The new year!

So, we ended last year with some plant beds, a fenced in yard and a new deck. We also added a pile of plants to the planting beds and haphazardly tried to make something out of it. My wife and I decided we were not annuals kinds of gardeners. So, we focussed on perennials and that has become the central theme of all of our plantings. In Lexington, Kentucky we are in either Zone 6 or Zone 5a depending on the map you use. Our hardiness zone makes lots of perennials viable for us but there are some challenges we've had to come to terms with. Since Lexington has so many trees, full-sun locations are not in great abundance. We've taken advantage of every sunny spot we could scrounge up. Our garden is situated on the Northwest side of the house so, much of the yard gets the shadow of the house until noon. Part-sun and shady plants are a big part of our plans each year. I've searched high and low for plants that will take some shade and those that love it. An unforeseen consequence of the privacy fence is that air circulation in the yard can be hindered on the hot, humid mid-summer days and make it feel hotter in the corners. My garden phlox in the East corner are the best indicators of how hot it's getting. (I like to think of them like canaries in a mine.) When they start to droop and sulk, I know I'll have to start watering soon if no rain materializes.

I have to admit last year was a huge learning year for my wife and I (especially me) and we managed to lose only a few plants when things started up this Spring. I read somewhere that you should expect to lose 5% of first year plantings for various reasons... I guess we did OK. Early this Spring when I started perennial shopping, I got fed up with the process of buying plants and fussing around the in the back yard moving pots from place to place for a week or more trying to find the right spot for them. To stop what my wife calls the insanity, I needed to get organized and get a sense of what I need and can use.

I recommend Lee Schneller's book, The Ever-Blooming Flower Garden:

Using Lee's system, I've managed to get a grasp on my garden and learn to be more focussed when shopping for plants. My goal is to have something colorful happening in the garden from March until October. I'm getting close. As we move into midsummer, a lot of the work from last year is paying off:

You can see the midsummer colors kicking in as the early summer blooms fade. Mixed in are the late summer bloomers getting ready. Some of the plants shown here are from last year (Asiatic Lilies, May Night Salvia, Clara Curtis Chrysanthemum, Artemisia Silver Mound) and the year before (Yarrow, Lavender, Orange Day Lilies.) Some new additions from this Spring: Raspberry Wine Bee Balm, Mt. St. Helens Coral Bells, Gaura, and in the distance a gorgeous dark blue Delphinium. The Tiki Torch Coneflower in the foreground was rescued from a very over-crowded corner. I had a curious Robin checking me out while I weeded as well.

The new project going on right now is a patio from which I can sit and admire all my digging, watering, weeding and planting... If you have the time and can dig a hole, this is an awesome do-it-yourself project. I was quoted over $4,000 to do this work by a pro. A little patience, a lot of digging, three trips to get gravel and sand ($25 and $50 a load, respectively) and however many pavers I need puts me at about 75% savings. Yes it's hard work, but I'm sure to enjoy it all the more...

This picture was taken two days ago before we started on the gravel. We'll finish the sand layer tonight and be setting pavers before the lightning bugs start. I'll post at least a finished view of the project. The next post, however, will most likely be about the plan we developed for the landscaping and the way we picked plants this year.