hey ken, I'm relatively new to gardening and new to this house as well, so I think I need to do more research to answer your questions. Great questions they are - I never really thought about those things. The flowers would only be about a foot from the house's front exterior and there are no overhanging trees or any other large foliage that is close by. I'll have to check out the # of hours and type of light and let you know. Stay tuned. Thanks!!

So it seems that the front of my house gets about 6 hours of direct sunlight/day, from about 1-7/8 pm. Since its the afternoon sun, and the front of the house gets it directly, should I look at plants that prefer part-sun or sun?

In general, the term "full sun" is usually defined to mean direct exposure of 6 hours or more. Specifically, the afternoon sun is considered to the most intense. SO, I'd consider your location as a sunny location and go from there. I'm sure that ken will agree. ;-) If your sun exposure was in the morning hours, some of the shade loving plants would probably be fine.

You have a large choice of annuals for that site. I have zinnias, lantana, iceplant, sedums, echinacea, and pentas in my northern side of the house.

I'm relatively new to gardening and new to this house as well, so I think I need to do more research to answer your questions. Great questions they are - I never really thought about those things.

===>>>> and that is why i took the time to give you the variables to mull over ..

frankly .... you can plant just about anything in the sun you list ... except for production plants like veggies .... or giant flowered plants.. like T roses ...

sun is energy .... which the plant converts to food for itself .... and to produce something big.. you need a lot of sun .. make sense ...

rhiz told you what full sun is.. part sun.. or part shade is anything less.. simple as that ...

just go buy some annuals .. and experiment..

now.. lucy.. splain to me why you can only do a one foot bed.. i see more problems with that.. than which plants you choose ...

will you never need to get at the house facing??? and whats on the other side of the one foot.. a hot sidewalk ?????

any chance at a pic of the spot???

ken

ps: you have HOT sun .. from the hottest part of the day.. so learning to water properly will be important ....

And don't forget about reflected heat and sun from the home. That's a factor that many don't take into account when selecting plants.

Well I definitely don't need to do a 1' bed...there is a huge front yard. But, I want to keep it simple this first year. What do you suggest?

Here are 2 pics of the front of the house.

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My back porch faces Southeast, but due to the large trees from the neighbor's yard, I don't get any sun until 1 pm. Here's what I've discovered in the last 5 years, planting in window boxes. The geraniums did only so-so, but my lobelias, impatiens, and browallias are quite happy there. I also thought that the late day sun would work for most sun annuals, but have not found that to be true in my case. Dahlias and balsam impatiens didn't do much, and snapdragons and trailing zinnias languished, or didn't grow much at all. Portulacas were miserable! Herbs did well however, with basil, rosemary and sage flourishing. My coleus and tuber begonias did well on that same little porch, even with the heat reflecting off the side of the house.

I suggest New Guinea impatiens, as they are more sun and heat tolerant, but don't need a full day sun. Also consider coleus, as they also have some nice colors to choose from, plus no deadheading necessary! You may have more success sticking with the part sun plants.

Well, you didn't ask, but I'm going to give you some advice any way. Those bushes are way too close to the house. They need to be at LEAST 3 feet away from the foundation; unless you want to dig them all out some day.

gracie01, that's true about the bushes, unless they are dwarf types. I hope they are not, this house eventually needs some larger shrubs to balance the overall appearance.

I'll be the 3rd person to say Coleus. These are about great-looking leaves, not flowers. So they don't have to be "in bloom" to make you go WOW! A lot of people even prefer to cut the flowers off but that's a personal decision you get to make. If you see one kind of coleus and don't like it, keep looking. There are thousands although any one store is unlikely to have a large selection.

I also think ageratum, snapdragons, any of the cocks-combs, marigolds, moss roses, nemesia would be good candidates.

Being new, why not try a little of a lot of different things? Say you wanted a total of 60 little plants out there. Get 10 different 6-packs and you will then know for next year which ones you want to repeat.

Here's an easy way to have a bigger bed next year. Gather newspapers this summer, at least a 2-foot stack. When it cools off, spread the newspaper (do not use any slick, advertising sheets) over any area you want to be a new flower bed. Do a thick layer, about 10 individual sheets. Cover with 6-8" of finely ground mulch. Next spring this will be ready for plants (but probably not seeds.) Just check before you start making a bunch of holes that the grass is definitely dead. This would be a good time to move those bushes away from your house if you don't do it right away this spring.

When you dig holes next spring, make sure to puncture the newspaper layer so the roots can get past it. Push the mulch away a little and fill each hole with the 'dirt' of your choice around each plant - yard dirt, potting soil, compost, your own mix, depending on your budget and other personal preferences. Leave the level of the dirt in the hole an inch or 2 below the surrounding mulch so you have room to put a little mulch around your new plants, but only a thin layer. This is called a lasagne bed in case you like the idea but find my details contrary to your way of thinking, look for variations on these forums. For every 100 people doing it, there's probably at least 75 different particular ideas.

The NEXT year, all of this mulch will have turned into the most luscious stuff to plant in you could imagine. You may need to add a couple inches of new mulch each spring as it decomposes.

If you are still buying annuals to plant along the front of your house, try annual vinca. It looks a lot like impatiens but much more tolerant of heat and sun. They're easy to find in six packs and lots of colors available. A darker color would show up well against your house.

I think I would make the bed wider and maybe not plant shrubs in such a straight row.. And for now since shrubs are so small add a trellis or two with annual vines growing on them for the much needed height such as cardinal vine or black eyed Susan vine