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
AnswerI understand your attraction to bold, bright colors, especially so with the brilliant light you have down in that part of the country. It would be such a shame to waste sunbeams like those in Mississippi.
Although Zinnias give that longed-for glow -- I love them too! -- they do unfortunately have their limitations. Up here on Long Island, they succumb each Summer to Mildew unless I am fiercely vigilant, and I never am. But what they can never provide is horizontal growth; these are quite vertical, and nothing will change that. It's what makes them so wonderful in the cutting garden, those long, strong stems topped with vivid colors for the vase.
So your problem as I see it is mainly to find a similarly bold Annual that travels horizontally. And I am surprised you have not taken up Petunia growing. These would be perfect for your plot, creeping so effectively they are often grown as groundcovers, yet blooming in colors so brilliant they upstage everything in their wake.
To further enhance the beautiful bold colors of the Petunia, I would recommend that you include a majority of White Petunias next to them, in large swathes, which have more curb appeal. Stick to the strongest colors, rather than the more recent and slightly disappointing blues and yellows that have been bred into the genes for Petunia petals. The White will be more striking a background than the lovely but darker foliage they will be seen against.
I am a big fan of Yellow Marigolds. They will lend a nice touch, but cannot be used to fill in the empty spaces, as you already know.
Along the front, I would edge with Sweet Alyssum in bright White. Morning Glories and Moonflowers will help screen some of the emptiness, and fairly quickly once Summer gets off the ground -- although that may begin in Spring in your part of the warm weather world. Jamie, You lucky duck.
I regret, Jamie, that I cannot address your Bees question as I know very little about them, other than that they are delicate and mysterious. But I urge you to find one of the insect specialists here at AllExperts who will be able to answer your Bees problem quite expertly.
Thank you for writing. Your followups invited,
THE LONG ISLAND GARDENER
