Flower Bed Re-do, A Year Later

Last fall, Matt helped me with my most ambitious flower bed install/makeover.  We basically doubled the square-footage of tilled bed space for this feat.  I'm happy with the way it all turned out, and am looking forward to seeing it all fill in over the next couple of years. 

I don't have any good pictures of everything in full bloom, but here's how it all looks now (and as it did last year).

First up was the west-facing side of this fence.  It had three puny crepe myrtle "volunteers" that a co-worker dug up and donated from her garden.  We planted those suckers by simply scraping back some of the brick-hard clay and plopping them down.  They didn't hardly grow in the two years that they were there, so we dug them up, tilled the ground really well, added lots of soil amendments, and then put two of them back in along with three yellow roses and a whole assortment of purple and yellow daylilies.

 Before. Puny pink crepe myrtle seedlings.

 

After.  The roses have grown so fast that they're already larger than the 
crepe myrtles (who had to recover from their transplant).

These roses have been a real show-stopper.  They have bloomed non-stop all  year long since early spring.  I have not sprayed or fertilized them and they've been completely disease-free.  I highly recommend planting 'Sun Flare', a pretty yellow floribunda rose.  The daylilies all did well  too, but will be even better next year as the clumps settle in.  They're all reblooming varieties.

 'Sun Flare'

The back side of the same fence now boasts a hydrangea/daylily bed.  It's got four hydrangeas - two 'Royal Purple' mopheads in the middle and lace-caps ('Kardinal' and 'Eisvogel') on the ends.  The daylilies are planted in sets of three - alternating between a combination of one/two each of 'Grape Magic' and 'Rosy Returns'.  I also have a couple of lenten rose and like to keep pansies mixed in this bed as well.

 Hydrangeas and daylilies. 

Same bed, from a different angle.

We expanded the bed behind the house out a few feet and added the brick edging.  I moved the gardenias and 'Forever and Ever' hydrangeas that were in front of the house to this bed and took out almost all of the pre-existing perennials.  The hydrangeas are much happier now with afternoon shade, although they and the gardenias weren't too happy to be moved.  Now I just have to figure out how to make that one gardenia fill back in where it died back from the transplant (anyone got any good suggestions??).

Before, with black plastic edging.

 After the bed was lengthened and deepened, with brick edging added, 
shrubs relocated, and original perennials removed.  You can see my 
unhappy 'Cinco de Mayo' tree rose (needs to be fertilized), and angry gardenia (from transplanting).

I also took the climbing roses out and moved them so that they now hang over the back fence (they needed to be sprayed every other week and were also getting to be a hazard for people/dogs/kids walking on the patio or laying in the hammock), and added Confederate Jessamine, Madison Jasmine, and several different clematis cultivars to the three trellises.  

 Before.

 

After.

I expanded the far back bed to have an extra "hump" in it, where I put most of the perennials that were against the house, in addition to several new perennials and my David Austin roses.

The part of the bed to the right of the bag of compost was added last fall.

We also recently added a line of "Muskogee" crepe myrtles, which will provide a nice screen of privacy along the fence.  Muskogee grows very quickly and blooms for 120 days straight!  Can't wait to see these suckers grow and flourish!

Here are a few of the crepe myrtles we planted (about 5-6' apart).  

They'll soon be a welcome privacy screen, complete with pretty lilac blooms.

Other than the addition of another tree or two for privacy, I think we are done with planting!  With all of our travel and weekend activities this summer, I had a hard time keeping up with everything (mostly just the weeding, but that was in large part because I didn't have enough mulch).  I'm fairly certain that I'm set on flower bed space, and have really slowed down on plant buying.

I decided I needed some things in the garden besides just plants.  

I saw this frog and thought he was too cute.

Lately, I've just been watching when things bloom and what plants look best together.  I've moved some stuff around and am starting to figure out what I like planted with what.  It's all a learning experience - that's the best part of gardening.  So what if you kill something?  You can always start over.

Anybody need any basil?  I have a monster of a plant with plenty to share!

With all of the bed additions and plant moving, I have ended up with a couple of extra plants if anyone is interested.  I have an unnamed hydrangea (I'm not sure if it's 'Royal Purple' or 'Nikko Blue') that's about 8-12" big and a small hot pink crepe myrtle in pots that are free for the taking, plus plenty of Shasta Daisy ('Becky'), 'Stella D'Oro' daylilies, and black-eyed susans.  I'll also have other daylilies next spring and fall that will need dividing.  If you're interested, please come claim some plants; I have plenty!