Here is the overall scene - it's 50 feet long. Unfortunately, when I reduce the resolution for fast uploads it really destroys image quality. It looks much better in real life.

This year I thought I would try something new - red castor beans. They were wonderful and next year I will do a lot more. The seeds are highly toxic, and my kids have gotten several lectures on them. They are finally old enough to know better, but I still watch them.

This photo is from early July, but the garden really gets going late in the season. I will be adding more for early season interest next year.

Here we are in August, things are filling out nicely.

Isn't that castor bean nice?

Dahlias and red hibiscus.

See the red stars - that's my new cypress vine on the obelisks.

Salvias and amaranthus really work well together.

That's my daughter, I'm brainwashing her with flower love.

Me and my 2 kids :-) Every proud mom has to throw in some of those pictures.

Sorry for so many photos, but it was actually really hard to narrow it down to so few! Hope you enjoyed it. Lots more plans for next year.

Thanks for sharing!

I like the new crop you are raising, 2 real cuties!

Leasa

GGG

I started Amaranthus from seed this year and it grew taller than me. I was surprised-isn't it beautiful?!

But I have to chime in anyway and say: That is one beautiful border! You must have done some serious looking to find all those!

Lime

You are so lucky to have all that space to spread out in. I cannot wait until we get a house. Then I can start my own huge red bed! Your amaranthus got so tall you can hardly see the cannas in the back. Or did they not do as well this year?

Thanks for sharing with us.

Tracy

Really enjoyed looking at your pictures, Thanks for sharing...

~Maria~

*Your babies are sooo cute!! I bet they already love helping Mommy in the garden. :)

Your children are simply adorable - prettiest flowers in the garden :):)......

Lynne

I've got a huge space ready for next year and I'd like to try the amaranthus (sp?). I've got the sedum and would like to make a big splash like yours.

Nice to see a face to attach to a name (wheelbarrow included).
Were you working on your front walkway last year??? Or was that someone else? How's it going???
You've got a fantastic eye for combining things.

georgeanne

Haziemoon

Michelle

Lisa

This redbed is harder to photograph than my other beds. It looks its best in early morning and evening when the sun shines through the petals and lights them up like fire. The photos at this time, however, invariably show harsh contrasts, and deep shadows, and never look good. So I have to settle for cloudy days. For Christmas I asked Santa for a fancy new digital camera, so maybe then I'll be able to show it in its best light.

I just went shopping this morning and bought bulbs on clearance. I was going to plant them, but it's snowing out pretty hard right now. So instead I'm on gardenweb.

Regarding your questions:
ggg - not everything is from seed. The red amaranthus reseeded itself -in spades! I hoed out so many I debated leaving any at all. But of course I have to have them, they really make the whole bed. I cheat and buy 4- packs of impatiens, petunias, and salvias for $1.25/4-pack. My friend mulchy gave me the castor bean plants that she started from seed, and also bronze millet.

inthegarden_k - I do grow burgundy gaillardia. It featured a lot in last year's photographs. This year I moved it too far back in the bed and they got covered by larger plants. But they are stalwarts, like you said, they start blooming early and keep going all season, even without deadheading.

I have canna "King Humbert" with red leaves. It's my second year, so they are slowly multiplying. My other green-leaved cannas multiply like rodents, I have removed 4 bushel baskets of them so far. I had tropicanna last year, but for some strange reason they did not grow, but rather shriveled in the cellar. Probably because they were expensive and the others were not.

Tracy (faltered) - I have 3 dahlias. The fancy ones are "akita". They died over winter in my cellar, so I bought more of them. The other dark smoky red is Arabian night. The bright true red is an unknown variety that multiplies like crazy. Happy to share either of those with you, I have a ton.

