what on the trellis?? .. what season of bloom ...

ken

Honeysuckle in middle and clematis on side. Tho I might move clematis. I'm in Chicago. Doesn't matter what season for Blooming.

What is the exposure (i.e., sun vs. shade)? That will affect folks' responses. In my east-facing garden, in slightly acidic sandy loam, I have Hellebore/Lenten rose, Heuchera/coral bells, Aquilegia/columbine, Alchemilla mollis/lady's mantle, hosta, Tricyrtis hirta/toad lily, daylily, stokesia/Stokes aster, Gentian, Dianthus/carnation, Euphorbia, Lobelia syphilitica/great blue lobelia, assorted ferns, astilbe, Chelone/turtlehead, Brunnera/Siberian bugloss. Mertensia virginica/Virginia bluebells.

If the area is full sun, the list would be vastly different.

That sounds beautiful! It gets 6 hrs of sun. I don't have a lot of space so want to only place what I love. Currently I have mainly grasses and a quick fire hydragnea which I planted this summer.

6 hours of sun means you can grow most full-sun to part sun plants. I would get rid of the grass between the patio and the garden; it must be inconvenient for mow such a narrow strip. Add a few stepping stones to access the bed and perhaps around the BBQ so you don't have to worry about crushing plants when cooking; you can grow low thyme between the stepping stones since it is OK getting walked on some. With a tiny garden like yours, you could choose a color theme and stick with just two or three colors, or you could go for an absolute riot of different colors; it's up to you what appeals.

I'd plant some daffodils and perhaps some tall Allium bulbs this fall between your perennials & grasses and the chain link since they will bloom early before the perennials get tall and then the perennials will camouflage the dying bulb foliage. For a groundcover under the Hydrangea, look at Veronica 'Georgia Blue' for early spring bloom and tidy evergreen foliage the rest of the year that turns dark maroon in the winter. Geranium 'Rozanne' is a long bloomer and would work well letting its long stems ramble around the feet of the grasses. Another favorite of mine is Helenium 'Mardi Gras' which in my garden blooms in a mix of yellow, orange and red from early July and is finally ending around now.

Thanks NHBabs! We live in CHI so that green you are seeing is about all we have. Haha. We have a manual mower that takes about 15 minutes to cut our front and back. :) I'm going to extend that bed another foot I think this fall. Do you have any recommendations for in front of the trellis'? You are so helpful! I love your suggestions.

Nice trellises by the way! It's great to see the photo above - I remember you asking some questions a couple of years ago and your work looks great so far.

Your soil will probably be different than my acid fine sandy loam, so check to see that my suggestions like your soil. The Chicago Botanic Garden does test gardens where you could check out results, online for completed ones or in person for the ones that are ongoing still. I like a couple of Gardenweed's suggestions, columbine and Dianthus. Columbine is a spring bloomer that is a low tuft of foliage the rest of the year and so is easy to fit among other perennials. If not deadheaded it will seed around some, but it's easy to remove any unwanted volunteers or just deadhead before the seeds ripen. I also like the lower-growing silvery-leafed Dianthus/pinks, some of which will bloom just in spring and some on and off all season. It's a huge genus that includes both perennials and biennials, so do research to find one that suits you. A couple of my favorites are Greystone with white spring flowers, and Brilliancy with a long season of reddish pink flowers, both of which prefer reasonable drainage.

Some of the tall meadow rues/Thalictrum would be good to plant in front of the Clematis if they have finished blooming by now. Check out some of Rouge21's posts on Thalictrum 'Splendide', but there are a number of other types as well that this search of this forum may help with. They are a low clump of foliage until they send up their flowering stalks which are full of airy flowers, so I have them at the front, middle and back of various beds.

You could also check out some of the smaller long-blooming roses. Just be sure to get ones that have a reputation for healthy foliage in your area.

As Ken suggested fall sales can be a great source of plants, but with your relatively small garden, having plants you really love is more important to my mind. So far, you have several of my favorites (Quickfire, Lonicera sempervirens - is it Major Wheeler? - and clematis.) If some of the grasses don't work out, I use instead Siberian and Japanese irises and Amsonia hubrichtii AKA Arkansas bluestar for a similar foliage texture. Both have spring flowers and the Amsonia has stunning fall foliage, a rich gold with sometimes a blush of orange. Another plant with fine foliage that will expand in size over time is thread-leafed coreopsis. I am particularly fond of C. Golden Gain which is about 1 1/2' tall with good-sized yellow flowers over a long season, but it likes good drainage, so if you have typical midwestern clay, it may not work for you.

