Saturday, June 26, 2010

Out with the Creeping Phlox, In with the Lamb's Ear

I went out Friday night and bought six more Lamb's Ear. You may remember that I bought five earlier this spring. Three of those are planted here:

If you keep walking toward the arbor, you will come to the area I am replanting today.
It's the front of this long border. I stuck the new Lamb's Ear in the creeping phlox last night just to hold the pots upright. The phlox has grown so thick and tangled that I cannot get the grass out, so it's time to redo this area,. The silver should look nice in front of this lavender which is just about to bloom in all it's purpley goodness.


As soon as the rain stopped (about 8:00 am) I went out and began to dig up the creeping phlox. It took less than half an hour to get the first wheelbarrow load.
I am liking it already. That lavender takes center stage once that mat of phlox is gone.



I continued to work on this area for about two hours. I decided to leave some of the creeping phlox because I do love its early spring bloom. I also decided to plant the Lamb's Ear in a drift of three on each side of the lavender. I love repeat patterns in a garden and that is how I planted the first three in the photo at the top of this post.



Since I've added so much of the chartreusy green hostas in other areas of this garden, I decided to plop that same color dead center. I walked around the rockwall garden to see what I could dig up to put on each side of the hosta. I decided that two Bergenia might work. Bergenia has pink blooms at the same time the purple phlox will bloom in the spring. I also added a large Sedum Autumn Joy on each side because I wanted to repeat the big round shape that I have in a number of areas along this garden.

This is what I ended up with:


My first impression is that I love this! It's so much more interesting than having 12+ feet of creeping phlox!



I liked it so much that I dug out a few feet of phlox on the opposite side and replaced it with another huge chartreusey green hosta that used to be on the walking path on the opposite side. It was gettng so big it was obstructing the path, so I replaced it with a smaller hosta.
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I still need to put a nice edge on the new area. It started raining again about 11:30 A.M. so I had to stop for now.

I think the lavender really does stand out now.


What do you think of the change?


13 comments:

  1. Yes,I like it! The chartreus green and the soft, light green of the Lamb's ear will make a great combo with the purple lavender.

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  2. It looks great! I love the combo of lavender and something else silvery, like your lamb's ear. Well done!

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  3. How beautiful! I love your gardens, they are always full of blooms. I also love how you're always moving things around - it always looks fantastic!

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  4. It looks fabulous! I never got into the creeping phlox that much as it is so short lived. Can't wait to see what it looks like when it perks up.

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  5. LOVE the new bed! The silvery lambs ears will offset the lavender beautifully. Your garden is special. I love the driftwood and that large wagon wheel! It draws me in - I want to come over and have a cup of tea with you!!!

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  6. I love lambs ear...your garden looks great...

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  7. [Sigh...] I can't even imagine what my water bill would be if I tried to have that much green in my yard. Thank goodness I can get my green fix looking at your pictures. We're at 105° and climbing in Arizona with little or no humidity.

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  8. Zoey, what kind of lavender is that? That scaevola..you have it mixed with another plant..Does it grow tall and full like yours all the time? I've only seen it used in container plants. Love it with those BES. I wrote it down so I'll remember it next year. Globe thistle..is that the same as allium? Love those little purple drumstick allium. That's going on my list for 2011 too, as are more asiatic lilies. I have a few dark red, planted near the Dr. Ruppel clematis that has taken over and you don't see the lilies for the vine. So must dig those up and plant elsewhere.

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  9. Looks great! We've been working on my mom's new house and your taste is very similar! Today we just planted lamb's ear and lavender in front of the knockout roses.

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  10. FYI for the lavender we used the munstead English Lavender which mounds 18" x 24". I'm hoping it will blend well with the lamb's ear.

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  11. FYI for the lavender we used the munstead English Lavender which mounds 18" x 24". I'm hoping it will blend well with the lamb's ear.

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  12. Looks great! We've been working on my mom's new house and your taste is very similar! Today we just planted lamb's ear and lavender in front of the knockout roses.

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  13. Norma, Thanks for the lavendar tip. Your mom's garden sounds lovely!

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