Anybody else love to garden ornamentally?

[TravelingChris]

I am not anti food gardening and do grow some tomatoes and herbs. But my true love is ornamental gardening. I am so excited that I will probably get to live here for years and if so, in 14 years, I will have a glorious all year interest garden.My dh made me promise when we moved here that I wouldn't try to do it all at once. So I am doing it in parts, slowly as i have time, energy and money. Last year, I bought pots and bulbs and some plants that go around our pool. I both caladiums, elephant ears, canna lillies, agapanthus, and some coleus. This year, I will replant the caladiums, the others will regrow, except for the coleus, and I will buy some of those. I also redid part of our front border, but will redo part of it again (my supposedly partly sunny area apparently has too much sun for some of the plants that like partly sunny, so I will move them and choose full sun plants instead).

 

Other areas which will take longer to do our street side planting beds, ripping out the hillside planting of liriope for something more interesting (I don't mind lirope for borders of flower beds but the large area of liriope is truly boring), redoing our side of the house, redoing more of my front border (removing the hollies, moving or replacing azaleas, and planting perennials and bulbs in front of the azaleas), cleaning up and redoing the other side of our driveway (the one side is the dreaded liriope hill), replacing all the junipers in the yard (a, none of them are doing very well since this is a forest and so not sunny, and B) I am allergic to them), turning my woods into a wooded wonderland of both native and select non native plants, turning the granite rocks on part of my hillside into a lovely rock garden, planting meadow flowers whcin will self seed in another area by the road which is mostly sunny and dryer, since it is the highest point on our property and the rain runs down, managing the forest well by reducing the number of trees thereby allowing the remaining to get larger, and continue limbing trees like the last owners to give the property high shade.

 

Some of the things I want to do is create an area for lots of varieties of heucheras and heucherrelas, plat lots of less common bulbs, grow lots of plants that will further attract birds, and generally make a garden that not only I will love but will bring added beauty to my city.

 

 

So does anyone else here mostly do ornamental gardening?

[Happy]

I do both 'pretty' gardening and growing veggies. As the saying goes, gardening is cheaper than therapy AND you get tomatoes. lol

 

We moved here a little over 12 years ago--the lot was a former cattle pasture turned construction site. With the exception of native 'trash' trees along the back fence line and a small patch of grass and standard builder landscaping, we've planted every stick and blade on the acre--and replanted and replaced most of the builder junk.

 

I have a serious love of antique roses. They make up a huge part of my gardens. I also love crepe myrtles, day lilies, and anything that attracts either birds, butterflies, or hummingbirds.

 

These days I'm focusing on scent as well as flower and form.

[TravelingChris]

Yes, I can understand wanting scents. I am going to be getting some shrubs and I already know I will get some fragrant camellias, not one that looks nice and has no smell.

[Rosie_0801]

I think doing both is the snazziest thing ever. Have you seen Rosalind Creasy's books?

[GoVanGogh]

I think doing both is the snazziest thing ever. Have you seen Rosalind Creasy's books?

 

I love her books. In fact, I pulled a couple of them out today to browse.

 

I have a large ornamental garden, but play around growing veggies. It is too hot and dry here to maintain much of a veggie garden during the heat of summer. My main love is fragrant ornamental plants.

[Melissa in Australia]

My DH does the veggie gardening. I do the flowers and herbs. I am hampered a bit by having no water at all for my gardens. So it is a bit of trial and error as to what can stand 35 to 40 oC in summer for days on end without water.

[Laura Corin]

Mostly pretty so far. We planted an orchard and have herbs in pots - most do better if not in our heavy clay soil - but mostly it's pretty stuff. I'm a new gardener and I've definitely bitten off more than I can chew. We've been here four years and I'm finally getting a handle on the routines.

 

This year's project: taking up areas of the patio to interplant. The soil isn't very deep there, so I am going to have to be a bit clever about what will grow. I've put in evergreen grasses for structure and am planting perennials and bulbs between. I even have three agapanthus that I am trying out against a sunny and warm stone wall - a bit of a gamble this far north but I do so love them.

 

Laura

[lailasmum]

I mostly do veg but am trying more ornamentals. I mostly try and do wildlife friendly though because so much of the ornamentals that I grew up having in our garden don't really support bees. Some stuff like roses don't grow well here and I really wish they did.

[Spy Car]

I do both 'pretty' gardening and growing veggies. As the saying goes, gardening is cheaper than therapy AND you get tomatoes. lol

 

We moved here a little over 12 years ago--the lot was a former cattle pasture turned construction site. With the exception of native 'trash' trees along the back fence line and a small patch of grass and standard builder landscaping, we've planted every stick and blade on the acre--and replanted and replaced most of the builder junk.

 

I have a serious love of antique roses. They make up a huge part of my gardens. I also love crepe myrtles, day lilies, and anything that attracts either birds, butterflies, or hummingbirds.

 

These days I'm focusing on scent as well as flower and form.

 

 

I love antique roses too.

 

Bill

[TravelingChris]

BIll, I love the flowering trees you have there in LA= jacarandas, coral trees, etc. Just so lovely.

