Wednesday, September 22, 2010

A Late First Birthday Celebration for the New Curb Bed

I've been wanting to do this post to show how the new curb area is faring, but am not entirely pleased with it, and have not taken the time to get the photos posted.  Some of the plants were eaten by rabbits, one of my butterfly milkweeds died, and some of the annuals, just did not get very big.

Here's what the area looked like August 13, 2009.  I get a high from seeing bare dirt.


I was very pleased with the work the guys did on the new curbs.  They were awesome, and careful not to step on plants.


I tried to get photos from similar spots to make some comparisons.  On 8/14/09 it looked like this:


9/21/10:


8/16/09:


9/21/10:


 8/16/09:


 9/21/10:


8/16/09:


9/21/10:


8/16/09:


9/21/10:


8/16/09:


9/21/10:

This is the area that has holes, partly due to the butterfly milkweed dying.  Also, the Spooky dianthus plants don't show up well when not in bloom.  The annuals in this area did not grow very tall, either.


8/16/09:


9/21/10:

I want to plant some Fremont's Clematis in this area next year.  I have some seeds from the one I have in a flower bed at church.  I don't know if they are easily grown from seed.  I may see if I can dig it out next spring and plant it here.


I included some closer views from 9/21/10.

The perennial geraniums have a few new blooms.


This is the rose bush that bloomed all summer, and a smaller variety of goldenrod.


An even closer view of the rose:



This area had a bunch of 'Fireworks' goldenrod that I dug out because I had planted more on the edge of the bed.  There are some daylilies, ironweed, coneflowers, and annuals in there.  I'm sad that the Jupiter's beard is not doing well.  I hope it recovers next spring.



I wonder if the reason the sedums are sprawling is because the area does not get full sun.


I am still pleased with the blue blooming bush clematis whose name isn't coming to my brain, but has been named in other posts.  I like the seedheads as well as the blooms.


The salvia is blooming well.


I should have planted more lisianthus, and put them closer together.  The liatris on the left has been one of the favorite foods of the rabbits this summer.


The lisianthus are planted on the left, along the back of the bed.  The 'Fireworks' goldenrods are opening their buds now.


Well, I better get close this and get ready for bed.  I wanted to get done in time to visit blogs, but it doesn't look like I will make it.  I hope you are having a great week!

7 comments:

  1. sweet sweet gift I see that pretty girl too..sandy

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  2. Happy belated Birthday! Hope it was wonderful. Some people suggest cutting sedum back by half to help it stand up, but I think it's a full sun issue. It's a beautiful streetside garden and I love the trellis for the clemmie...gail

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  3. Good morning Sue ~ Nice to see before and after pictures. What a difference a year makes, and next year will be even better. I've lost all my butterflyweed. The drought of last couple of years did them in, and they did not come back. I loved them for the butterflies.

    FlowerLady

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  4. That was an amazing transformation. You have made a lot of progress. Looks fabulous.
    Hope you are doing well.
    Rosey

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  5. Hi Sue! That's a great improvement...I love seeing these before/after posts! Just imagine how it's going to look next year, and then in 2 years...it's so exciting to see progress. Love that little stick teepee...I may have to steal that idea from my bush clematis :-)

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  6. Trial and error...NOT yours...nature.
    Pretty cool that you captured all the changes in this bed. Geraniums are one of my new favorites.

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  7. Hi Sue,
    It looks like it's filling in fast. Those few bare areas will give you a place to plant things you will probably need to thin next spring.

    I am always digging up plants, so I like to have a few bare spots to use.

    Happy Birthday, curb bed!

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