Introduction and some questions

19 years ago

Hi!

I'm a newish gardener in Zone 7, trying to figure out what to do with a shady front yard. I love the cottage garden look, as well as being something of a "low maintenance" gardener.... in other words, once I've put plants in the ground, I kind of like them to take care of themselves as much as possible. I'm a working mom with weird hours, so I just don't have a lot of time to keep up with serious maintenance.

Our yard was badly neglected by the previous owner, an elderly woman, who I swear hadn't done ANYTHING to it in 40 years or more. I've spent the last two years simply trying to get it down to neutral - we're almost there in that the ivy is at least contained to the sides, we've just had the big old elm trimmed both for safety and to increase light a bit, and we're starting to experiment with adding some plants. It has a couple of azalea bushes - they love this part of the world, it seems! - and I've got an Endless Summer hydrangea to plant out there as soon as I can decide where it will get enough sun (the yard is trees on both sides - there is some dappled sun here and there, but that's about it), and this afternoon I put in a couple of strawberry Floxgloves - i'd love for them either to last forever or self seed, but I guess that would be hoping for too much...

In any case, any easy-care, cottage flower suggestions? I admit that at the moment I'm throwing things into the ground pretty haphazardly kind of just to see what will happen - my theory is that if it works, I will get a "messy" cottage look by default; if it doesn't, I'm at least learning as I go!

Many thanks - great resource!

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Comments (4)

keesha2006
19 years ago
Welcome...and good luck! You will love it here. Share pictures when you get a chance.

I might be doing something wrong, but I personally do not find cottage gardening low maintaince...I spend a great deal of time and I am a quite small gardener. If you find a secret share share share! :)
divamum
Original Author
19 years ago
Ha - I'd be embarassed to share pictures at the moment... seriously - it's a wreck! Too long neglected, and I really jsut don't know enough to make it anything (yet).

As for maintenance... I had a REAL cottage garden when living abroad - long established, the front was old roses underplanted with lavender and bulbs, with just enough open gaps to plant some annuals like cottage pinks and other herbs. It was virtually NO maintenance - the occasional weeding, but because of the way it was underplanted, the lavender bush suppressed the weeds pretty well and it was easy to keep up with it even with limited time. This is what I'd LOVE to establish here; our current home has a much bigger front yard, but I keep hoping the principles will apply. And it does seem that in this climate here - at least judging by some of the things I DON'T want growing! - that if you pick the RIGHT plants it's all you can do to kill them.

In the meantime, we have discovered a huge and nasty patch of poison ivy mixed in with - and hidden by - the extensive Virginia Creeper and Japanese Honeysuckle. The neighbour unfortunately got a nasty dose of it.... I attakced it with even MORE Roundup yesterday, and we're hoping to zap all this stuff for once and for all. This is in the ultrasunny backyard, so multiple sets of problems to address!

In any case, continued suggestions would be very welcome! Thanks for your response.
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lavendrfem
19 years ago
Hi divamum,
I spend a lot of time outside too. I just moved to a new home myself and this is really the first gardening year. I think you spend more time outside at first tilling new beds, amending soil and getting things established.
But I think some of the easier plants to grow for me are sedum autumn joy, pink coneflowers, astilbes, cosmos, knockout shrub roses, salvia, and ageratum.

I wasn't sure what colors you like, or if you wanted annuals or perennials. And I'm in a slightly different zone than you...but I hope this helps. Did you spend a lot of time in your other garden?
cooperbailey
19 years ago
Hi I am fairly new to the forum but not to gardening. Although I have learned much here already- always more to learn.
I agree that amending the soil first is the way to go!
There was a great thread posted by trailrunner asking for shade plants- and there was a gazillion plants suggested for her shady area! too many to list here.
There was also an ugly spot thread- so don't be embarrassed! do you have any photos of your cottage garden when you lived abroad? I would love to see it and I am sure others would as well! welcome to the forum!
Sue