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When/how to do the overhaul

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MamaGeek Joined: 6/01/2006 Location: Posts: 12	Posted: Sep/04/2006 3:11 AM PST I am planning on overhauling the flower bed in front of my house. I have a few perennials and bulbs already there, which I'd like to keep, but I'll have to move them. When is the best time to transplant them, how should I go about it, and how should I go about preparing the rest of the bed? I'm in VA, zone 7. I've laid out a plan of my new flower bed, including the following: daffodil, foxglove, bleeding heart, azalea, liriope, black-eyed susan, mums, creeping phlox, euonymous, coneflower, hybrid columbine, aster, lambsear, yarrow, sandwort, blanketflower, tulip, hens 'n chicks, Virginia sweetspire, and lilies I'd like to begin soon, and could use some advice on which flowers to transplant/plant/seed now, and what kind of timeline I should schedule for the rest of my plan. I'd also like to know what I should do for the soil. Quote \| Reply \| Report

Herbyann Joined: 3/29/2002 Location: Sunny So. Calif. Zone 10 Posts: 3490	Posted: Sep/04/2006 4:05 AM PST [COLOR="Green"] HI and WELCOME to the forum! WE have a great crazy family of gardeners here. So happy to have ye with us!! What plants do you already have in the ground? That is the first thing to deal with. Also how about the shade/sunshine aspects? Let us know!! AGAIN WELCOME!! :animorang[/COLOR] Quote \| Reply \| Report

swindyi Joined: 7/07/2003 Location: The Garden State Posts: 849	Posted: Sep/04/2006 11:28 AM PST hi momageek and as Herbyann said welcome to GG. This is the prefect time ( fall )to start your transplanting as it will allow the roots to develop before the ground freezes and won't have to go through heat stress while they are settling in. In general you should amend your soil, adding whatever your soil is lacking, compost is the best amendment you can add to your soil. As Annie said let us know your garden conditions, type of soil you are working with --clay or sandy? And light exposure, 6 hours of sun a day is considered full sun. which side of the house your bed are in, N. S. E. or W. What perennials do you already have ? Alot of them can be divided to give you more plants. The mistake most new gardeners make is not giving their new plants enough room to accommodate their mature size and then have a garden that is messy and out of control--- I think we all have made that mistake on our first beds-- it is so hard to believe that the tiny little seedling will ever be 3ft tall and 4ft wide. It happens fast. So let us know the scoop and there will be plenty of folks here to guide you. swindyi Quote \| Reply \| Report

MamaGeek Joined: 6/01/2006 Location: Posts: 12	Posted: Sep/07/2006 2:24 AM PST My house faces East. Half the front garden gets full sun (right half in image), half partial. Our soil is clay, clay, clay, although my garden has several years of decomposed mulch in it, and there are lots of worms, so I think it's in pretty good shape. Perennials and bulbs: azalea (as shown), sandwort, catmint, daffodils, iris, creeping phlox (as shown), euonymous, blanketflower (just grown from seed) I have tried splitting in the past, without much success, with my daylilies. They have never bloomed since, so I'm considering them a lost cause. Here's my garden design idea. I'm open to any suggestions/comments help you all can provide. I'd especially appreciate suggestions on how many of each plant I'll need to fill in the space I've denoted below. [IMG]http://www.davidschoenberger.net/joy/images/G ardenPlan.jpg[/IMG] Quote \| Reply \| Report

wan2hav Joined: 8/13/2006 Location: east coast..Connecticut at the sound ! Posts: 509	Posted: Sep/08/2006 7:28 AM PST Azaleas and bleeding hearts can really grow over time..since you give no note on the amount of space between each its hard to tell ...also...I didn't think that bleeding hearts liked the amount of sun as an azalea. During summer die off you'll have some area of patches left from the bleeding heart..maybe it would be better to have some deep summer blooming plants to come to flower as the hearts fade. Quote \| Reply \| Report

fozbot3 Joined: 1/18/2005 Location: Michigan Posts: 7893	Posted: Sep/08/2006 6:06 PM PST does each square equal a sq. foot? that's a great diagram you posted! Quote \| Reply \| Report

MamaGeek Joined: 6/01/2006 Location: Posts: 12	Posted: Sep/08/2006 10:13 PM PST Yeah, each square is a square foot. (I've just updated it, too, so the image above is new as of now.) Quote \| Reply \| Report

IR2agardner Joined: 6/16/2005 Location: SE Wisconsin - Zone 5 Posts: 384	Posted: Sep/22/2006 4:21 PM PST I like your design. and I agree with wan2hav that as the bleeding heart dies back, you'll have a big blank spot, use annuals there too or some asiatic lillies? They can stand the part shade. Good color spacing too with some repeat of color to move the eye along. Quote \| Reply \| Report

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