The Flower Bed

Here’s a long overdue post. For some reason these garden posts are the hardest to put together. I guess it’s because I’m never really happy with the photos in them. Too green, to bright yadda yadda yadda. Anyway this is also the second time I write it because as I was happy to have finished it an hour ago I for some reason wasn’t able to save and it was all gone. So frustrating!

Anyway. Here goes.

The photo above is from just before we moved in a bit over two years ago. The flower bed in front of the basement stairs looked very sad an bare. As did those god awful fleshy pavers.

 

After a couple of months, not so bare anymore but still sad. Everything as so overgrown with weeds and grass.

 

I tried best as I could to sort things out but the layout and the multitude of different flowers was just too much and I knew I would have to do something drastic about it.

 

So I started to make plans for a simpler back yard. Both simpler to the eyes and to maintain. I actually ended up doing pretty much what was in my plan except for the concrete pavers which I skipped.

 

 

As the deck got built the flower bed became a continuation of it. I didn’t save a whole lot of what was originally there, gave most of it away to neighbors and random people via the internet. I did save some hostas, the clematis and a peony.

 

I also saved that yellow thingy close to the deck but later got rid of that too as yellow in the garden’s not my thing.

 

I finally got started replanting after the deck was finished. I basically dug all this out.

 

Like so, only leaving the peony in it’s place and a tiny white rose which I salvaged from another flower bed. Also the clematis runs wild in my back yard and I intend to keep it that way so I just left that as is.

 

I lifted the clumps of hostas out on to the lawn…

 

… divided and replanted them as a border. They did look a bit sad and leggy last summer since they didn’t have anything to lean against. I also added three white Endless Summer hydrangeas which look puny here but which are supposed to become 150 cm tall eventually.

 

This photo was taken earlier this summer. I’m really pleased with the hosta border. The hydrangeas are still quite small but have had beautiful blooms (there are still some).

 

Until the hydrangeas reach their full height and width I’ve filled the gaps with some marguerite daises. And that white blob towards the back is the white rose I saved which turned out to be beautiful once it got better growing conditions..

 

And there it is all nice and lush. As you can see from this view the lawn was still in pretty bad shape earlier when I took these photos (we’d hardly not had any rain so my grass seeds didn’t want do do their thing) but happily that’s filled in since.

 

There, I did it! The post is up, finally!

If you want to know more about the garden there’s a category in the archives named  In the garden so check that out. If you want more about the deck and how it was built etc , try typing in “the deck” in the search bar at the top of the sidebar and you should find it all there. The search bar is actually a pretty great tool which I use all the time myself when I look for earlier posts.

Happy gardening!

Comments

[Judith]

It looks GREAT! Isn't it nice to get a flowerbed exactly like you want it? I have a question about your hydrangeas: I planted a couple Endless Summers last year too, and while they've gotten much bigger they have no blooms to speak of, except on one which has just now gotten little tiny beginnings of flowers - did you take more care than normal to protect them during the winter, or? I'm trying to figure out what I might have done wrong...

[Carlos]

Judith - I didn't cut them back this spring, only the dead bits after things had stared growing. I read somewhere that that's what gets them to bloom. My instinct was to cut them earlier because they did look dry and dead in early spring. At endlessummerblooms.com they say:
Unlike other hydrangeas, your Endless Summer will bloom on both old and new growth, branches that grew last year and the new branches from this year.

[MelD]

Love the transformation - you have some of my favourite plants there; I would never have thought to use hostas as a border! We have also been redoing our small garden since last year with interesting foliage and a lot of white and have three different lovely kinds of hydrangea that I'm very pleased with. It grows so fast, we will have to start dividing next season. Some pink has crept into our bed (I originally wanted dark red, but hey never mind, it works fine and that's what it turned out like!) in the paeony, sedum and roses but I like the textures of the leaves with the greeny white of the hydrangeas and lady's mantle, for instance, and don't really want more colour or profusion than this, a small bone of contention with my husband!!
I will really have to show him this, specially the hosta border... :) I have seen stachys (lamb's ears) used as a border, which I also like because of the silver grey furry leaves, but I just have clumps. I am also fortunate that our neighbour, who had his adjoining garden replanted 2 years ago, had a gardener whose choice harmonises well with ours and gives a good background; they have also matured very fast with little attention or pruning so far (especially a variegated euonymus).

[the spectator]

So lush!!!

[Sandy (USA)]

Sounds like this garden stressed you out for a while there. Work paid off. It does look very nice!

[SARA]

IS GORGEOUS ...AND EVEN GIVE MORE PLEASURE WHEN WE TAKE CARE OF NATURE ... GOOD JOB
"SEE YOU" IN THE NEXT POST

http://www.homesalehome.blogspot.pt/

[Amycapdet/May]

You've done an astonishing job with that flower bed!

[nalani]

Lovely! Lots of work and persistence proved the way!

[K]

Wow, what a difference! I have the hardest time with landscaping because I just don't have a good sense for how well or poorly things will grow. I end up planting wrong heights, too close or too far apart! The deck sure is weathering nicely.

[Carlos]

K - I know, I also love the grey deck :).

[Emma]

Wow ! Wonderful ! Thank you for a G-R-E-A-T garden post ! (those are my favorite, as I think I already mentioned)
I always wanted to try an all-white border (or I should say "planter", as my garden is tiny) but so far I have caved once arrived at the garden center, and got some colorful blossoms. Maybe for next year's.

[Shelly]

The deck color looks wonderful! The garden looks amazing, it's such a beautiful transformation from what you started with. I also use hosta to border my flower bed and planted hydrangeas behind them...I found a pin on pinterest with that combo and it looks stunning! My hydrangeas are a bit small as well, can't wait for them to fill in!

[Älvan]

It looks wonderful! My hostas are rather small and sad in comparison :)

[Linda27]

Great result Benita! I do love hostas but unfortunately we have a lot of snails around so it's not really feasible in our garden.

[Laura]

Your garden is so green and lovely! I've not had a garden until this year but chose a "wildflower" garden in one bed because I wanted to encourage bees and butterflies. There are pictures of it on my blog - very colourful and every new flower was a treat because I didn't know exactly what plants/flowers to expect. The disorganisation would probably drive you crazy!

[Monnah]

Så snyggt det blev! Vår trädgård kräver en trädgårdsmästare. Synd att varken jag eller maken har den talangen... :) Får vara glad över att njuta av det vi kan göra och inte bråka över det som inte blir gjort. Ormarna och rådjuren gillar i alla fall stället och vi tycker det ser härligt ut om vi kiiiisar lite med ögonen.

[Etta]

So beautiful! Cannot believe it is the same spot as in the first photo! I envy you your vision of always changing the "not so pretty" into something beautiful.

[Amy]

I love the lush green with your gray and white. It reminds me of your fabric with white elephants on green cloth . . . Nice harmony between the outside and inside. And as always, meticulous. Thanks!