As some of you suggested, I changed the liners in my hanging baskets. The phlox still doesn't look great, but I added in some red salvia and it does brighten the whole thing up a bit. When we have had sunny days in the last few weeks, I've noticed that the baskets do get some light. But the weather has been totally weird recently, with lots of rainy and cold days. A neighbor of mine says you shouldn't plant in Memphis until April 15. Ironically, there is a chance of frost tonight (since it's only April 14).
We took advantage of the sunny (yet still a bit cool) weather on Saturday to add mulch to the front gardens. John said he only bought as many bags as he thought we could fit in the van (12) and it turned out to be the right amount (we even had some leftover for a small area in the backyard).
And we added new plantings to this area by the door. It used to have some sad little azaleas that never did much so we dug those up last year. Since we are so not gardeners, we had to wing it here. This area is mostly covered by a giant tree, so by summertime it's very shady. We picked out three light pink azaleas for the middle (contrasting the deep pink ones up against the house) and some hostas on the left. On the right side we picked out caladiums. I don't even know if I've spelled that right. Seriously, we are really not good gardeners.But we work hard and John has a post-hole digger so now we have pretty plants out front. Now. I have some questions:
• Did we pick out good plants for our shady area?
• Is it too sparse? Or should we leave room for everything to fill out?
• Should we add anything else?
• How on earth should I take care of these plants? Just water them every other day or so?
• And finally, what to I do to the leftovers from our daffodils? Do I cut down the leaves or just leave them?
As always, I appreciate your comments and help. I really wish I knew what I was doing with plants.
3 comments:
It looks nice! I always fold my daffodil greenery over several times and secure it with a rubber band. The plant is still collecting nutrients from the leaves. Once they've lost their color, I cut them off. I do that with my daylillies, tulips, any bulbous plant, if "bulbous" is a word! ** I've enjoyed your blogs. Sorry the Tigers didn't win. I'm a KY fan who was rooting for Memphis. **
your front looks lovely, adn the red in the baskets is a nice touch! since the baskets are mostly shaded by the porch shade loving ones are best. coleous works well it is a multi coloured foliage just to shake it up a bit .
the garden looks great too! hostas love the shade, you might want to add in some annuals in between the perennials til they start to fill out in a couple of years. well done!
the daffodils need to be left to take all the nutrients back to restart for growth next year, i have braided mine together and tucked them to base of bulb, you can also over plant so that the daffodils just go away ..and they take a loonnnnnnnnggggg time!
cutting them off means they will not multiply or do as well in the years to come...so hang tight!!!
donna in cold frosty london ontario! where blooms like tulips are just barely peeking out!
Looks good. I don't have a green thumb but I'm pretty sure that the hostas will fill in more & you need to leave room for them (this might take a yr or two).
A GREAT looking/easy to take care of plant are Daylilies. So pretty & they bloom throughout the season. Think they're ok in both shade & sunlight since we have some in both areas. Ours started out good size 6 yrs ago & now are huge!! My favorite plants in the yard.
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