I had no plan for this garden by the side of my house. Some of you will say “and it looks like it”. Right now, it is dominated by Obedience Plant, Physostegia virginiana, which as you can see, I don’t spend a lot of (any) time staking up.
The reason there is no plan for this garden is because most of the plants along this side were given to me by other gardeners when I first moved into this house. I didn’t quite know what my plans were for the entire landscape at that time, so I decided to plant all of these passalong plants along this side of my house to hold them over. And I never got around to moving them.
Along with the Obedience Plant, I also have growing here an ornamental grass (I call it Zebra grass, but it’s not the same as what most people call Zebra grass), cone flowers (Echinacea purpurea), old fashioned tiger lilies (Hemerocallis fulva), some four o’clocks (Mirabilis jalapa), purple columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), giant catnip (Nepeta grandiflora), periwinkle (Vinca minor), and a variegated kerria (Kerria japonica ‘Variegata’).
The kerria is the “daughter” plant of a kerria on the other side of the fence. It sprouted up from the roots of the mother plant, and I left it alone.
Like I said, I had no plan, I just planted.
I certainly think it is better than my neighbor’s side garden shown below, which faces my No Plan garden. It’s a No Plant garden.
(To be fair to my current neighbors, they just moved in earlier in May, and are the fourth owners in 9 years. For whatever reason, no one who gardens has lived there, and so they never seemed to see the need to plant something along this side of their house. I have high hopes for the new neighbors, that they will finally plant something. I’ve seen them out looking at it, so I think they are at least thinking about it.)
I hope this shows gardeners who are waiting for the perfect garden plan that sometimes you just go for it, plant stuff and see what it looks like. Now, before any landscape designers/architects or garden designers freak out reading that little gem of advice, relax, there is also a time and a place for a garden/landscape plan.
I like your “permanent” nursery bed! I think it’s a great idea to have a home for plants that may be moved in the future and still enjoy them in the meanwhile. Sounds like you may have inspired the new neighbors!
I love your house border, much better than the no plant garden.There are a lot of those here, all concrete or gravel.Yuck!The best gardens come together after years of planting, experimenting, moving..If it works keep it!
Planned or unplanned, foliage and blooms are much nicer to look at than plain walls 😉
I use whatever space I have as holding beds for my veggie plants. Sometimes have to wait until a good spot opens up!
Regarding your previous posting…I am also planning the next years garden and can’t wait to find something new to grow from the catalogs.
Lynn
I like your unplanned garden. I can identify with that. I kept many things in planter boxes until our yard was ready for planting. Even now, I still plant things there until I figure out what to do with them. Here in Honduras, I can’t always find the things I want to get, so I experiment with others in the meantime. It’s good to have a place to do that.