Oh, reading RickCorey ... what a hoot! I found myself in there .. overthere ..in that corner - go look !
Have one motto - '' grow where you are planted because I will not babysit/plant sit you. On your own now '' .. go for it and show me what you are!
Think I have GADD.. thanks for the diagnosis..
But I do talk to my plants [ until one of the neighbors has the men in white coats take me away ]........
Peggy C
(have lived here 3yrs now .. my Garden is Inherited ... the 1st year I took pics daily to see what was in there; year 2 - actually threw some stuff away that wasn't growing well; year 3 - time to do the Day Lily and Iris separation thingy ...) So glad the former owner planted Daffs !

RickCorey said:Hi again, Dawn.

I forgot to mention them, but Mary is right. Planting bulbs now for blooms in spring is so easy that the very first time I tried, they all came up and were glorious. Easier than seeds! Maybe even easier than setting out plants, because the bulbs aren't as fussy as recently-transplanted plants.

Read the planting depth from the bag, figure out which end of the bulb has roots (they go down, the point goes up), dig holes or push the bulbs, cover and firm. I guess they need some water to get established, but they are much less fussy than seeds that way. (I guess you'll find out the first year if you have voles, moles or rodents that know to dig up bulbs and eat them. If you do, there are tricks with hardware cloth and hot pepper powder to try.

Just pick a spot that drains quite well, or make a raised mound somewhere and plant them in that (like a slightly raised bed without any walls). That's just to make sure the bulb isn't sitting below the water table all winter.

Giant Hyacinths smell GREAT.
Daffodils are showy and reliable.
Crocuses come up very early.
Tulips are pretty.
Grape Hyacinths spread like wild for me, but they aren't very pretty.

I gather that different bulbs come back more reliably in different areas, for example, tulips are "not supposed to" come back in the coastal PNW (but the one I planted came back 3 years now). Giant Hyacinths are not supposed to come back for me, but maybe 1/4 of mine did, much smaller.

If there is a local nursery that can be TRUSTED, they might mainly sell bulbs suited to coming back in your area. Big Box stores will sell anything that lives long enough to be scanned at the cash register, and if you have to buy all new bulbs again next year, they are happy.








BTW, one defense against being overwhelmed is GADD (Gardener's Attention Deficit Disorder). If you have too many things running around in your mind, just skip from one to the next whimsically and focus on whatever is right in front of you at the moment. Some projects will be half-done for multiple years, but that's just another name for "evolving and refining" your plans as you learn from trial and "error".

And what, really, is an "error" in a garden? You either get results you like, learn what you don't like, or learn what not to do next time. Win, win, learn.

On the other hand (based solely on reading, not experience), it sounds like some gardeners have disciplined, methodical minds. (I wonder what THAT would be like!) They plan things ahead and know what they want years ahead. Then they execute their plan like Sherman marching to the sea. Their plants had BETTER cooperate! Sometimes they even plan ahead of time what colors and heights go together, and which things bloom when. So I have read (shaking head skeptically.)

Assuming those wild claims have any basis in reality, I GUESS that someone so inclined could fight off Garden Overwhelmus by picking just a few easy things to do at first, and then abide by that schedule and do ONLY those things for the first year.

(???)

But how would they fight off "LOOK at that pretty picture! I MUST have a dozen of those bulbs and plant them SOMEWHERE!"

And "These plants snuck into my cart when I wasn't looking, but now I have to find a bed to put them in!"

And "I tried wintersowing and now I have HUNDREDS of these seedlings and DOZENS of those ... "

I would urge you to jump into the deep end and let the flowers teach you what does and doesn't work well, or which of the many pieces of advice might really matter in your conditions.

As one experienced gardener told me when I was disappointed that so many of my seedlings were dying: "If you don't kill SOME plants, you aren't trying hard enough. You learn by doing, and by trying things you haven't tried before."

I would add that many people try to imitate Nature. Well, if one plant produces 100,000 seeds, Nature expects on average that 99,999 of those seeds will die, to maintain a constant population. If we try things that only work 1% of the time, that is still 1,000 times better than Nature's success rate. How can we call that "failure"? It's just "learning".

I bet someone could write a pretty good book by seeking out advice, and then testing what happens when you do the opposite of "what everyone knows". My guess is that most "good advice" is really only necessary some of the time.

dmarie17 said:

Sure! This is probably the best represented pic. It's the side of the yard from outside the fence (our house is on the left) and the pond is technically a rain retention area, but since we get a lot of rain this time of year, it's usually full. The back is the same...I just can't go back there without getting poison ivy! Both the side and back belong to the town and not neighbors.
Does this help?! Thanks again for your help!!

You actually have a few options.

