Friday, June 15, 2007

Design Suggestions


Well, you may not like my first suggestion. I would elongate one edge of the bed and curve it around slightly so that it is not a circle. This would give you a more natural look to the bed and allow more room for planting. The 7ft mature sand cherry will not allow for a lot of planting in the circular area. I suggest a combination of variagated liropie (see picture) mixed in with evergreen varieties of daylilies. I would put purple coneflowers behind the lirope/daylily border and before the sand cherry on the circular part.


In the elongated end of the bed I would put some medium height shrubs (I love Nana Nandina, dwarf hollies, or even a dwarf weigeila) I do not know how these suggestions grow in your area. Nana Nandina is hard to beat for year round color and ease of growing, but then so are hollies.

In front of those medium shrubs, you could put any flowering combination that you are fond of. I would mix the flowers, so that there is foliage (for example mix in some Sedum Autumn Joy) year round.

Even a shrub rose that stays two feet or less would be attractive in front of the shrubs.


I think part of your frustration in trying to find plants for this area is the small size of the bed and the fact that it is a complete circle. It would not need to be enlarged a huge amount, but changing the shape would please you more in the long run and I know that there is room for you to extend the bed toward the back, or toward the east whichever you prefer. It would be easy to find a match for the bricks that edge the bed.


A small birdbath between the sandcherry and the shrubs would be a bird magnet.
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