AI some plants in the front
Kate
26 days ago
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jck910
26 days agoKate
26 days agoRelated Discussions
Would love some advice on my front bed
Comments (16)Bev -- Thank you. We are definitely blessed; however, it is hard to see not only so much structural damage right here at a time when the dollar is down and gas is up, but also when the mortgage situation is already so pathetic. I have been wondering how many / if any (but I'm sure there are) folks who were about to lose their mortgage anyway, have now lost the house to storm damage. Or, who were able to work out their mortgage only to lose the house to storm damage. I'm sure there will be some media stories about that connection soon. On a lighter note, I find it interesting how so many of the young / new trees in the area just held up beautifully through the storm while large / strong ones split like toothpicks. I guess just like people, the older a tree gets, the less flexible it becomes. Still interesting though. I FULLY expected to look out on Sunday morning and see zero new crape myrtles. But, they just sort of waved at me in the wind and shook their leaves like a dog just out of a bath. :)...See MoreNeed some advice for plants for front of house
Comments (13)Hi! I'll add some more details: the front of the house faces south/southeast. This front area gets patchy sun - almost dappled looking, because of the shade from the oaks. We have some beautiful oaks & palmettos that we want to keep, so we don't have much room to play with here (luckily). Here's what our builder suggested, and you can give me some thoughts on this - I'm new to this area, and new to homebuilding, so am a complete novice: - At the front of the house, put a layer of rocks, about 2-3 feet wide, along the foundation. Have Bahia grass growing just in that front part of the house. He made the good point that, from the road, no one can see the bay window - we are thoroughly screened by a big section of oaks with surrounding palmettos. He did say that, if we wanted to, we could plant small bushes or something short in the rock beds (move the rocks aside, cut through the netting, and plant right into the rock bed). Any thoughts on this? My builder is not a gardener, and our landscaper is pushing things like a large lawn and cypress mulch around the house, which we don't want. I guess it would be really helpful to say, "This is what we DO want," but we don't know what that is! Our philosophy is green building, and our house is made from ICF construction, and will be very energy efficient. I'd like to carry this same green philosophy into our yard, which is why we're thinking native plants and limiting the amount of lawn. I appreciate the suggestions; I will have to get online and see what these plants look like! Thank you again, Heather W Here is a link that might be useful: Our Home Construction Journal...See MoreWhat's blooming -and- Some views of new front garden
Comments (18)Thanks again to all for the nice comments! I still find it hard to believe that I've worked so hard all my life to try to keep that original slope looking good......mowing lawn on a slope was not easy and I had finally done away with grass and had planted a variety of ground covers and bulbs, with cedar mulch. Still, it needed a lot of maintenance and weeding, which was not easy to do standing on the hill. And now.......I have a level front yard! After all these years I wonder why it wasn't done years ago! And leveling it created a new space that is really fairly large and usable. Cost a bit, but well worth it. Carol, Crocosmia is a bulb, or actually a corm very much like a gladiolus (to which I believe they are related). The foliage is very similar also. I bought these as a potted clump in late spring about 3 years ago, but I believe you can buy them as corms online and from catalogs. There are several kinds and most are hardy in either zone 5 or 6 depending on the variety. Ellen, Yes that Hesperaloe parvifolia (aka red yucca) is really nice. It should form a nice clump in time. There's also a yellow variety which I might add someday. Terrene, It may prove to be a sort of heat source and I'm eager to try some new things out front. The rest of the property is traditional...........lawn and flower beds, small shade garden and a soon-to-be patio behind the garage (now just wild grass that I keep mowed.) ego, I really want something more open and airy. Something as tall as 20' and dense will block the view of the house from the street and also my view out the front window....See MoreNeed some help with some plant ideas to fill space.
Comments (5)It looks like you don't have enough corn for good pollination. My understanding is that you need at least 4' x 4' of corn for decent pollination. Do you have a plan on how you will get to the plantings in the back for care & harvesting? I think you might want to consider some stepping stones at least. Consider also that your plants will bush out - when we grew cukes & beans on a trellis in a bed 2 feet from the fence they bushed out so much there wasn't much room to get behind them. Also, I have never grown okra, but I've heard the plant can be irritating to the skin. I think it gets pretty big, too. You might think about putting it together & somewhere you won't have to come into contact with it until you want to. Why are you mixing things up? Are you trying to avoid cross pollinating varieties, or going for aesthetics? Or is it for another reason? I would consider putting same plants together because they will have the same needs & you can more easily deal with them as a group. Beans are great & can be very productive. You could substitute them for the corn along the back. Perhaps you could do a block of a short variety of corn (so it doesn't shade other things too much) if you move things around a bit. I am not familiar with your growing area, so I'm not sure what else to add. I see you have cukes growing on the fence, but you have a line of them down into the bed. Will those get a trellis, or are you putting bush varieties in front? Definitely (IMO) put as much organic matter into your soil as you can. We have terrible soil here (sand), but my small gardens are looking lush. We found a local coffee shop that gives us bags of their compostable material regularly. We add that straight to the garden beds (coffee grounds, veggie scraps, egg shells) with some manure (we use quail because it is inexpensive & convenient). Also, we added in some peat moss & vermiculite the first couple of times we were turning over the beds. Hopefully someone with more expertise will give you some good tips. Best of luck!...See Moregardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
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mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)