I’ve put up some “before” pictures, so you can see what I’m up against.
This is between the driveway and the Japanese maple. I’d like to take out the short bushes.
Here is the area by the walkway. I’d like to remove the 3 bushes in the foreground, but leave the bush on the other side of the walkway, and maybe plant more of those.
The corner of the house. Whatever is there is just a mess. It can go.
Also, as you can see on the step on the middle picture, I’ve picked up the first of the plants. I have petunias, plus a couple of plants called Muscari. I’ll post some “after” pictures when applicable.
What you have there seems to be some unattractive junipers. On the plus side, junipers are very hardy and drought-tolerant. On the negative side, they can be unattractive like yours. My favourite junipers are much prettier than those ones.
I’m not sure what deciduous shrub you have by the corner of your house (euonymous come to mind, but I’m not sure about that - does it turn bright red in fall?). I can see that it’s in front of a nice purple-leafed sandcherry, though.
Thanks. I agree - I saw junipers in the store and they were pretty similar. I think the shrub on the corner does turn dark red in fall. Maybe I’ll take out the front shrub and leave the sandcherry.
I agree that those bushes have seen better days and need to go. That Japanese Maple looks impressive though!
On the corner I would plant some smaller tidy bushes. It doesn’t look like those that you have can be pruned back very far.
I don’t know if you’ve dug up bushes before but it isn’t nearly as difficult as it looks. Go wild. 
I was looking for an online source of info about two of my favorite smaller shrubs that can handle some shade, have attractive spring flowers and colorful fall foliage (Itea ‘Henry’s Garnet’ and dwarf fothergilla) and I found this Plants of Merit site.
Looks informative, good photos, and is applicable to the Cincinnati area.
By the way, purple-leafed sand cherries tend to be short-lived, are susceptible to a number of pests and can be gawky and unattractive after awhile.
So, I returned most of the plants I got yesterday (too many annuals) except the Muscari.
I can’t see having to do this every year. 'One and done" for me, please.
Now, I have:
ANNUALS
Salvia
Lobelia
PERENNIALS
Bugleweed “Chocolate Chip”- the person at the store told me this is an aggressive ground cover that will grow over a large area.
Creeping Phlox - another ground cover.
Silene - has a long flowering period.
May Night Salvia - pretty but smelly.
Dianthus
SHRUBS
2 Korean wintergreen boxwoods.
If it ever stops raining, I can plant this stuff.
Plus, if you have kids, they love how the little seed pods explode like tiny little bombs.
We had a row of these on either side of our house, right up against the stone wall. They baked in full sun for half the day, roasting hot. They loved it. Easy and durable.
+1
Two thumbs up on all your choices (I had to look silene up - it’s known as campion around here). Another word of advice - you don’t have to fill everything up now. It’s better to put some in now, give it a season or two, and then add to it or adjust according to how things work out. You might find that your blooms are all done by July and you want more fall blooming flowers, or you’re missing a colour, or all your plants have the same type of foliage, or some plants just don’t make it for no apparent reason. The plants need room to grow, too - your tiny little plants might turn into a three foot spread.
Good advice. Plus, the $85 I spent on these plants seems like more than enough for now.
Hi, I’m sorry I have been doing a lot of gardening for a client. So you have part shade. I am with the others about losing the bushes and I wish I could remember the free garden design website? It might be at 'Homes and Gardens. com?
I would plant a small tree that will not get too big. They have some nice ones that flower and never get too big. I like to pick a focal point and put in a nice small ornamental tree and then put in some perennials and then some annuals for color. I like the proven winners line of annuals. They have a trailing hybrid Supertunia that is colorful and easy care. Just do a little this year and every year add a little more. You can move things around to get the look you want. I also love the repeat tall garden phlox for the back of the bed. They come back each year and the pink ones are long flowering and very eye catching.
I’ll try and get some pics and show you what I mean. They are not out yet and bloom mid summer. Stella Dora day Lilllie’s are late summer blooming and very colorful. I like the perennials you picked. They will do good in your area.
