In the spirit of documenting our modest, ongoing landscape project in the New Urbanist Disneyland, I offer the following account of the small front flowerbed we planted last weekend.
The first step was soil amendment. Madge dug out the dense, sticky clay in our existing bed and moved the perimeter all the way to the sidewalk. Our long-term goal is to eliminate the lawn completely in favor of beds, rocks, garden sculpture and other drought-resistant features. Madge's labor left about a cubic yard of clay by the curb, which we paid someone to come and haul away. It took two big guys about half an hour to load it into their truck. Over a couple of days, Madge (with about 10 minutes of help from Max, Milo and me, and lots of advice and company from Barbara and Blue) dug in soil revitalizer, compost, and soil. Then came the fun part, which Milo and I were only too happy to help with.
Plant List
Starry Eyes (Nierembergia gracilis)
Mexican or false heather (Cuphea hyssopifolia)
Verbena "Donalena Red Pepper"
Plum Delight Chinese Fringe Flower (Lorapetalum chinense "Plum Delight," also known as "Hines Purple Leaf")
Purple Heart (Setcresea pallida)
Otti Quasti Spanish Lavendar (Lavandula stoechas)
Ruby Bells (Huechera sanguina)
(We like this one because it reminds us of our cat Ruby, nicknamed Rubydell)
And across the pathway, the red Double Knockout Rose
we coveted but which just did not look right with the other plants. Tip your head to the left and you will see where we thought it would go:
We put the lavendar there instead and it looks lovely.
Comments