You just need to build a subterrainian barrier beginning where the bottom of the fence is down to about 18 inches underground or under the soil surface.

To do that is a matter of imagination. You can use treated boards, brick, flag stone, boulders, concrete.

If your husband is thinking he wants to do some kind of Boulder or brick barrier that is highly visible you can always photoshop your ideas as I mentioned before and see wether or not you think it looks funny. 😊

You can get very creative with rock and rock always looks more natural.

Most likely you won't see the back of the garden once everything is planted. 😊

If you want an invisible barrier. You can do treated 2 X 6 boards nailed to stakes and pound them in next to the fence until they rest submerged at soil level.

what I do if it were me?

I would build the submerged board barrier st the fence line then set 18 inch size boulders across the back leaving just enough room to pack a bit of soil in there and put some kind of pretty creeping flox or cascading plants that would cascade over the rocks down the remaining portion of the garden, add a couple of my favorite trees, a garden bench, and flowering perennials.

Just photo shop your ideas... Give your husband's opinion a chance. Give him some alternate ideas. Both of you can sit down together and decide.

Photoshop is just drag and drop on the computer. Pretty basic.

I agree, a barrier of some kind on the outside of that fence will help a lot to keep your soil in the yard. Sure hope the city maintains the borders of that pond so you don't have to?

I like the idea of natives, both shrubs and perennials will hold soil better than grass will. Don't forget grass doesn't grow all year 'round but it does rain in winter when the grass is dormant. Clumps of perennials hold onto the soil well, even when dormant as do well rooted shrubs and trees. Grass just doesn't have deep enough roots to do that job.

You can ask the county if they will line that bank bank with boulders but if they are like the people out here they will just tell you that it's your job to keep your soul on your property.

Dawn!

As you can tell, you've found the right place for all of your questions. Someone here is bound to have answers for you, no matter what the question.

@dyzzypyxxy is right, get the fence stained/sealed before you plant anything in front of it. Make sure to do both sides.

As you've heard, you have a number of options for the wet areas. If, during your digging to shore up the ground, water started to pool, you might even be able to put in some sort of water feature to attract frogs and toads. There are all kind of plants that like having their feet wet.

Bulbs really are your best bet to plant this fall. It will give you some sense of having a garden, especially when they're all in bloom in the spring. In the mean time, watch how your new yard interacts with the surroundings. Take note of how the fence casts shadows. In the winter, see where the snow piles up really deep and check for icey spots. When it rains, does the water collect in one place more than another? Watch how the wind flow is affected by the fence.

As winter turns into spring, you'll have a pretty good idea of the various climate zones in your yard. Armed with that information, you can more effectively plan what you want where. For instance, you don't want to put a grilling area where the water accumulates after a rain. Likewise, if the fence creates a shaded area for most of the day, you'll want plants that are more shaded tolerant than full sun.

You may be new to gardening, but just remember... everyone that you meet and talk to here started out the same way, from scratch. (Pun intended.) Before you know it, your neighbors are going to be coming to you asking for advice.

In the end, it's all about creating a space that it your personal piece of paradise. Sometimes it can be a lot of work. But when you sit down in that comfy lounge chair with a tall, cold ? and look out, you be thinking 'Damn! I'm good! Look at what I did.)

What he said ^^^^

🌺🌺🌺🌺🌺

So far I have seen so many people say it has been a tremendous benefit to have each other and to share knowledge.

Garden.org has helped put me in high gear in a few areas that I would otherwise be stumbling on. ❤️❤️❤️

dmarie - a suggestion - perhaps a walk through the Chicago Botanic Gardens might give you some visual inspiration? They do have a walled garden that might help. Plant names/lists should be available.

Here is another idea. "Real" garden designers seem to recommend a narrow path along the back of a flower bed, so you can get in there and reach in to weed. I did that in one garden and it really does help. From the front you don't even notice it. So maybe you could put in a path about 18" wide along the fence? Then you could use a weed eater or something if any grass is encroaching from the retention pond area. Right now there is just bare earth where the fence was placed, this will change rapidly!
I put a concrete "mowing strip" between my lawn and flower beds, this makes it easy to run an edger along it, and grass is shallow rooted, does not sneak underneath. You would not want to use chemicals like Roundup right by a pond, and a flame weeder would catch the fence on fire, so weeding in there is going to be a real problem without some kind of mechanical barrier. A gravel path can be heartbreaking to weed, especially if you put "landscape cloth" under it as is sometimes recommended. The weeds sprout anyway, and the roots grow into the mesh, so you cannot pull them up cleanly.

The only time I use a weed cloth is with a thick bark layer over the top, for pathways. Even with sterile shredded bark, the grass and dandelions will still take hold but pull out easily if they don't have a chance to breach the weed cloth. The absolute worse thing I did was try to use weed cloth as they advertise it - lay over raw soil, cut holes for plants, mulch over. What a nightmare that was for me.

