This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
New garden.
katharine Webster
Posts: 3
in Plants
Hello,
Moved to this small house a year ago. Not done much to the garden, as I was having horrible treatment at the Royal Marsden. Kind family have kept it weed-free, and grass cut. Not a lot growing, except a few roses I've put in. I bought some annuals, my daughter-in-law put them in, just for a bit of colour.
Now I'm beginning to feel a bit better,I really love being out in the garden, it's very therapeutic. So, is there anything anyone can suggest that I can plant A. for some colour this summer, and B. that is perennial. I don't have a lot of energy, so I want to gradually get everything perennial. Thank you.
0
Posts
To misquote a TV ad, you need plants that will work hard so that you don't have to! You will need perennials that are reliable, trouble free and that don't need staking or cosseting in any way, and still provide a good spell of colour. Some that come to mind and will still flower this summer are hemerocallis (Daylilies) and Phlox paniculata.
Day lilies come into leaf quite early, so can provide a good backdrop for spring bulbs or polyanthus. They have flowers in a wide range of colours, with varying petal styles and different sizes and heights. Though each flower only lasts a day, there are lots of them, so they keep on coming. Some are scented too and the flower buds are even edible. They aren't fussy as long as not in full shade and are generally disease free.
Phlox are well behaved clump formers and stand up straight without need of support so they don't swamp their neighbours. They also make a good backdrop for other plants until they flower themselves. Like daylilies they have a wide colour range, a good flowering period, from late summer into autumn, some are scented and all are attractive to insects. The only care these two plants need is a spring tidy up to remove old stems and leaves and some good soil with an occasional mulch of garden compost or manure.
Some of the smaller hardy geraniums would also perhaps be suitable. The taller ones do sometimes need supporting, but the short ones are ok. Trouble free in disease terms, but you might need to control some thuggish tendencies in the good doers! Crocosmias are also a possiblity and give some good late summer/autumn colour in the red /orange/yellow range, though again inclined to terriorial expansion.
Hope your health continues to improve so that you can begin to enjoy your garden. Then maybe in the autumn you could plant some spring bulbs in pots to give yourself something to look forward to!
Thank you so much for your advice. I'm off to the garden centre this morning !