Here is what I have left last time with this new flower bed on the west side of my house.
Since then, more plants were put in, and the bed was mulched with pine bark nuggets. I love the color and the texture of pine barks, and the smell too! The other bonus is if I need to dig and plant later, the soil mess made on the TOP of the mulch won't be so obvious, kind of a nice feature for this not very tidy gardener :)
Here are two pictures of this bed from different angles.
Did you see that small tree with bare sticks next to the rain berrel? That is the Datura metel with all leaves eaten by tomato hornworms that I told you in my last post. Fortunately, I already saw the new leaves are emerging from the tree.
The pathway turned out to be lots of work. As I mentioned before, this area is a low point of the garden. Therefore, the recent frequent rain made the pathway very muddy to work on. We removed the grass roots as much as we can, and then put a layer of weedblock fabric, followed by small gravels. We still need to place the stepping stones, and then cover the rest area with bigger marble chips. With school starts tomorrow, we may have to hold this last part of project a little longer.
Nevertheless, this area is alerady much nicer to look at, no more muddy grass-less area to walk on! Not to mention I got a new playground!
Here is the broad view of this area so far.
Oh, wait, do you see that little flower bed at the right bottom side? I never showed this to you before because it did not exist!
When working on the pathway on the side yard, we figured the remaining grass area to the paved backyard is also looking ugly with the same water puddle issue. So we decided to extend the side path way to connect the backyard paved area.
Of course, I don't want to waste any unnecessary space for this pathway, so another tiny flower bed was opened, and perfect for some of my shade loving plants that have been overflowing at my front patio for quite long time! So, here it is, another new flowerbed filled up with plants already!
Some plants in this bed include Coleus, Purple Queen, Spathiphyllum (Peace lily), Torenias, two kinds of Begonias, Kalanchoe, Impatiens.
Oh, where are my EXTRA plants going to go if there is no more grass area for me to open?!
Well, maybe I should worry about that later. For now, I am going to enjoy my new space and hope good things keep coming to my garden :)
Amie, your new project is looking good. Love the choice of plants. Mulching is such a blessing as it suppresses weeds, keeps the soil moist in dry times and it also looks good. It is a pleasure to walk around your garden path. The plants look a treat and it is also nice to see some familiar faces. It is so exciting to EXPAND!
ReplyDeleteHello Ami,
ReplyDeleteI love your new playground and your selection of plants. I have been thinking of creating one myself, but need to figure out where to locate it :-)
Ami ~ I love your two new playgrounds. You are doing well and your pictures make me want to get outside to play myself. I was out a few minutes ago and it really is cooler than it has been.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your new playground areas. They are lovely and will only get lovelier with time.
FlowerLady
How do you do all that playing in this heat? You have been busy, busy. It all looks great and I'm sure you will love walking down that pathway now. The ground orchid is a beautiful color. I have a purple one that I thought had died from the cold but it's growing again. It isn't blooming though. Your red leaved begonia is really nice too. Will it be cold hardy for you? I've just started collecting some begonias. I didn't actually mean to, they keep coming home with me:)
ReplyDeleteDear Ami,
ReplyDeleteAll that work would be a lot even in the cooler weather. To have accomplished all that in the heat of summer around your working hours and two children is remarkable. What a difference a few weeks makes, too. Your new playground has filled in so quickly. I'm a big fan of pine bark for the lusty smell of earth it provides. Not to mention it just looks great!
Extending the bed around to the back was a great design idea. It draws the first one out visually and makes it look larger. You are going to be so happy with this area now that you don't have the mucky grass problem. Great job. Patience, my dear. It will all get finished and then what will you do? ha.
Hope all goes well the first day of school. Have a great week.
Meems
Ami-I love what you've done with your new playground,and how dealt with your water issue.We're having a bit of the same problem here, these days.