Tracy, you have quite a memory! You remember that last year the cannas were the backdrop along the whole bed. This year I added another whole 3 foot-wide strip to the back. I added manure and woodshavings and rototilled it all in, creating a new bed. That's where I planted my cannas and red barberries. However I did not add nitrogen to the soil to compensate for all those tilled in wood-shavings. (It only needs to be done the first year.) The result was very stunted 3 foot high cannas. A big flop.

One day you will get your own house! I lived for 6 years in a condo, and my garden was a rented 10'x20' community plot that I rode to on my bike.

Thegardenangel - that dark leaved purplelish plant on the bottom-right hand of picture #5 - is "red emperor sedum". Has gorgeous thick red stems all season. Needs excellent drainage. My first one got root rot, and this was a cutting from that one.

debbieca - can't believe you couldn't get amaranthus to grow. I can't get it to stop. I pulled out hundreds and hundreds of seedlings. Perhaps the trick is to sprinkle it on the surface, with no dirt on top. Moist all winter. FYI - they are shallow rooted and pull out quite easily, even when large. I have about a gazillion seeds if anyone wants, email me by member page.

Red sunflowers - yes! You just reminded me that I bought those seeds this spring, but never got around to planting them. Same story with scarlet runner beans. I'm guilty of a lot of that. I still have the packets, so maybe next year I'll try again. Any particular ones I should try? Great idea though!

Georgeanne - yeah, the photo. I was quite hesitant about that, you know, preferring my anonymity. That and I never like any photos of myself. But I guess I'm ready to come of the gardener's closet.

Still thinking about that front walkway, haven't come up with a design I like yet. I tend to ignore the front garden in favor of the back and side gardens. I keep thinking a good idea will just come to me oneday. That's usually how it works. No good photos yet, perhaps next year.

pattea - oh, the list is so long! All the above mentioned plants, and Lilies, bee balm, hollyhocks, red blood grass, cardinal flower, euphorbia, bloody dock, heuchera palace purple, husker red penstemon (for the foliage), poppies, geum, knautia, peonies, "blackie" sweet potato, etc. etc. etc.

Perhaps one day I'll post a thread on the red bed "failures". Things that didn't work out, and that I didn't show.

Later on I will post more photos. That's enough for now!

Beautiful!
Anne

I am emailing you through GW, let's hope you get it, since some have been having problems with mail going through

FlowerLady

HOLY COW & OH MY GOSH!!! I am AWE-STRICKEN- SERIOUSLY!
Wow the amount of time you mus thave put into this...Honestly- this is just plain breath taking. I think you need new neighbors. I I lived near by I'd be walking by everyday just to see it.( and ask you for advice too, sinc eyou are obviously a guru!!)

I am just sooo sooo impressed with these pics. Unbelievable really!
Now I have a couple of questions for you.
#1- how does one get such darn beautiful kids? LOL WHAT CUTIES!!

#2- the plant in the secong picture with 5-6 toothed red leaves.. that's beautiful. Is that the castor bean? I have no idea what castor bean is? do you basically just have to keep your kids from eating it? how poisonous is that??! for pets too?

#3- That amaranth is wonderful! I just love it. do you thikn it woudl do well in my rock/wildflower garden? I jsut let things go nuts in there. it's a dry sunny slope and i really never eater it.. it's too far from the house.. so I try to keep it all wild stuff that reseeds and need little care. I assume deer woudlnt eat it and birds probably love the seeds too right?( since it is a grain after all right?)
i have no red leafed stuff in there- it woudl add lots of fall interest which is is lacking bigtime. if you think it would work- did you send some of those seeds in for the seed swap? :)

#4- I grow a redstemmed,redleaf cardinal flower ( perrenial) and i put lots of that seed in the seed swap. I can send you pics if interested. I forget the exact variety and i am not sure if it's hardy to zone 5 or 6 but I'm in 6 and i'm fine with it for 3 years now.

