It looks great Connie!

Connie, that's gorgeous!! :) Love what u did with the pavers; i bought 300+ from Craigs list last fall and keep wondering what I'm going to do with them. LOL

I just moved in with my boyfriend last July,here in Clarksville, and he knows *nothing* about plants/landscaping, so I'm having a great time with this blank slate! Trying to figure out how to upload more than one pic at a time so you can see what I've done already...... glad to find other TN gardeners who are as plant crazy as I am..... I moved to TN from IN, 2 yrs ago and don't know anyone, so thought I might attend a plant swap or something..,... LOL

Teejay, thank you! You should definitely come to the next swap. It is SO much fun! The next one will be in October.

Aren't blank slates the most fun?! Our house had only foundation shrubs when we moved in, but everything else was like a big blank canvas. So much easier when you don't have a lot of stuff to take out or work around.

This is beautiful, Connie. It does not look like a first year garden!

You did a fantastic job. Definitely doesn't look like a first year garden.

Aw, thanks you guys!

A lot of the perennials in that front bed are really on their second year. I bought them last spring and just tucked them in the foundation until this bed was ready in the fall. I hope I don't have it planted too thickly! I can spread some things out in the fall...the bed extends a little further in front of the house on the right side, and I have some room there still. I'm going to try to get it reworked before the fall swap, and if I have too much, I'll just bring it down there!

I'm lovin' your white garden...I've always wanted to do that! I have a white rose that would be perfect for you! Any room? It seems to stay kinda small...mine is 2 yrs old and the parent isn't really big.

Thanks Jenn! I have always wanted to do a color theme garden too. I tell you what, planting an all-white garden is so easy, because you know for sure everything is going to match! :) It's pretty easy to find white-foilaged plants to go with, too.

Thanks for the offer of the rose, but I think I am good on roses for a while. I have some white knockouts in this garden. I have one cutting from your Mutabilis that is hanging in there and doing well! Thank you so much for sharing that with me. :) Also have a couple of Heritage that are making it, and a Robin Hood as well. They are all inside in a mini-greenhouse.

I just did an internet trade with someone who wanted some cuttings, and she has a lot of roses, so I traded with her for a few cuttings. She is sending me Archduke Charles, Mutabilis (got it for backup in case something happens with the other one), Mme. Alfred Carriere and White Lady Banks. She's sending me six cuttings of each. Let me know if any of these interest you!

You have done a fabulous job and I am sooo envious! Looks great.

Love it connie!!!!!! You have an eye for plant placement. I love the white garden, was that some wormwood in front?
I have one of those because the foilage was so soft and white just couldn't resist! I also have a wormwood (absinthe) that isn't nearly as pretty due to damage from voles to roots last fall.
I like the yellow and purple color them also. Love purple in the garden!
Connie your garden looks great!!!
Is it all store bought and from the plant swaps? If some of those came from the swap I gotta get to one.

Hi Novice! Thank you so much!

Yes, that is Silver Mound Artmesia in the front. It was falling open a bit because I had recently moved it, but it's perking back up very nice now. I'm going to have to take another picture of that garden in a week or so...a lot of the stuff is blooming now.

Plants came from everywhere: Swap, store and internet. I think most of it probably came from Bluestone Perennials online. They have just everything you could want, and when they're having a sale you can get some great deals. The plants are small, but they are so healthy and really take off once you plant them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bluestone Perennials

Thanks connie for the link. I think they are on garden watchdog? I'll check it out.
I've bought some of my plants from Lowes, Easy to Grow Bulbs, Bear Creek Gardens, Richters, Horizon Herbs.
I try to start a lot from seed, which is why my everything but my veggie garden has bare spots!
I need to move my silver mound wormwood also, but I'm going to wait until fall. They say that's the best time for transplanting, as all the plants energy can go into the roots.
Hope to make it to a swap.
Happy 4th!
Gretchen

Wow, you really did a GREAT job on your flower beds!! I wish mine were even 1/4 of that beautiful. I am struggling to keep things alive. I water every day, but almost everything but the asiatic lilies are dying. aarrggh. What is your secret? Did the Japanese beetles not give you any trouble this year? They were eating everything I put in this year. What part of TN are you in and where is the swap meet? Thanks for any help you might send!

tnwildflower, thank you so much! The photo was taken about a month ago...it doesn't look quite as good now, but it's still hanging in there. I planted most of it last fall so they are pretty well-established at this point; and they're all drought-tolerant plants, so I haven't really needed to water much (although they would probably be a little happier-looking if I did in this 90+ degree weather!). The Rozanne Geranium especially would appreciate some water, I think. The rest looks OK - but if I was watering regularly, maybe I would get a longer bloom time. I dunno. I hate standing around watering! Which is why I try to stick with drought-tolerant plants.

The Japanese Beetles have been going after my white knockouts and my hardy hibiscus in the white garden. Grrr! But so far the damage has been pretty minimal (now that I've said that, I'll go out tomorrow and entire plants will have been eaten to the ground. LOL).

The white garden is in full bloom now. I need to take a picture.

I think my problem is the soil. I am new to TN and just built a house, trying to get everything going at once... grass, trees, shrubs, flowers. At this point, I think I should have been working on my heavy clay soil. Did you have to amend your beds much? And if so, what did you use?

Connie, those are just lovely borders! I have always wanted to do a white garden. I'm looking to add white impatiens to fill in the hosta bed I planted this spring. May be too late now, but I'll still try. I figure impatiens bloom until October here, don't they? The hosta bed is in the shadiest part of the lawn (front and center between two mature trees) where grass doesn't grow. Anyone know how long it takes hosta to fill in? These are divided from the well established hostas in the sunniest spot in the yard. I'm amazed at how vigorously they came up in the spring, because the ones I didn't get moved are already turning yellow. Is it impossible to kill hosta? The new bed is still nicely green. Skimpy, but green.

tn wildflower, I didn't amend these beds much. Most of what I have in there likes soil a bit on the lean side. But, I don't have a lot of clay to deal with in this yard (I did in the other). I have used mushroom compost and soil conditioner to amend, but that's about all I've ever used. I think either of those would work well to mix with your clay in the planting hole. Maybe you could also top-dress with compost in the spring for a few years and let the earthworms work it into your soil.

I started out with very gummy clay at the other house. While we never really replaced all the soil at once, over time it was amended just by digging things up and moving them and putting a little good soil in the holes with the new plantings. :)

tn wildflower, don't ya just love the red clay soil?
I've been doing a lot of amending, by building raised beds with whatever concrete cinderblocks, black plastic edging- and adding when planting, making layers, etc. using compost, humus, etc.
Chris, I don't think you can kill a hosta! Love them on the side of my house where before only weeds and algae grew. Now that bed is full of hostas, autumn ferns, and a few groundcovers.
I have one hosta next to porch that comes back bigger every year, a beautiful green, wish I knew what kind it was!