we bought a house that has a tiny garden (2' x 10') that i need help with. this garden is wedged between my house & my front walkway & gets the full brunt of the afternoon sun until it sets. the soil is not the best & it's not very deep....maybe a foot. under the soil is broken up concrete from whatever was there before. i need a perennial that i can grow there that will tolerate the heat & the shallow soil. whatever finally decides to grow there can't be anymore than 2' high. what can i plant???
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When first planted they looked like this. They have done nicely, and I like that I get a bloom tall enough so that I can see it through the window. When I open the window, the fragrance wafts inside as well, which I like.
I think the bed is about 2x10 feet. I remember when I planted them, there was more gravely stuff about a spade's length beneath the top layer of soil. In that there are some rocks, about the size of onions I guess. I was hoping that would simply mean there would be good drainage beneath the soil. It has worked for me, so I thought I would suggest it. As said though, I added a bit more soil to mound the center of the bed a bit higher. It increased the depth just enough to acccomodate the soil depth of the 1-gallon pot the roses were in.
there are windows.....but the border between the sidewalk & the dirt is only that plastic edging stuff. if i were to build up as you suggest i would lose width of the actual garden itself. there is only about a foot there to begin with.
i had no idea that roses would grow in that shallow a soil bed. with only about a foot to play with....is there enough room for the roses?
Is it a window, or something else?
I have a bed under a window, between my house and concrete, and I had about the same depth. I mounded the soil with a bit more I added, and I planted roses-they get full sun until around 2pm and they love that.
i have some ridiculously fast spreading sedum growing aroud the bottom of a maple tree that i have. maybe i'll just have to move it.
thanks for the help
A few I thought of were:
stonecrop(sedum)
hen and chicks
creeping thyme
These do well in hotand dry conditions and in poor shallow soil.
Probably any rock garden plants and any succulents would do well in your garden.
Good luck! Post pics when you get it planted!
it depends if you want colour or just greenery...
altho I hesitate to say this...there are SOME sun tolerant hostas...and if you dont like to weed or deadhead...they may be the answer...if you want some colour...perhaps a white or yellow potentilla...euonymus come also in yellows and shades of green...they are kinda like a small shrub...oh the possibilities are endless...just cant think of anything else at the moment...come on gals..help us here...!!!!