PS- when neighbors ask you why you dont add other colors- tell them that you are looking to attract the hummingbirds and it's their favorite.. maybe that will shut them up. LOL

I remembered your pics from last year, too and also your advice about adding as much organic material as possible to your beds. Remember the sawdust pictures? :-) I never thought of adding sawdust until I saw your picture. I've been trying to follow that astute advice ever since.

It's great to see how your red garden has matured. It's even more breathtaking this year!

Marilyn

Remy - yes, please! I would love some of that red-leaved hibiscus.

friend - yes, that's a castor bean. The seeds are poisonous, so just don't let kids or pets eat them. (They're covered with cool spiky balls, so it's not really likely, but they still get lectures.)

Supposedly you can save the amaranth seeds and eat them, but I don't. I'm sure they would do well anywhere with full sun. I only put a few in the seed swap, not sure if people wanted them because they DO reseed profusely. If interested, email me and I will send you some.

Two years ago I had a red leaved cardinal flower, but it didn't overwinter. I tried again this year and am keeping my fingers crossed. Some seeds would be nice insurance . . . See it in the second picture at the bottom of the castor bean. So beautiful!

Marilyn - sawdust is great, just remember to put extra nitrogen the first year or you will wind up with stunted plants like my cannas.

This is in June. Problem with the lilies, and a lot of other plants, is that they are not true red, but tend towards pinky red or orangy red. I'm still debating whether to replace them. Other plants here are spiky cordyline and heuchera coral bells

My containers by the side door.

Absolutely gorgeous -- not just the plants, but the way you've put them together, and the sheer overflowing abundance of the whole bed. Wow.

I saw that you offered some seeds of the Amaranthus. I will e-mail you and see if you'd be willing to share some with me. I have some seeds to trade you too. Thanks again for the photos!
Kim

I 'get it'.....It's nice to think of how much enjoyment you must get out your Red Bed...

Paul

I too remember your bed photos last year...wow what a difference. I remember being excited to see it when it was done. And it is lovely.

Thanks for sharing your garden.

-S

I have some questions about that sawdust + nitrogen thing, though. I'm trying to garden in sand here where I live (just moved here in February of 2005) and have been trying to amend with loads of stuff that is cleaned out of the stalls of a horse farm nearby. It's mostly shavings with some horse manure and spoiled hay and straw. It breaks down fairly quickly in compost piles and also when I use it to make lasagne beds. In fact, it seems to "melt" away in this sand so that you can't tell much difference after a season or so. But I've been told that this is a good way to eventually improve this sand.

In the meantime I am noticing that almost all my plants are, as you said, stunted. They don't actually seem to grow much at all...just cling to life barely if at all. So I am thinking I need to take your advice and add nitrogen. My question is, what form of nitrogen do you use? I have fish emulsion that I can add in liquid form. Would that work? Is there a particular type or brand of product you would recommend?

Our soil is very acid here, too, and I've read that that can bind nitrogen so that plants don't take it up. Would you recommend using lime along with the nitrogen?

This is a new problem for me here and I'd really appreciate your suggestions.

lindakimy - re soil amendments. If you are tilling them into the soil then they need nitrogen the first year. Decomposing wood steals nitrogen from the soil in order to decompose. I just buy the cheapest kind I can get in a big bag. I use gloves and scatter it thickly on the surface. If you have sand, you will need to add that manure every year, but in future you can just use it as a mulch. Check the soil forum for lots of info on this.

If any of you have requested amaranth seeds and haven't heard from me, try again, since gardenweb hasn't sent me any notices.

I'm thinking of adding barberry to my red bed. Do you know which cultivar you planted?

Thanx, jxa44

Sierra

This is absolutely stunning, creative work! Very inspirational!!!!

Gottagarden, are your children twins?

I've added two trees, red-leaved of course! A "vesuvius" flowering plum, and a weeping purple beech.

Ellen, my children are 3 and 5, the perfect age!

Is your "red bed" idea original, gottagarden, or did you get the inspiration from somewhere else?

