new flower bed

[johno]

We got some really good topsoil for repairing and improving the lawn, and we decided to use some for a new flowerbed. It is roughly twenty feet long by six feet wide. To the North side (a long side) I'd like to have some shrubs, and then shorter perennials or something, and flower bulbs along the front (South facing long side.) We're already pretty well set on tulips, but there's lots of room for many other plants. This is on the East end of our house, and it gets some direct and some dappled light during the day.

Any ideas? :)

[flowerpower]

Johno, that is a nice sized bed. :) Bulb-wise, you can never go wrong with Daffs. They will even take a good amt of shade. Also Snowdrops are one of the first things out. Another pretty one is Siberian Squill. Turk's Cap Lily

As for perennials/biennials, there are alot of options. Daylily, Tall Phlox, Lungwort, Ferns, Bleeding heart, Celandine, Iris, Sweet William, Foxglove, Shasta Daisy, Feverfew, Rudbeckia, Forget-Me-Not,Clematis, Lunaria.

Did I send you some of the Shasta Daisy (Alaska)?

[Lavandula Girl]

Do you have color preferences? I'll probably be sending the blue iris to you this week - sorry it's taken so long - I tore my ACL (luckily not a full tear)and have been hobbled for the past week. I have some cosmos seed I could send along with, if you'd like to go with pinks and whites to pair with that blue. Do you want the garden to do anything specific, like attract butterflies or produce cut flowers? Maybe interspersing with flowering herbs would be good.

[Joan]

You have lots of room for the rangy plants like russian sage and moonflower. I'd probably anchor the bed with those. Some blue iris, yellow lilies, white feverfew and some flowering herbs. There now you only have to do the front! Hope you tell us what you decide.

[johno]

Thanks for the suggestions, wifey is excited by them and looking forward to more! We were discussing maybe a red, white and blue theme... Any suggestions on more reds? She's going to order some tulip bulbs from Netherland Bulb Company...

[Lavandula Girl]

Crocosmia is a great, tall butterfly attracting red - blooms mid summer. Kniphofia is another nice one - tall as well. They're called red hot poker sometimes. Try the website http://www.ext.vt.edu/americasgarden/ for ideas - the Jamestown 400 year anniversary gardens are red white and blue, and there should be a plant suggestion list.

[johno]

Thanks!

[johno]

I raked four pounds of bone meal into the surface of the new bed, and I think I'm going to put a layer of rabbit manure mulch a couple inches thick over the entire surface. What else should I do for prep?

[johno]

We couldn't wait, so we went shopping at Lowe's and Home Depot's garden centers for the new flower bed. I picked out four shrubs for the background while wifey was busy picking out bulbs - tulips and oodles of other flowers I know nothing about. I picked an upright yew for the lower end, a camelia and a rhododendron for the middle, and an old-fashioned nandina for the upper end. They are arranged in a curve around a large sycamore tree in the background where two decks meet at different levels and offset. I'd take a picture, but there's not much to see until next spring... We still have plenty of room for medium height perennials between the shrubs. There must have been between 100 and 200 bulbs planted...

[johno]

Wifey says it was 212 bulbs. That seemed like a lot until I planted 280 garlic bulbs yesterday afternoon... I'm almost halfway!