Perennial Beds

[Ocelaris]

So I took off Friday to finish up the Perennial/Shrub beds and just thought I'd share. Previously we had gotten about 12 yards of 50/50 compost/topsoil to adjust the shrub border along the front of the house and fill in the raised beds. This weekend I got 5 yards of compost and 10 yards of mulch. I moved some of the grass from the beds and tilled in the rest. I then covered the perennial bed with 2" of compost. Basically that's just to get the organic matter up. Then I did the drip irrigation for the shrub bed in front of the house. I also planted the triangle between the house/sidewalk with mostly tropicals. I call it the Tropical Triangle Dahlias, Cannas, some indoor plants that are going out for the summer (Jasmine, Osmanthus fragrans, and a Chinese perfume plant Aglaia odorata). Tuberoses, Crocosmia, Gladioli, and of course petunias also fill out that bed. The Perennial bed came last and I planted everything today but ran out of drip irrigation supplies, so I'll be converting that zone over to drip next weekend. The Perennial bed has about 50 some plants, some small shrubs, and 3 Osmanthus which will get to be medium trees eventually. Anyways on with the pictures!

This is over about a month and a half starting on April 13th

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[andy10917]

I love almost all of them, mostly because they don't include straight lines. I love to let plants drape onto the lawn at the boundaries to blur the harsh transitions.

[ClintB]

very very cool. looks like a ton of work, well executed. Please follow up and post when those flowers are in bloom

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[Tsmith]

12 yards is a lot of anything at once...my back started hurting again just thinking about it as ive had 2 yards of 50/50 top soil/compost and 10 yards of mulch delivered this season in 4 dif deliveries mainly bc i didnt know how much i was going to need

I love almost all of them, mostly because they don't include straight lines. I love to let plants drape onto the lawn at the boundaries to blur the harsh transitions.

i agree on the straight lines mainly bc my OCD wont let me have them. Im working on a flower bed now along neighbors fence that is 63 x 2.5 which I now have as a straight line but thats not going to last long

[gendel]

Looks great. Don't be like my neighbor and plant mint in those beds

[mattya]

Working hard again I see. Nice job man!

[Ocelaris]

Yeah, it's a lot of compost/mulch, but I only get one shot, so it's a best effort kind of thing. It's not perfect, but will definitely help kick start the soil. I have had some experience at our last house with plants that like to "volunteer" so I'm very cautious about those plants. Here's a short list of the plants, though not everything is listed.

Shrubs:
Deutzia Gracilis 'Nikko' 
Viburnum carlesii Compactum'
Clethra alnifolia  'Hummingbird'
Itea virginica 'Little Henry'
Caryopteris x clandonensis  Heavenly Blue
Caryopteris x clandonensis  Longwood Blue
Fothergilla gardenii Blue Shadow'
edgeworthia chrysantha
Cornus Sericea Cardinal
Osmanthus fragrans Auranticus
Osmanthus x fortunei 'fruitlandia'
Camellia Sasanqua 'Autumn Spirit'
Camellia Japonica 'Jacks'
Camellia Japonica 'April Remembered

Perennials:
Achillea millefolium 'Paprika' 
Anemone hupehensis Japonica September Charm'
Coreopsis grandiflora  Sunfire'
Dianthus 'Passion'
Eryngium x zabellii
Erysimum Apricot Twist'
Euphorbia x martinii 'Tiny Tim'
Euphorbia x martinii 'Rudolph'
Gaura lindheimeri So White'
Geranium 'Rozanne'
Geranium phaeum Samobor'
Helenium autumnale    Fuego'
Hibiscus Carafe Yobordeaux
Itea virginica Little Henry'
Perovskia atriplicifolia Little Spire'
Phlox divaricata    Fuller's White'
Phlox paniculata Alexandra'
Salvea Azurea Nekan'
Salvia xJamensis (greggixjamensis) Lemon Light
Salvia greggi Flame'
Solidago rugosa  FireWorks
Veronica spicata 'Romiley Purple'
Daphne x transatlantica 'Eternal Fragrance'
Daphne x transatlantica 'Summer Ice'
Buddleia x 'Lochinch'
Coreopsis 'Cosmic Eye'
Agastache rupestris
Agastache 'Summer Fiesta'
Agastache 'Summer Glow'
Agastache cana
Actaea simplex 'Black Negligee'
Dierama pulcherrimum
Kniphofia 'Papaya Popsicle'
Clematis 'Sweet Summer Love'

Tropical/annuals
Dahlia Bishop of Landhoff
Dahlia "Dinner plate"
Tuberose
Canna "Dark Knight"

[jglongisland]

Awesome job. As much as I love lawn care building beds is more satisfying (and exhausting). Straight lines are bad, really bad, as you can never keep them good. Gentle curves are best. I have most of those perennials, except my agastache all died one year so now I plant bernary giant zinnia in that spot.

Any roses? I'm really enjoying mine and the knockouts just give you so much bang of the buck its hard not to use them.

[Ocelaris]

No roses at the moment, we'll see how the triangle area does with Dahlias, Cannas etc... If I get tired of those I'll do roses on that spot. I didn't mind the knock outs,they looked great, but I preferred the hybrid Teas or Grandifloras forms, but they required so much fungicides that it was a real pain to keep them in good shape. Really I didn't find a formal space in the area that I carved out that would have fit the roses, but they're not out of the question in the future.

We had some rabbit munching on the Dianthus the other day, but otherwise so far the perennials are in tact. I can't say the same for the vegetable beds, so we put up 5' fences around them. I sprayed the perennials that were possibly vulnerable with the new Ortho "Deer-b-gon" which is an egg solid/cinnamon/clove mix... we'll see how long that lasts!

[Tsmith]

I planted 6 different varieties of Coneflowers in the flower bed ive been working on along neighbors fence which is now predictably no longer straight as i made it wider and added curves to it this weekend and to no surprise like it a lot better

I initially did this bed straight mainly to cut down on the amount of digging required at first. I was also thinking of making it a raised paver bed extending all the way to the front sidewalk but that was never going to happen so i made the switch this weekend

This is my first attempt at planting flowers other then Tulip bulbs since this is the only spot in my yard that can be considered full sun. My plan was to start with a few to see how they came back next year but like everything else got very addictive very quickly and i ended up planting 20 flowers in this bed and 2 in another as a test since it doesnt get as much sun.

Here are the varieties of Coneflower i planted:
White
Cheyenne Spirit
Tiki Torch
Julia
Tomato Soup
Pow Wow

[Ocelaris]

Cool, I'm a big fan of cone flowers. Just watch out as they can become "volunteers" some of the generic ones anyways i.e. generic Echinacea Purpea. They love the heat and moisture, I toss a little extended release osmocote type fertilizer on them in the spring as well as mulching well.

I might as well add some more pics while I'm at it. You can see some of the deer hooves and/or tracks. Somethings are getting nibbled, but the marjority are nibble free.

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Penstemon

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Iris Domestica

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Agastaches, Salvias, dianthus

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