HI! Just wondering what everyone is planting this year? What plants could you not live without in your garden? What plants have disappointed you in the past?
In this month's H and H issue I noticed some beautiful non-stop begonias called "Apple Blossom". I bought 3 to try this year...I am excited to see them flower.
I was given a gift certificate for a garden centre here in Edmonton called Wellington's...if anyone has the opportunity to go there, it is just beautiful! I could have spent all day there and a small fortune if I had one! :)
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i'm a sucker for moss phlox. I love the look of the purple flowers cascading over a rock. I bought quite a few this year so we'll see if they will still be around next year to "spill"over!
My favourite plant would have to be my Red Valerian (Centranthus ruber) because it gives me beautiful colour all summer, seems quite drought tolerant and grows fairly quickly. I highly recommend it as a low-maintenance beauty.
Strange about my tulips, but I do not remember them ever coming up last year!
Fendi
We don't have a waterfall in our pond, but my father just put one in his. It came out extremely realistic as his pond is in a far corner of his yard, under a large tree. There was a lot of earth built up at the base of the tree (from digging the hole for the pond).
He simply dug a trench down from the top of the earth, bought a length of PVC liner, placed it in the trench, then added rocks at the sides. He is just now getting smaller rocks to fill the trench with, to hide the liner. Where the water actually falls into the pond, he has a large flat rock so it looks sooo natural. I will try to get a picture of his waterfall and post it for you to check out.
Did you put a waterfall in with your pond? That is our next project and I am a little worried about the waterfall if we can get it to look real. We have a natural dropoff so it should be easy i hope.
Those are grape hyacinths I think. They are
Ephemerals - I love them too!
As for the cost of plants, I know it can be excessive, and I have learned my lesson: I buy the "common" annuals, like Alyssum, at places like Superstore, where they are dirt cheap. For something more unusual or for pricey perennials, I go to to garden centres like Wellingtons etc... I have found that even a bargain plant is too expensive if it dies after one season. Last year I planted hundreds of dollars worth of good quality greenhouse perennials and shrubs VERY carefully - lots of attention to the details of the planting. I am happy to report that I only had to replace one of those plants this year - all the rest are growing happily!
A favorite of mine are grape hyaciths(sp?)...they are so pretty! I can't wait until mine come up every Spring and the flowers last quite a long time. I attached a pic...
Thanks for all the replies...I am now going to try some of the favorites...heucheras, daylilies, asiatic lilies and ligularia. Even though we are all in different zones, i still feel more inclined to try a different plant if someone else has success with it. :)
Dreamer...I am ashamed to say I haven't been to any of the other garden centres you listed...even Hole's!! I haven't been able to spend much $$ on plants the last few years so I usually just get them at C. Tire or Home Depot. This was the first year I went to a fancy garden centre.
Zephyr...beautiful garden and pond! I can see why you enjoy it so much! I have to agree with Foxxy about the lily of the valley...it can really take over. I pulled "ALL" of mine out 2 years ago and I still fight it every year since.
The pond was soooo easy. We bought one of the kits from Home Depot. The hole was dug, liner placed, pond filled and rocks placed - all within about 3 hours. I had picked up the fountain part from Homesense months ago and my husband was able to get the flatrock for free from his work. He had his heart set on fish, so we've even got a few Koi in there. It was so worth the effort and money. The peaceful sound is wonderful. I find myself waking up just a little bit earlier in the morning so that I can sit out on the patio, listening to the pond and enjoying the garden.
I hope the lily of the valley is contained in a spot you do not mind getting overrun. I mean invaded by the lily of the valley. The roots go forever and it comes up in the grass, in all the flower beds robbing them of nutrients and moisture/ and choking out the plants/and is a damn nuisance to get rid off. One small patch here after 3 years had taken over 1/2 of the lawn. Weed killer does nothing, it is tough as nails and sends down roots about 2 feet that you have to dig down and get every last one to get it all. I would keep it in a container myself after my experience with it. There is a thread here somehwhere saying how much trouble it caused in many lawns and gardens. As an example I made a lasagna bed over a large patch of it last fall. TRYING to get rid of it. About 6 layers of wet newspaper, new earth and compost etc. and 6 more layers of paper, earth etc. and guess what the stuff has sprung up in some places already. Periwinkle and gout weed will do the same thing. VERY invasive. Just a heads up for the future. :)
Oh, your garden looks lovely..........Great job. Did you do your pond? I would like a waterfall with a very small pond, only for the sound effect. We live near the freeway and want to drown out some of the sound. How much work is the pond? Don't you just LOVE perrenials....
I wish I had before pictures of this corner. This time last year, it was an ugly dirt pit - grass wouldn't even grow there.
Now, I have hostas, lilies, irises, wagelia, lilacs and burning bush.
