Gardening, like many things in life, requires patience.
It may look “okay” when you first plan and plant. But it takes years before it really comes together in the way you plan.
All that to say, our late summer gardens are positively exploding with colors. In the Midwest, late summer means some of my very favorite perennials – black eyed susan, coneflower and limelight hydrangeas.
Gah. I just love them. I will pull over for wild flowers at this time of year.
And this year has been particularly good for all my favorite plants. Typically, most of the coneflower and black eyed susan would be finished by now, but they are holding strong with bursts of color. And the colors just pop with the green/white of the hydrangeas.
I don’t know what I’ve done right, but everything seems to love this area. I think it’s a combination of good, well-drained soil we brought in, weed barrier and full sun. None of which are thanks to me.
The gardens in our front of our home were so tiny when we first planted them (almost) two years ago.
I mean, look how tiny those plants were! And I thought it looked incredible, by the way. I was thrilled. We planted almost all transplants from my aunt’s home with three perennials I bought at Lowe’s when they were on clearance in the fall.
Bless my heart. I posted about my new curb appeal and you were probably thinking, where are all the plants, lady?
Now we are looking at the same space two years later. And it’s really incredible!
So much of the vision for these perennial garden beds has actually come together. And it’s filled in beautifully.
Even better, we have created such an amazing space for butterflies and bees. The butterflies literally swarm around the buds at this time of year, and we spend plenty of time watching them out the living room window.
But as everything begins to come together, it also leads to me thinking about what I want to tweak and adjust for next year. Because just as gardens take patience, they also take tending.
We have already added a few things here and there and moved some plants around that were overgrown – but September is my favorite time to transplant so I’ll be doing more of this next month.
I’m really happy with this area in front of the garage. It’s filled in nicely and has good height and variety. It also seems relatively balanced with lots of all-year color. (Check out this post for more tips and ideas for plants with year round color.)
I would like to add a little something next to the stairs – maybe just another black eyed susan. It’s looking a little sparse in late summer (there’s plenty of color with tulips, peonies, and daylilies earlier in the year). And I’m also toying with adding two more limelight hydrangeas near the garage windows.
But the other side is where I really would like to make some additions and changes. It just hasn’t filled in as well and feels a little unbalanced to me.
I would like to move plants around in this area – adding a limelight hydrangea in the back for height and then extending the garden bed a little to make room for a few more plants – some more coneflower and black eyed susans.
Ryan is also hoping to add skirting below the front porch before winter, so that will give all those plants a pretty backdrop (and keep all those weeds from popping up beneath the porch, too).
There may be some projects ahead, but this garden has given me such joy. Sometimes, a little patience and tending can pay dividends.
Are you planning any fall garden projects?
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Diego Lopes says
It’s an exercise of patience alright, but it really pays off.
Susan says
It’s gorgeous!
deb says
Looks really great!