A Mini Makeover of a Blah Area

I struggled with what to do with this bed at the front of my house for some time. This is a photo from last year. All I could think of was that shutters would help and stalled on the garden end of it. You can see how blah it looked. The other side of the front is blah as well but there is a cement path that needs to come out before I can tackle that so back to the bed at hand. I decided I had to do something this year, even if it was minor. I had a hosta I could split so I brought the bed out a bit.

I realize it was a rather simple change but I feel I'm making progress and it's an improvement. Sometimes it's baby steps that get us there. I have color from the hostas when the bleeding hearts and phlox are done blooming. I added a baptisia there on the right side next to the steps. I got it at an end of year sale last fall but it's not very happy. I may give it another year and see what it does before moving it.

There are a few foxglove Apple gave me that should bloom next year. She gave me five starters that I put toward the back of the bed. I also found some toad-lilys on clearance that came back and will hopefully bloom this year.

I would like to line the bed with stones but I think I may make it bigger so I think I will wait and contemplate a bit. I can't wait to remove the walk on the right side in front of the porch area. We plan to put in a curved sidewalk in someday where two people can walk side by side and then have a garden area from the curve of the walk to the porch. When that happens, it may make sense to bring out this bed even more. If anyone has suggestions, I am always looking for advice from other gardeners. You can probably tell but the area gets shade most of the year.