Yet Another Large Bed to Fill

aloha2009

12 years ago

Yesterday my 5 Pink Knock Out Roses came in the mail that I have allocated space for in a 16.6' x 14' triangular raised flower bed.

This bed will mostly be viewed from the long side of the triangle (the wavy hypotenuse). We navigate alongside this area going from the upper yard to the lower area, and while we lay in the hammock.

I'm marking the spots I THINK I want to plant these but being I've never done large planting areas by scratch, I'm going into uncharted territory.

I was thinking of placing a rose-of-sharon in the corner area. This would give the area height while hiding the air conditioning unit (just above another retaining wall). Perhaps a tall ornamental grass or even evergreen narrow juniper would be better. I'm still open for suggestions being nothing has been purchased but the roses.

Thoughts of ornamental grass, peony, iris, salvia, and daylily have been swirling in my head.

Do I need to think about anything special planting the roses and certain plants around it?

Having little grass, really is pushing my gardening knowledge to the max. Having to go from shade to sun, has taught me so much, but now I find myself being concerned about butterflies, honeybees (I found my first one on my European Mountain Ash today), fragrance, long bloom and seasonal bloom. It feels all like a crash course.

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Comments (5)

amester
12 years ago
I'm so glad your swap items are doing well! If you're willing to drive to my area (Broadway/C470) you're welcome to dig up anything I have that you want. I have lots of 'May Night' salvia, red valerian, white yarrow (is yours white? if so you probably already have some of mine!) and a few catmint, as well as Skybird's famous yellow columbine. We get piles of bees and butterflies as well (bees especially like the catmint and butterflies are all over the valerian). All have a long bloom season and are really low maintenance; they might make nice fillers in between your peonies and roses.
Let me know!
Amy
aloha2009
Original Author
12 years ago
Amester, my yarrow hasn't started blooming yet and I've misplaced the plant identifiers so I'm not sure. It's just been soooo prolific. If it comes out white, I'll know it came from you now. Sounds like Skybird is my columbine donar.

I'd love to stop down at your place sometime and see your place and maybe dig up a few starts. With that many bees and butterflies buzzing/fluttering around your place must be surrounded in flowers!

That's good to know that the bees love catmint. The patio area I was going to have them, others suggested I use the May Night salvia. I might just try catmint in a more obscure place. I read that butterflies like the salvia, what is your experience? I also read that it likes moist soils (which was why I initially wanted the catmint being more drought tolerant). Again what is your experience?

I used to have valerian and loved it but I don't remember having very many butterflies. I wonder why I didn't have that many because I've read that I should have.

I took a walk around my neighborhood and noticed most/all of the iris had already bloomed and mine haven't even started. They look extremely healthy so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'll give them till next spring.
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I'm fairly new to this forum altho have gardened in various ways for many years but your post brings some questions to mind. I'm curious about the size of your "garden" - will that be large enough for the plants you are planning? I find that quite a small garden and would probably use those 2'x10's and make 3 raised beds which are not so tall. Unless your base is pure bedrock you won't need more than 8" of good soil for most plants. If you loosen the base with a fork it will improve over time. Of course there may be another reason you want to elevate the garden to make it easier to work but you really don't need IMO to have 28" of good soil. If you have any reasonable soil you could fill the tall bed with greens and browns mixed with soil and top it with 8"-10" of good soil, whatever is available. Any worms in the soil will have a feast. If you start a compost bin ASAP you will have some good stuff to topdress your garden in a few months. I've rarely come across bagged soils that are all that good at a low price, and I think it might be a pretty expensive way to garden if you buy that much at high prices. Better to buy some organic fertilizers to supplement until you can get that compost done.
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thistlebloom
12 years ago
Do you like Joe Pye Weed? It's very popular with the bees and butterflies here. It blooms for me about midsummer to fall.
It comes in a short version called "Little Joe", and I spotted an even shorter one last year at a nursery, but don't remember the name.
amester
12 years ago
My whole front yard is xeriscaped and everything gets the same lack of attention. :) I had three years where I didn't water even once and everything did fine (although everything's happier/more disease resistant with watering, naturally - the salvia can get mildewy when it gets too dry but it's by no means a water hog). I never noticed many butterflies on the salvia, but maybe it's because the valerian is so prolific...?

Just let me know when you'd like to come by - you're welcome to dig anytime! (3)716316six.
aloha2009
Original Author
12 years ago
After cleaning out the weeds, and leveling out the area, we were able to plant the KO roses. My DH wasn't thrilled with the look but I was ecstatic! The area really seems to have taken shape just getting the 5 rose bushes in. Since I'm getting more common plants, I figured I'd just go to HD to find what I need for the other plants.

I still haven't decided on the corner plant yet. Perhaps I'll just go to the nursery and see what meets the criteria. I've got about 6' round to work with and about 10' high. I have decided I don't want it to be evergreen. I think it might look odd if only one plant was evergreen when the rest will be deciduous or herbaceous.

I'm going to start collecting the left over paper at work and lay it out to kill any left over weed seeds and root's that were missed. We'll be getting to put in about 4" of mulch when I get a truck load (or 2) after the patio is finished.

The yard is finally getting pieced back together...yeah!!!

Yet Another Large Bed to Fill

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Yet Another Large Bed to Fill

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