flower bed design help needed

Even though it will still be a while before we start a new backyard flower bed, I thought that I would ask for some suggestions on types of plants that I might try growing in it. Inside of the bed there will be "The Monument" that also needs to have some lower growing plants than are presently in it. I especially love Ladygardener's idea for Trailing Petunia's over the edges of the monument.

I want to mainly stay with perennials. There will be about 40 Iris that need to go somewhere in the bed and there is already a smallish type of bed that is to the left of the the monument which has some Iris and some yellow colored Day Lilies in it. I am hoping that rcn43 will post a picture that she marked off a space for the suggested bed, so that everyone will be able to see what I am asking for.

When John is home later today I will have him measure so that I can post the size of the bed. I am sure that there are folks on here who have an eye for design, unlike John and I. I am looking forward to hearing everyone's suggestions.

Ruby

Ruby, here you go :) I'm glad John's not upset with me for suggesting more work for him! LOL I just thought your beautiful monument needed some company and I've already got a special plant in mind to send you as soon as you get the project started :)

For the rest of you, as if you don't already know it - Ruby is so sweet! When I mentioned on one of the threads recently that I couldn't find any Persian Shield she found some, mailed them to me and then refused to be reimbursed - what a lovely lady she is :)))

Thank you so much Debra. Quick too!!! Hey, you swell my head. As I said, this is not happening very soon. John said no problem creating new work for him. It works well because he wants as many beds as we can get in order to cut down on the amount of grass that needs to be mowed. We do need to leave some running space for the three furr babies who live here.

Thank you again Debbie.

Ruby

Ruby, keep in mind when you plant iris and daylilies together that the bearded iris need well drained soil and the daylilies need some moisture. You can't mulch the iris, for example, without worrying about rot.

Somebody asked about this in the iris forum and they were told to plant the iris in a higher spot and the daylilies in a lower spot.

Now thats my kind of Guy!

Good point Hart. That little bed was an after thought in each our minds. I planted things in it and didn't tell John and he came along and planted more things. It is a mish mash at the moment. Some of the plants will most likely be transplanted even though both did exceptionally well this year.

For some reason last summer I had two different Dave's folks mail me quite large quantities of Iris. Thank you Susan and Mic. John has started an Iris bed whch sets to the right of the monument and is aligned with the fence. After he moves a bush from that area, he plans to extend the Iris bed. The plants in the mish mash bed might find a home along the fence. Not sure of anything at the moment though.

Chris, if anyone is willing to put up with some oddities, they would do well by being with John. ha-ha I won't go in to that though. I tried my best not to like him when he showed up in my life fifteen years ago. By that time I was totally done with men, or so I thought. He wore me down though and I am so happy that he did. We are better together than we are apart.

Ruby

Ruby, My Avalanche Cherry Petunia is starting to set see, I could save you some. It has been blooming all summer. It is a hybrid, so I don't know if it will come ture from seed.
I find even trying to do an all perennial garden some annual plants just help to hold everything together.
With the petunias you could do different colors or color combos, like pink and purple-red, white and blue-white and red,the list goes on.

Also you will want to leave some paths so you can maintain the bed. Looks like you can view "The Monument" from the deck, might want to keep a very low growing or even a pretty ground cover in front so the beautiful stone work shows. I'll have some ideas for the plants, I'll post pictures. if I can get some good ones later.

Oh yes, please save some of the Petunia sseds for me. I have never grown them. Am looking forward to seeing some of your ideas. I already know that you do lovely combination pots, so I bet a whole bed that you did would be wonderful.

I hope that you are doing well. I smiled when I was showing my Longwood pics to my sister in law earlier today when I saw you with your straw hat and big smile.

Take care sweet lady.

Ruby

Ruby, I am still thinking about your design, and the thought of keeping the front low so you can enjoy John's beautiful stone work from the deck. Also cutting back on the mowing. What about a fan shape, the narrow part towards The Monument with flat stones to pick up the stone work in the monument then planting Blue Star Creeper among the stones, you would have to kill off the grass.

I have a small patch of Blue Star, bought it from Bluestone, it is in an very small wedge spot between the patio and walkway to the garage. It can be walked on, likes a moist but well drained soil. The stones would hold in the moisture, I think, depending on how much space between the stones and the type of soil you have.
I took a picture of my Blue Star it gets better each year, planted just 3 plants about 5 years ago.

