Another garden thread...

[railNtrailcowgrl]

I'm getting spring fever, the weather in NW Ohio (though a bit rainy) as been WONDERFUL! So I'm planning out my beds for this year. I'm planning on planting Daisy Mix seed in the bed on the south side of the house around our porch. It's 8'x12" on either side and the front will be around 24'x12". I think they'll fill in nicely there and bring lots of color to the front of the house.

In the rear near our drive way there is a fairly large bed ~15'x3' that I'm planing to plant a butterfly garden. It has a lamp post next to it that I may attempt to get Nelly Moser Clematis to climb.

Then I have the HUGE bed right behind the house on the north side, ~18'x6'. It is shaded most of the day and I'm having a hard time planning what I want to plant there. So far I have 6 mixed hostas and 3 mixed spiderworts coming. I thought that those would fill in the middle of the bed nicely but I'm having trouble thinking of something tall and filling for the back of the bed (something easy and very low maintenance as it will be a PITA to get back there and more flowers to plant in the foreground. I would like to keep with the cool blues and purples (& possibly white) of the hosta and spiderwort. Are there any other good shade lovers out there that would do well in this situation? I would prefer a few more perennials along with some annuals. Nothing too expensive as this is a rental and something that will hopefully produce this year as I don't know how long we'll be staying here. I don't want to wait around forever to see the results of all my hard work.

Some plants I'm considering:
Hardy Blue African Lily
Russian Sage
White Dragon Flower
Blazing Star Liatris
Montana Skies Delphinium

Here is a quick sketch of how things are set up. Also keep in mind I'm in Zone 5.

 

[FoxyWench]

add a buddleia or 2 to your list for your butterfly garden. (otherwise known as the butterfly bush, itll also attract humming birds!)
you wont regret it.
Incredibly fast growing, absolutly beautiful, lots of color choices and incredibly easy keepers, hack them down to about 12 inches from the ground in the spring to keep them bushy (dont worry they will gorw back fast) otherwise they get leggy, absolutly lovely flowers.
i have a white, a pink and a "black night" in my garden, i want to add a "kelidascope" this year.

clematis are also lovely, i like nelly moser, i also like the sweet autumn veriety, plant both to have color from late spring through late fall! clematic like thier "feet" shaded so base plant around them, i like carpet phlox for this as is ground covers quick, has early flowers and it dang hardy!

russian sage is another favoirite of mine and again fast growing and hardy, very interesting scent too...

cant wait to see pictures once its planted and as it grows