ReplyDeleteIt all looks great, Ami!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a beautiful transformation! You have done so much work. I love your paths. They define that area so nicely, and it does look like a wonderful playground. Glad you found a spot for your shade-lovers. I get a little discouraged myself, as I've planned a paved walk down my south sideyard since moving here over five years ago. Will it ever get done? We killed the grass, but now weeds are filling in quickly, since no path was made. I admire how you tackle your projects and get them done. By the way, I always choose pine bark mulch too.
ReplyDeleteI REALLY like the gravel path and wish that I could do the same. Bear in mind that you will eventually have to be vigilant with the weeding, and pick up any debris before they decompose and tarnish your path. I still think its worth it to not have to mow, and the contrast really sets off the plants. I suppose you could even pave the path someday if it gets to be too much trouble.
ReplyDeleteLovely new addition, Ami! I've been deleting grass, too...very slowly but surely. I like the gravel path but I really love all the beds. The flower combo in your 1st featured bed is lovely. I see your ground orchids are happy. Mine have only produced leaves...no flowers this year. ?!
ReplyDeleteTitania: Mulching was one of first a couple of things I learned when I started gardening one year ago, and YES, it does make a big difference and also make the garden bed looks nice too!
ReplyDeleteNoelle: I know once you have thinking of creating one, you WILL have one someday! That just happened to me. I would walk around my garden, start forming some idea in my mind, and then one day, I love to make it reality! :)
ReplyDeleteFlowerlady: I think now the evening time will be cooler for us to do some gardening. Can not wait for the cooler weather, so that I can spend a little more time. Also wish my garden could love the cooler weather same as I do :)
ReplyDeleteNanaK: I bought the ground orchid after the frost. Yours probably just takes longer time since they got frost bites.
ReplyDeleteThe red leave begonia was also bought after the frost, so not sure if it is cold hardy. My dragon wing begonia did well in the winter in my front patio last year. We will see this winter, and hope we don't get hard winter than last year.
I know what you mean about the begonia keeps coming home with you! I fell in love with begonia after my first dragon wing begonia, and now I have four differet types in my garden :) They are beautiful, and even the foliage itself!
Meems: I used to use other mulch at the beginning, but they just got messy quickly. Now I am slowly replacing the mulch in other beds with pine barks. Yes, I love the smell!
ReplyDeleteLOL, no, I am not a very patient person. Once I want to do something, I wanted it done quickly, which is not easy with my schedule. I started to learn to slow down a little now :)
Chris: Thanks! Yes, the water issue was what got me to start this project, otherwise that area was a total eye sore. Now, not only it is cleaner, also I have extra space for the plants!
ReplyDeleteJan: Thanks! Glad that you stopped by my garden!
ReplyDeleteFG: Thanks! I have been wanting an area for my shade plants. This will be a start. I still need more space so that I can grow some azaleas :) Removing the grass was pain, and I dreaded doing that. I hope the weedblock and the gravels can do the job to surpress the weeds.
ReplyDeleteRFG: We will put the stepping stones and more marble chips on the path. Hope weeds won't be a big problem since we already removed the grass roots and having the weedblock fabric underlayered. I do consider the possibility to pave the path, just not sure if it is something we can tackle ourselves.
ReplyDeleteLooking good! Something has been eating my plants. I think I research and then look for that tomato horn worm!
ReplyDeleteKimberly: Your ground orchids maybe the same case as NanaK's since they were biten by the frost the past winter. I bought mine after the winter. I have two kinds, one is what you saw in the picture and flowering really nice, the other one is just setting the flower spikes. Maybe yours is also the late type.
ReplyDeleteSusan: Thanks! Tomato Hornworms could be the reason. If yes, you should be able to find them on the back of the leaves. They usually won't leave the plants until they finish the whole plant :)
ReplyDeleteOh, wow, Ami you have done a lot of work on this area and it looks great. You've taken a sideyard and made it into a beautiful and functional part of the garden. I'm really impressed! Good luck to your boys with the new school year.
ReplyDelete