hi there

LaLennoxa had started a similar thread, but it was so long, I thouhgt I`d rather start a fresh one

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I managed actually to plant an Asparagus-plot this spring (tiny) and get the Dahlias in in time because I tried and sometimes did hire garden help.

A succession of students, day labour, part time working twenty-somethings and other helped me to start into the new season and now anew.

right now, with another student who has been very reliable so far I redo a narrow, long strip of perennials in my alottment.

eons ago some bright genius decided that it would be great to burry sheets of nasty fibre-plastic (about 16 inches high) as border between my plot anf the next garden. Plus adding some desintegrating clay roof tiles plus concrete in some places so the plastic stuff wouldn`t move???

the recurring problems were bindweed that could hide in that horrible mess. - and my neighbour offered to share the cost. which is nice. She does benefit as well, but I had done it anyway....

so now I had a go at it and tomorrow will be the second time that "my" students diggs up those sheets. I clear the bed completely, what makes re-arranging so much easier.

So far I culled very few plants or found their mummies, like a bleeding heart that had been fried by our last unusual hot, dry and long summer.

the border itself is meant to screen a little or give privacy, should have some perennials that work well as cutflowers, be resilient and be mostly drouhght resistant, about 3 feet 4 inches wide.

warm z7 (-8?)

loam

so far I stroke Phlox paniculata, Helenium and Polygonum amplexicaule as too thirsty off my list.

so now I envision a very simple design with much structure, here goes:

in the back: a blue Panicum virgatum (cant remember the cultivar), my single plant does quite well in the heat and I hopefully can divide it into 3-4

Echinops ritro (despite its not yet experienced reseeding)

Aster laevis Calliope: it has very dark wiry stems, leans sometimes but is very airy so does not smother, for late flowers

in the middle ground

Veronica longifolia (which does surprisingly well in the heat)

lots of Echinacea purpurea, plain ones or seedlings

fillers:

Gaura

bronze fennel

Verbena bonariense

edging: a number of hardy Geranium:

G SAnguineum, G Rosemoore, some pratense Johnsons Blue?,

Nepeta fassenii

Alchemilla mollis

feral wood straw berries that grow every where

ivy-leaved toad flax as extra layer of vegatation

I have most of those plants available, heeled in right now, need to buy bronze fennel (for cutting and pollinator)

and sprinkled in the odd Paeony (2) or Hemerocallis (3).

If I really make fast progress, I do the second strip on the other side as well, that one just needs to be cleared an replanted.

for bulbs,

I want to get Darwin hybrid tulips in pink

a single late tulip Maureen (white)

and mass flowering stuff like Chionodoxa forbesii, either pink or blue, do both do well?

some pinkish, tall ALlium

and perhaps testdrive 3 Eremurus himalaicus. Our soil is a nice loam and perhaps too wet in winter, so Im not sure whether I should try the Eremurus at all.

so, this is the work in progress...

the weedy patch with AMaranth is already the next plot

here are some of the plants, I labled always at least one so I hopefully really can ID them later on...

and it is amazing how well they "compact" when planted very closely in the short term bed

what I really love about clearing a bed is that you get a good look at all those different roots. after kind of wresteling the Echinops out of the ground I understood much better why it is tough as nails: five or more fleshy tap-root like things that reach really far down into the soil...

so I got definetely a big step closer to implement some of my garden plans or wishes...

how about you, is your weather good for dividing yet?

have a nice weekend, bye Lin