 

Lailasmum, why don't roses grow well in Devon? WE lived in Belgium for three years, (a fairly close climate) and we had lovely roses there. Is it your particular home site that is too dark?

[Spy Car]

BIll, I love the flowering trees you have there in LA= jacarandas, coral trees, etc. Just so lovely.

 

 

Yes, they are pretty. Yet I am most fond of our native oaks.

 

Bill

[Lady Florida.]

I do both. I'm trying to keep my ornamental gardening restricted to native plants and Florida friendly plants (non-invasive, adapted to our climate). Except for roses. I love roses and always like to have one or two around. It's tricky finding roses that have a strong scent (IMO the reason to grow them) and grow well here. Nematodes and Japanese beetles are always a problem. Wet summers can be tough on them too.

 

It is too hot and dry here to maintain much of a veggie garden during the heat of summer.

 

It's too hot and wet here in summer for most vegetables. I confine my vegetable gardening to November-April. The rest of the year I play around with ornamental plants.

[fairfarmhand]

I love interplanting food plants with my pretties. I enjoy letting my sage flower out. It is covered with bright red flowers that bees love. I love interplanting varieties of basil in my beds, especially the purple basil and the lemon basil that smells SO good. I also have a big trellis covered with scarlett runner beans. I bought a new variety that has peach colored blossoms this year from Bakers Creek.

 

My very favorites to grow are Zinnias and Sunflowers. I'm going to put in a huge garden of nothing but sunflowers this year. I can't wait to make pictures of my kids in the sunflower garden!

[WistfulRidge]

I love both veg and flower gardening. With vegetables I get the pleasure of playing in the dirt plus food. With flowers I get to the play in the dirt and it takes me back to some of my first (and many of fondest memories), gardening with my grandma. She loved roses and so I always have some around. I also really love daffodils and lilies.

[Happy]

I love interplanting food plants with my pretties. I enjoy letting my sage flower out. It is covered with bright red flowers that bees love. I love interplanting varieties of basil in my beds, especially the purple basil and the lemon basil that smells SO good. I also have a big trellis covered with scarlett runner beans. I bought a new variety that has peach colored blossoms this year from Bakers Creek.

 

My very favorites to grow are Zinnias and Sunflowers. I'm going to put in a huge garden of nothing but sunflowers this year. I can't wait to make pictures of my kids in the sunflower garden!

I love zinnas and sunflowers, too. One year we ran a row of mammoth sunflowers down the fence line....by late June we had nearly a sixty feet of sunflowers. Another year we tossed a bunch of birdseed sunflowers in various beds. Because of the way the sun hit the plants all the blooms faced away from the house/porch. We laughed a lot about that. This year I'm converting an old veggie area into something else...don't know what yet, so I'm planning to plant a bunch of sunflowers there. It will be cheerful and fun.

 

Zinnas....I remember being three years old or so and walking in my grandmother's red zinnia garden...the plants were as tall as I was. So I plant a lot of zinnias....mostly purple, yellow, and white ones. Love that they come back year after year.

 

Rainy, wet, and cold today so I'm enjoying gardening online.

[Tina]

I've spent years putting in my perennial flower bed in front of the house. I seem to move some things around and add at least one or two new items each year. Most of what I have was free. My mom and sister have shared with me. Dh thinks you just plant it and you're done. Right. Is there a way to share photos here?

 

I added a garden on the side of the house a couple years ago, but it's more shady there. I also need to firm up a definite edge. I have two three ft wide raised beds for veggies and strawberries, too.

[butterflymommy]

Yes, that's me :). I've never understood why ornamental gardening has a bad rap or is seen as wasteful by some people. I do grow tomatoes and some greens but my greatest joy comes from flowers. I like growing annuals and often grow them inside year round. I like houseplants too.

[fairfarmhand]

Yes, that's me :). I've never understood why ornamental gardening has a bad rap or is seen as wasteful by some people. I do grow tomatoes and some greens but my greatest joy comes from flowers. I like growing annuals and often grow them inside year round. I like houseplants too.

 

We have 43 acres, and about 5 of it is close to the house/yard type area. So happily, I have plenty of room for everything!

 

ETA: I don't think that gardening for the sheer joy of it is wasteful, whether you are growing food, flowers, trees or cows!

[justamouse]

I do, but it's secondary gardening to me. I love being able to pick a bouquet and bring it into the house.

[Spy Car]

This thread guilted me into weeding the rose beds. Sore :D

 

The California Poppies and native Bee's Bliss Sage (a spreading ground cover with nice silvery green foliage and lavendar colored flowers) are in bloom right now, and are really lovely.

 

Bill

[TravelingChris]

Oooh, I am jealous Bill. I love California poppies. Of course, we have our own lovely blooms around here. THe Forsythias are almost done. LMost daffodils are done. But cherries, redbuds, a few crabapples, and some Magnolias are blooming along with the leftover pears. I saw some Irises already blooming yesterday, which seems a bit early.