Again, wonderful suggestions! I have some coreopsis I planted under the grasses- hopefully they'll be ok bc my soil is pretty clay like! Lastly, the grasses I have in the back corner I don't think are going to work (feather reed yes but not miscanthus- I thought it grew more thin and vertical) I'm thinking of placing a small juniper tree or something that gives more height and a little more structure for that corner. I was going to move my pee wee hydragnea from my front but i don't think I have enough space. I'd love a small maple there- I just love that purple dark foliage.

Do you have some before photos? NHBabs piqued my curiosity.

It looked like this in the spring. This view is from the ground where the other is elevated from my back porch. I'm about 75% happy with it- I think I'll be 100% once I finish up in Spring. I have an 18 month old baby who doesn't have much tolerance to me gardening most of the time! ;)

You may be able to tell my neighbor basically has a farm in their backyard. Chickens and all. And they are smelly. Almost want to put a real privacy wood fence up to block some of it. Ugh

I have a narrow bed of clematis and have daffodils for early spring bloom, columbine, delphinium (tall and not too wide)', hardy geraniums, and mat forming dianthus as an edger. If columbine is deadhead they have a long blooming time. Delphinium rebloom in the fall when the first bloom stalks are cut back.

You said something about a small maple, how about a Bloodgood Japanese Maple? I have two in my yard, I'm about 40? Miles west of Chicago.

sherry

Hi Sherry! I love that idea but thought more about it and worry it will outgrow that space. This summer I planted grass along the fence hoping to block the neighbors a bit but planted the wrong kind. I meant to plant the miscanthus gracillimus but instead planted the morning light. I'm just going to wait for spring to fix that. ;)

Major improvement so far!! I'd forgotten that it was quite that stark.

Since you said smelly lives next door I would start looking for things that bloom that are fragrant. You have enough space for a lot of bulbs.

I would plant Asiatic lilies there is one I know is fragrant Eyeliner blooms June, Orienpet lilies, Oriental Lilies bloom late July early August. Do you think you could squeeze a small rose bush in that area? Some of the new roses they have develop have fragrance and bloom all summer into fall. There are some fragrant Daylilies, Fragrant Iris. I would fill the area with as much fragrance as I could find.

I have a clematis Triternata Rubromarginata
Triternata Rubromarginata It blooms all summer and the fragrance it awesome.

Thanks, Marquest - great ideas! I'm planting scented climbing roses in Spring - hopefully that will help a little. :) I haven't see the Triternata Rubromarginata Triternata Rubromarginata (what a name!). I might look into that - looks beautiful.

You will love that clematis. I can smell it 50 ft away and it blooms for months. Do you have any spring bulbs planted? Bulbs are good planted with grasses because they hide the leaves when they finish blooming and bulbs do not take up any room. Daffodil, and Hyacinth are fragrant.

No spring bulbs yet but I'm planting them next month. Tulips, daffodils, allium, irises. :)

I like the idea of the lily bulbs as well, especially the oriental and oriental-trumpet hybrids, sometimes called orienpets. Tulips may not be perennial unless you choose species or ones that say they are bred to be perennial. Many are bred for the cut flower market. Plant deeper than suggested to maximize potential return. Daffs and Allium are perennial in my garden as are lilies. The really early reticulated iris return well also, but I can't grow Dutch iris, the other common bulb iris.

Take a breath...not too deep because of the smells. We had rats on our biggish suburban plot and the Health Officer said the increased number of chickens in town contributed to the more. rat sightings in town. Rats like the grain, the droppings and the eggs. I have to wonder if there's proper sanitation if the smell is so pervasive. If you have doubts call the Health Department. It is in their interests to do everything they can to keep rat attractants down.

Just keep an eye open. If you have bird feeders, rethink them. Elevated compost container, if you feel you have to compost. Sorry to bring up such a sorry subject in the vicinity of such a pretty urban outpost.