Friday night I was blessed to be able to go to a ladies night out with some girlfriends from church. We just sat around and talked...and ate...and talked...and ate some more. That's the best way to eat, right!? Anyway, they all started talking about gardening. All I could make out was an occasional reference to "flowers." They must have been speaking German because I don't have a clue what they were talking about! I'm very sad about this actually. Now I wish maybe I had taken German in high school so I could have a beautiful yard too.
So now I'm sending out a cry for help. HELP! die Hilfe! (Ben, is that how you say help in German??)
Here is my entryway. It could potentially be cute...I think...I'm not sure. I have a cute old bench there though, that's gotta count for something. This part of the house is shaded in the morning but gets the brunt of the late afternoon heat. Any suggestions on what might go nicely here?
I'm going to guess...flowers. Beyond that I'm hopeless.
Notice the very top picture? That's also sitting in my entryway, kind of opposite the bench but up by the door. Pathetic, I know. The plant (don't even think of asking what kind it was) was alive at one point. Last year. Maybe the year before. Who's counting? One of these days I will actually give the poor thing a nice burial, right in the garbage. This area of the entry is completely covered 24-7 so I can only put a shade plant/flower in there. But what kind of plant/flower loves to bask in the shade, I know not. Somebody, somewhere knows. Where are you, somebody? Would you please read my blog?
And just to show you how truly pathetic my feeble attempts to maintain our yard are, here is Tommi sitting in front of the only bush I can get to grow. I'm thinking I should trim it but I'm afraid. There is another one just like it, only not growing, on the other side of the window. It's hiding behind that big weed.
You don't even want to see the back yard.
HELP!!!!!!!!!!
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4 comments:
You're so funny! I would love to help you but I'm leaving out of town for two weeks...maybe when I get back.
A tip though is that if you plant perrenials they will come back every year but if you plant annuals, they will all die in the winter and you'll be left with an empty planter again the next year to start all over. There are SEVERAL flowering perrenials but you have to look hard for them.
Some suggestions for flowering perrenials for the shade (you can look these up on google images to see some pictures): Fuschia (small plant works well in pots-hanging-or in the ground), Hydrangea (becomes a large bush), Bleeding Hearts (bush that blooms in Spring), Lamium (flowering ground cover), and there are always Hostas and Ferns that make shade areas lush and green. There are several others I have found and have in my yard that I don't know the names of....forgot them.
Sun perrenials that I love are Blacked Eyed Susans, Daisies, Lupine, Yarrow (every color), Carpet Roses, Miniature Roses, Delphinium, Iris, Pincushion, Dianthus, Salvia, Mums, Foxglove, Echinacea (or known as Coneflower)....just to name a few to get you started. To see all of these, type them into Google and then click on the top left IMAGES and it will show you pictures.
Have fun!!!!!!!
Why don't you try some vines in your front yard, like Bourganivllas or Mandevilles? The flowers are lovely. In your entryway, you could always just do strawberry plants - edible groundcover...with some annuals along the wall to get some height variance. For your all-shade area, any greenhouse/indoor plant would be fine, like gloxinias or a bunch of African daisies.
Good Luck! :)
Wendy,
Thanks for the great ideas. I always see vines and think they're pretty but I'm never sure where you'd plant them or what to do with them. Don't they have to have something to "climb" on? I also love the idea of the strawberries - I had just never thought of putting them in the front yard. I think a whole new world is opening up to me and it's covered with daisies!
The Things We Say,
Wow, you just broadened my vocabulary! So where do I find those kinds of flowers? Any shop in particular that has a good selection?
Thanks!! Google will be my best friend for the next few hours.
Well, even Wal-mart carries some of them in their garden section but the season is well under way so they may have slim pickens there.....I like to go to Home Depot, Zamzows, and Lowes for a lot of those things and then there are always nurseries....Du Rite nursery is across from the Price's and there is one on Eagle across from the church properity and several others..... Zamzows though was having a great sale recently on Delphinium and carpet roses though.....check them out first.
I too have strawberry plants in my front planters along the border and when my kids are out playing in the front yard they pick them for snacks....just get the ones that produce all summer and not just in the spring. They need to be in as much sun as possible.
I love vines too and the boganvia is a fabulous one! Needs lots of sun and a trellis of some sort to climb on. They have thorns so don't plant them where kids will be playing. They make wonderful flowers for entrances like Wendy said! Great ideas Wendy!
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