WOW! You have really put thought into your plantings. It should be stunning when complete!

Looks great. I was concerned you had to stand on your roof to get that shot:). Maybe a couple pops of red like mahogany heuchera. I'm kinda getting addicted to them too. Thanks for posting.

Wow! I wish I were as organized as you (and also knew how to diagram my photos). That gold dicentra really pops by the Elegans. I love everything so far, including how you have it surrounded by ground cover, ferns, and rocks.

Hey! I'm impressed. Do you have time for a few days in Texas before it gets too hot? It already looks nice. I'm really looking forward to seeing photos of how it progresses.

bk

Becky - Indeed, maybe a little too much thought. I have to take a step back sometimes and remind myself that there is no perfection in nature.

LuckyKat - Hahaaa . . . no I am a scurred of the heights. It was everything I had to lean out the window to get this shot. But I love the aerial view, it really shows off color more so than texture.

Weekendweeder - Thank you ! I don’t plan to use garden markers so I am keeping maps of everything because I am bound to forget the name of something along the way.

Bkay - Girl fire up that Texas BBQ and I am there !!!

You know I will definitely keep you posted as it matures. Albeit years from now. :p

Thanks again for looking :)

Ludi

Ludi, I keep meaning to tell you that I picked up a really nice 2 gal. Elegans a couple of weeks ago. Your Elegans inspired me.

bk

Sounds/looks like a great plan, Ludi. When are you ripping out that ivy for more hosta space? Just sayin...

; )
Don B.

Given the series of progression pics recently (all awesome, by the way) I got to thinking about my own progression this year. While I don’t have years of archived pics to show the growth of individual plants, I do have this old post where I showed my initial design plans earlier this season.

It’s been about four months and a lot of brain power, but I took a few bites out of the elephant.

This is still unfortunately named Bed #1 as I haven’t been able to come up with anything clever or witty yet. It has been the center of my attention this whole season. At first I couldn’t really get much done because of all the rain and my job, but progress picked up in August.

Looking back over my post I’m almost laughing at the plants I had placed. Needless to say my particular personality did not let that original design last very long.

I kept meandering through and switching pots around trying to find that perfect combination. Then after I’d stare at it for a while I would think NO that is all wrong and would switch it up again.

If I had taken a picture of every potential arrangement I considered, you’d be scrolling for hours.

I finally decided that if I didn’t get something in the ground and set an anchor for myself I would never “make up my mind” and forever rearrange pots. (Thank you Chris)

So I bit the bullet and started digging. I have a tedious method for soil amending that I will not go into here, but trust me when I say I make a mountain out of a mole hill. I am giving myself until next weekend to get the rest of what I can in the ground. After that they are better off in the pots for the winter. BUT, they have a spot for next spring and will be the first planted.

Here is the same picture from the original post

And here is the same shot taken this afternoon.

This is after almost 20 hours of hard digging, sifting, amending, and planting. I still have more to do, but the worst is behind me.

Looking over the two pics it’s interesting to see what I kept from the original design.

Here they are labeled side by side.

Again if it is hard to read, just click the picture and it will redirect you to my Flickr where it shows up bigger.

Overall it has been a tumultuous ride in making the decisions for this bed. I ended up using a lot of curves and quarter circles, bending and twisting into one another. It doesn’t show it so much now that things are starting to die back and colors have faded. But I am confident in time my vision will grow and the plants will seem to fold into one another naturally drawing your eye along the bed seamlessly.

HA, doesn’t that sound good on paper ?

Moving on, the black circles are for additional plants I have yet to acquire, but know that I want.

I also have spots reserved for miniature Asiatic Lilies, Caladium, and more Asarum. The Lilies are currently planted in the back and going to overwinter there since this bed wasn’t ready for them yet. They will have all next year to grow in the most sun I can provide on the property. I’m hoping this will give them some extra juice for when they get planted in part shade and have to adjust next fall.

On the left side of the bed (when looking from above) the hill slopes down hard to the drive way. This is where I got a lot of my baby Elegans seedlings. The ivy is currently growing on most of the hill (as you can plainly see) but I have plans to slowly replace it over the years with Ajuga.

This year I cleaned out all the grass and Elegans and built up the slope as an extension of the main garden above. The moss filled in quick, but I will clean that out and put some smaller hostas and maybe Bletilla on the slope heading down into the Ajuga.

Here are before and after

I still have a long way to go before I can just sit back and pull weeds, but I am pleased with the progress I made this year, all things considered. It will be a lot of fun to see how the plants fill in and live up to my expectations.

Here are some more pics of Bed #1, ground level to give you some proper perspective. Those aerial views are awesome, but not good for proportion and size.

Hope you enjoyed and thanks for looking,

Ludi

Bkay !

I am so sorry I missed your comment back in May. Looking back now I see you had mentioned you picked up an Elegans.

How awesome is that !!!

I don't know that I recall you talking much about her this year. How did it fair, or is it still too young ?

Let me know :)

Ludi

Things are looking good, Ludi. You sure have been a lot of thought and hard work into this garden. One question, though, how are you going to contain the ivy because it sure can take over if giving free rein?

DD

Well Ludi, the wax held much better than I anticipated. I think I can keep her in the shade better next year. The wax may hold a little better.

She made seeds her first year!

I bought a 2 gallon pot in May and have been very pleased. Somehow, I didn't think she would do well here. I may have been wrong. She shows very little edge burn. (That's the problem hosta have with our really hot, low humidity Julys and Augusts.)

We'll see how she does next year. So far, it looks like she will do well.

bk

I like the combination of plants you used, of course highlighting the hosta. That is a lot of ivy! I have some and I don't find it too hard to keep the edges under control just by pulling out the errant runners each year. Now take some time to sit and appreciate your hard work.

Ludi, that's a lovely transformation from ground cover to a beautiful garden. I'm glad I waited to post to see the final result because.....the sorrel was going to grow quite large ( love it's foliage colours) where you first contemplated it. The ligularia is going to be a standout if its happy there and getting lots of moisture. One of my friends has a huuuge one. Love the fringe of grasses!

Glad to see someone else growing Silver Star! :). It truly is an upright growing hosta. It'll be interesting watching it grow...mine is only a year old.

I can see in my crystal ball that more of that ground cover will be replaced in the future! Lol

Thanks for sharing.
Jo

I agree with Jo, Ludi. You will be taking more of the ivy out and might as well start planning Chapter Two.

Name? Oh boy, I love to name things. We name the things we love, you know.

So. If you have any thoughts of a statue, a birdbath, a metal sculpture, you might take a cue from that item. For instance, there might be room for a bench or whatever in the midst of that ivy for now. Something anyway that might work with your house and your neighborhood.

While Donna doesn't have her bench in her personal garden, she has it where folks might sit and admire her handiwork.

I like the word Promenade. And Allee. Tres francais, oui?

And your Bridal Falls look SO much better than mine. My Half And Half looks okay though. Now....is Andrew going in this bed? Your triplets are beautiful, and I cannot wait to see them planted.

You know, it occurred to me, upon reading that you were putting your beauties in the ground, that I hesitate to do that with mine? It is a cruel world in the ground. I can never bury anything I love beneath the dirt. Never thought about it like this before--- I suppose that's why I really have a plenty of pots, and feel anxious about the hosta recently placed in the ground.