Thank you for all of the suggestions! I'm located in the far southwest corner of Ohio; west of Cincinnati. Since the area has been clear-cut and re-vegetated numerous times, it was hard to gather information on what is actually "native" vs. what grows in nearby regions. Pre-European settlement, the area was a beech-maple forest and according to stories, had some of the last giant beech trees before being logged for timber. Not that I'm going to make any meaningful impact on my 0.14 acre plot; but the romanticized idea of restoring a small portion of the area to its former glory is too nagging to pass on. I don't have room to plant a beech tree, but I have a hickory and a serviceberry and would like to restore some of the historic understory offerings to birds and pollinators. PS - I did move my Joe Pye weed to occupy a small portion of the spot in question. This post was edited by NKUSigEp on Wed, Oct 9, 13 at 16:35

If you want to add lots of yellow add some annuals via seed to naturalize, you will have reliable, abundant swaths of yellow every summer and some in spring, more than you can ever hope for with just perennials. Yellow is more common summer through fall in nature & I let nature dictate the colors since it goes with the light and look of the seasons. Some heavy blooming yellow annuals are: California poppy (early), Helenium amarum, Bidens polylepis, Lesquerella gordonii aka Gordon's bladderpod (very early). Plains coreopsis, Rudbeckia hirta and Thelesperma filifolium (Greenthread), Cowpen Daisy. Add in Lazy Daisy (white), Horsemint (purple) and annual Gaillardia and you will add some other color and lots of easy bloom that will naturalize and come back reliably each year. Some of my gaillardia bloom solid yellow, some solid red but most are red flowers with yellow borders. Two good yellow perennials: Missouri primrose, blooms early and keeps going as long as there is moisture, & Englemanni pinnatifida. If I see something nice along the roadside, I often make a mental note and come back later for seed.

Thanks for the photos. Generally, the order of doing things is first hardscape and then plants. So with that in mind, the first step I'd take would be the walk which currently is too narrow for comfort and needs to be solid and at least the width of the steps rather than single stepping stones to look friendly and welcoming. It can be just large sized concrete pavers placed touching side by side and front to back to make a solid walk or you can do a course of brick edging with an edge. Stepping stones like you have now are fine for within the garden, but the approach walk should be easy walking (so an 80 year-old grandmother can walk it comfortably.) I would run it out to the street and to where ever you leave your car. I also wouldn't plant anything other than grass or a heavy layer of mulch (perhaps with an easy groundcover) within about 12 feet of the house if you are likely to be putting in a porch in the next couple of years since you need to leave room not only for the porch itself but also at least 5 or 6 feet for workers and equipment, and even then plants will be trampled. No woody plants (shrubs or trees) over or near the edges of the septic, so do you know where the limits of the septic are? You will want a limited palette of plants here so that it doesn't look too weedy or overgrown or require too much maintenance. I would also limit your flower colors to three or four besides green. To my mind most of Bluestone's gardens have a whole lot of different plants, with one or two of each, which will be more difficult to keep looking good. With many types, you will need to be deadheading and trimming a lot compared to a fewer number of varieties that bloom for longer times and don't look terrible at any point. Although I can't see the details of the plans in the Roy Diblik books, I can see repeats of plants in loose groupings, and in general I would suggest this style of planting. Comments on gardenweed's plant list: IME Euphorbia, black-eyed Susan, and tall garden Phlox seed around quite a bit if not deadheaded, so I would avoid them if you won't be around enough to deadhead. Many Phlox are susceptible to mildew, so be sure to get one that says it is mildew resistant if you use these such as 'David'. I would be inclined to use the category of plants that never look terrible - there's a thread of those on the perennials forum that you might consider. Here is a list of plants that I'd use in a garden that only gets visited on weekends. They all have nice foliage all season and several retain evergreen foliage all winter as well. They are tolerant of dry conditions, so if you can't water they should be OK without regular rain as long as the garden is well-mulched (which is needed for weed control anyway), thugh you may want to water once a month if really dry. The garden will still need some attention every weekend (think half an hour or less to pull weeds when small and cut off dead flowers), but I don't think will get out of control if you take that time each week. If you don't want to do that, plant lawn and hire someone to mow it for you since that is the easiest option. To allow access for maintenance, add stepping stone paths every 3'-4' across the garden. Short plants for the edge of the walkway and along the road, planted in groups of three in triangles to give you good masses: Veronica 'Georgia Blue' (Dark green foliage that picks up mahogany hues in winter and deep blue spring flowers) Iberis 'Purity' (evergreen foliage and white spring flowers) Dianthus 'Greystone' (white spring flowers with silvery-green foliage that remains in winter) Sedum 'Angelina' (yellow-orange foliage and yellow flowers) Medium plants to use in the space between the short and tall plants, groups of 3 or 5: Campanula persicifolia - cultivars are various shades between white and medium blue-purple - late spring flowers into the summer, especially if deadheaded Helenium 'Mardi gras' - orange and yellow flowers in July and August Dark-leafed Penstemon such as 'Dark Towers' or 'Mystica' White or light violet flowers in spring Echinacea purpurea/purple coneflower - pinky-purple daisies in summer Siberian Iris - spring flowers in shades of blue or white Tall plants (3'-4' for the back of the garden closest to the house and the edges of the property) All are large enough to plant as singles, though depending on the selection of those I've just given a genus of, some may be short enough to include in the middle height section: Aster 'Lady in Black' reddish foliage and tiny white flowers Aster x frikartii 'Monch' OR Aster laevis 'Blue Bird' or Aster 'October Skies' Baptisia some of these are a bit smaller and so might go into the medium category - late spring flowers in white, blue, yellow or some are maroonish Hydrangea paniculata 'Bobo' or 'Dharuma' (shrub with white flowers starting in July that slowly change to pink late summer into autumn) Physocarpus 'Tiny Wine'/ninebark Amsonia hubrichtii/Arkansas bluestar blue spring flowers with feathery foliage that turns gold in autumn Caryopteris divericata 'Snow Fairy' Green and white variegated foliage with blue fall flowers Perovskia atriplicifolia/Russian sage frost, fine-textured foliage and blue-purple flowers in summer Tall garden Phlox - be sure to check that it's mildew resistant - flowers in August and into September if deadheaded

Hello, Recently I undertook a project to turn an overgrown and ugly flower bed into something more attractive. I bought some plants to use but am unsure how to arrange them. The garden is on a small hill with a little stone border that runs along the bottom of it. I planted 5 knockout roses along the back but need help with where to plant my other perennials. I attached a picture of the actual area and a drawing with the plants I have. Where should I plant the rest of my other perennials? *I also have 3 sedge evergold grasses I forgot to write in with my drawing