 

We are having a strange spring. March was the coldest month we had this winter, I think. We have been 15 to 20 degrees below normal for weeks and weeks. It is finally getting to normal this weekend. Unfortunately, we already have warning for potential strong storms next week.

 

I am happy to see that my Jack Frost Brunnera came back and is now blooming with little blue flowers. Other blooms I have are colorful primroses, grape hyacinths, and pansies plus a lorepetalum bush. I have to include pictures. I'll get my photographer daughter (she is a sophomore in high school but is a great photographer as a hobby and a class this year) to post some.

[Laura Corin]

This thread guilted me into weeding the rose beds. Sore :D

 

The California Poppies and native Bee's Bliss Sage (a spreading ground cover with nice silvery green foliage and lavendar colored flowers) are in bloom right now, and are really lovely.

 

Bill

 

I haven't even planted my California Poppy seeds yet - the ground won't be warm enough for another month. It was 2 degrees C when I measured it last weekend and we've had a hard frost since then.

 

Laura

[SwallowTail]

I do ornamental gardening as well. I plant many things to attract pollinators, and have a fairly extensive butterfly garden with nectar and host plants fro a variety of species. I also plant to attract hummmingbirds. We just bought ab unch of river rocks (large slabs) to make a staircase on our hill, and spent the weekend making new tiers in our beds. I bought a ton of plants at the local spring garden fest, and now have to make room for them. I need more land and acrew of workers to do the hard labor of digging thourgh sod and carrying stones and such.

 

I want zinnias this year. The butterflies lvoe them, and I have just never included them.

 

I also have herbs (medicianl and for cooking), peppers, blueberries, peach, plum, and apple trees and am planting some snap peas.

[Spy Car]

 

 

I haven't even planted my California Poppy seeds yet - the ground won't be warm enough for another month. It was 2 degrees C when I measured it last weekend and we've had a hard frost since then.

 

Laura

 

I'm surprised our California Poppies are grown in Scotland. That is very cool!

 

They are pretty, yes?

 

Bill

[Laura Corin]

I'm surprised our California Poppies are grown in Scotland. That is very cool!

 

They are pretty, yes?

 

Bill

 

Lovely. Hobbes grew them on his patch a few years ago and they self-seeded - I still see a few each year but I'm sowing them again in May.

 

Laura

[TravelingChris]

Lots of plants we think grow in one place actually can grow well in other places too. For example, bald cypress- typically seen in swamps. I had no idea until I moved here and heard different plant experts repeat the info that bald cypress will grow also in dry areas. Now, I think they mean dry areas here in the SOuth- not dry areas like Albuquerque NM or Palm Springs, CA. But, nonetheless, they don't need to be in water.

 

Then we also have cacti in non desert areas, native ones, not just ones people decided to plant.

 

And then you have the odd plants that pop up too. When we lived in Belgium, we lived in an area that used to be a big coal mining region. There were slag hills in a number of locations. WE went on a horseback riding trip one time that took us up one of these slag hills. The guide pointed out strange ttopical looking plants. They were African plants from the tropical forests that had germinated on the warm slag hills which were giving off some heat but not a tremendous amount. Winds from Africa had blown pollen to Belgium, some of which fell on these hills. The basic climate of Belgium is rainy, like the tropics of Africa but much cooler. The warmer soil temps on the slag hills enabled germination. Furthermore, the warmth led to there never being frost or snow on those hilltops, even when surrounding areas had it. So these strange plants were living there.

[lailasmum]

Lailasmum, why don't roses grow well in Devon? WE lived in Belgium for three years, (a fairly close climate) and we had lovely roses there. Is it your particular home site that is too dark?

 

I think it's our soil as we are right on the edge of the moors it's really poor and very acidic plus we are fairly exposed. The rest of the county is probably better. The wild dog roses do ok and we have another wild white rose that does ok but drops it's petals really fast and is ridiculously thorny. Generally anything non wild just never really thrives. It does seem to be bit of a problem here, this area was always known for it's orchards and market gardens but they only ever grew very specific old local varieties and most fruit trees don't do well. Some local groups have been trying to save the local varieties by starting projects like a mother orchard of old apple trees.

[KrissiK]

I do both. I have a shade garden on the north side of my house. Dh built an arbor over it about 8 years ago and I have a variety of ferns and hellebores and heucheras. There are Japanese maples there, too, and a lovely fountain that the little girls got into and now it is muddy. I have two huge hydrangeas, too. In the empty spots I plant a couple flats of impatiens, and when it's all cleaned up, it is really quite lovely in there.

[Laura Corin]

I'm surprised our California Poppies are grown in Scotland. That is very cool!

 

They are pretty, yes?

 

Bill

 

 

Here are your poppies.

 

L

[Starr]

Ornamental gardening and no pictures.  :svengo: This thread could make me so happy, just a few pretty pictures.

[OrganicAnn]

Here are your poppies.

 

L

 

I think those are icelandic poppies (but I could be wrong).

[Laura Corin]

I think those are icelandic poppies (but I could be wrong).

 

They were California on the packet.  I think they look right.

 

L