Garden planning

by Doctor Science

The garden at our new house needs a lot of work. I'm planning on doing it in stages. First, I went to the Native Plant sale yesterday, and got:

Clockwise from pink flowers:

• pink Creeping Phlox (Phlox stolonifera)
• Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) -- they've already bloomed, I'm hoping for seeds
• Eastern Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
• two Green-and-Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum)
• Golden Ragwort (Packera aurea) -- this is a new one for me
• two 'Larinem Park' Wild Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum)
• Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)
• two Foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia)

.

As you may know, there's a cultural divide (heh) among gardeners, between "gardeners who use Latin names" and "gardeners who use English names". I'm mostly a Latin-namer while my mother is an English-namer, which can be confusing for everybody.

Cutting here for multiple images.

Most of those flowers will go in the areas near the house where the ground has been left absolutely bare by the construction and hardscape workers:

The soil is clay with rocks, we're on a hill yet mostly shady, zone 6b, and dry enough that there's not much poison ivy -- which is truly remarkable for NJ.

Further up, there is a pretty sad-looking set of Carolina Allspice (Calycanthus floridus) shrubs:

I've never grown these before -- they're not NJ natives. Do those of you with experience think they'll come back from their construction-related trauma? What would go well in front of them, where there's a couple feet of bare dirt?

Some years ago I gave my mom some Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) and blue Phlox stolonifera, and I'll be bringing some back with me when I go up to New England again, 2 weeks from now. Also some Jack-in-the-Pulpits and some of her yellow Stonecrop, I think.

The Asarum and Jack-in-the-Pulpits will go here, at the front of the house:

That's a Boston Ivy, waiting for some more actual soil and to get planted. I think I'll also put in ferns and violets -- this wall faces north, and never gets direct sun. And yes, the house was built in 1915. Did you know that renovation is more expensive when the house contains *no* right angles?

Speaking of construction, when we get the wall repaired here:

I think I'm going to try some "part-sun to sun" flowers, because this spot only gets shade late and early. Maybe Bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana) and Butterfly-Weed (Asclepias tuberosa), which are pretty and deer-resistant, with daffodils for spring. The previous owners put things like hostas and lilies, which are nothing but deer food around here.

Talk about your gardens, give me advice, natter!

Comments

[ABW]

Doing it in stages is a good idea. In AZ, where 'wet' is a distinct ecosystem, I have dry areas and wet areas. Wet areas are the ones that get runoff from the roof that gathers in a depressed area in the yard (also called 'pond', but 'occasionally wet' would be more accurate). There I have the ash tree, navajo willow, honeysuckle, and iris. The rest of the yard is drought tolerant native grasses, sedum, phlox, penstamon, and whatever pops up on its own. I plant more stuff occasionally but it's definitely survival of the fittest in my yard. I've been working on it for 26 years

[ABW]

You may want to reconsider the boston ivy. I've heard it destroys masonry.
Old Brick Homes: The quality of mortar has improved over the years, so the older the home, the greater the risk of weakened mortar. Homes built before 1930 need particular caution, as older, lime-based mortar is softer than modern, cement-based mortar.
The website recommended climbing roses. I would look at the plantings at Princeton and emulate those.

[wj]

We went to pretty much all native plants (with a few from identical climates around the Mediterranean) some time ago. Mostly because of the drought have - - native plants, unlike what those elsewhere consider "standard" landscaping, don't need to be watered all. But there is also the feature that they take far less gardening than the non-natives.

[Doctor Science]

ABW:

In fact, I picked Boston Ivy because that's what on the buildings at Princeton. The house used to have a lot of English Ivy on it, but we've taken it off because that stuff is just mean. There's a separate stone building (being used as an office) where I'll maybe let Virginia Creeper do its thing for comparison purposes.

[Snarki, child of Loki]

Viney plants are evil, so beware of encouraging ANY type of ivy.