Left Bank Garden Makeover!
The Left Bank is my new name for the sunny garden bed that is west of the driveway, between the crabapple and the sidewalk. I like the name, but at the moment the garden looks like a collection of green lumps.
My intent with this garden was to prove that I was capable of planting a bed where the average plant was under five feet tall. I wanted something lower growing and colorful with year-round interest. The plants would also have to tolerate some fairly dry conditions.
The good news is that Judy (who usually resists change) has agreed to a do-over of this bed. Hurrah! Wandering in an abundantly blooming garden makes me happy, but I can be made equally happy rearranging an established bed.
At the moment, here’s what I’m thinking of in terms of which plants will be kept, removed, or added.
You’re Out!
- Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata). These were brought to our garden by a shipping error. I used them to edge the east side of the bed, but they really haven’t worked out. Despite the full sun they tend to grow too tall. If I cut them back, they bloom very sparsely. They are destined for the compost pile.
- Starry Solomon’s Plume (Smilacina stellata). This is a good plant, but not right for this spot. Too aggressive. There’s a solid patch of them under the crabapple that I like very much, though. That’s where I’ll move the ones now in the Left Bank.
- Aromatic Aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium). Originally I chose this aster because it’s supposed to be low-growing. I love the abundant blue flowers. But while it is shorter than many asters it still tends to smother its smaller neighbors. I plan to reduce the number of Aromatic Asters from three to one. The other two I’ll transplant or give away.
- Various Salvia. This bed is a mess in part because I filled random bare spots with a bunch of Salvia (mostly ‘May Night’ and ‘Blue Hill’) that I bought really cheap at Home Depot. What can I say, I was in my Salvia Period. Anyhow, it wasn’t thought through and looks it. All the Salvia will be transplanted to the Parkway Garden.
You’re In!
- More Tulips. There are already some Species Tulips here, but digging up the bed is a great opportunity to plant more! In addition to more species tulips, I’m going to try the Kaufmanniana Tulip ‘Early Harvest’. Kaufmannianas are good perennializers and very early bloomers.
- Prairie Dropseed (Sporobulus heterolepsis). Right now clumps of this shorter prairie grass are scattered around the bed in a way that doesn’t really make sense. I want to move some so that they form a solid border along the west side of the bed.
- Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum). These are currently planted right along the sidewalk. I’ll keep them where they are and add a few more to make a wider drift.
- Wild Petunia (Ruellia humilis). Petunia-like lavender-blue flowers from June onwards. Low-growing so I’ll plant it behind the Prairie Smoke.
- Iceland Poppy (Papaver nudicaule ‘Pulicinella Bright Solar Yellow’), To brighten things up I want to interplant the Wild Petunia with this summer-blooming yellow poppy.
- Pincushion Flower (Scabiosa columbaria ‘Butterfly Blue’). Very long-blooming, these will replace the coreopsis along the east edge of the bed.
- Oriental Lily (Lilium auratum ‘Gold Band’). These fragrant yellow and white lilies will bloom in August after the orienpets across the driveway are done.
So that’s the plan, tentatively at least. I intend to do the planting this fall. Any thoughts or suggestions?
gardeninacity 
A makerover! what makes a gardener’s heart beat faster. Have fun, your thoughts all make sense and you know the site and conditions well so I know that your choices will work. It didn’t even sound as if you’re going to spend a lot on new plants – that’s good, plus more of each species rather than just more plants will give lots of impact, I can’t wait to see it.
Me too!
I do like to move plants Jason!
Today I plan to move Rodgersia and the free spot is for primulas. Your plan is great!
You can never have too many primulas, Nadezda.
Choices! And plants to give as gifts all good. Have you considered Penstemons, long flowering periods, range of colours, well behaved and uprights but not too tall.
I do have Penstemon digitalis in some other beds and borders. In this bed I want mostly mounding plants, I think, except for the lilies.
Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea) and Cylindrical Blazing Star (Liatris cylindracea) are perfect companions to the Wild Petunia and Prairie Dropseed. Lead Plant (Amorpha canacens) is another one that blooms at that time. And add Shooting Star ( Dodecatheon media) next to the Prairie Smoke for a spring combination. You can also add Heart-leaf Meadow Parsnip (Zizea aptera) that blooms at the same time. Zizea aptera is not at all aggressive. Silky Aster (Symphyotrichum sericeum) (I HATE the new aster names) has silver leaves and violet flowers and grows only 18″-24″ tall and around. It’s native to dry hill prairies.
The Liatris and aster sound interesting, though I have never seen them for sale. Purple prairie clover has not done well for me. Definitely interested in the lead plant, though.
Green lumps – love it. I have several spots of green lumps that I need to work on. 🙂
A gardener’s work is never done.
I really like wild petunias. They reseed in the most inhabitable places around my garden.
I grow them now where they compete with wild strawberry. They sruvive but do not spread around.
Does this space stay in a lot of shade during the day? I love asters and coreopsis (Zegreb keeps a rounded shape and consistent height) but they need a good supply of sun. Scabiosa and poppies need much sun as well. Just a thought if the area is not full sun. As for low growing, I assume that is because of driveway safety. Maybe you just need some bloom times that are different to keep the color going through the season.
This space is pretty sunny. And I want to do low-growing because most of my beds and borders tend to have a lot of height, I just want to have some areas that don’t. My thought on bloom times are, in a nutshell: spring: tulips and prairie smoke; summer: wild petunia, poppies, lilies; fall: asters.
Love your idea of making it lower. I need to do the same in my Ranchero garden this fall/winter when the weather returns to something more conducive to human life. (this summer has been incredibly wet and stiflingly OVER HOT!)
Is that lily a new introduction or have I somehow missed seeing “gold band” all my life?
I don’t think it’s new, at least there’s no indication on the Scheepers website.
You might consider Aster frikartii ‘Monch.’ It should hold up to the heat, bloom profusely over the summer, and stay below three feet. Will look forward to a report of the results.
Very appealing though the MBG site says it is marginally hardy in zone 5. I’ll think about it.
I think it will look very nice. I also got rid of Starry Solomon’s Plume as it was rather invasive. It does take a lot of shade though.
That’s one I would transplant rather than compost. It’s a good plant in the right place.
Looking forward to the after pictures. =) and now I know that I am not the only person to give silly names to pieces of the garden. We have a western march which really ought to be the western wilds and something called the east sector …
I like the Western March. I’m thinking one piece of the garden should be called Schleswig-Holstein.
Don’t you just love a garden (or border) makeover. I’ve been mentally preparing myself to let go of the apron strings to some of my plants pretty soon.
You are keeping some lovely plants and what can one say about the tulip/crocus combo – AMAZING!!
Good luck with it all and will be eagerly awaiting to hear how it all goes.
I must confess the tulip/crocus combo is not mine but from the John Scheepers website.
Too bad WordPress doesn’t have a “Like” button so we can comment on which Ideas are good… (or bad). Yes, don;t we all like a garden makeover!
I know you are into natives and they don;t lend themselves to giving a bed structure. but I can’t help but think your choice of plants could use a boost of some unifying structure. Also the texture and shape of foliage is really important, and I see on your lists (geum aside) most are tiny pointed leaves. I’d try to add some large broad leaved leaves.
I know you also like birding, and recently came across ‘Viking’ aronia. A larger leaf, nice structure, and the leaves were quite shiny. You’d probably have to prune to keep it at a good ratio height, but…
Judy doesn’t like shrubs, plus the rabbits really love aronia. Although possibly I could get away with another dwarf butterfly bush like ‘Blue Adonis’. I was thinking maybe Verbena stricta or Lead Plant?
Great plans. I really like that ‘Early Harvest’.
Yes, I can’t wait to see it blooming next spring.
