The back yard though, is a few trees, and some sandy, sandy, soil. The Sarracenia get the most of the full sun spot. So let's go with my yard is sandy and mostly partial shade spots to plant. What can you do with that. I don't know.
My husband mentioned he'd like to plant some things in the back yard and make it look nice for when we hang out back there. I guess I can start to make an actual garden right? Grow stuff outdoors and dig in the dirt (sand) like a normal person instead of having a billion plants in separate pots around. The more I started to consider what I wanted, the more overwhelmed I got. Help, I need an adult.
So the other night I went to Walmart at about one in the morning. You know, like normal people do. Ok, for me it's the only time it's reasonable to shop there without wanting to punch someone or run screaming from the building. While I was there, I went to the garden section having decided that this was it. I was going to browse the garden section like a gardener. Yeah.
What was the only thing I was confident I maybe, could have made a good decision about, and wasn't outrageously boring?
Toad Lily, awwww yeaaaaa.
 |
| $1.98! The back says it will be Tricyrtis hirta, I hope we'll find out. |
According to the internet, Tricyrtis species do well in partial to full shade, and tolerate sandy soil. So on this one decision maybe I did ok, right? They were sold in this package as roots, so I started them in a few pots just because I feel more comfortable with that. This Tricyrtis species can grow in as far north as zone 4, and I'm at it's max heat tolerance in zone 9.
I then got over excited and stopped at Lowe's and Home Depot on my way home from work today. Small haul of Ismene festalis ("Perivian Daffodil/"Spider Lily"), Tricyrtis 'Blue Wonder' (a compact "Toad Lily" cultivar), and Canna indica 'Pretoria', (variegated, orange flowered Canna cultivar.) All are perennials that should do well in zone 9 if I pick out the right spots in the yard for them.
I then got over excited and stopped at Lowe's and Home Depot on my way home from work today. Small haul of Ismene festalis ("Perivian Daffodil/"Spider Lily"), Tricyrtis 'Blue Wonder' (a compact "Toad Lily" cultivar), and Canna indica 'Pretoria', (variegated, orange flowered Canna cultivar.) All are perennials that should do well in zone 9 if I pick out the right spots in the yard for them.
Ok friends, here we go. You know you're in trouble when you google something as lame as "how to make a garden bed," for ideas. Want to see my gardening disasters and point and laugh at the crazy decisions I make? You know I won't be planting my backyard with sunflowers and geraniums right? Not unless there exists to buy mutant 5 headed ginormous ones with thorns, in which case maybe that's exactly what I'll do.
Haha, I'm totally the same way! I only ever grew carnivores until last year. I wanted to try edibles and actually grew some half-decent cherry tomatoes. But then I needed room for more carnivores, so that didn't last long! ;)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the lillies! That "Blue Wonder" looks like it's going to be awesome!
Yeah, if I could just grow carnivores in the ground here I think I probably would. Seeing as how although that isn't impossible exactly, it would be a bit expensive, unreasonable, and my house might sink into the eventual bog or quicksand I created. So I'm stuck trying things like normal gardeners do to make the yard a little more interesting. The challenge I think is finding things that have some potential to be as interesting to grow as the carnivores are. I'm open to any and all suggestions at this point!
DeleteYou should definitely install a bog garden, but in terms of normal gardening, toad lilies are a good choice. You might try looking at some orchid trees, too. A couple species might grow where you are. Maybe something cool like an Australian tree fern, as well, but those don't like frost.
ReplyDeleteI would consider a bog garden maybe for the future. My issue with those is should something go wrong I might lose all my plants, whereas now in individual pots I can spot and fix issues and maybe only lose 1 plant. I don't think I can handle another big loss right now. I'll have to look up the plants you suggested, I'm not familiar with either. Doesn't like frost might be ok, cannot handle an occasional brief light frost, probably can't do.
DeleteWell... it's question of keep trying. A garden say that it just never make... sure it is very nice. If you put some bushes of berries (which require little attention), you will have visits of butterflies and birds that give color to the garden. And under its shadow you can put some more sensitive bulbous plants. Best regards
ReplyDeleteYes! I would love to plant some things that attract butterflies and hummingbirds especially. Doing a lot of research in my spare time to see what would do well here.
Delete