Promises We Make to Ourselves

Do you make promises to yourself about your garden that are difficult to keep? When you get the chance to start a new garden after being in the same one for 30 years there are certain promises you might make to yourself.  Mostly promises about what you will or won't repeat in the new garden. You know what I mean? Some promises have to do with lessons learned from all those years of experience. Some are just simply new choices you promise to make based on the level of maintenance you think you want to sustain.

Pathway to the north. Perennial Peanut Groundcover encroaching into wide open pathway last week. 

I wrestled with what to do about the groundcover taking over the pathway. It is so lush and healthy as it creeps its way from one bed trying to reach the other.

Pathway to the north. Perennial Peanut Groundcover shaped with weed wacker a few days after photo above.

The mulched pathways in this area of the garden were large swaths of St. Augustine grass last summer when we moved here. In July/August I layered the grass with cardboard and covered it with 3-4" of pine bark to eliminate it. The new pathways created a unifying floor of mulch that connected 4 distinct spaces: the 2 sunny gardens, the Birdhouse Garden and the fire pit. The #1 promise to myself about the new pathways was to keep them wide and open (there's another one to the right also, see photos below). The one in the above photo leads north; the other (below) east, both with some curves along the way.

July 1, 2014, view from west to east BEFORE pathways.

Pathway from west to east AFTER pathways, photo July 2015.

They are each 10-15' wide at various points. In other words, I have to deliberately consider each installation along the borders in order to keep my promise to myself and not to allow whatever I plant to encroach into the open space. That's not an easy discipline for a plant/design/garden lover!

8.2.2014 I layered the entire pathway with cardboard and pine bark. Same pathway as first photo, only this photo is north to south. Same direction as photo below.

Almost a year later. Same pathway as first photo, only this photo is north to south. Same direction as photo above.

Recently, I trimmed the perennial peanut groundcover (Arachis glabrata) because it was creeping its way past the middle of the pathway (as you can see in the first photo). The Florida-Friendly perennial peanut was one of the few plants already growing in this bed when we bought this home, but it was barely surviving and weed-infested. I made the decision to keep it even though I had no prior experience with it. It is a lovely mat of soft green foliage and bright yellow flowers. It's easy enough to trim, but I've broken a promise. A promise to myself not to have any groundcovers in this new garden that needed regular maintenance like trimming with a weed wacker. I had to trim the groundcover in order to keep the other promise. I really do want those pathways to stay wide and open! With that confession, I will say I am sticking to most of my personal vows about this new garden trying to keep maintenance low (ish).

What about you? Which promises do you make about your garden and keep? Break?



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If you've just arrived to this page as a new gardening friend or perhaps missed the back story about how we moved from our home and garden of 30 years to the house next door you can catch up here... http://www.hoeandshovel.com/2014/07/a-new-journey-bitter-and-sweet.html 


All material © 2007-2015 by Meems for Hoe and Shovel Gardening Blog. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Answers For the Front Garden

Front garden: Layered understory of mature oak trees. Var. Shell Gimger, Azaleas, Xanadu philo, caladiums, Var. Flax lily, Asiatic Jasmine, Begonia, Persian Shield

Most of my gardening time is spent in the back garden. I spend much less time in my front garden.

Shaded seating area at the end of a pine straw pathway in the front garden

It's mostly shady due to the trees and tree limbs that hang out over it almost entirely. The plants I've chosen for the front are extremely low-maintenance and easy-peasy to care for. Yet they are arranged in a pleasing fashion.

Southside of the front garden from the entrance of the driveway. 'White Wonder' caladiums in the foreground. 'Raspberry Moon' caladiums in the middle. 

Since I removed all the grass and planted the front garden with alternative ground covers, it is actually easier to maintain. Did you know a plant doesn't have to be low-lying to be considered a ground cover? All the plants you see in this photo can be used to replace the lawn.

Another view of the front garden next to the street.

