Way to go Caroline, plant G. Biokovo up front, it's a very low growing ground cover type, very pretty too. When I first bought this guy, without thinking, I planted it towards the back of a perennial border couldn't see it when it bloomed until I moved it. LOL

Annette

Caroline,
your garden will look like Heaven! Enjoy planting everything!

Annette I hope the greaniums will do well. I have always wanted these and read the needs and think they will be OK.

Natalie : thank you we can hope !!

I used Nell's list. If I had not had her direction I would not have known where to start. I can't thank all the patient and encouraging forum members enough. I hope to do it justice. Caroline

The scabiosa will bloom for a very long time. I just cut mine back after it had bloomed since March. It was in several of my photos that I've posted. The foliage of mine is evergreen here.

The penstemon are favorites. I have lots of different colors and they are starting to bloom now. A hummingbird favorite and you can divide/passalong for years to come. They are easy to transplant, so if they grow too wide for the spot, just divide in the fall. The foliage on some of mine are evergreen here in NC, so you'll probably have similar results.

The nepeta has similar requirements as lavender. I trimmed my Spanish lavender and nepeta today. The Munstead is now in bloom. Lamb's Ears and dianthus are great companions for nepeta and lavender.

The Moonbeam coreopsis will bloom all summer long. Mine is just starting to bud (planted on a slope below my scabiosa).

My Bookside geraniums (from Bluestone) are now blooming and are a perfect color match with the companions platycodon (the low-growing variety of balloon flower).

The thyme is a wonderful groundcover and will spread in 2 years. I am always taking plugs out of my existing thyme and putting them around to use as groundcover.

Enjoy all your new plants!

Cameron

Yikes and Gadzooks!!!
A "good feeling of panic" pretty well sums up how I'd be feeling Caroline! You certainly belong here with the rest of us "garden nuts". I love your choices!

I'm sure you have a plan of action, but if you do feel a little overwhelmed and have a good sized bit of space, I might suggest a nursery for some of these plants. They are going to be quite tiny when they arrive, and many of them won't put on much growth this year above ground. (First year "sleep"). It's already nearly June and you are in Alabama (I assume) and possibly looking at drought conditions. If you put these little guys in their own bed you can keep a better eye on them, give them a drink more often and they won't be shoved around by already-established neighbors. You can move them into permanent spots in the fall or wait until next spring. I think lots of folks prefer to pot up their first year clematis to let them get a little meat on their bones. A search on the Clematis Forum would probably give more info on caring for them when they're babies.

Wishing you all the best. You're gonna have a wonderful forever garden.
PattiOh

You don't need any fertilizer if you have mushroom compost. I only use pinestraw for my beds and lightly with my mushroom compost. I sort of let my mushroom compost serve as bed and mulch. I do get a lot. Not sure how much you got, but we get 22 yards per year. You want to put mulch in the form of light pinestraw over your clematis to protect its roots as it keeps them moist with their roots in shade and heads in sunlight. The rest of the items you bought will do fine in mushroom compost. Some of your plants will not want fertilizer. I think you treat the soil, not the plants. Good compost and mulch is treating the soil. The plants will take what they need. No chemical fertilizers, please. Thank you.

Caroline - we NEED to see pictures when the garden is planted - that is quite a beautiful list of plants - ENJOY.....

Lynne

Caroline, everything you ordered should be wonderful in your beds. The only one from your list that I have is the Walker's Low and it is one of my favorites. It divides easily and I now have several beautiful clumps from the 2 tiny seedlings I got from Bluestone 3 year ago. Like Cameron, I give mine a severe "haircut" in mid-June and it bounces right back and rewards me with another bloom before the season is over. Have fun...gosh knows you deserve it after all that hard work you have done!! Vikki

You are going to have such fun picking just the right spot for all your new babies and getting them all planted !
Can't wait to see them when they're big enough to show us some pictures.

Carol

LOL...and I was happy to do it, Caroline! That's a great list of plants you've got there. I can't wait to see them all in their places in your lovely new backyard!

MeMo

Caroline, do you have a plan? Don't make me have to come up there! LOL.

Make little lists of the plants you've ordered, sorting by when they bloom WHERE YOU ARE. (For instance, pinks bloomed mid-April here and are finished for the season, seldom see rebloom even with deadheading.)

** Beside each one, give the ultimate width of the plant and whether they're spikes, mounds, creepers, vines.
Draw out a rough sketch of your beds on graph paper and plug the plants in. Put the creepers near the stone walls, obviously.

Even with so many plants, you might consider putting in some summer annuals that grow in sun or shade, like periwinkles, while your perennials are getting size on them. Periwinkles are just coming up in my garden while nicotianas are winding down and rudbeckia is cranking up, among other things. I lean to purple periwinkles, but they come in white and some beautiful pastels that will work with your echinacea.

Is your purple clematis still blooming? Look closely at your new ones to see if they're summer flowering or spring and fall. Fine tuning is crazy-making, but the results are worthwhile.

This drought is making me crazy.

Nell

Cameron: thank you for all the info on the plants. I will do as Nell suggested and make a plan with the info next to each. I only hope they will do as well as yours !

Pattioh: they will be all alone as the bed is brand new. I didn't realize the plants wuld be TINY...they will look lost for sure. I have no plan but am going to get one ...NOW !

patricia: thank you for the help. I have 1 yard...I can get as much as I want but I didn't know how much to get. Do you work it into the soil or just put it on the top as you said like mulch ? I was going to use it to condition the soil even though it is good topsoil. We have no clay. Thanks for any further inst. on that.

lynne: pictures at 10:00...LOL

vikki : thanks for the vote of confidence. I will make a note on the walker's low

Carol...I hope they do well I sure am trying.

MeMo you and Nell need to come ON !!

Nell I have no plan but that was kinda what I had in mind so I guess I am on the right track. How little are these plants !!?? I bought the other clems to make sure I would have later blooms. I have looked up previously when to prune /not prune etc for them so that is OK. Pinks are still robust here. We are still having 60's at night which is weird. SMOKE again today. I sure hate it for you Ga/Fl folks down there in the fire regions. And no rain anytime in the near future for here. Very grim.

THANK YOU ALL. Caroline

Caroline:

I have been reading a lot on here, trying to plan a bit of my "blank canvas". Thanks to this thread, I now have a longer list of plants to try, a website from which to purchase them, and a way to draw out a garden plan. Enabling is contagious :)

Good luck with your plants, they sound gorgeous!

Emmie

Carolyn...check your Lowe's for the Walker's Low catmint. I picked one up from the Columbus Lowe's a few weeks ago just to try and now I wish I'd purchased a couple more. I'm loving that plant!

trailrunner/Caroline,
I see you ordered Liatris spicata 'Kobold' as well.
I did too, or I thought I did, but got some sort of yarrow instead, let me know what you got.
Here's a pic of my Liatris...
{{gwi:673266}}

It may not be yarrow, it might be Lepintella squalida. ID thanks to the "Name that plant" forum.

I was thinking the same thing, Lepintella squalida, Brass Buttons, possibly 'Platt's Black'. I have it growing between the bricks on a tiny patio. I think it's classed as one of the steppables, Yellow flowers when it blooms, mine hasn't as of yet.

Annette