Love the name of your garden! And how exciting to be reworking an area! I really liked all of the plants you chose especially the wild petunia…. They are one of my favorites! Good luck and keep us posted! Nicole
Will do.
I love a border makeover almost as much as I enjoy making over a whole garden. You are bringing in some lovely plants – the scabious and poppy are absolutely gorgeous. I look forward to seeing how this area develops.
I always see poppies in others’ gardens and in pictures but I never plant them. I am determined to rectify that.
Any day that you can get blue and yellow flowers planted together is a good one! Can’t wait to see it next year.
Blue and yellow are great together, so is blue and orange!
Sounds like a plan! I can hardly wait to see it all come to fruition. And, like New Hampshire Garden Solutions, I love the combo of blue and yellow too.
Thanks!
Nice! You are so industrious. I fear I am a little lazier about big garden projects in the late summer and fall. But you’re inspiring me to put in a little effort before the cold weather hits.
I’m just compulsive, not industrious.
The only thing I noticed is that all the foliage is small and fine-textured. That, more than anything else, I think, contributes to the “green lumpiness.” I feel like the design wants a bold-leaved plant to be staggered throughout…but that’s just my two cents. I’m really interested to see how you proceed–I love a good before-and-after!
There’s something to your argument but I’m having a difficult time thinking of a large-leaved plant that would fit in a dry, sunny site. Maybe stachys? But I don’t really like stachys. Maybe a geranium like Biokovo or Tschelda.
I’d add loads of orange milkweed as well as some nepeta. I have lots of the wild petunias. Wonderful plant! I never know where they’ll show up but they’re gentle invaders. What about some dwarf shrubs for structure? A dwarf abelia would be easy to work with as would a little spirea. You might also like veronica ‘Sun Queen’ from Lazy S’s. It likes to be well drained, as do all veronicas. Someone recommended dalea. That would do well and look interesting as long as it has really well drained soil. A dark stemmed sedum would be cool, too.
Monarda punctata might do well there, too, as long as it’s well drained, as would mountain mint (pycnanthemum) which can take more moisture. Both attract hordes of pollinators.
I have lots of milkweed and nepeta, so that would add to the “unity” of the garden. On the other hand, I have a yen to try these poppies. Veronica sounds good, I was also thinking of Verbena stricta. As for the Abelia, Judy is very anti-shrub.
Oh, how fun! I love your plant choices. I tried to grow Prairie Smoke but it didn’t make it – I have to try again. A couple areas in my garden are due for an overhaul – thanks for the push. Love that Poppy and the Wild Petunias!
It does fine for me as long as it isn’t smothered.
This should be fun. The first eviction to the compost pile is always the hardest, but stay strong. I always flounder and end up trying to find new homes for everything. Better to just get it over with!
Do you have anything evergreen out front? A little winter green might be nice.
I’m very short on evergreens. My dislike of yew and boxwood tends to create an evergreen shortage.
Sounds like you will enjoy yourself, it’s always exciting planning a new border, although I’ve spent most of this summer re-arranging things that I planted in my new back garden. I love all your ins and quite a few of your outs actually, I shall look forward to seeing how it all pans out.xxx
The outs aren’t necessarily bad plants, just not good for my purposes in this location.
Sometimes it’s hard to find the courage and energy for a make over but when you go for it, it’s always worth it. So many ins and outs that’s it’s difficult to get the picture yet but I definitely look forward to seeing it develop. The aster looks lovely…send some instead of throwing it on the compost heap 😉
I would love to, but I don’t think mailing live plants to Europe is allowed.
How do the tall sedums bahave for you? I’m a big fan of Matrona and Autumn Joy. They can be blobby if you chop them in May or structural if you let them do their thing. And I love the name Left Bank.
I’ve grown Matrona for a couple of years without cutting back. It’s a possibility.
Seems like a nice plan…I love scabiosa but the voles took care of mine this year.