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.

Heirloom Blooms

We always had peonies in the back yard while we were growing up. After they were done blooming Mom would mow right over them and every year they'd come back. Two years ago she was no longer interested in keeping the one remaining bush and let me dig it out. I divided it into three and last year got just one bloom. I'm thrilled that all three have bloomed this year.

This one is near the back door where I walk by several times daily.

This one is not as happy looking but still blooming.

The third one only has one bloom so far. The foxglove in front just started blooming yesterday. The foxglove I found growing at the edge of the woods and moved to the garden.

BJ and Angie decided they wanted to rip out everything the previous owner had planted along their front porch and start from scratch. So of course I helped myself. I was quite surprised by this bloom yesterday.

The columbine that Country Girl gave me last year is still full of blooms.

I'm loving this little patch of salvia, tickseed and dianthus right now.

Delphinium started from seed last year.

A huge patch of daisies. Another gift from Country Girl.

Blanket flower started from seed last year. I moved this to the new bed at the back of the house and now every bloom is facing towards the house.

St. John's wort shrub. I just bought this last weekend. It's supposed to get 5' tall and wide, covered with this little flowers.

Also blooming:
Iris
Bleeding heart
Pincushion flower
Fushia
Stella D'oro lilies
Lupine
other day lilies
chives

Tanks to Carol for hosting the Garden Bloggers Bloom Day!

Plant Swap

Our garden club had the spring plant exchange Wednesday night. I traded bee balm, blanket flower, foxglove and daylilies for these:
Variegated Miscanthus, Golden glow aka outhouse flower, Forget-me-nots and two that nobody could tell me the names of. I'll plant them and see what happens. I also got some bare root geraniums and some type of oriental lily. The fuchsia was onsale at the local discount grocery store. I love fuchsia but I almost always kill it. After reading this by Kerri I decided to try again this year.

The group also donated these plants for the bus fund-raiser.

The speaker Wednesday talked about Boldt Castle and the landscaping there. He brought a bleeding heart and told a story where he took a flower apart little by little to illustrate the story. My teeny-tiny plants have just started giving me teeny-tiny blooms this week. I haven't taken a Thousand Islands boat tour in years. After his talk I think I may just have to check out all of the improvements that have been made in the last few years.