Hi Dawn! I love how you have nothing in your backyard... you start fresh :)

I say Google pictures online to get an idea of what you might like.

One area in my garden I have hosta and daylilies...don't needs regular watering.. drought tolerant perfect... loves shade.

In a sunnier area in my garden I grow drought tolerant sun loving perennials.. clematis, purple coneflower, zinnias, and marigolds - also attracts butterflies!

Please post pics with what you decide to do in your garden

SpringGreenThumb said:what I do if it were me?

I would build the submerged board barrier st the fence line then set 18 inch size boulders across the back leaving just enough room to pack a bit of soil in there and put some kind of pretty creeping flox or cascading plants that would cascade over the rocks down the remaining portion of the garden, add a couple of my favorite trees, a garden bench, and flowering perennials.

Just photo shop your ideas... Give your husband's opinion a chance. Give him some alternate ideas. Both of you can sit down together and decide.

Photoshop is just drag and drop on the computer. Pretty basic.

SpringGreenThumb, you are amazing!! Thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this out!! This doesn't sound nearly as difficult as I imagined!! I can't wait to get to work!
Thank you again. I"ll be sure to share my progress!!

dmarie17 said:


SpringGreenThumb, you are amazing!! Thank you so much for taking the time to write all of this out!! This doesn't sound nearly as difficult as I imagined!! I can't wait to get to work!
Thank you again. I"ll be sure to share my progress!!

Your welcome Dear. Just work together and love each other. Your garden will someday be your refuge and not a worry. 😊🌺❤️

Shadegardener said:dmarie - a suggestion - perhaps a walk through the Chicago Botanic Gardens might give you some visual inspiration? They do have a walled garden that might help. Plant names/lists should be available.

Great idea Shadegardener! I haven't been there in years!!

Dawn - I haven't been to CBG in years either but I'd love to get back there in the spring. If you go, take lots of pics of design or technique that you like and then you can research plants. Maybe a little less daunting.

Dawn - I've been following this thread and I see you are getting some wonderful advice to get you started - even gave me some ideas of my own on planning beds online Betsy I am one of those people that figures out one bed at a time if possible, decide whether I am going to clear it or do the lasagna method, either way I cut my edge in (I always use a half moon manual edger and then mulch to the edge) and then it starts to get tougher The first place I actually "landscaped" I had a professional do the design and I did the planting. Over the years I revamped until I got it almost the way I wanted it - then we moved Then I started all over again with a clean slate; however, this time I had my experience from the first house to start with and used my own imagination and favorites! I too am one of those that with border gardens I start with the trees and bushes as my backdrop and then put the perennials in front, adding benches for sitting as I walk around my yard (gotta have somewhere to rest as we get older ) and I love to create little nooks for sitting, maybe a birdbath or fountain, firepit, etc. Sometimes I create a "theme" garden. I learned early on from the landscaper to always plant in odd numbers and to use the same color or plants several places in the yard to tie it all together, and if you are planting larger areas to use more than one of the same plant so you get a drift of color and don't just lose all of the plants in a sea of different plants. I also make sure I check the bloom times so something is blooming from Spring (love those bulbs) clear through Fall and for winter interest I make sure I have evergreens and ornamental grasses. The birds love them too You are getting wonderful advice from everyone - can't wait to see pictures!!!

Dawn, those last pictures you posted showing the slope really helped everyone see what your terrain is like. I envy your 'blank slate', lol! You have received some wonderful advice and Betsy's pictures are awesome! My first thought was to raise the sloped area will fill dirt, but that is probably not feasible or wise, lol!

I've only been flower gardening for about 12 years, and the one thing I've learned is that if something isn't thriving in one area, I move it or get rid of it. Yes, I have probably wasted $$$ doing this, but it's not something I do a lot of. The list of plants available is so extensive, I love adding new things to the flower bed. You could even do vegetables in between the flowers if you want. I have tomatoes and green peppers growing right in the border around my house.

Since it is getting close to the end of summer, I do have to agree with planting bulbs this fall for spring bloom next year. And shrubs are known as the 'backbone' of the garden, so if you go to the Chicago Botanic Garden, I would look to see what they have for their 'backbone' plants.

Don't forget shade gardening. 😉.

Dawn - this is an example of how I start with bushes and shrubs in the back and then build on it. Still a work on progress (my most recent area), but always adding new perennials to fill in:

2015 - 2016

This is the front entry (no pics of 2011 handy when we moved in - pretty bare bones then):

2013 - 2016

And a close-up of one area:


As you can see - it is ever changing depending on what makes it, what doesn't, and what just plain catches my eye!!!