So nine years ago I cleared out all the pachysandra from the side driveway bed with the intent to do some landscaping design. This is the year I finally gave up and decided I would outsource the entire project. Unfortunately for me (but fortunate for my pocket) I really couldn’t pay anyone for a design. I thought we were in a recession, but that does not seem to be the case here.
Determined to figure this out myself, I first mapped the sun exposure of the bed. Every hour I noted if the area was shaded, partial sun or full sun. Next I went to four garden nurseries and took notes on all the plants that I liked. I then logged all those plants into a spreadsheet and noted the following attributes: name, height, width, sun, evergreen, etc.
Next I found pictures of all the plants and then crudely created a semi accurate representation of the area I was going to plant in powerpoint. Then I simply copy/pasta’d pictures to come up with a design. Here is what I came up with:
And this is what it actually looks like:
Some design principles I tried to follow:
- Ensure that there was color for the Spring: white, purple and yellow flowers.
- Vary the textures of the plants
- Ensure that the plants would not crowd each other and become overgrown for the area
- Ensure the plants would receive the proper amount of Sun.
The plants I used:
- Delaware White Azalea. White flowers in May
- Liriope. Purple flowers
- Heuchera Southern Comfort Coral Bells
- Lysimachia (Creepy Jenny). Yellow flowers
The only thing I should have done better is not having it so “arranged”. However, in such a small area I also didn’t want it to look too haphazard. Now onto the next bed.
