Other plants

I want to start thinking about my summer gardening in my beds.

In the front, I have the big hedge, the stupid juniper, the many liriope, the day lilies, the black eyed Susan, and the echinacea.  I'm happy to move the echinacea to the other bed.  I'm very seriously thinking of getting a Knock Out Rose to counter balance the juniper, near the back.  I would take out the liriope that's back there, and maybe the echinacea.

Then, my color palette there is just the pink of the roses, and the yellow of the day lilies.  The black eyed Susan are great, but they're not really blooming until August.  I like the idea of sticking with pink and yellow.  Those seem to be the most common color combination in the plant world.  I'm really tempted to get a Clematis.  I've wanted a Clematis for years.  They're just so dramatic and beautiful and they grow up a trellis so they're high up at eye level and would make a nice focal point.  They seem to be more purple than pink, but maybe that's ok.

I'm going to try to divide the day lilies, cause they need it, but that should give me a lot of coverage.  Same with the liriope.  Ultimately, I'd like to make that a totally perennial bed.  I like the idea that when I move, the new owner wouldn't have to do anything and it would still be this great spot.  I'm probably going to still put some annuals right up front.  The vinca were so great last year, I can't really conceive of not doing that again.  It was cheap, and it looked fantastic.

The side bed is a total disaster.  The perennials in there are doomed.  The Camellia is done.  It's just straight up dead.  I should just stop.  The rhodendendron is not looking so good either.  It's been there like 3 years now; it's the first thing I planted.  I will wait and see how it does this spring, but it's really sad and leggy and it was pretty yellow last year and I'm not optimistic.  There are also the two Hellebores.  They don't seem to like it there.  They look real cranky when it's sunny.  I might dig them up and give them to my neighbor.  That just leaves the fern and a few hostas, and the creeping phlox.  The creeping phlox is great, they can stay.

Last year, I kind of made that space into my cutting garden.  I grew a lot of zinnias, and a few sunflowers, and the gladioli.  I'm ok with doing that again.  When I divide the liriope, I might put some of those in as well, just so there's something there in the winter.  I kind of think that's all there is in there, hostas and a fern and the phlox... I also have something strange, this creeping groundcover thing I got from the Flower Market.  I'm pretty sure it's Leadwort.  And if someone gave it away, it must be pretty easy to propagate.  Of course, it's right in the middle, cause I'm stupid. I am thinking about moving the hostas in to the patio bed.  Or I could just move them closer to the very back, where they'll get a little more shade.

So I'm thinking about lots of Sunflowers, and Zinnias.  They're all pretty tall... so they would all be near the middle and the back?  And will I be able to get to them?  I mean, I guess... I've got the "Giant" zinnias, the "cut and come again" zinnias.  They both claim to get up to 30 inches high, but I think they could be higher.

I have the 4' sunflowers, and some that are like 1 1/2'.  Those short ones would probably be best in containers.  I guess I could also put the big sunflowers in the other bed.  They're going to face the wrong way... but that's ok, other people will like them?  I know I'm not supposed to start the seeds inside and transplant them, but I kind of want to.  At least for the mini ones that will go into containers.

Actually- what if I put the big sunflowers in the front bed?  Obviously they'd need to be near the back.  But I think they would look very nice.  And it's basically free.