Oh, I like the Blue Star Creeper. Isn't it great that there are plants that can take the abuse of being walked on? Good idea. Is there a way for you to draw a picture for me and post it here, or send through the mail? Am I asking too much? Don't go to a whole lot of trouble with it, because I would hate for you to spend a lot of time and then we end up not using your idea.

Like I said, he will be tied up with the walkway for a good while still. Today he is involved in putting a new clutch in someone's car. There have been several things to come up this week that have interfered with working on the wall for walkway. Maybe next week will be better for him.

Thank you for taking the time to give some thought to this. Love you honey!!!

Ruby

Ruby I'll be glad to draw my idea, nothing fancy, my drawing skills have become really rusty after high school, but good at doodling ha ha.
Will take some time as I have a big weekend coming up. Love you too!

I don't expect anything professional looking. If you were asking me for a drawing, there is no telling if you could distinguish it as being a flower bed or not. Not much at drawing here. Thank Sweets, get it to me whenever you have the time.

Ruby

Ruby, I've been playing! Here is my fan shaped Idea. Large stepping stones with BlueStar creeper. Might want to put a solid cement walkway all around the Monument, then again maybe not. Each side of the stepping stone fan taller plants.
The color on the monument is suppose to be petunias hanging over the edge. What does everyone think?

You are such a dear!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to explain your idea further. I am glad that you got to play. I will certainly show this to John and see what he thinks.

We already have some plants that we will more than likely plant in the new bed area. Thanks to Wind, I have a table top full of some very interesting plants. My niece lives near Wind and Wind so graciously offered to send me some things this past weekend when my niece was traveling here. The plants made the trip quite well and all are looking very healthy.

Again, I thank you for your time regarding this new bed, Lady. You are the very best!!!

Ruby

I love the idea of putting a walkway around the monument, and I think having it as a focal point behind a small patio area is a wonderful idea, also. You can play with the shape of the patio when you figure out what shape/size you want to create by expanding the new beds around it. If you're really in a "less grass, more garden" mode, you could pretty much turn that whole back corner into garden space, using the existing shrubs as "backbone" and putting in a couple of additional paths leading to the monument at the center.

Like this...

The "patio" area with flagstones or pavers is a place where you could set a small bench, birdbath, etc... or even a couple of big container plantings for an extra splash of color.

I've been planting irises and columbines along the back portion of my perennial area. Most of my plants die back in the winter, so the irises put on a show in early summer for me while everything else is just starting to sprout up. Later on, when the iris foliage doesn't look so great, there's plenty of other goodies in front of it. When I drew in those pathways coming in toward the monument from either side, I thought of your multitude of irises for the strip of garden bed behind the monument on the other side of the paths.

Obviously, you could play a lot with the size and shape of the beds and paths, but maybe seeing it "painted" onto your photo the way Lady & I did it will get you started.

Thank you so much Jill for taking the time to give some thought to this upcoming project. I will show John your suggestions. Yes, having the whole corner as a bed is the idea, with pathways in order to do maintenance. I am not sure when he will get around to doing any digging in the area due to the other million things that are on his "to do" list. Poor guy. NOT.

We have so many things that need to be transplanted and hope to do it this fall, so he will most likely need to begin addressing this particular area soon so that some of the transplantees will have a home here. It will be so nice to have an area that I can look out of kitchen window and see the beauty.

This area will make a nice spot for a cement bench that I plan to purchase some day at Harper's Lawn Ornaments. This project has certainly not been forgotten, he has just been busy with front walkway. During this much needed rain fall he is working inside of his garage on a table that was inherited from his family. He is sanding and stripping it in order to refinish somehow. We will be setting our main TV on it. I am sure that he is doing a great job on it too.

I will take pictures after the rain of his front wall, walkway progress. It is slow but surely coming along nicely.