Also I did not ask about your soil but I can’t emphasize enough how important good dirt is. I buy a rich soil from Maine that has seaweed added to it. If you will be doing a large bed get a wheel barrel and remove the present dirt and get rid of it. Put in good soil with some peat moss mixed in and a little sand. If you dirt is good then you just may need to use good dirt in the hole for each plant. I sprinkle Oscomite rather then use Miracle Grow. Granular breaks down slowly. I recommend a drip irrigation hose around the plants to take the hassle out of watering.
Just have fun and try not to over do it. Every year you can keep adding to your garden. I’m exhausted from gardening because my client just has such a huge garden and is redoing it. Enjoy!
Oh yeah, and once you get your beds all conditioned up right and planted with your lovely perennials, don’t forget to finish off with a good layer of mulch. And no walking on the beds - it compacts the soil like nothing else, and compacted soil is bad. You hear me, postal workers? Quit walking on my yard! I have concrete walkways just for you!
My local nursery person told me that a lot of perennials take three seasons to get established. “Sleep, Creep, Leap” she called it. First season they just sit there, doing their stuff underground. Second season they spread some. Third they’ll take off.
True for some of mine it seems, not as much for others. The Lamb’s Ear is in its third season and I had to prune to about half size already, the Ice Plant is taking off in come areas really hugely (two seaons). The fuzzy Thyme is a slow grower as are most of the Hens & Chicks variety (except the purple one which is fairly fast for some reason).
That’s right - my former peonies took I think three seasons to bloom (and then they were stunning). My hot pink peony. My white peony.
Yeah, with starting a new garden, you can either spend a lot of time and labor, or you can spend a lot of money–you can do all annuals fairly cheaply and do a lot of work every year, or you can do all perennials for very little work but quite a lot more money. Most people wind up splitting the difference, buying a handful of perennials every year until there’s pretty much nothing to fill in with annuals.
Same sort of thing with your dirt. If you have bad soil you can improve it by mixing in additives pretty cheaply, but it takes a fair bit of labor and several seasons to get really good results. Or you can remove the existing dirt and replace it with topsoil as Perciful mentions; you get immediate results, but it’s still a lot of labor and it tends to be very expensive. One way to cut down on the labor without blowing a lot of money is to see if a neighbor or coworker has a small tiller/cultivator they would lend you. Those are the shit for working additives into soil without breaking your back, but if you’re not wanting to plant new stuff every year, there’s not much point in buying one for yourself.
And if you’re already finding this whole gardening thing a lot of work, you’re going to need mulch, and a lot of it, to keep the weeds at bay. With regular mulch, you’ve got to get it a few inches thick to really be effective, and that can run into some money. I’ve had very good luck with laying down corrugated cardboard (we get a lot of shipping boxes at work) and then covering it with a thinner layer of something more attractive.
That sequence of phases is pretty standard, though the time frames involved vary by plant. The three-year plan seems to be most common, though some plants will get through the sleep and creep phases in a single season and leap the second year you have them out. Then you have things like clematis, whose sleep and creep phases tend to last years. Growing conditions also affect the length of the sleep and creep phases–adverse light, soil, or water conditions can make the whole process a lot slower.
Gorgeous! Loved the pink!
I don’t want to hijack this thread but does anyone no what is the best thing to get rid of noxious weeds? I am considering reclaiming a spot outside my window that is full off weeds. I have a tarp covering it for now.
By noxious I mean when you pull the weed up it has extensive surface roots and pulls up the topsoil with it. It kind of spreads under the ground. I tried finding the name of it online but no luck. Thanks.
I want a rototiller sooo badly. Sears has a tiny one for $285 that I’ve got my eye on; I’m also watching the used sites to see if I can come up with one. I’m conditioning my garden patch by hand now, and I’ll be doing the rest of the extensive beds soon; it’s great exercise, anyway.
I use Round Up when I seriously want weeds gone. Otherwise I mostly just dig them out by hand.
Thanks for the compliment on my peonies - they’re at our old house now. One of my first jobs once we can start planting here is to get new peonies for this house. We have one in front, but I want more!
I’ve only done OK with RoundUp, but I use a pet-safe product called Burnout II by the fence. It works quite well. Bonus: It contains clove oil, so it smells better than other garden chemicals.
