Thursday, July 8, 2010

Everything in this front yard garden comes up on its own each year. All I have to do is cut back the very invasive lemon balm from time to time.






My beloved 4 o'clocks at the top. The lemon balm is in the bottom picture, spiky green plant on the left between the red amaranthus.

5 comments:

icebear said...

So, most everything in there is either perennial or self-sows happily? Looks great, its a nice balance of color and texture. I don't have a lot of luck with flower gardens so i envy yours! :o)
4 o'clocks are delightful!

Michelle said...

We are trying desperately to create a garden just like yours. Slowly replacing all the weeds with flowers. I have planted 4 lemon balm, and in our case, we hope it takes over. Right now they are big bushes, do they spread? We've had ours for 2 summers and they haven't gone anywhere except into a larger and larger bush :( I planted mint too, hoping it would go crazy and spread but the same story there.

Pam J. said...

Thanks everyone! Yes, icebear, everything is perennial or self-sows. Nothing was planned and it shows. Some plants are short and in the back so they can't be seen from the street, others (like the amaranthus) are in the front and they get very tall, if the deer allow it, and they also try to take over the entire bed. It's all just one big mess but there are moments in the summer, like right now, when it actually looks like I planned it.

And Michelle, the lemon balm spreads but only in the sense that new plants pop up all over the place...it doesn't spread like a ground cover.

The only guiding principle I have with all my garden beds is this: what will the deer ignore?

FUZZARELLY said...

Very lovely flowers and plants, using my favorite method - laissez faire gardening.

Found a stump yet? ;^)

JGH said...

Love it! My perennials have taken such a beating this summer due to lack of rain. Many have died back completely. I'll have to try 4 oclocks. I have the same problem with lemon balm.