Flower Border

Growing Zone: 8

I am new to gardening, and love flowers. We just had rock/boulder terracing completed in our front yard and would like to have flowerbeds down the front of my porch. I would like easy care, low maintenance, lots of colorful flowers in a lot of varieties, along with some shrubs.

Also, I am thinking of doing an arbor/archway over the boulder sidewalk and I like the Rose Climbing New Dawn. Do you need to cut this back each year and clean off the trellis/archway or will it keep blooming on old wood?

Anxious for beautiful flowers.

ANSWER:

The climbing rose, New Dawn, will only need trimming to keep it in bounds. It blooms on old wood. It is an excellent choice, very fragrant, and blooms throughout the summer.

Before you plant anything, amend your soil with compost and/or composted manure. If you start with the soil, you won't be disappointed in your plantings.

A design rule (which you can break any time you like) is to use odd numbers of shrubs and flowers in the landscape. Plant them in groups of 3's or 5's. Curved beds are more interesting and less formal than straight lines. Use a garden hose to outline the shape of your beds, moving it until you like the way it looks. Then mark the lines with a shovel.

Daylilies, coneflowers, Japanese painted ferns (Athyrium), spring flowering bulbs, salvia, blanket flower, cannas, catmint, pinks (Dianthus), & elephant ears are some suggestions for perennials. You will need to research and plant for the sun or shade in your garden.

Flowering Shrubs: Hydrangeas, camellias, dwarf gardenias, Knock Out roses, azaleas, Caryopteris 'Sunshine Blue', daphne, and tea olive.

These should get you started. Part of the fun of gardening is reading about the different plants. Wayside Gardens and Park Seed catalogs are full of useful information.