Potentilla is a big genus with plants that grow to various dimensions. Do you have any further info on the particular type? There are also shrubs that are referred to as Potentilla though they are actually in a different genus.

Also, which perennial geranium?

Orange glory is a cultivar of butterfly weed. Aesclepias tuberosa.

I would group the plants together with 2-4 of each kind in each group. Depending on which type of each you have there may or may not be room for all of them. In that case, get some large pots (whiskey barrel size or larger) to plant them in.

You will want to mulch the soil surface and may need to water all of them fairly regularly because of all the paving holding heat. The goal is soil that never dries out but doesn’t remain soggy.

if you add a groundcover such as Veronica Georgia Blue under it that will help tie it all together.

IME the quality of the vendor will influence how well bare root plants grow.

I have no idea what type of geranium or potentilla they are. I got them from Breck's and there was no cultivar listed. It's their "Color Festival Mixture". I'm assuming it's not the shrubby potentilla. They listed the height of the mixture as 10-16 inches and said it makes a good ground cover and also works in a container.

I actually planted the bed this past weekend and I ended up doing similar to what you suggested. There was one bare root that looked different from the other 6 so I assumed that was the potentilla. I planted 3 geranium, the potentilla??, and 3 geranium towards the front of the bed and I planted 1 Orange Glory on either side of the potentilla towards the back of the bed.

Previously, the bed was just daylilies and weeds. At the end of the summer I dug up and pulled up what I could and covered it in black plastic tarp. I think what I planted this year will be different enough from what might sprout up again that weeding should be easier. I have a habit of yanking the wrong stuff up :)

Thanks for the Veronica Georgia Blue suggestion. This bed will be my only permanent flowering planting and I want it to be relatively low maintenance (no deadheading). I also like the idea of attracting pollinators.

If the picture they show with this package is at all representational, these are all rather small plants even when mature. The sizing they quote is 10-16" tall and with a 16-18" spread. Using their calculator to determine how many packages one should buy, it seems a single package will fill up the bed pretty well. And there is likely no need for any groundcover, as there will be no bare ground to cover :-)

Since it doesn't appear that there are even two of the same plant in this mix, I'm not sure a defined placement or arrangement is possible or even necessary. And since the aesclepias will be by far the tallest plant, I'd start with them and then just arrange the others however you please (avoiding lining anything up in a straight row). I'd probably place the two aesclepias 18-24" in from either end and fit the others around them in a somewhat random placement. It will be a bit of a miniature cottage garden/jumbled look but should be colorfu!!

It is too bad they could not be more specific about the actual cultivars they were including. But then Breck's is not winning any awards in the better mail order nursery category :-)

Gardengal, before I order another plant from the internet, I will check the website you told me about in the other thread :) But I should be done all of my purchasing for this year. And for a while hopefully, other than the plants I put in my annual pots. I also got a fothergilla and a seven sons flower this year. With the mature size in mind of everything I have so far, I am probably beyond capacity for my smaller than a postage stamp yard. I have no idea what the end result will look like. My design plan is "that looks cool, it can grow in a container, and it's hardy at least to zone 5".

Tracey, the bed gets nearly a full day of sun from sunrise to sunset in zone 7a. All of my neigbors have short, open fences and one benefit of living in a rowhome is that everything is in rows so there isn't much to block the sun as it travels. There are some trees and a vine covered fence in the neighbors' yards across from me that give my yard about a foot of dappled shade along the northwestern facing fence, but the east facing planting bed gets none of that. I really just want to keep the weeds at bay in the bed. Color is a plus but not at the cost of low maintenance. I plant up annual pots for my dose of color.

Consider tucking in a pot or two of black eyed Susan vine to grow up the fence. It will bloom all summer, but I don’t think it will overwinter for you.

Cheree, the plants you ordered from Breck's should give you a very long season of color and with relatively low maintenance.....just the occasional deadheading of the potentilla and perhaps cutting back the geraniums after their first bloom flush (need depends on species/cultivar) - they will burst back with new foliage and usually repeat flowering!

Just keep the bed watered as necessary. I doubt weeds will be of much concern as the spreading nature of these plants will fill it in nicely. You may want to mulch in winter, though.

I'm afraid the squirrels might got to most of the plantings. I see two of the geraniums have sprouted up some leaves but every day I keep finding what looks like a bare root that I planted laying on top of the dirt. I dig a hole and pop it back in but I'm not hopeful. I'll keep my fingers crossed though. If nothing else sprouts then I will get some container grown geranium to plant.