Ruby

You could probably get a head start on it by figuring out the line of the outside edge (use a garden hose to make the outline -- adjust it until you get a shape you like, and take your time). Spray the line with landscape paint (it'll wash away in a few weeks). Then kill off the grass (roundup or solarize it with black plastic) and put down some "lasagna" layers of newspaper, leaves, grass clippings, etc. that can cook away over the winter. By spring, you'll be able to till it all up and be ready to plant next year. Anything that's not ready to plant can just be mulched over... it'll look nice, and you won't have to mow. :-)

Wow Lady, you have the whole plan down pat. Now when can we expect you to come and help us choose which plants to put in? ha-ha Just kidding, but of course there is an open invitation to any of Dave's friends who happen to be traveling through this area, to stop by and have a look see. John has already decided that he will be using the water hose trick to help lay out the design. I didn't know there was such a bird as landscape paint. Will have to check it out definitely.

He has been using the lasagna gardening technique for other areas where he has planted, so as you said, he will most likely use it here too. We can get started on killing the grass at any time now.

I am getting excited about it now, thanks for you excellent ideas.

Ruby

Landscape paint is like spray paint, but the nozzle sprays straight down, so it's ideal for marking out lines for paths and beds.

Remind me.. do you have a tiller, or should I be planning to come down with my Mantis? (have tiller -- will travel)

:-)

We have something similar to a Mantis. John usually fusses whenever it is time to use it. He is used to using one of the big boys I suppose and doesnt feel as if he is doing anything much with something smaller. You are so cute!!!

Ruby

Keep this in mind as you lay out the garden and the plants. I have a lilac and a weeping cherry near the kitchen window that have been there a long time, I am always trimming them back so I can see some of the water-garden and flowers in the new bed near the fence.
If the view from the kitchen window is a top priority the big question to ask yourself is, "What do I want to see when I look out that window."

Also the angle or placement of the flat "patio" area in front of the "monument" may change as you look out that window and ask your question.
Just a thought.
I love how we are building ideas on this project, this is fun!

Chris

That's where the hose and landscape paint can come in handy... you can "draw" the design in the grass and consider it from all angles! I've been known to put stakes in the ground to represent tree placement and then run around to various windows, trying to imagine how the combination will look in 5 or 20 years... :-)

You mention a lilac tree growing to cover some of your own view Chris. Though very, very small there are actually three Lilacs planted along the fence area in this spot. Will have to discuss with John whether we plan to leave them where they are or if it should be transplanted elsewhere. Much of our gardening is done as just finding a temporary place for things so they can grow. If we actually get to transplanting all that needs transplanting this fall or next spring, it is quite a long list.

Chris, you ask the question about what I want to see as I look out of the window. I may need some help in deciding on what would be a nice long bloomer. I do know that your suggestion for trailing Petunia's will be incorporated in to the plan. You must remember that this will be my first bed that has actually been planned to any extent. The way that I have gardened until now is to find any space for whatever plant that has currently caught my fancy.

See Jill, many of you folks have actually spent time planning for your gardens versus the way that I have done until now which is stick it wherever it will fit. This is much of the reason that many of our gardening hours this fall and next spring will be spent transplanting things that have outgrown the area where they currently reside.

Chris, I agree that this is going to be a fun project. Just be aware that we are working on John's time, which many times is not quick enough for me. ha-ha He is currently very busy with the walkway project and I am not sure how quickly he plans to begin addressing this back bed. Don't become too frustrated with us. Remember that we will be away all of next week and also away from home a week in October too.

I am very appreciative of the help that you two are offering. With our collective brain power and John's muscle power, we might just be able to come up with a winner.

Ruby

Ruby, That lilac has been in that spot when we bought the house in 1972, it is beside the house next to the window, it is also the back drop for the small basin that forms the waterfall for the pond. A few branches will grow and hang over where the window is so I trim them back to open the view.
There are other gardeners that are better then me on planning just what to plant, I am a plant collector at heart and have a mixture of what I like, not what I "should" have.
Spring is my favorite time of year, so I try to plan for early, mid and late blooming bulbs, starting with crocus, snow drops and moving into daffodils. Then the columbines kick in to bloom and the next big bloomers are the daylilies, and Rudbeckias, finishing up with mums in the fall.
I found that sometimes you have to plant some annuals that will carry through the summer for constant color, like impatiens, petunia, and my new found love, coleus.
Gardens are a constantly changing living organism that occasionally have "bad hair days".
Like Jill said about planning, watch out planting a small tree or shrub that when it grows up will block your view. Those are hard to relocate.
Remember half the fun is in the planning and we love having gardening fun.

Chris