I’m tempted to order a pre-planned garden. High Country Gardens has several that look as if they’d provide interesting and beautiful color, even in tricky spaces.
The one in the picture is for a long, narrow space. I would just love to have an area next to my back fence look like that. But, I’m not sure I’m up to the soil preparation since I can’t stand well enough to dig with a shovel. Using a trowel seems like it might take way too long.
One of the things I loved most in England was the narrow gardens in front of village homes. They were magnificently charming in color and varying flower heights. So, it looks as if I could have a garden nearly like that, if only I could prepare the soil.
Maybe a better bet for me would be to buy bulbs and perennials, a few at a time, and hope for a pleasing combination when they come into bloom.
That’s the trick, though, isn’t it… getting the heights, colors and flowering times all in the right combinations.
What gives me pause, is the way I don’t quite get things right. For instance I spent several months this winter trying to get a tomato to grow indoors in Solatube light. I was delighted to find a variety from England, Lizzano, that boasted a liking to bright light, but not direct sunlight. The seeds did not disappoint, at least in terms of them coming up. Whether I get tomatoes, or not, is yet to be seen. Lizzano Tomato Seeds from England ~ Read More.
However, they did not grow into proper tomato plants despite months of time to do so. The result is that I now have several tomato seedlings that are reputed to like bright light, but not direct sunlight. With summer nearly here, England’s tomatoes may not be suited, at all, to growing here in the high desert, once they can go outside.
To overcome the problem, I’ve ordered a hanging pot with an “ecoliner” ~ reputed to hold water vastly better than coir baskets ~ as a test, to see how it might work to have them pendant from the post holding up my deck portal. We’ll see.
Back to flowers, I’ve put off for far too long ordering the agastache I love most, Agastache Coronado Red. Now, it’s out of stock. Darn it! But these other varieties look lovely and since they also appeal to hummingbirds, they will do just fine.
This is Ava’s Hummingbird Mint. It grows to 4 or 5 feet high, with a spread of about 2 feet. I love that the blurb for it says, “Will tolerate compost enriched garden loam.” That sounds really hopeful for me and my trowel. If only it also tolerated clay.
Texas Hummingbird Mint comes in a shorter pot, only 2.5 inches. It grows about two feel less tall, and spreads to about 18 inches. It’s two dollars cheaper, too.
4/9/2014 ~ I’m going to try it! I’ve ordered several things, concentrating on sunny areas so that if I want to interchange some of the plants, it will work. Though, since I use weeper hose I’m not sure how the native plants I ordered will do, given that they are adapted to low water availability.
I can see that it would have been vastly cheaper to have ordered a pre-planned garden, but if I received all those plants and some died because I couldn’t get them planted in good soil or quickly enough, it would have made me sad. So, this is the best option for me. Happiness!
4/12/2014 ~ My plants arrived yesterday evening, shortly after a friend helped me prepare the soil where some of them will live. The plants are beautiful! Very healthy.
I love the way High Country Gardens packages their plants for shipping. The plants tend to look quite happy when they arrive.