NWR: Planting a Garden...

Fh and I want to start planting a flower garden at home. We hae a gardener but honestly he is $$$$$$$ and not creative.

We want to find flowers/ plants that can be planted in the front of our house that will look really full and colorful. we have tulips now--when do they die?? We want to plant perennials. Suggestions for what we should plant? Do you have pics of your garden?

Tulips don't last that long--they are usually done by Summer time since they bloom pretty early.

You can plan impatiens and begonias--these are colorful, full plants. They aren't perennials though, so they have to be re-planted every year. They're pretty hardy plants and you can buy them for fairly cheap at Home Depot or Garden World or someplace similar.

For perennials, you can try to plant peonies.

My DH and I just started our garden. The house we just bought had been lived in by bachelors for SOOO MANY YEARS and there was not a flower in the ground. Not to mention totally overgrown.
Lucky for me, both my DH an MIL know a lot about flowers because they both used to work at one of the biggest plant/flower stores in NJ.
Their recommendations:
If you are looking for perennials, there are so many different kinds with different colored flowers. I am assuming you are looking for Herbaceous perennials (flowers as opposed to trees or shrubs).
We just planted a bunch of Hostas because they grow for years and spread every year like crazy. We also just planted some pansies. They aren't my favorite annual, but they do well in late April early May and since we offered to have Mother's day at our house, we figured we needed to put something in the ground. (Most annuals shouldn't be planted before the middle of May due to their inability to survive cool nights.) You can find perennials in yellow, red, orange, pink, blue, purple, white, etc.
When we really hit summer, we will fill in a lot of our empty space with impatiens. They are very pretty, are nice as a filler, and last for a good part of the summer as long as you put them in the ground when the weather starts to get really warm.
Any plant store will have a perennial section with a color guide as well as how large you can expect any flower to get.


ETA: If you are just getting into gardening, you should definitely check out Home Depot. They aren't the most wonderful quality of flowers, but they have gotten much better and are cheaper than most plant shops. Once you get into a routine of knowing what you like the plant stores tend to have a bigger selection and are better quality. Although can be a bit more pricy.

GOOD LUCK!

BJ's

Oh, one of my FAVORITE plants are Canna Lillies (I had a ton of them in Florida). They grow from a bulb, and you can plant them now, but you have to dig the bulbs back up when they die b/c it gets too cold here for them to stay in the ground. You can replant the same bulbs every year. I'll see if I can find a pic

tulips and daffodils are april / may flowers only. Once the flower is gone, let the leaves catch some rays for a month or 2 to recharge the bulb's food supply. When the leaves wither, you can cut them off, and let the bulb lay dormant until next year.

gardens are expensive... it's very difficult to cut corners and save $, especially if you're not an experienced gardener.
An experienced gardener can dig up a tuber plant (hostas, iris...) and break up the tuber, creating several smaller identical plants. Best someone demonstrates that process for you...

so, before you plant, you really have to examine the planting bed.... add a lot of good rich soil, and look at the amount of sun throughout the day.

annuals (like impatiens) will get really fluffy and bloom all year.... so it's really a good bang for your buck... they only cost $10 / flat, and each will end up about one square foot in area by october. They only die at the first frost. Impatiens LOVE water, and do best in part shade (so they don't dry out). They can survive full sun with a lot of water....

Perennials only bloom for a couple weeks on average. For full sun, day lillies do well and bloom in july. Iris bloom in mid june and like part sun, and hostas (I like the ones with the HUGE varigated (2-tone) leaves) do well in part sun, and bloom in july... I love to plant peonies... they are part-sun perennials and blum in late june... but the branches need extra support for those huge flowers! Hydrangea also are part sun, and are blue in acidic soil, and pink in more basic soil (near a concrete walkway).... For a tropical look, spiky yucca love full sun and get a huge white stalk of flowers in july (but are prone to aphids) Daisies and black-eyed susans are full sun perennials which also bloom a long time...

If you have a wall or trellis to cover, clematis vines are perennials and have very pretty flowers and bloom a long time.

All perennials cost a lot more than annuals, and in general, cannot easily be started with seeds.

hope this helps

you girls are awesome!!!