Gardening that small section!

pk · 03-26-2007, 01:30 PM

I have a space next to the South side of my house that butts up to my cement driveway that I would like to plant flowers or something that will fill in the area.

It is only about 12" inches wide, gets plenty of sun and is the entire side of my house. It will be up against a white brick basement wall with a few windows breaking it up down the side.

I can't have anything to tall or they will bend over into the driveway. I don't want anything that will creep over the edge either.

I'm thinking maybe nice mounds with gravel in between, or something that spreads and will take up the entire area but is low in height and does not require alot of attention.

OK, if that is not enough, I also want it to be something that will come back every year and have flowers all summer, or mid-summer into the Fall.

Most everything I see has early Spring flowers or flowers in the first part of the summer. That's not what I want. I love long blooming flowers and especially in the later summer/fall.

My hubby keeps threatening to 'just put grass' in the space. eck So I have to come up with something quick.

Can anyone come up with a good hardy flowering, short/med plant that likes sun and will mass produce and spread, or form nice neat mounds, or both or give me ideas of what to do with this 'space'?

thanks!

pk
:?

**MrKhay** · 03-26-2007, 02:00 PM

Try the wild flower mix. planting grass means mowing it.
Some of that natural mosquito repellant that carol posted.
I hate mosquitoes.

**AJE** · 04-27-2007, 02:02 PM

A Slice of Rocky Landscape! That is what you should do with this sliver of landscape. They are stunted plants that live literally amongst the rock terrains. I have my own rock garden which is 5'x3' wide at my parents house and holds the roots of many plants. Its rocks were hand picked by my rockhound family even the pebbles came from the shorelines of Lake Michigan. The stepping-stones are direct from the Glacial Stradations of the Valders Quarry. The whole thing is beautifully mastered. It truly is one of my favorites of my parent’s gardens. :wink:

PK here is a wonderful site to get you started if you choose this method to take care of that awkward land strip.

http://www.nargs.org/gardening/rockgardening.html

**MrKhay** · 06-22-2007, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJE

A Slice of Rocky Landscape! That is what you should do with this sliver of landscape. They are stunted plants that live literally amongst the rock terrains. I have my own rock garden which is 5'x3' wide at my parents house and holds the roots of many plants. Its rocks were hand picked by my rockhound family even the pebbles came from the shorelines of Lake Michigan. The stepping-stones are direct from the Glacial Stradations of the Valders Quarry. The whole thing is beautifully mastered. It truly is one of my favorites of my parent’s gardens. :wink:

PK here is a wonderful site to get you started if you choose this method to take care of that awkward land strip.

http://www.nargs.org/gardening/rockgardening.html

Give us a photo as an example of your landscaping prowess, Amber

**AJE** · 06-27-2007, 08:03 AM

Amber's Rock or Alpine Garden

**AJE** · 06-27-2007, 08:07 AM

Rockhounding the Valders Quarry, on the top portions of the quarry you'll find the dolomite is gouged out from the Ice Age Glaciations some 12-14 thousand years ago. Neat huh....

**MrKhay** · 06-27-2007, 10:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJE

Neat huh....

Neat!, indeed!

pk · 06-27-2007, 05:02 PM

love to see it but for some reason the pictures are not working.

:?

**keith** · 07-04-2007, 07:30 PM

Can you see them now?

They look great, Amber!

I got a wonderful mix online - could suit your purpose. I'll have to get a link and a picture.

Regards,
Keith

Lauri · 08-13-2007, 10:37 PM

Well, you have a real botanical problem to solve. I know a little about perrenials and don't know of any that will fit your specs perfectly! However, I would suggest you check out the "Dragons Blood" SEDUM family. These sedums are low, mounding, have a very attractive foilage, provide a nice burst of flowers in late June (which you would want to deadhead in July to keep the area neat!). There are quite a few really interesting varieties which you could mix and match to provide interest.

Sedums will grow just about anywhere. Just contact with soil will encourage rooting. They are not an "invasive" species (Ie., they don't readily reseed, send out branching rhyzomes, or flop over to spread.) However, once you plant them, they are difficult to remove because they break apart easily and as I indicated before they root easily!

You might want to plant dianthus (low growing variety) among the sedum. Dianthus is an "annual" that is a perrenial wannabe. If you are lucky it will come back next year and you will have contrasting flower color. It makes a really nice combination. I have a container of varigated leafed (?) sedum and magenta colored dianthus which has been beautiful all summer.
Lauri

pk · 08-13-2007, 10:48 PM

We ended up putting white rock in the entire area with evenly spaced blocks in that I put white low, longer sized containers on. I then planted various flowers in each one with a mixture of annuels and perrenials in them. It turned out to be a bit of a job but it really looks nice, neat and pretty.

I love the more 'wild' flower look and my hubby is more the compact, clean, classic look so this was a way to get both. The boxes look nice and neat but the flowers were more my choices. lol

pk · 08-13-2007, 10:50 PM

Quote:

I have a container of varigated leafed (?) sedum and magenta colored dianthus which has been beautiful all summer.

I like the sound of this and will try to remember this next year to put somewhere in the yard.

Thanks for all the ideas.

pk