This is the bed by the front mailbox. I planned it and my son planted it for me sumemr before last . However, it's gotten very overgrown because I was overzealous in my planning (I didn't really make an official scaled landscape plan...that would have made too much sense!). So, some of the center plants - namely the Gold Lantana, are going to come out when they go dormant so there is more space in there. A few more plants - a salvia or a guara - may need to go as well.
This is the bed I dug up and planted last Fall. The right side is just peachy. The left side, $%*#^*s!
This end of the driveway bed struggles. It gets sun, but not enough to make the Lantana planted there happy. So, I need a sun-part-shade solution here. And deer proof. I'm thinking...I'm thinking...
I need a new crop of shade plants for the left side here and a few fillers on the right. Dappled light here and this is the deer path, so no hostas or toad lilies or such. The ferns are happy there, though, so I might just go looking for some other varieties to make it a fully ferned bed.
Now to the back yard. Here's Dakota, helping us with our tour! This is the back left corner, where I let a landscaper talk me into some viburnum because I'd run out of ideas after planning most of the back yard. (Serves me right!) I HATE them. They are like big meatballs and they are boring. BUT, the dogs run a path into that corner to check out the deer beyond the fence, so I have to incorporate that into my planning. Smaller shrubs - maybe loropetalum for some nice color, and a river rock path into the corner so that it looks planned instead of just dog-bare! And some more perennials in a row on the front for summer color. I should look for thing the deer DO eat, since this bed is safe and there are so many things I can't plant out front!
Here's the close-up view -- see the dog path? That isn't going away!
And this is my new bed. I had guys dig it out early in the Spring and with the early heat I never got to it. So it need some cleaning up and some edging and I have Agaves and Sagos and things to go in it. And some Aloe pups from Pam at Digging, too. Don't you love that big pot? It's from Miguel's imports on Burnet Rd.
And the rock path needs more plants as well. But it is filling in very nicely and I am tickled.
Did I mention that I am not tickled about the grass that's coming up in the path? THAT is on the top of my list. (oh - and that's my foot in the picture!)
And, then a greenhouse is going in that bare corner across from the veggie garden. We had one at the last house and when we moved and our daughter was 8 months old, a greenhouse was something I so didn't have time for. But now she's started Kindergarten and I am pining for one, so I've put it on my list.Labels: to do