Help me with my yard/gardenFollow

Ok, so I have extensive gardening experience with a few things, and none at all with others. As I've always lived in an apartment (It's two years in my house next month), I'm very familiar with annuals and a few perenials, but never wanted to invest the time (or money) in shrubs or bulbs since I wasn't sure if I'd really see the result of my efforts.

I want to plant some bulbs for the spring. You do that at some point in the fall, right? When exactly? Any suggestions for longer-blooming bulbs in northern climates (I'm sick to death of tiger-lilies by the way).

Also, rather than the expense of a fence/rock wall in my front yard, I'm thinking of going with some box hedges to hopefully keep Hannah from running into the street without at least learning the high-jump first. Any suggestions on fast-growing varieties? I want to sell the house next summer/fall, so I'd like them to look decent. That is, if I can even plant them in the fall? Can I do that? Please don't make me use google.

Nexa

Oh, and don't suggest bulbs that I'll have to dig up in the fall and plant again in the spring or whatever. I know myself well enough to know I'm just not going to do it and they'll die.

Nexa

Definitely plant bulbs in the fall. Spring is too late.

I had minimal success with Lilies so for the past 3 years we have done planters filled with Impatients. They are easy to manage and ours have turned into bushes. You can keep them one color or mix in a variety of pinks, reds, whites, etc.

Our tallest "bush" is about thigh high and about 4' wide. It started out as 4 little bunches.

Those you plant in mid may and with proper water should stay in bloom till at least mid September.

That's a really cool idea. I love burning bush, but hadn't thought of it as a living-fence. Are they easy to prune? I don't have a huge yard, so I wouldn't want them spreading out too much. That one in the picture would be most of my yard, haha.

Nexa

Edited, Aug 29th 2007 12:37pm by Nexa

Hahahaha. DSD and Nexa are talking about trimming bushes.

Bearded irises do fine in northern climates (and they smell heavenly), and no, they don't need to be dug up. For very early blooming spring bulbs go with crocus and daffodils or jonquils. Peonies are also a beautiful perrenial, though they're not a bulb.

Hedges can be a bit of a pain to keep up but they are much nicer than any man made fence. I recommend getting a gas or electric hedge trimmer. Even a small hedge can get quite labor intensive to trim by hand. Lilacs also make a nice flowering hedge but I don't know how fast they grow. Trim them back as soon as they're done blooming for even more flowers the next spring.

Peonies Dahhling, don't forget your Peonies.

Adelman's is a great place in Wisconsin to get them from, mail order of course.

The upside is they are really easy to grow and you can almost completely ignore them, plus they attract ants and hence are a curiosity magnet for kids.

har har har folks. Let the grown ups fiish their bush conversation.

I tend to go out and prune them once every few weeks. Using it as a fence though, you're less apt to have to go out as often. I would say look at maybe trimming them a few times per year, but not overly much

From pics you've posted, it looks like you have some garden area shaded by trees.

Randomly plant Crocus, Lily-of-the-valley, Harebell and Bluebell bulbs under the trees in the next 3-6 weeks (before the night-time frosts start). 2-3 inches below the surface, and they'll bloom from the last falls of snow to the april showers.

They look wild, natural, and need no attention once you've planted them. Year after year (Some of them self-propagate).

If you're really attentive, you can harvest the crocus stigmae to make your own saffron - how avant-garde is that!

At the last house, I also added wild garlic - pretty foliage, and flowers in April/May, a sweet garlicy scent, and the bulbs dry wonderfully if you pick them in June.

Alternatively, pave the entire area for a more maintenance-free option.

I love that week!

hehe, thanks for all the ideas folks! I'll let you know what I end up doing!

Nexa