Planning Our New Garden Beds

When we moved into our then new house a little over four years ago it was apparent that the was a lot of major work to do.  Unfortunately we spent much of those years ripping out garden mistakes as well as vegetation overgrowth.  We put that house on the market eighteen months ago so while we did garden maintenance, added mulch and a couple of raised beds we really did not get to reap the benefits of our labour.  Our new house will take considerably less time to get the front and side gardens the way we want them.  We want these beds low maintenance so there is a bit of ripping out to do but quite easily achieved within a weekend.  There is a fair amount of pruning basically to reshape a couple of the ornamental trees and cut back two areas with over grown flowering vines.  One of the vines is a beautiful deep orange trumpet vine forming a gorgeous arch but it does need trimming back.  The other is climbing up the pool deck surround forming an effective but over grown natural privacy.  I'm not sure what it is but my main concern is that it doesn't attract mosquitoes.

The side gardens in the backyard need a good cleaning out mainly of weeds and then just a bit of trimming back.  The nice thing is the side yards are not huge, running between about two feet deep.  I'm aiming for lush, three season colour that should be possible to achieve with appropriate plantings our first spring there.  I want to do a crocus naturalization in the front lawn this fall and will plant garlic as well.

A crocus naturalization is started by scattering crocus bulbs about the yard.  Now, there cannot be any pattern to this so the best way to achieve the effect is to take a handful of crocus bulbs then toss them into the lawn.  Where the land is where they are planted.  The bulb will naturalize, multiplying each year.  The effect can be quite stunning in the early spring and the crocus foliage dies back before the first grass cutting.  I plan on starting with 50 mixed crocus bulbs.  

Happy Gardening!

Garden Gnome
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