6 Braiding Plants
Starting a garden is one of the most rewarding things you can do. Plant fragrant flowers or start a vegetable garden (or both!), and everyone can benefit from getting their hands a little dirty. But if you're new to gardening, it can be hard to know where to start. Still, it doesn't have to be complicated; When you break your plan down into manageable steps, you can ease into gardening at your own pace. You will soon see the rewards of your efforts with beautiful views, delicious flavors and colorful flowers. These steps will help you get started, but if you have something in mind, you can also use a garden plan to guide your design.
Remove weeds and weeds from the area you plan to plant. If you want quick results—for example, it's already spring and you want vegetables this summer—cut it. Slice under the lawn with a shovel. Cut the lawn into sections to make removal easier.
For a long-term plan, the lasagna gardening method is easy to use: cover your future garden with five sheets of newspaper; Double that if your lawn is Bermuda grass or St. Augustine grass. Spread a 3-inch layer of compost (or a mixture of potting soil and topsoil) over newspaper. Wait for everything to drain. Compost and paper take about four months to decompose. But if you start in the fall, a bed will be ready for planting in the spring with grass or weeds and rich soil.
Among the many combinations, many compatible players help tie together different parts of the garden, thriving in different microclimates and design aesthetics.
1. 'Bottle Rocket' bearded iris
Zones: 5-10
Size: 30 to 35 inches tall and 12 to 24 inches wide
Conditions: Full sun; Average, well-drained soil
Native Range: Hybrid
Bearded irises are hard to compete with in spring, and there are thousands of named cultivars to fall in love with. I grow about 60 different varieties, but 'Bottle Rocket' always catches my attention with its warm colors that glow a very constant lavender or purple. It looks great against the terracotta color of my house.
2. Hens and chicks
Name: Sempervivum tectorum and cvs.
Zones: 3–9
Size: 2 to 4 inches tall and 6 to 12 inches wide
Conditions: Full sun to part shade; Medium to coarse, well-drained soil
Native range: Southern Europe
Chickens and chicks are a staple in cool-weather rock gardens. The mix of species and cultivars creates a colorful mosaic reminiscent of the ideal succulent gardens found in light coastal gardens. Tough as nails, they thrive on neglect, and the "chicks" can expand over time to form a compact landscape.
3. 'Pink Chintz' Thyme
Name: Thymus serphyllum 'Pink Chintz'
Zones: 5–9
Size: 1 to 3 inches tall and 24 inches wide
Conditions: Full sun; Medium to dry, well-drained soil
Native range: Europe, West Asia, North Africa
This tight-growing ground cover fills small spaces or forms an elaborate carpet with its trailing stems and small leaves. The pinkish-purple flowers are welcomed by bees in mid-spring and periodically thereafter. As it crawls between boulders and tumbles down sunny slopes, thyme aggregates the fine structure and spread of path and bed edges. It's the perfect backdrop for bold plants and hardscape features.
4. Granita Raspberry Ice Plant
Name: Delosperma 'PJS01S'
Zones: 5-10
Size: 4 inches tall and 30 inches wide
Conditions: Full sun; Medium to coarse, well-drained soil
Native Range: Hybrid
The uniform shape of the leaves and flowers of the various ice plants allows several cultivars to be easily mixed in a garden, and I mix them freely; However, this cultivar is a favorite. Its creeping habit paints crevices and slopes in a distinctive warm carmine and reddish-purple color. The famous spring display of these flowers is repeated blooming scattered throughout the summer.
5. Great Penstemon
Name: Penstemon grandiflorus
Zones: 3–9
Size: 2 to 4 feet tall and 1 to 1½ feet wide
Conditions: Full sun; Medium to dry, well-drained soil
Native range: Central America
This species has flowers that can be white, pink or purple, although I have only selected for lavender flowers in my garden. Flowering spikes grow quickly in spring and bloom until early summer. The sturdy stems produce strong seed pods that retain winter interest, allowing this perennial to be seeded profusely throughout the garden.
6. Peak Yucca
Name: Yucca rostrata
Zones: 5-10
Size: 10 to 15 feet tall and 3 to 10 feet wide
Conditions: Full sun to part shade; Medium to dry, well-drained soil
Native range: southwestern Texas, northeastern Mexico
Many hardy yucca species are scattered throughout my property, and this bold but elegant yucca is the queen of them all. The blue-green leaves are narrow and flexible with fine golden edges, and they almost shimmer on windy days. Flower stalks extend more than 3 feet above the leaves, and dense creamy, bell-shaped flowers release a clean, light fragrance in spring.
"Remove weeds and weeds"
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