This week I focused on Assessing the property, brainstorming ideas and researching possible plants. Progress is going well, and aside from some non-critical problems, the project seems very feasible.
I spent the first day measuring the house and recording the dimensions to get an over all feel of the size of the project. Then I made two drawings. One was a quick sketch from memory showing the basic idea of what I want to create and the second was the beginning of my master plan, a 3D rendering of the property, to scale. T
he rest of the week I have spent researching shrubs, bulb flowers, then perennial natives, and the differences between redoing a lawn by reseeding or by sod. Next week I will interview some local landscapers to get a better idea of what I am doing and to make sense of the research I have done. I think the the mos
t challenging part of the project will be deciding exactly which plants I want, and how many of them to get. But I hope my interviews with the landscapers will help that. The other problems Im having are deciding what to use to edge the garden beds, how to incorporate self-seeding flowers while keeping irrigation needs down with heavy mulching (mulch and bed liners will prevent seeds from reaching soil), how to get enough (or know if I have enough) pressure from the rain barrels, and how to hide dead plants from view with blossoming plants.
Again, once I speak with the local landscapers and nurseries I will be able to narrow down the plants I want to use so that I can finish the design and calculate the budget in the third week.
Bulbs:
Gardening with bulbs:
All spring-flowering bulbs, such as tulips, daffodils, snowdrops and c
rocuses, need a period of cold to flower well.
The key thing is to plant them about six weeks before hard ground frosts in your area. This timing allows plenty of time for root development.
Use of bulbs for my project:
A big focus of my project will be the use of bulb plants. Bulbs are hardy perennials with strong colors and interesting shapes. The flowers themselves may be short lived but different bulbs bloom at different times. I plan to use this in my design to create waves of flowers that will bloom through out the year. This will add a great deal of diversity to the garden. Many bulbs are rabbit and deer resistant and can take a lot of abuse in general. Even when the flowers have passed the leaves remain, keeping the garden full and green . The leaves and flower heads ca
n be clipped when they turn brown, which is good because my mother doesn't like seeing dead plants.
Early Spring Blooms:
Chionodoxa (Glory
of the Snow)
Galanthus (Snowdrop)
Eranthis (Winter Aconite)
Crocus (Crocus)
Mid-Spring Blooms:
Hyacinthus (Hyacinth)
Muscari (Grape Hyacinth)
Narcissus (Daffodil)
Tulipa (Tulip)
Anemone (Windflower)
Scilla (Bluebell)
Late Spring Blooms:
Allium (Allium)
Convallaria (Lily of the Valley)
Trillium (Wood Lily)
Early-to-Mid Summer Blooms:
Iris (Iris)
Hemerocallis (Daylily)
Lilium (Lily)
Autumn Blooms:
Colchicum (Meadow saffron)
Use of Native Plants:
The second botanical focus of my project will be native perennials and self-seeding plants. Native plants are much more adapted to the soil and require much less irrigation. Aesthetically I will be coming full circle, creating a new and fresh look with very old plants. The native plants will greatly enhance the ecology of the landscape and help promote biodiversity. I also intend to include various edible and medicinal native plants. The plants I have chosen here are all perennials with high drought tolerance and are resistant to rabbits. While the bulbs are generally spring and summer flowers, these plants are either longer lasting or late blooming and while be the main features in the later months.
Native plants (grownative.org):
Spigelia marilandica
Common Name: Indian pink
Indian Pink is quietly spectacular, growing in naturally open wood edges and along streams. This perennial is easy to grow and is rated as a "Top 10 Hummingbird Plant". Foliage is glossy green all season. Flowers in late spring to summer with dazzling displays of upright bright crimson tubular flowers that have yellow throats that look like cream-colored stars as they open.
Senecio plattensis
Common Name: Prairie Ragwort
Bright yellow daisy-like flowers in flat-topped clusters from mid-spring to early summer. Leaves grow fairly low to the ground and often have white cobweb-like hairs on them giving a grayish appearance.
Callirhoe involucrata
Common Name: Purple Poppy Mallow
Showy, cup-shaped red-violet flowers bloom from June through frost. The trailing stems will hang over walls and make an excellent ground cover. This pretty ground cover is a Plants of Merit winner
Allium stellatum
Common Name: Wild Onion
Delicate showy heads of small deep pink to red flowers, held in perfect globes by a single stem from midsummer to fall. The onion-like leaves appear quite early and typically are gone before flowering time. Grows from small bulbs, all parts smell like onions....
Asarum canadense
Common Name: Wild Ginger
A deciduous ground cover with soft green, kidney-shaped leaves and inconspicuous green-brown flowers in the spring. Forms large colonies in cool moist woodland areas....
Aster novae-angliae
Common Name: New England Aster
This tall aster produces hundreds of large purple or pinkish flowers with yellow centers in Sept. and Oct. The flowers are a favorite nectar source for migrating monarch butterflies....
Aster oblongifolius
Common Name: Aromatic Aster
One of the last wildflowers to bloom, this aster is loaded with blue-purple daisylike flowers that persist into late fall. This aster grows into a tidy, compact, self-supporting mound and is a Plants of Merit winner...
Lobelia cardinalis
Common Name: Cardinal Flower
Strong, upright stems bear dozens of brilliant red flowers in late summer. A favorite source of nectar for hummingbirds. This striking plant is a Plant of Merit winner....
Lobelia siphilitica
Common Name: Blue Lobelia
Stout spikes of two-lipped blue flowers bloom in September and October. May self-seed in optimum growing conditions, forming attractive colonies....
Cimifuga racemosa
Common Name: Black Cohosh
Graceful stems (up to 7' tall!) hold spires of fragrant, tiny white flowers in early summer over mounds of green leaves that resemble those of astilbe or ferns. Very showy plant for any shade garden. Also called Black Cohosh or Snakeroot....
Vernonia fasciculata
Common Name: Ironweed
Large, irridescent, red-violet, flat-topped flower heads on top of tall, strong stalks from mid-summer to fall give a rich display of color. Dark-green, lance-shaped leaves....
chizachyrium scoparium
Common Name: Little Bluestem
A small, non-spreading, clump-forming grass with blue-green leaves that turn reddish orange in the fall. Fluffy silver seed heads are ornamental through winter.
Polystichum acrostichoides
Common Name: Christmas Fern
This beautiful native fern has glossy, deep-green, lance-shaped fronds that emerge upright, then proceed to arch gently and eventually 'lay down' to cover the ground as they mature. This evergreen fern has 'hairy' brown leaf stems and fiddleheads at its crown and is one of the first to emerge in spring....
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