Like nearly every other house on every residential street in America, a strip of landscaping transitions my foundation into the lawn. This is the piece of landscaping that has received the most attention from me over the past few years. In 2009, I put in two forsythias and we’ve added in a collection of self-fertile hollies through the years. A few years ago, we replaced the crumbling stone edging with some landscape brick and there’s a straggling hydrangea from the previous owners. The bed wraps around the shady north side of the house into a neglected strip where a few ancient peonies and a handful of hostas valiantly fight against weeds in the shade between two houses and under some of the neighbors overhanging shrubs. A few years ago, I covered the entire bed in landscape fabric and rubber mulch to control the weeds. It’s done the job and reduced weed pressure in the main bed dramatically, The bed is somewhat shaggy and sparse in appearance, but it’s not a mess these days. Most of the plan for this year is to add more visual interest year-round and increase the density of the planting.
Plants in the bed:
Crocus: Maybe I shouldn’t even bother to include it on the list. I put 25 in last fall, but none of them have popped up this spring. Better luck next year?
Tulips: There have been a few stray tulips lingering in this bed for over a decade. Last fall I beefed this up with dozens more. I’ll likely double down again next fall.
Daffodils: I put a dozen or so in the bed last fall. They did well this spring and I’ll add more to protect the other plants this fall.
Bleeding Heart: My favorite flower as a kid, the distinctive flowers are unlike anything else in the garden. Still makes me smile.
Hydrangea: We used to have 2, now there’s only one. Bubble gum pink but reliably blooming at the end of the season each year.
Holly: There are four hollies in the bed. They’ve all been grafted with a small male plant in the rear so they’ll supposedly produce berries. I’m going to be watching them this year to see what they do. If not a male holly might need to be added next year.
Forsythia: These are the kings of the bed. My favorite flower of the spring. When I keep them properly pruned they welcome spring with vibrant displays of canary yellow flowers
Peonies: They’re bubble gum pink and persisting from the previous owners. They’re showy when they pop and there’s no reason to remove them.
Hostas: A few straggling hostas are persisting in the beds. I’m adding more this year and hopefully fortifying what’s there.
Plants I’m adding:
Wild Ginger: Asarum canadense I sourced this from Prairie Moon. It will act as a groundcover through the front of the bed and hopefully free me to remove the terrible mulch and
Bleeding Heart: I sourced this from Michigan Bulb company. They were affordable multipacks. I added them to the bed to augment the one plant currently planted
Columbine: Aquilegia canadensis. I sourced a bunch of these as bare root plants from Prairie Moon and spread it around mid to back of the bed. The tall red flowers should add some great interest at the end of the season.
Hellebores: I sourced these from Michigan Bulb as well. It was an assortment of mixed varieties and I’m looking forward to
Hostas: I ordered 2 grabbag hostas from Michigan bulb to fill out the bed as it wraps around the house. It definitely wasn’t enough.