I am just getting into gardening...The first year we were in our house I spent a FORTUNE and bought all annuals, because they were cheaper and more colourful than the perennial pots. Last year, my Dad brought me a few different hostas and Lily of the Valley, and I splurged on Asiatic Lilies and Lilacs, as well as various climbing vines and shrubs.
This year, I can't believe my gardens!!!!!
My one garden that I put in entirely by myself is AWESOME! Everything got so big! One of the hostas my dad gave me was about 10 inches across - now it's like, twice that size! And my asiatic lilies, I planted at the front of my house, one on each side. Now there are 9 or 10 on each side!!! I'm sooooo excited... I love my yard now......
I'll try to put some pictures on.....
maybe you could use the swap and sell feature that PaulaDesigner set up on msn site to trade seeds.....:cool:
those are the must haves in my yard - along with basil. This year I'd like to put in some astilbes. I also like to use coleus, osteospermum, licorice vine and sweet margaurite potato vine in my deck pots.
I definitely know that I am not a fan of clematis. We've been in this house for 4 years & I'm still trying to rid my self of some wild varieties of self seeding clematis. Ugg!
flowering purple sand cherry and forsythia and crocus and ferns and . .
the list goes on and on - new gardener here and can't wait, but can't live without roses !!!
can you believe that my tulips are just now gonna open up in a couple of days....they took forever.....:rolleyes:
and cannot live without tulips!
Fendi
I have 2 types in the garden. Dentata and the rocket. There are many types and they will grow in zone 4 and up. They like a wet spot with dappled shade. Yes the foliage is huge and some have burgandy under the leaves. 1-2 will fill up a space in no time.
I did not want to leave you hanging - the one in "the Park" is Greenland. If you have not been there, go! Make sure you look at a map if you are not familiar with Sherwood Park. They seem to have some plants there that no one else carries!
I have been to Wellingtons, and I love it too! I am sure you have been to Hole's, but don't miss Ellerslie Gift and Garden or the huge greenhouse in Sherwood Park. If I can remember the name of that one, I will post it.
I have a favorite plant, a lingularia which was given to me as a chunk of root so I do not know the type. It is a shade loving plant with round leaves the size of dinner plates and flower stems that get about 5 feet tall! It is very impressive in bloom.
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right now 2 fav. plants are heucheras and tiarellas. I have both planted.
that mine would have to be iris' and daylilies...prefereably in black or the darkest colour that the flower comes in....the funkier the colour the better....i'm working on my iris collection again here....i left them all at the last house....right now i have a really nice baby blue one, a dark maroon one, a really nice light salmon colour one and going to be getting a black one tomorrow...superstore always has my black ones and they are huge from there.....same goes for daylilies...the odder the colour and patterned the better....i really do enjoy hostas aswell.....i am going to do a hosta garden along the north side of the house this year...give that side of the house some depth to it....one thing i can do without are shrubs and hedges...those sort of things....i don't like cedars and evergreens.....i have a 4 foot colorado blue spruce only cuz DH likes them....but i made sure he planted it far far away from the house.....i do like weeping trees...fruiting mulberries and stuff....im hoping to pick one up really soon.....not everyone around here carries fruiting ones
Heucheras. It began last year when I found one with burgundy-ish foliage. (bought two of them) I usually just go for big flowery stuff, but these are of interest to me because I love the look of their foliage in the garden. They do have small flowers on long stems, sort of similar in growth to those of hostas. There was one pictured a few issues ago in Gardening Life, I think, called Peachy Keen that I really have to get one day. The picture sold me!
I did find one newer one at the garden center-forget the name at the moment. It has leaves in peaches and yellows, but the undersides of the leaves are near-fuschia pink. I plan to plant it a little high in the raised garden so that the undersides of the leaves get viewed when seated in the garden.
This year I am also interested in ferns. I've never had any in the garden before, but I'm starting a shade garden this year. I have a feeling I'll have to find a few more shady spots. My interest in Hostas, that I remember begain in aroung 1997, is still pretty strong too. I am also planting my first clematis plants, 3 of them, this year.
I could not live without a few hybrid tea roses in the garden. It is a delight to clip a long-stemmed beauty for a friend once in a while. I love the scent of them when I'm in the garden. I get that inside nicely too, as mine are in a bed beneath a window.
I agree...hostas are beautiful. I just bought a huge "francee' variety and I am anxious to get it planted. I have three other varieties in the backyard and I am hoping to dig them up this week and move them to our new front garden bed too. I would like to get some white flowering astilbe to plant beside the francee to pick up the lovely white edge on it's leaves.
I wish I was a more educated gardener. If I would have known 15 years ago that gardening was so interesting, I would have studied to be a botanist. Everytime I go to a garden center I feel so happy and could spend all day there.
hostas!!! there are so many kinds available and they do well anywhere (there are varieties for sun and shade) they are just gorgeous. my favourite is the green with a lime green edging (?twilight). hostas can really add nice lush texture anywhere.