A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Working on new garden area

I am hoping to plant flowers in my former vegetable garden area if I get a garden to rent. So I am plotting out what I want to do in there. It is half sun I believe on the one end and light shade on the other. The soil is sandy/loamy BUT the roots of the neighbors trees suck all the life out of it. So I have to have dry ok plants, except I was thinking under the bird bath could be some more moist liking plants. So the area is 22'square and bordered on two sides by picket fence. I grow sweet peas on the fence (with netting). My main question right now (I will have others and need suggestions for sure! :wink:) is about lily of the valley. It is my favorite flower ever and down a couple miles is a secret huge area of it in a non-owned ditch. I pick it every year. I would like to dig some up and put it under the bench I want to put in the area, but what should I do to cover it when it gets ugly? So far it is just an idea. I had planned to possibly have some areas of gravel and walking path in the garden too but I don't know about covering the lily of valley in gravel. I know you can't kill it easily! Any ideas for covering it in summer? Would daylilies cover it ok?

Well you would have to replace it every year but you could just mulch it after the lillies are done.

I don't know if daylilies would work or not. I don't have any experience with those.

I grow daylillies, they are easy to grow. You just have to plant things that bloom at different times of the year, that way when one thing dies back another will fill in and cover it.

I grow daylillies down here in Texas too. I had no idea they'd also grow in Canada. (I'm learning so much from this sight!) Yes, they are very easy to grow. Mine are in a flower bed that doesn't get as much water as the lilly would like, but it still blooms nicly.

I have lavender and yellow sedum planted around mine.

that sounds like a great color combination. I really like it. I wish I were that much of a designer when it comes to color but I'm not.

I just put them all together and hope for the best.

Lavender isn't hardy here but I do grow it in pots. So sometimes lily of the valley don't get real ugly in summer but usually they do. I suppose maybe spreading petunias or something like that would work.

Wow, what zone are you in? I'm in zone 3/4 and they are hardy here.

lily of the valley doesn't do well here...we're just opposite.

Lavender is zone 5 but sometimes it will overwinter in certain areas. I have seen it once or twice perennial in MN but it has not survived year after year.

Strange...I wonder if I have the tag here. There are so many different types..mine is a shorter variety.