Entry Garden

New front bed

On April 29th and 30th two trips were made to the quarry to bring home approximately 2,500 lbs of Flagstone of various sizes. Then on April 30th I began to build a 2ft wall connecting existing walls on street side and our driveway. This area has always been steep and difficult to mow.

After the wall was built into our slope/gully using my straight edge shovel I began to strip sod–a task that is definitely exercise for a person’s arms and heart! The soil was amended with fine gravel for drainage and slow release fertilizer added to the bed.

Steep mowing eliminated

On May 1st I began to bring this bed to life. Threadleaf coreopsis (coreopsis verticulata ‘Zagreb’) was was placed up front to accent wall street side. Next Sage (Salvia nemorosa ‘May Night’) was placed on both sides of bed so as to be viewed from street and home.

In the middle was placed Shasta daisy (leucanthemum superbum ‘Fiona Coghill’) and Beardtongue (Penstemon ‘Prairie Dusk’) to give some height in the middle.

New front bed plants

This garden should provide a splash of color throughout Summer days (June-September). In order to repeat theme I moved some Hemerocalis ‘Happy Returns’ forward in existing garden and also added some Shasta Daisy with Beardtongue.

Later I added some Hollyhock (Alcea rosea ‘Powderpuff Mix) along fence line in our Rose, Perennial, Vegetable garden. These will give some 5ft. colorful burst of ‘Country Charm in early Summer.

Excited about her plants!

Growing up my grandparents farm in Iowa always had Hollyhocks out near the gardens, so maybe planting these is for a bit of nostalgia.