Can I start over?

[Lynn248]

Unless you have a boatload of money to hire a landscape architect, you're not going to get the effect you desire overnight. It takes time. You're on the right track tho. Two things I would have done differently.
1) Nature never does anything in a straight line. I would have put a nice (S) curve, starting from the end (front) of the house leading to roughly where the tarp is. By creating that curve, you cut off what your eye is drawn too, which is that gate. It's a nice gate, but you want peoples eye drawn to your lovely plantings.

2) The white rock needs to go. In a natural path setting you will see more muted colors like natural river rock, or decomposed granite. Again the eye is drawn to that white intensity, taking away what what you are trying to achieve, which is the serenity of your plantings.
One other thing I'm seeing in your photos is the buckling of the siding on the side of the house. Looks like a real hot zone, so you might want to pay attention to that as well.
I'm on my fourth year creating my front flower bed, and is a labor of love. Each year I add more plants, then sit back for the season to see what they do for me, and if they like where they are planted. More often than not, they will get tweaked in the fall, or removed completely. When I first began the project, pretty much everything I planted was roughly the same height, which didn't look natural at all. So even tho it's been four years in the making, I'm still learning the do's and don'ts. Take your time, feel it out, and I'm sure in the end you will have something to be very proud of.

I was outvoted on the curvy path and white rocks.
So I'll work around them, I will widen the path and curve the outside and add a few more large plants, we've removed that gate and are putting in glass there, hopefully it will soften it a bit.

It's very hot by the buckled siding, I've chosen full sun plants but will keep an eye on what's HAppy and what's not. I know I need to be a bit more patient with growth but I just know the straight line is NOT what I wanted.
Thank you

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Unless you have a boatload of money to hire a landscape architect, you're not going to get the effect you desire overnight. It takes time. You're on the right track tho. Two things I would have done differently.
1) Nature never does anything in a straight line. I would have put a nice (S) curve, starting from the end (front) of the house leading to roughly where the tarp is. By creating that curve, you cut off what your eye is drawn too, which is that gate. It's a nice gate, but you want peoples eye drawn to your lovely plantings.

2) The white rock needs to go. In a natural path setting you will see more muted colors like natural river rock, or decomposed granite. Again the eye is drawn to that white intensity, taking away what what you are trying to achieve, which is the serenity of your plantings.
One other thing I'm seeing in your photos is the buckling of the siding on the side of the house. Looks like a real hot zone, so you might want to pay attention to that as well.
I'm on my fourth year creating my front flower bed, and is a labor of love. Each year I add more plants, then sit back for the season to see what they do for me, and if they like where they are planted. More often than not, they will get tweaked in the fall, or removed completely. When I first began the project, pretty much everything I planted was roughly the same height, which didn't look natural at all. So even tho it's been four years in the making, I'm still learning the do's and don'ts. Take your time, feel it out, and I'm sure in the end you will have something to be very proud of.

I disagree. The desired effect would not be too difficult or too expensive, just with a little planning and plant research. Plants that can fill in and naturalize. Self-seeders like Anise Hyssop. Grow them from seed if you feel confident enough. It greatly reduces cost. Get plants that attract butterflies and other wildlife.

I like the straight path. It's not a long path so there's no reason to curve it. Even the white gravel will look great with brightly colored prairie plants lining each side. It would be stunning. I would add a slight rounded curve to the outer garden edge though. My original native garden section was straight and square and it was a mistake. I recently went back and curved it and it's much more appealing to me now.

 

[Lynn248]

Hi @Lynn248 .

If you want it to look wild, the best way to get those results are to plant species that naturally grow in the wild in your area - native plants. Plants like hostas or daylilies don't really give that wild look like native prairie plants do.

Purple Coneflower, Ohio Spiderwort, Black-eyed Susan, Blanket Flower, Swamp Milkweed, Penstemon, Grey-headed Coneflower, Scarlet Bee Balm, Wild Bergamot, New England Aster are just a few great choices. It just depends on what will work for your area and what's native to your area.

View attachment 23211

View attachment 23210


I'd also recommend widening each side to 3 or 4 feet. That gives you depth rather than a narrow line of plants. My photos above show about a 3-4 foot width and an 8 foot length.

Ok, I do have some of those wild type flowers in there, coneflower, blackeflower, daisies etc, your pics are beautiful , I will wok on widening things.
Do you think I can just dig holes and plant more flowers or I'll have to dig out the whole section to widen it?

