Low maintenance perennial flower garden

dad wouldn’t let us in the cucumber patch until we were old enough to avoid stepping on the vines. taught us very early how to properly pick fruits and veggies. he had a large row of peonies and huge dalihias planted in front of the house. my best pic is my daughter at 5 yrs. old. blonde hair blue eyes in pig tails. holding one of his big yellow dalhia flowers. her eyes just pop in that pic. luckily the people that bought his house after he passed, renovated the patch. now when i go by there it brings a smile to my face.

4 Likes

Tons of those here in the northeast Clark. I always referred to them as perennial sunflowers. They’re seen alongside barns and outbuildings quite commonly here.

1 Like

@clarkinks, Have you considered adding hollyhocks and zinnias? Hollyhocks as you know are biennial. They also reseed themselves so readily, as do the annual zinnias. I read this on a seed packet, but you probably know this too - Hollyhocks were called the ‘outhouse’ flower, apparently to hide the unsightly outhouses, and also to guide guests to the outdoor privy without having to ask where it was located!
They both can put on gorgeous displays! I should still have a lot of seed of the black hollyhock somewhere if you would like some, let me know.

Black Hollyhock

Zinnias

6 Likes

Im surprised and impressed and read up on it Maine Garden Ideas - Planting and Growing Golden Glow - Maine Garden Ideas

2 Likes

@KSprairie
Yes they are gorgeous i need to think about that. I considered yucca as well but remain undecided.

2 Likes

Yucca is great but put it up near some rocks somewhere your not walking next too. It spreads well and outcompetes everything here albiet slowly.

1 Like

Yucca is definitely low maintenance.

As evidence: our neighbors had some growing near the property line. They tried to dig it up and it sent up shoots on our side. The shoots were coming up in a place where I wanted to plant a Belgian fence of pears. So then I tried to dig it up, took the roots, and threw them in the trunk of my car with some other stuff that I was taking to throw on my parents’ brush pile (they have a larger yard than we do and it backs up on some woods).

This was in the spring. Then things got busy and I forgot about them for a few months. Late July or August, I finally got around to dumping the stuff in my trunk. Pulled out the yucca and the chunks of root were pushing shoots. Potted the shoots up (because why not) and they took off.

And now this spring I’m digging up the yucca by the fence again.

I’m not sure whether that’s a recommendation or not, but it’s pretty tough stuff. (Though oddly, it seems like it can be slow to get established when transplanted into the ground. Possibly because it’s all about sending roots down at that point?)

3 Likes

Yucca is hard to get rid of around here too, and isn’t the prettiest of plants, in my opinion. I considered planting it, just for it’s ability to stand in as a soap substitute. I thought it would be good to have some at hand if needed. Roots contain saponin. I had it growing at a place I lived at in Missouri, and I could never get rid of it, much like @JinMA is describing. I know where plenty is growing on abandoned farmsteads and ditches nearby, so that’s my source for now!

2 Likes

These pictures are from last spring & summer but I am very pleased with the perennial landscape around our home that I installed last season.

!

The list of plants/shrubs in the landscape:

  • American low bush cranberries
  • PMJ rhododendrons
  • Alpine carpet juniper
  • Dwarf mugo pine
  • Chocolate baptisia
  • Walkers low catmint
  • Orange yellow Angelina sedum
  • Dwarf Japanese barberry (these invasives are no longer available for sale in Maine)
  • Native ferns

The the rocks/boulders are from my property.

I have a heavy duty commercial grade woven fabric underneath and went with crushed stone instead of mulch for a top coating which will require less maintenance and won’t have to be replaced/added to every season. Not many people around here use stone as a landscape cover but I love the natural look and uniformity of it…it’s also bit on an ode to California where I once lived.

The dirt walkway is now stone pavers that we installed last fall.

I might add a bit here and there as time goes on but I don’t want to over do it and crowd stuff out.

7 Likes

Here’s a picture from last summer & fall of the Angelina sedum (stonecrop). It’s a beautiful addition to a perennial landscape.

It has made it through the winter just fine. Amazing that we can grow certain succulents here in Maine.

9 Likes

I love it!

1 Like

i bought some mixed type sedum plugs from lowes last summer. covered a gravely spot near my mailbox. filled in very quickly. anxious to see how it looks this year.

4 Likes

Does anyone know what this flower name is.

2 Likes

Anise hyssop (agastache foeniculum)?

2 Likes

Thanks

1 Like

Probably VERONICA if you’re talking about the purple blooms.
Probably GAURA if you’re talking about the pink bloom.

:older_adult:

1 Like

I’m guessing Salvia May Night.

or do you mean the Guara to the left of the purple plant?

Scott

2 Likes

Good…salvia would be my second guess…if I had a couple leaves to check texture that might clinch the identity.

Yes, the purple ones but also nice to know the pink ones as well.

Over the last couple years we have been getting our front porch renovated. It is all done except for the inspection, which is difficult to do these days. Part of the project was to take out some scraggly bushes and make two new front beds.

We visited @mamuang a few years ago and I came away from seeing her place with the feeling that we should strive to do more perennial flowers and fruit trees and less annuals. So this bed flows from that concept.

In January I dug some of the soil out and buried some old logs I had tried to make into mushroom logs 6 years ago but which never worked out (probably too dry). I covered these with some soil dug out of a disintegrating raised bed in the front yard, then topped with mulch. I don’t know if the logs will do anything for me but at least I got rid of the logs!

In this bed in the center is a Harrow Sweet pear which I plan to espalier up on the porch railing just above, and an Aunt Dee wisteria which I hope to grow up the corner column and across the porch.

Then also: creeping phlox, dwarf hydrangea, two floribunda roses, several varieties of dianthus, some succulents, catmint, coreopsis, gaillardia, peony, siberian iris, lavender, daylilly, campanula, helleborus. I put an oriental poppy but it didn’t make it. On the opposite side bed is almost all the same plants in a mostly mirror image. The tree on the other side is Korean Giant asian pear. Different rose varieties too.

Probably will get too crowded in here when things grow out, but I figured not everything will thrive so some will die off or do poorly and can get yanked later. Eventually I’ll put a drip line looped in here but for now I’m watering with a hose.

Doesn’t look like much yet, but I’m looking forward to these plants growing up and being a low maintenance perennial patch.

8 Likes