Threeorangeboys - I just love dahlias too! So bold and bright and reliable. The lilies are "monte negro" (good true red), cote d'azur (definitely pinky, unlike the package photo), and another I've forgotten the name of.

I'm always looking for names of good true reds - neither pinky or orangey.

Gorgeous! Thank gawd you gotta garden!

I think you've inspired a LOT of people, whether they have posted here or not. If you go to the Seed Exchange forum, under Round Robins, there is a Swap called "Theme" swap run by drippy. In it are 30 participants and about half of them are starting a "Red Garden".

Lime

Color is so subjective. When does red cross into orangish red? When does red slide into purplish red? What’s the difference between burgundy, maroon, scarlet, crimson, ruby, claret, vermilion? (not to mention smoky red, cherry red, tomato red, etc. – those terms at least are a little easier to envision.) And just exactly which shade is the "true red" anyways?

I’m sorry but I won’t be answering these questions. I just bring it up to help describe my "red bed". My goal was to have it be "true red", more or less, and also have lots of dark or reddish foliage. I have since come to the conclusion that there are lots of orangey-reds and lots of purply reds, but few "true" reds. In order to have more than five specimens, I have relaxed my standards and include many flowers that are "pretty close" to true red. If they stray too far from that section of the spectrum, they have been usually been removed. Not because I’m trying to be a purist, but I find that orange red next to pink red really clashes. I have a couple photos of these that show what I mean. But, you could decide to focus instead on burgundy reds altogether, or the orange reds.

Here are my observations on plants and colors in this zone 5 red bed. Your garden may differ.

Annuals

Amaranthus – not sure what kind I have, I got it in a trade. It is the backbone plant of the garden. Looks like amaranthus cruentus Hopi Red Dye.
Castor Bean "carmencita" – wow! The new mainstay, a huge success this year. Highly poisonous seeds.
Impatiens – edging plant
Petunia – edging plant
Salvia coccinea "Lady in Red" – must have. Blooms early and all summer long
Salvia splendens "Flare" – somewhat orangish, but worth it for the long bloom season.
Icicle Pansies – dark burgundy, long bloom when nothing else going on.
Marigold "scarlet starlet" – really dark orange. Gone next year
Pennisetum Fountain Grass – got buried by faster growers
Iresine – so beautiful, but way, way too hot pink
Nicotiana – true red
Gerber Daisies – true red

Vines
Sweet Potato "blackie" – great trailer, annual
Cypress vine – true red, small stars. Fabulous ferny foliage, worth growing just for foliage.
Rhodochiton – burgundy, but exotic and unusual. Delicate and small
Sweet 100 cherries. Grew them in the veggie garden but they are joining the fray next year.
Clematis "Asao" and "Niobe" – both too pink. They’ll get moved.

Bulbs
Anemone coronaria – true red!! Wonderful, long blooming, very early.

Dahlia "Arabian Night" – deep smoky red, reliable
Dahlia "Bishop of Llandaff" – deep red AND reddish foliage! Doesn’t overwinter in my cellar though L
Dahlia "Akita" – red, orange and yellow cactus. Gorgeous
Dahlia "swapper special" – don’t know the real name of this dahlia I got in a swap, but super hardy, early and long bloomer, nice true red. Can’t give them away I have so many of them.
Iris "Samurai Warrior" – more burgundy, but stays because very little else is blooming at that time.
Gladiolus – Black Jack – nice smoky red
Gladiolus - Sensation – true red
Gladiolus – Trader Horn – orangy, removed
Crocosmia "Lucifer" – more red than regular crocosmia, but still kind of orangy
Calla Black Beuty – deep smoky burgundy red. A keeper
Lilies – Monte Negro – nice red!
Lilies – Fangio – too pinkish
Lily "Blackout" – a knockout! True red.
Martagon Lilies – too orange
Tulips – red emperor, red riding hood – deer food, sigh . . .

