Stumped

I have not been happy with my left porch bed for awhile.  I put some plants in really wonky locations, and during the winter it all dies down.  In fact, most of the plants in the bed are late starters and don't really shine until mid-spring. So for most of the spring, it looks just like this.


In the late summer, the esperanza really shines, but for most of the year, the bed just doesn't work.  And really, the esperanza is just too big for the bed.  But I think, at this point, unless I want to kill the plant, I'm just going to have to deal with it.

November 2013

So, I decided to move some things around, and add some structure through the use of evergreen shrubs.

I added two Loropetalum (Chinese Fringe flower).  I first saw these a few weeks ago at the Natural Gardener, when I purchased the Purple Pixie, and smaller version of the shrub. I had never noticed the plant before, but now, I see them in just about every garden bed in the neighborhood. I am not sure how I missed them before - I guess because they are mostly a back story bush.

But I think they will really do well to give this garden some life over the winter.

In order to make room for the shrubs, I moved my day lily forward.  I don't know what possessed me to put such a small plant in the back of the bed, and I have been wanting to move it forward for awhile - I have just always been afraid it would die in the transplant. But I went ahead and tried it today.  And then I noticed, that the day lily has a bunch of smaller "shoots".  So I separated the shoots out. We'll see if it makes it.

I also cut about half of my St john's Wort, and put it in the new front garden bed.  This thing really likes the bed, and has taken over about half of it.

But now I am stumped. I just can't seem to tie it all together.

Part of the problem is I really need to wave the white flag, admit I was wrong, and pull those obedient plants out of there.  While their purple flower is pretty in the summer, they really need to be back behind something, as they look really tall and leggy most of the time... and they take over everything.

There are also some unidentified plants growing in the bed, that I want to wait and see what they are.  Since I have already pulled out a free coral honeysuckle from this same bed (that is doing really well in the fence bed, so far), I am hoping this might be another cool freebie.  Unlikely, but I am ever hopeful.

And both the Pride of Barbados and the fire shrub get very late starts.  End of April, and the Pride of Barbados is only an inch or so high, and the fire bush is about three inches.

And now, on top of everything, I have a tiny little fountain gradd growing -- about the same size as the one that was accidentally transplanted three or four years ago. I really love that grass, but smack in the front of the bed is not the right place for it. I'm not sure where is...

I'm just stumped.