novice gardener seeking advice

18 years ago

Hi, I'm new to gardening, and know absolutely nothing. We live on 3.5 acres of land with only 2 trees in the entire area. I have 2-3 projects in mind, which include planting some trees. My first project is for the north side of the house, which is in full sun all day. I am in desperate need of some ideas about what I could do in a 40 by 20 foot space there. These are the flowers and plants that I know I like:

roses

irises

orchids

crepe myrtles

palms which remain small, (not big trees)

tulips (odd, aren't I?)

I would like to have some ground cover in that area as well.

I basically like only perrenials.....I love the fragrance and the look of gardenias, but noticed how they turn brown early on.

Can some of you more-seasoned gardeners offer any suggestions? I would certainly appreciate the benefit of your wisdom.

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Comments (4)

lisa455
18 years ago
The best thing you can do is to prepare the soil. Add compost and till up the dirt. I have done one bed a year for the past several years. I have also raised my beds four inches because of drainage issues. I have mostly full sun also. For fast growing low maintenance trees, I have planted crepe myrtles, vitex (chaste tree), and dwarf pear trees. I really like evergreen shrubs for structure - The very best for easy low maintenance full sun (2-3 feet tall) are indian hawthorne. For part sun and heighth pittosporum and loropetalum are also fairly easy. As far as roses, I have several. Your best bets are the old-fashioned sgrub roses - chinas, teas and polyanthas. Buy mildew resistant varieties because of the heat and humidity. These old fashioned roses bloom from spring to frost. As far as perennials, the very best is the evergreen daylily - no holes in the winter in the garden. Also, low-growing dwarf
agapanthus stay evergreen. Other bulbs that do well for me are: agapanthus, crinum, gingers for sun, calla lilies, rain lilies. Tulips are an annual here. Garden Perennials for the Coastal South by Barbara Sullivan is an excellent book to buy with plenty of beautiful photographs and Dan Gill's Louisiana Garden Guide. If you choose full sun selections form those two books you should do well.
Susan Garrison
18 years ago
I have my iris in partial sun, very well drained soil (which is a must) and they do great. Not sure how they would do here in full sun. I agree with Lisa about the roses--Knockout, Bonica, Joseph's Coat, Lady Banks are just a few easy care roses. The hybrid teas require a lot of care. Crepe myrtles are easy; just be aware of whether you're buying dwarf or standard. The ones you get at Walmart/K-Mart are usually not marked and I've made some big mistakes that way. Some other small trees that are beautiful and do well here are Japanese maples, saucer or little gem magnolia, and red bud trees. The Bradford pears are also beautiful, but prone to fire blight and do not hold up well to hurricanes. Lorepetalum has beautiful purple foliage and fuschia flowers. I don't like pittosporum any more because it requires frequent pruning to keep it in bounds. Camellias are beautiful evergreen flowering shrubs, but very slow growing. Best thing to do is look at lots of pictures, come up with an overall plan, then choose the plants to fit.
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Ok, First of all, don't worry. if you don't mind a little more hard work this can be salvaged. 2nd: remove the brick and re-grade until level. I would then re do the bed line curving from the sidewalk in a semi-circle in reverse of the current circle and then wrap the bed line around the tree by at least 4 ft. Taper the bed along the areas that it comes in contact with the driveway and sidewalk 3 inches is good. This will help hold mulch. Then I would re install the garden wall in a semi-circle similar to what you had. this time dig a trench and fill with slag sand and tamp it and level it. This will help keep the wall stable. I would't go more tha 2 high. Keepthe garden wall at least 2 ft from the cement surfaces. Then you can backfill the wall tapering the soil twords the front of the bed line. Do not use plastic under mulch it will just blow of the plastic. It does not stop weeds and prevents water from gettting to deeper roots. Lay the mulch over the top of the soil. A double shredded or aged hard wood mulch will work best. 3" coverage will keep most weeds at bay for the summer. Those that do pop up will usually pull out easily. I usually do not use the plastic edging as it never stays in the ground. Just mulch up to the edge where you cut out the bed line. You will have to re cut the edge every year but it will be easier than digging in the edging every year. As for planting. it depends on sunlight and soil conditions. I would need more info. to help you there.
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Rosemary and lavender like their soil dry, free draining and a bit rocky. They also like a full amount of sun. If keeping them in a container, research the Gritty mix on this forum and see if you can create a soil mix close to that. Those two plants will do much better planted in the ground outside in Phoenix. Or, if you like to cook italian, get a good size pot, mix up some Gritty and plant a little herb garden of rosemary, thyme, lavender and sage. The plants will get big and unmanageable after a while in a communal pot like that, but you'll be able to harvest off them for a season or two.
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I am good with clay, peat moss is honestly pretty overated for external use with heavy clay if your in the south. Now compost and manure will be like black gold, copost right away and manure later on. What I do for things like this is add a couple bags "20-40#'s" of compost and then go to a friends stable and get his horse manure and mix it in, 4 months later is ready for planting and stuff grows like weeds. You can get aged manure and its pretty good as well. You need to break up the soil before creating the raised bed to you don't have a hard surface. I topcoat with heavy pinestraw sense it doesn't wash away in the severe downpours we have in the south, granted it makes the soil slightly acidic, it also makes it 100x easier to weed because they get leggy and are insanely easy to pull. If its a large area, look into getting a full truck load of topsoil, then see if its sandy, loam, or rich soil and then add manure. I really hope this helps, as you just found out its probably about 75% about the soil.
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eskimobaby87
18 years ago
Great advice from susan and lisa! Can't emphasize enough the need to PREPARE THE SOIL. Also, one thing I learned is to space your plants appropriately -- they will often double in size the next year. I have Bradford Pears and, sadly, they have a BAD case of fire blight -- I have hybrid roses and have to spray them weekly but they belonged to my mother so I enjoy tending them. Some shrubs which add incredible color and do very well in full sun are Gold Mound Spirea and Golden Abelia. The other suggestion about gardening is to take your time in the planning process. Look around at other gardens in your area to 1) help you to see which plants tend to do well in your area and 2) to help you decide what type of color scheme and design you want. Happy gardening!
granite
18 years ago
check to see if there is an arboretium in your area, you can get a lot of ideas about performance of trees and shrubs in your area by a visit.

Here is a link that might be useful: my gardens

novice gardener seeking advice

Comments (4)

lisa455

Susan Garrison

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eskimobaby87

granite

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