Bordering On A Summer

Borders are tricky, they can put out lots of color and then take a rest.  That's where annuals come in keeping things interesting and colorful until the next big display.

Blue Paradise is one of my favorite phlox introduced by Piet Oudolf.  It is not as sturdy as say David Phlox, but it is well worth staking for the continual summer and fall display if deadheaded.  Note it is blue in the morning.

And Magenta in the afternoon

The Knockouts are taking a break and the phlox and shasta daisies are filling in the display.

 

The border is anchored by annuals impatiens, snapdragons, coleus and allysum.

Impatiens Wild Thing

I started this from seed and only had eight out of twenty-five seeds germinate.  It is a wonderful impatiens, compact, strong and very floriforus, probably not in the nurseries because of its germination habit.

I also grew La Bella Snapdragon that I saw at the Chicago Flower and Garden show.  It was difficult to find the seeds but finally did at a Chicago based seed company called Germania.

Red Rum Daylily will be cut down when done blooming to make way for the impatiens Wild Thing and the Lime Coleus to take over.

The secret to effective borders is to have many plants peeking out to keep the interest up in down flowering times.

Jack Frost Brunnera peeks out all summer with its lovely foliage, a gerber daisy, roses, snapdragons and a shasta ready to bloom.

Peeking out is really the secret for an effective border, but this is where it becomes tricky to just have something leaning forward rather than being smothered by other plantings.

Blue Sunshine Geranium is my new favorite, much more delicate than Rozanne and allows everything to peek out!

Rozanne is a great geranium but it tends to climb over other plantings rather than weaving around and through.

Intensia Blueberry Hill belongs in the garden.  I had it in my containers and it looked messy and flopped, so I took it out and let it peek out behind other garden plantings, just lovely.

Keep the borders tight with plantings, verticals help keep the eyes moving along looking for patterns.  Obelisks, trellises, fence planters and arbors keep the garden interesting.  The irises on the bottom right keep the eye going upward even though it is only foliage.

Another thing that keeps a border interesting is the use of tall and short plantings in succession.

Some plants in a sunny border are banished to the back where shade takes over.  Here is Maggie Daley astilbe with Ghost Fern very happy even though everything in front of them is part of a sun loving group.

Border Patrol

As I make my rounds of the garden each day, I become more and more aware that it is a garden of borders.  I don't have room anymore for islands or berms so borders frame the small amount of grass that I have.

There is a border of roses, Knockouts and Pink Meidiland, phlox, lilies and daylilies, daisies and other perennials that keep this going throughout the summer.

On the sitting side of the patio Green Velvet boxwood is enhanced by coleus and sweet potatio vine spilling over the raised bed.  These plantings do not draw bees or other insects.  An outside fan on the patio keeps the mosquitos at bay.

Pathways are important to lead you into the border and in some cases even have a place to sit and relax.

I am on another small pathway taking this photo, not enough room to sit but it allows me to get into the garden.

To keep it interesting it is nice to have highs and lows in the border.  The south side is a very hot area during the summer so the plantings have to be appropriate.

I changed the plantings this year to zinnias, crotons that I wintered over, sedum, daylilies and coneflowers.  The clematis and Eupatorium Chocolate also do well in the heat.  There is still some veronica here that has survived, but most of the perennials I have tried have not been able to take the heat.

The front south border does not get the relection of the heat from the house so it is much easier to grow and keep watered the perennials that thrive here.

Little Henry's Garnet Sweetspire faces southeast and for the first year in seven is going to bloom profusely.  Don't you just love all that bulb foliage, I always hate it this time of year!

I used a systemic on it last year and again this spring along with feeding it an acidic fertilizer (read that it prefers an acid soil).  So, I guess we'll keep this one.

Little Henry you've got a reprieve!

Groundcovers help a great deal in regard to weeds and water retention.  This is Blue Dart Myrtle in the front areas.

The front borders are more subtle with splashes of color not masses.  Soon, the daylilies and lilies will be blooming along with the heuchera, astilbe and hosta.  Lirope is the ground cover in this part shade bed under the Chanticleer Pear tree.

My Endless Summer Hydrangeas actually have quite a few flower heads this year.  Let's see if they can repeat their first show.

Wintercreeper is a border across from Endless Summer, suffered from scale, dormant sprayed and treated with a systemic.  It looks good so far. hate to lose it because it turns a beautiful crimson color in the fall.

The astilbes are about ready to bloom on the north side.

This north side border does get morning sun, as you can see, and the baskets at the top of the fence get even more sun later in the day.  It took me awhile to figure out the planting scheme.  The bleeding hearts take up a lot of room but when they begin to yellow I can cut them down.

I guess even my vegetable garden is a border along the driveway but my most surprising border is beyond my back garden, outside the fence and beyond the gate.

The Alley Garden

Borders do not have to be masses of flowering perennials and annuals.  They can be just interesting in various tones of green, interspaced with darker leaf colors and grasses. 



The Art Of Peeking In The Garden

For all season bloom it is important to use the art of peeking, especially in a small garden.  Sometimes it begins as an experiment to see if it works, like my plumbago under my daylilies.  Then there are some peekers you know will work such as Broadway Lights Shasta taking over for Red Rum Daylily (which will be cut to the ground when done blooming - will get a flush of new leaves but not as tall).

Gaura will bloom all summer from behind the impatiens, daylilies will bloom inside the Shastas, behind the roses.  Annuals in pots can peek out anywhere you need them, moving them if need be.  Nicotiana will take over for the daylilies by Rozanne and Perilla will grow quite tall to fill in around the Dahlias.  It's like a game called "What's Next," and with a little planning, you will always have something coming next into fall.

I am not real thrilled with some of the Clematis growing along the south side fence.  It should be sun, but it is not towards the back of the border because of the neighbor's foliage which I love so much in the spring.  I am going to choose more carefully such as bloom time so that the vertical garden is going all season. 

That's why gardening is such fun, there's never an end!