We have had two consultations with a new owner who bought in November. He could clearly tell that garden bed space was non existent. He is successfully growing some healthy looking herbs in pots on his stoop. He’s from the southwest so mint is important to him because he makes Mojitos. He also is growing Oregano and Thyme and Basil and Sage, as enjoys cooking. We can see he is serious about his growing. All his herbs look really healthy. Unfortunately he has very little bed space to plant peppers or lettuce or onions or tomatoes. Because of the shaded plot and no back yard area he’s going to need to rent a garden plot at Chinquapin to successfully grow any vegetables. For some reason the previous owners had Laurel bushes placed in the front beds. Very low maintenance and they most likely wanted it that way. These bushes have grown to an enormous size. There is no bed space left. And two very crowded Hydrangeas are trying to survive. We are going to trim these Laurel bushes way back. Bring them to a manageable size so as to make an attempt to dig the root balls up. He offered them to PFX as a relocate, but they say they don’t need them. Our guess is they are just too large at this point to easily relocate them. So we will dig them up. Then we will amend the beds with some new rich soil and plant a few shade perennials. We’ve provided photos of some we recommend. And its possible to enlarge the beds slightly by removing the little amount of grass that there is on either side of the sidewalk and stoop. It’s certainly what we would do if we lived there. In our next post we will provide photos.
Our resident wants to plant. And he wants to learn how to create a garden space. So we are going to visit the nursery this week to take a look at some perennials. Here are a few suggestions. He liked them all. So let’s see where this project takes us. It can be fun. It can cost some money and it will take some time. He is definitely up for it.
Shade Flowering Perennials
Brunnera
Huchera
Woodland Phlox and Grape Hyacinth
We think a nice variety….and these will add color along with the two smallish Hydrangea bushes already in place. It will be fun to create, and our homeowner is so anxious to pull his project together. We are happy to teach, to watch and to guide.