Hi,

I prepared a 6'x30' raised bed garden over the last 2 years and last fall I finally started planting it basically getting 90% of my desired plants in this last spring. When selecting plants I did a lot of research - I probably have half a dozen books on perennial gardens. What I'm learning is that all the planning in the world won't really help much unless you have intimate knowledge of the plant.

Anyhow, the good news is that nearly all the plants are growing well. I'll get to the bad news.

Let me list some of the plants I selected -

Cone Flower (Rubinstern)

Liatris Spicata (Floristan Violet)

Liatris Spicata (kobold)

Salvia East Friesland

Achillea Moonshine

Achillea m. Snow Sport

Phlox maculata Miss Lingard

Pyrethrum Mixed Hybrids

Various kinds of Asiatic and oriental lilies

I also have some smaller plants towards the front of the border such as mini roses, various Dianthus and others.

I have 4 floribunda roses and 2 climbing roses and they are doing great.

First some of the specific problems-

One of the problems I'm having is that the Liatris and Salvia are falling down. The flower spikes on one of the Liatris (Floristan) completely fell down (I put in stakes to save it). With the salvias I'm guessing they may require a mid season haircut. I know that these 2 plants don't really need fertilizer and since my soil was not well aged I did add a fair amount of nutrients to the soil this first year.

The second problem is more general. Despite trying to be mindful of the heights of these plants, the estimates given in books and the sellers can be off by 50% in some cases. Some of the plants that I placed near the front of the border (ie. Achillea Snow Sport) are much taller than expected while some that I placed in the rear are shorter than expected (ie. Cone Flower). The Floristan Violet's have exceeded 4 feet! I have some mini roses towards the front of the border and most of them are covered by the Snow Sport. Although it's intended to be a cottage garden there's very little height progression from front to rear. I have noticed that many cottage style perennials are tall plants - very few are less than 2' tall and many exceed 4'.

Anyhow, what I'm thinking I need to do is take notes/pictures on the current plants - height, spread, bloom time etc. and then re-plan the garden based on this info. I think all of the plants I have listed transplant well in the fall. I may have to ditch some of the especially tall plants and substitute similar but smaller varieties.

Just sort of wondering if any of you have been through this process.