Question
Jamie's Flower bed
Hey!
I have a 100 yr old home which has a large porch. Im in search of suggestions on the types of flowers to plant around my porch which has boxwood shrubs. When I planted the shrubs several years ago, i mistakenly planted them too far apart. There are about 1 to 2 ft spaces between them except on the corner of the porch. I planted those 2 shrubs closer together to hide some ugly bricks. I usually plant marigolds or Vinca. Last year I put Zinnias (I grew from seed inside)back behind and between the shrubs. I planted marigolds(I grew from seed inside)in front of the shrubs and Vinca in front of the marigolds. It was beautiful but the zinnias didnt fill in good enough and eventually hung over the plants in front, so i had to stake them which was a task because of all the plants in front of them which were covered in wood bees...OUCH! I also ended up removing the vinca because the marigolds grew so huge in the fall and were covering the vinca in front. Ive never had marigolds grow so big. After I moved the vinca, most of them died..:o(...so I guess my questions are...1.Do you have any better suggestions for placing plants and the appropriate kinds to have there? I love bright plants, flowers, foliage, etc. Im up for anything! I would really like something spectacular regarding colors and design...but dont want to spend a lot of money. 2.I also have a partial shaded area that starts a few feet down from the porch by my wooden fence. Any suggestions on making my full sun bed flow over to that area with the appropriate plants/flowers? 3. How can i get rid of the wood bees?
FYI- I collected seeds from the marigolds and Zinnias from last year. The marigolds were orange, yellow and some hybrid orange/red. The Zinnias were mixed colors. Ive attached a picture from last fall.
Thanks in advance!
Jamie
-Mississippi
-full sun
-well drained soil
AnswerJamie,
Your house looks very colorful and festive - nice photo! Here are my thoughts about your questions:
1. It's possible that the zinnias were leaning forward stretching toward the light. Most plants grow toward the sun which means that in your situation they would be leaning out - especially when they were young and smaller than the boxwood, so that by the time they were bigger they were already going in that direction. You could use a slightly more shade-tolerant plant in between the boxwoods to help with this. Coleus comes to mind, or Impatiens if they do OK where you live. Most coleus and impatiens do OK in sun too as long as they don't go too dry in between waterings.
2. Using those in between your boxwoods would also tie in with your part shade areas.
3. Bees are attracted to flowers - I don't know of any way to make them go away except not to use blooming plants. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have flowers and bees than no flowers at all!
In regard to the seeds you collected: since most annuals are hybrids, you're likely to get different plants from the seed you've saved than the exact colors/heights etc of the plants you grew last year. Hybrids usually revert to one of the "parent plants" when they set seed. Sometimes this just means different colors, but sometimes these parents can be less flower filled. This is not to say that you shouldn't plant those seeds - start some of them and see what you end up with - but don't expect them to be exactly like the plants you grew last year.
Future plants to consider: Look for seeds for Profusion Zinnias - they are short, round plants that are filled with flowers all summer. Verbena bonariensis is a tall, purple flowering spiky plant that blooms in late summer and fall - it can be striking mixed in with marigolds and it's pretty easy to grow from seed. Nasturtiums are also easy to grow from seed put right in the ground and these can make a good border in front of taller plants.
Finally, there are people who plant thickly and decide that if one plant overshadows another, oh well, may the best plant win! It is a style of gardening that's becoming increasingly popular because it mimics what plants do in the wild and if you have thickly planted beds the things you've put in tend to out-compete weeds. In this style of planting abundance rules, and if the shorter plants get crowded out you don't worry about it.
I hope you enjoy this year's gardening season - you clearly have a green thumb and a design sense that celebrates color and the garden.
all the best,
C.L.
