I had a dream about 4 years ago, that we would have a plot near the end of our yard filled with a beautiful perennial flower garden. We prepared the spot, Jason arranged the stone border, I purchased the mail order full sun perennial garden. We prepared the soil. At least as best as we knew how.
We'd never heard of germination killer.
So we received our perennial sticks flowers and planted them. Very soon the weeds started growing in around the new plantings. And at some point we could not tell the difference between the weeds and the plants we planted. We ended up pulling weeds and probably a lot of plants. It was a mess.
The following year the garden was overgrown with weeds. I pulled them all, more came back. At some point, we did not have any of the original flowers we planted.
Then I read a book by Martha Stewart about basic gardening and began to better understand the right way to do this. And so it became a new dream, to once again have a chance at a nice perennial garden.
It didn't happen last year and this year we sadly named our little plot the weed garden.
But something got into both of us to make it happen mid-summer. We knocked out those weeds, turned the soil, mixed in the germination killer, found perennials that looked like flowers not sticks, at Home Depot and drew up a plan for placement of various heights and desirable (to us) flowers. Jason re-enforced the stone border and added fertilizer and topped it off with mulch. He was also very patient with my requests to move some plants around (before the mulch was added).
And now, it looks a bit measly, but it is a baby. And I'm excited to see how it will expand and mature. And we are both babying it tremendously now so that it will make it to next summer and be fairly self-sufficient. 
It makes me so happy. Now we've got a whole lot of other yard projects to work on in the future, but I'm glad this one is done!
3 ripples:
Looks lovely! I have slowly been working on the landscaping around our house, putting in a little each year. Much to my dismay, some of my perennials never come back. I now have a whole flower bed empty and ready for new life. Anna and I have plans for her "butterfly garden" next summer.
Love the garden! They are worth all the effort it takes in getting them going!
You'll get so much enjoyment from it!!
Denise
It looks great, Kristi! A couple things I learned from a friend. I'm sure Martha touches on these things, but I'll say them anyway. First, supposedly you're supposed to plant flowers (and other plants) in odd-numbered groups (3, 5, etc.) ... it's an aesthetic thing. Also, if you bought perennials that are flowering mid-to-end of summer this year, next year, fill in some of the gaps with perennials flowering in the spring and early summer. That way, you have blooms during all the warm months!
Post a Comment