Perennials
Astrantia Moulin Rouge – love it! Can’t wait for it to "bulk up". Technically more burgundy, but oh well, too nice, have to keep it.
Primrose cherry red – double, beautiful, slow to bulk up, unlike my other primroses
Daylilies – "Ruby Throat" and so many wonderful true reds, but I can’t find my notes right now.
Burgundy gaillardia – despite the name, I consider it true red.
Hollyhock – almost black. Next year trying a seed swap red.
Knautia macedonica – burgundy, but just the right form – airy, bulbous flower heads swaying in the breeze
Geum Mrs. Bradshaw – too orange. Removing.
Poppy – Allegro – too orange
Poppy Brilliant – too orange
Lobelia Cardinalis – true red! Wonderful
Lobelia Cardinalis "Queen Victoria" – true red! AND smoky red foliage. Perfect for the red bed.
Heuchera Ruby Bells – true red bells! But leaves burned by too much sun.
Heuchera Palace Purple – leaves too burned
Penstemon Husker Red – flowers are completely wrong shade of lavender, but stems and leaves have a great smoky cast to them, and flower seedheads stay all year, even through winter.
Phlox – Tenor – too pink and removed
Potentilla Fire Flames – too orange, removed
Peony "Karl Rosenfeld" – pinky red, but so little else is blooming at this time of year, so it stays
Fushcia magellanica – orangy, but kept anyways because it’s the only hardy fuschia here
Firecracker flower (dichelostemma) – ho hum
Monarda – one true red, one burgundy red. Keep them both because they’re so nice.
Sedum – Autumn Joy – flowers go from light pink to dark dusty pink. Not quite right.
Sedum – Matrona – red stems! And flowers are better than autumn joy. Will replace AJ when large enough
Sedum Red Emperor – nice dark foliage! Susceptible to root rot.
Hibiscus "Luna Red" – very short, so I need to move to front of border. Have just bought new taller one, "Lord Baltimore". Ask me next year
Chrysanthemum "Helen" – wonderful dark smoky red. Need to propagate more of these.
Sweet Williams "sooty" – dark, smoky red, long blooming and early
Poker Plant (Kniphofia) – too orange

Foliage Plants

Canna – Red King Humbert ( dig tubers annually)
Cordyline – Red Star Spike (annual)
Japanese Blood Grass
Bloody Dock
Smoke bush "purple robe" – great foliage!
Weigela "wine and roses" – ho hum
Weigela "midnight wine" – ho hum
Red Barberry – gorgeous fall foliage, tough, nice background
Red-leaved euphorbia

Next year’s list of plants to find and try are:

Red Sunflower
Scarlet runner bean
Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes on my obelisk
Sanguisorba
Ruby chard
Zinnia
Red clover

Phew!! That’s it for now, rather exhaustive list, don’t you think? Sorry it took so long. Let me know what I’m missing! Prefer perennials to annuals at this point. If you want seeds of anything email me late next summer and I will start saving.

Here is the location of my new redbed album on picasa.
http://picasaweb.google.com/gottagarden/RedbedSecondYear

Also, next year before the seed swaps let me know! I'll be happy to fill up a big package with lots of red seeds. 3 years on gardenweb and I never knew about the seed exchange!

Rosefolly

I'd be proud to be your neighbor!!! (too cold for me though :D)

sally

Thanks!

Someone please stop me, I went shopping this weekend and came back with more red plants - sprekelia, dahlias, gladiolus, and calla bulbs. Like I needed any more!

Almost thinking of making that bed larger . . . .

I love the comments/notes you've made about each plant. I started doing that same thing two years ago (garden journal) and I find it to be very helpful for future reference. I try to note general bloom-times too, to help with any plant rearrangements.

I've never done a 'color' bed... it's never something I've wanted to do, and I don't have much planting space anyway, but I would love having a red bed like yours!