These plants require less water, less fertilizer, and less attention than a lawn. I rely on nature to eliminate any pests I might have. Honestly, I haven't had any pest problems I needed to address in a couple of years. Nature balances nature. Predator bugs know how to get rid of harmful bugs. It is so much more advantageous to feed the soil with amendments than to worry about fertilizer. Healthy plants don't need fertilizer.

Front garden: the north side of the driveway 

The front garden has a slight slope toward the street. A blend of Florida-Friendly plants mixed with Florida natives makes this part of the garden super-easy to sustain.
Happy gardening, Meems

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To find out more read my Lowe's Creative Ideas Regional Gardening article which includes 3 Easy Steps to Make Your Front Yard More Inviting (click here). 

You might also be interested in:
5 Reasons to Make Your Own Shade
Florida Native Plants
Mixing Florida Natives with Florida Friendly Plants
Removing the Lawn One Section At A Time
Front Lawn Renovation Project

***Don't forget to visit Hoe and Shovel on Facebook and LIKE us to join in the discussions. We post photos there (almost) daily and would love to hear from you!

A Snapshot of Layering a Lush Landscape

A quick glance at a mature planting bed and the identity of the numerous layers of plant materials might be overlooked at first sight. In our hurry-up culture we have a tendency to instantly take note of the overall view with our mind's eye; summing it up with our judgment of approval ... or not. Then we move on.
Just for a moment what if we linger right here? I'm struck by the complexity that any one segment from the garden represents. Each plant tells a story. Each part of the garden is brimming with its own history regarding the planning, toil, and nurturing it required to get to this point.

In a working garden there is a continual ebb and flow of change. Additions and removal, transplants, divisions, and seeds make up the whole and the parts. Nothing remains stagnant as a garden is where life is abounds.

So if we were to take apart the layers of one scene i.e., the first photo we would see towering scrub oak trees clumped together in their own mini-grove creating the foundation for a naturalistic garden scene. At their base saw palmetto shrubs (serenoa repens) randomly placed evoke feelings of a native Florida oak hammock. These were the starts. The beginnings. Gradually the rest has been added.

There are a few native Scrub palms (Sabal etonia) dotted throughout this mixed bed along with Southern Indica Azaleas.

Mammoth bulbs of 'Red Flash' caladiums peek over the border edged by variegated aztec grass. Also 'Miss Muffett' caladiums clump here and there to blend with all the reds and greens for summer brightness. The large palmate leaves on the Jatropha podagrica (better viewed in second photo) add lushness beside the caladiums.

The medium-height layer includes perennial Xanadu Philodendron. Utilized as a houseplant in most zones but here we put them directly in the ground and mix them up with our Florida native and Florida-Friendly selections.

Tip: plant caladium bulbs between xanadu and aztec grass and the branches on the xanadu help to hold up the caladiums. The aztec grass wedges them in for longer enjoyment at the end of their season when they tend to droop .

Stromanthe sanguinea 'Trio-star' cast a colorful echo of the 'red flash' caladiums. Its foliage is watercolored in green, white, and brilliant red. This one is tender to frost and needs some extra protection during those few chilly nights of winter.

Filling a pocket between palmettos are a few Cordyline 'Chocolate Queen' plants that, like so many of my choices, depend on variations of foliage coloration for their spark of tropical beauty.

What catches my interest most is the unseen. It requires a detailed observer to take an extra moment for a close up view to notice the ground covers. Behind the aztec grass and on the floor level you'll find begonias.

Bromeliads cover parts of the ground areas. Begonias and broms divided and transplanted from other parts of the garden.

And one of my very favorite covers for those otherwise empty ground spots is the 'Satin Checks’ peacock ginger, Kaempferia elegans. But you could easily miss them altogether unless you took the time to lean over the plants in plain view to see the hidden treasures below them.

Layers and layers! Full of surprises and joy!

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Additional plants in this bed not mentioned:
False blue ginger
Shampoo ginger
Acalypha wilkesiana 'fire dragon'
Aspidistra elatior, Variegated Cast Iron
Clerodendrum wallichii 'bridal veil'
Clerodendrum paniculatum 'pagoda flower'
impatiens
Clerodendrum thomsoniae 'bleeding heart'