I have no suggestions because I'm not familiar enough with your climate... but I do want to put in a request for pictures of that thyme lawn once you get it in. I would so love to do that!

What height did you want for this edge?

blackswamp_girl,

will do. as you know, it's new now, but hopefully (knock on my little wooden head), it should look nice in the spring. I'll post picture then. Oh yeah, I'm in CA zone 8.

linnea56,

hmmmm, I think maybe minimum of 18" but no taller than 24" or so.

Since the border is so long, it would be great to find something that I could buy by the flat or at a quantity discount.

Thanx,

jxa44

Alpine columbine is a nice dark purple, but I don't know when it blooms in your zone. It's easily grown from seed too. But the catmint might have a more continous bloom.

I could see a row of mini alliums being cute. But those would be bulbs, and I'm not sure about the zone thing.

I was in England this past June and in a number of gardens I saw a gorgeous combination of Nepeta and purple-blue geraniums (true geraniums, like Johnson's Blue, not Pelargoniums). They were planted in masses in borders and wove themselves among each other in a most beautiful manner. They are about the same height and the effect was spectacular.

ginny12,

That sounds *wonderful*! I'll set out 'johnson's blue' to test to see if my deer will eat them. If they turn out to be "deer food", does anyone have a suggestion for a similar flower type that your deer stay away from? I know they won't eat the catmint -- I think it's because of the pungent smell of the leaves.

thanx again everyone.

ginny12,

I'm going to try to replicate what you saw in England -- sounds perfect for my garden and cranes bill geraniums are supposed to be deer resistent (of which johnson's blue is one) -- yippee!!! would you please describe the landscaping in a little more detail -- was it big swaths of nepeta and then big swaths of gernaiums? or was it more nepeta in the back and geraniums in the front? (My border is a linear one.)

Thanx!

my favourite purple perennial is the rudbeckia purpia the purple cone flowerit is a tall perennial it is in the daisy family

jxa44--The plantings were linear--planted in borders--but also sometimes in clumps. I would say there might have been 3 catmints, then 3 geraniums, and so on, alternating. But that's judging by my garden. In England, everything seems to be double or triple the size of the same plant here. Each clump of one kind of plant was about 3 feet across, maybe more. In England, that could be one plant!

And as I said, they were so interwoven and leaning on each other that you couldn't tell where one cluster ended and the next began, part of the beauty of it, of course. I saw them in borders in a very loose row but also surrounding a garden feature of some kind. So they were used in different arrangements but always that loose weaving I described.

Thanx Ginny,

That's exactly how I envisoned it in my mind's eye! I don't know why, but it seems (at least to me) that blues, purples and pinks lend themselves better to that soft look that I'm so fond of. Your suggestion is a winner in my book. I hope I can pull it off. If I do, I'll post pictures next season :-)

We'll look forward to it!

Butterfly bush is lovely. It attracts a lot of butterflies. Monarchs and others. The one I got was a violet purple. It grew about 4 ft wide & tall. The attraction of butterflies makes the garden come alive.