Front Yard - New Plantings

I had to tear out the nepeta I had in my front yard because a couple of cats kept rolling around in them, then using the side as a litter box. Oh, in front of my indoor cat, who didn't care for that very much. (please keep your cats inside or in your yard if you're in suburbs, please!)

So that left a big hole in the front and I was tired of the front anyway. That, combined with a 40% shrub sale, "encouraged" me to do another major planting :)

I am totally not done, but the shrubs are planted, as is the mulching. Because I did it all myself, I didn't have the energy to finish it, but I wanted to share. And maybe get some more ideas on perennials.

This picture is an overview of the front, and you can compare it against the before, here: http://davesgarden.com/community/journals/si/175550/.

Here you can see where the majority of the new stuff is.

3 'arctic fire' dogwoods, which are on the right, and 2 'arctic sun', which are the little ones on the left. The arctic fire are basically dwarf red twig, and get 3-4'. The arctic sun get 2-3' and will be orange-gold-red in late winter. That'll hopefully help spice things up in the dull March-April months when things are usually ugly after the snow melts.

In the "middle" of the arctic fire I "transplanted" some firewitch dianthus (that didn't go as well as I'd hoped, so no idea if it'll make it). My existing ones are quite large, so I was thinking that when the dogwoods grow to size, the dianthus would fill in that area. And it would hopefully be a nice contrast with the dogwoods in that dull time.

In the meantime, I'm thinking of planting some of that blue-grey foliage yarrow around the dianthus. What do you think? There's also some other empty spots I need to fill in. Ideas?

Oh, and the space to the left of the arctic sun dogwoods will be a path, as I usually cut through there.

This is the "bay window bed" and it is a bit blurry, sorry.

I pulled out the 2 weigela, which were not far enough away from the yews and were barely visible. Hopefully now the one on the left will get enough sun and grow :) I put gallardia, 1 plant each due to space, on either sides of the weigela. There's some iris in the back, but you can barely see it from here.

I'm probably not going to plant much more here, at least not until I see how the weigela do in this new spot, as well as the gallardia. I'll probably eventually pull out the spirea that is in front of the diablo ninebark as I really don't think its form fits here. I got an awesome dwarf white pine that I think would look awesome in that spot, but it is so small I don't think it would work yet. Someday.

By the way, I'd love to extend the beds more, but my husband gets a little nervous about doing too much. I think I'm going to have to do it a bit anyway, so I can plant in front of the weigela. So any ideas on what I should do (I'll start planning...hee hee).

Here's the view from the walk to the door. Can you tell I got tired? :)

I'm going to plant lamnium where the current perennials are, which should help keep that area open and light when the dogwoods fill in. You can see the dianthus (with seed heads...I'm lazy) at the end of the walk. I borrowed from there for the dianthus which you see on the left. I'll wait to see how that transplant went before I decide to move/divide more (I was originally planning for the dianthus to fill in all the spots in front of the dogwood for that great contrast).

Looks good, evie. In the first one, you may consider one of the blue-leaf dwarf Fothergilla. In front of Diablo, consider Spirea thunbergii Ogon. Great color and foliage contrast. A true three season gem.

Great job Evie, very impressive.

A lot of work to do on your own, but you have made a good start. Looks very nice and will only improve over time. Nicely done.

That looks fantastic!! Good job! I love it! It looks much better than it did before!!

Wow, that looks so nice! Great job.

Would you be open to windowboxes for your second story windows? I think they would accent your home incredibly well. I can see they would be over some roofing--but I would imagine if the roofing is okay, it shouldn't be a problem.

Just a suggestion. Beautiful work you did! :)

Thanks everyone. I can't wait for the shrubs to fill in. I'm really excited about the progress of the front...this is what we inherited, so you can see it is totally different: http://davesgarden.com/community/journals/si/174260/. And I think you can see why I fear April :)

Niere - I never thought of window boxes. That would probably help, given the size of the house (compared to the smallness of the yard...scale is a problem!). We have to have the a/c in though, so not sure how to make it work. Specific ideas on where? (all windows? just two left windows, or would that be funny looking?).

I also need to replace the shutters...am waiting for fall when the wasps will hopefully be dormant as I think multiple ones have nests. Anyone want to come help?? :)

Victor - funny you should mention spirea thunbergii...the one I have is one of those :) It is fujino. I love the spring flowers, but I don't like how the branches go all over. And looks like odon does the same thing. Maybe I just need to figure out how to best prune it, which has been a challenge.

Ogon is easily pruned after flowering to keep it any size you want.

I just saw you are in Essex Junction! We lived in Burlington for one wonderful year before a job opportunity landed us here in RI. Hubby dragged me kicking and screaming from VT, but I've learned to love RI for it's charms as well. Next time you are down at Lake Champlain say hello to it for me. :D

But I digress... ;)

I would put window boxes on all your second story windows. Even with the a/c, I would put one under the entire window. You can still plant on the other side of the a/c and it will look wonderful. Also, think of in the fall when you take the a/c out how wonderful some mums will look! And if depending on what winter holidays you celebrate, some evergreen swags would look wonderful on the boxes as well. We get some wonderful swags that are evergreen with pinecones, hollyberries, red ribbon and then we attach them to the front of the boxes. It looks wonderful. Imagine that with a wreath on your door!

If you do decide to get boxes, you would do well to get quality boxes. A good box will be constructed to drain away from the wall.

In either event, the work you've done looks wonderful. Good job!

I've finally done some more plantings. The perennials in the front aren't perfect, but I needed to get them in the ground and this works for now. I want to wait to see how the dogwoods fill in next year before I decide where else to plant. The edging isn't perfect either. We'll see if I finish that this year...the mosquitoes are just awful this year, and it is now allergy season again for me.

Here's the latest front view.

I decided to stick the pine here, and I plan on planting under/around it so it isn't so alone, at least until it gets bigger. And I need more of the veronica ground cover I have (Trehane, in front of the bigger weigelia), which is more difficult than I thought. I know there's another veronica cover that is golden, and maybe I'll get that and mix these three among them.

That's yarrow moonshine in two groups, and a low salvia mixed in the middle. Not the greatest of light, sorry.

Here's the other side. I thought I was buying astilbe, but it is not and it blooms white, forget the name (don't have my notes with me), and I need more of the lamium purple dragon, which is also proving hard to find locally. I like the contrast of all the foliage.

Looks like you have a good start of filling in the space. Not a bad idea to wait until next season to see how things fill in and how much room they really take up. I wouldn't worry about trying to find more lamium purple dragon, it will spread very well and seed around as well.I like it for the foliage as well as the purple flowers. Your "thought it was astilbe' plants look like fernleaf bleeding heart a bit to me but I cannot see it that well, but whatever it is the white will be a nice lift there. A really fine start.

evie: you've done an amazing job! And especially with what you started with...yikes! It looks so tranquil now...

Victor - nice to see you're back. Hello darlin'

Thanks guys! I think it is a decent a start to this next "phase" of the front.

ngam - good to know the lamnium will seed. too late for this year, but maybe now I won't buy so many new plants -- more $ for OTHER plants :)

morrigan - "yikes" does describe the very original! It has motivated me a lot in what to avoid :)