,epimedium, i also have trilliums, windflowers, jack in the pulpit. i dont think you can ever really kill a hosta,or sweet woodriff. try to dig up under the bare spot of the tree. see how the roots are if the roots are too dense you might have to make a raised bed around the base of the tree, and use rocks to hold the dirt. if that is too labor intensive try getting some nice planters to put in the spot. you know urn types and plant shade loving annuals like coleus,begonias impatients, sweet potatoe vines etc in them. i would also think about bringing in some cute yard art., gazing balls, bird baths etc. you can hang wind chimes from the tree for interest . keep me posted on what you decide to do.. today is my day off and its cold and dreary,, yuck!
Hi Ozarkian. Thanks for the advice. I have some hostas around my tree in the front yard. I like them and think that would look nice. I will probably also consider some flowering plants as well.
Sorry about the delay in responding. I've been busy with out of town, in house guests for a bit. Phew!!!!!! Love to see them...but also love to see them leave!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's alot of work. I need some rest. LOL
TREASURE LIFE!
Sherry
I love wind chimes Kathy. Could never go wrong there I suppose. I have not gone out yet to dig under the tree. Not sure about the root issue. Been really busy with company. But will do that soon.
I like the other suggestions too. I had never considered putting planters back there; but your right it would look nice.
I will let ya know how it all works out....although I'm sure it will take some time.
Thanks again and keep the advice coming!!! :)
TREASURE LIFE
Sherry