GOTTA! What a truly handsome bed you've created!
Beyond the sheer beauty of it, and the wonderful use of red, you've done a lot of this without a background of trees and shrubs. THIS IS WHAT I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR!
My garden has fields behind it and I'm trying to use background plants that are grasses and tall perennials. I didn't think I could do cannas or amaranthus, but YOU HAVE and they are stunning!!!

Thanks for the inspiration you've given me and so many others.
(Your red bed and story belong in a future issue of "Fine Gardening"!)
PattiOh

beautiful, I'm jealous!

Hosenemesis - I just love your "handle"! Many, many times I have thought to myself that the hoses are the bane of my garden and your name captures it all.

Here's one from this year showing the salvia and amaranthus running amuk:

I'm impressed that you got your cypress vine to climb on something. Mine climb all over the other plants and multiply with great enthusiasm. Thus far they have deliberately ignored any climbing supports I have provided for them :-) In the farmer's markets around here they call them cardinal vine.

You definitely need to add some of my red daylilies! A friend suggested I look at your Red Bed - glad I did.

Seriously, I have been planning this red bed (in front of the gray barns - ooh, I can't wait), but the pictures in my head have faded somewhat. I truly forgot how stunning your border is, and hopefully how mine will be. Here's a picture of the barns I have in mind - it's where you drive in (you can just see the driveway at the edge of the photo):

This has renewed my excitement!!!

All the best,
Gail

Jess

I loved this post when I saw it last year and I'm still LOVING this post! What an amazing gardener you are!! Can you tell me if the castor beans are easy to grow from seed? My sister is going to give me a few seeds. Also, do you have any Amaranthus seeds or tubers from the true red dahlia, that you can spare? Finally, what is the name of the sedum on the bottom right side of fourth pic? Its so pretty. I love to see your garden pics - I look forward to them every garden season!

Swivelhips, if you go to the link posted about 8 posts back, you can go to my picasa photo albums and see larger photos, and MORE photos.

Gail ish, that gray barn will make the perfect background for bright and dark colors, like red ;-) I see tall red hollyhocks as a background in its future.

Bellarosa, the red sedum is "purple emperor" or "red emperor", can't remember which. I bought both and the difference is one has bluish green leaves covered by red and the other has olive green leaves covered by red. This one is particularly prone to root rot here where we get summer rain. I am now putting in sedum matrona which is more reliable and has green leaves with red stems.

Castor beans are very easy to grow from seed, I think I had 100% germination. They are slow to get going though, so you may want to start indoors, I think I'll do that this year.

I do have both amaranthus seeds and red dahlias. The seeds I would send for free, but the dahlias are kind of heavy so would send for postage. Email me separately and let me know how many you are willing to pay postage for, I have so many and everyone in my garden club has already been given them :-) They are the most reliable dahlias I have ever grown.

here's to dreams of spring . . . .

Rosefolly

I also love that red sedum in picture 5.I have several sedums,but not that one.

Have you seen this,it's more red in person than it is in this picture.It's called Texas Star Hibiscus.

I also have that ster shaped plant on the viney looking stems.A neighbor gave me some seeds and i potted them up,and they never came up that first year.Then last year i found them coming up in the ground around the corner from where i had planted them.Bird planting i guess!!
Kathi

I suggest clematis texensis the US native species. Those flowers are red and would fit in well. Not sure if I missed them but what about some snapdragons to get the garden off to a red start early in the spring??

Cute kiddies too, bet they've changed in 2+ years also! :-)

I will have to see if I can find that red clematis. I've got Niobe in there, but it's rather pinky red. Still beautiful with the lilies.

I should try some snapdragons for early color. This bed is a bit slow getting started, but sizzles in the summer heat.

Luckygal, yup! The kids have changed more than the gardens, but they still love it outside.

I've been adding a few grasses and moving things around to change the display a little.

I will try to post some new photos sometime soon.

Good luck with your redbed!