 

[JBtheExplorer]

Ok, I do have some of those wild type flowers in there, coneflower, blackeflower, daisies etc, your pics are beautiful , I will wok on widening things.
Do you think I can just dig holes and plant more flowers or I'll have to dig out the whole section to widen it?

Just as an idea, I'd shape it like this.

 

[Lynn248]

I disagree. The desired effect would not be too difficult or too expensive, just with a little planning and plant research. Plants that can fill in and naturalize. Self-seeders like Anise Hyssop. Grow them from seed if you feel confident enough. It greatly reduces cost. Get plants that attract butterflies and other wildlife.

I like the straight path. It's not a long path so there's no reason to curve it. Even the white gravel will look great with brightly colored prairie plants lining each side. It would be stunning. I would add a slight rounded curve to the outer garden edge though. My original native garden section was straight and square and it was a mistake. I recently went back and curved it and it's much more appealing to me now.

The neighbour a few doors down is eliminating all flowers / plants at her cottage. She's given me the opportunity to take everything she has. The problem is, I don't know what anything is. I did see this that I will go back for ...

 

[Lynn248]

Just as an idea, I'd shape it like this.

View attachment 23213

Ok I love that idea!!
Thank you so much!!

 

[marlingardener]

Oh yes, JB's outline is just what you need! That will be gorgeous in a year or two.
Lynn, take the offered plants, post photos of blooms, leaves, stems and the whole plant if possible, and we'll help you ID them and offer growing/care suggestions. Also, ask the lady what things are and take popsicle sticks or some kind of label and label the plants. I've forgotten the name of a plant while transporting it a 1/4 mile down the road from a friend's garden.



























1






























1

 

[Lynn248]

Thanks so much. The neighbours who's offering up plants/ shrubs just purchased the property this summer, and hates plants, so I'll take what can can for sure. Unfortunately all unmarked.
I've taken the design JB suggested and worked it a little. Hubby is obsessed with keeping grass, so I've had to downsize it a little.
I'll post pics shortly and would love some opinions

 

[Lynn248]

How about this kind of thing?

 

[marlingardener]

Lynn, the first picture is more mower-friendly with fewer sharp angles. That could become a great "cottage" type garden given a season or two of growth.
Husbands, for some unknown reason, love grass. They can be weaned/taught/convinced that grass isn't the be-all, end-all. It takes time and patience. Just persevere, both with your grass-loving hubby, and with the cottage garden!

 

[Verdun]

You could keep it as it is and simply plant lavendar Lynn. A lavendar walk through is superb in summer. The flowers will tend to obscure the rigidity of the path. For the rest of the year an annual trim will create a formal grey/green...still aromatic....low hedge.

 

[alp]

@Lynn248 Take them all. Write down their heights and plant them according to their heights and colours. Have the tallest such as verbena bonariensis at the middle, stipa gigantea, teasels, salvia amistad along it, archichokes as architectural backbones. In front of them, you can have echinaceas all colours (purpurea, red tanz, yellow tanz, pallida) and heleniums and just draw a pic and place your favorites according to their heights and colours. Make sure you hide some stepping stones so that you can walk around the border. And plant some irises as they are very low in maintenance and yet they will come up every year.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

The picture with the vivid green lines is my choice. what you need is plants that will grow over into the straight path and soften the lines, that will give you the wiggle curves needed. and alternate heights on the side opposite the garage. yes, agree the white gravel would not be my choice. But, that is a lot of work you did. there are do it yourself cement mix stuff that you can color? just saying, and you get these templates to lay down, pour the cement in etc.

If you can wait till fall, some outdoor places have sales on hardscaping walkway stuff, might pick up some for cheap, and mix in with other stuff for some visual interest.

 

[Lynn248]

Thank you for all your help, you guys are amazing.
We got one side dug out and I already like the configuration better, I still would have liked it better without the stones and more wiggly but unfortunalty, the hubby won that argument 3 weeks ago .i hope eventually the plants grow over and my path isent so straight looking. I haven't heard the end of the grass being ruined by the excavator. Lol men no their grass!? I don't get it .

I'm taking notes of all the plants mentioned, and will look them up.
I went to the neighbours and took pics of all the available plants, i will try and see if I can identify them or a group I'm part of on Facebook is also helpful with identification, I'd like to see if I can work them in my plan, even though they are not cottage type plants I'd hope for.

Can I move the plants I've planted 3 weeks ago or it's too soon since some are blooming?

 

[Esther Knapicius]

why move them? just add more.