Wrapping up a mostly successful vegetable gardening season (that I woefully failed to post about all summer long), I’ve just this week added a few fall perennials. I guess technically, they are just “perennials”. I happen to be planting them in the fall and I think they will add some nice color during the autumn season. Specifically, these plants are going in a bed that runs along the side of our house. You can see the early phase of this small garden area here. It’s come a long way since then and still has room to grow.
Currently, this bed has some perennials and a couple small shrubs and over the summer, it also housed some veggies and herbs. Here is what it looks like today after a bit of cleanup and getting the new plants in. It’s still very meager, and please ignore the messy gravel driveway – that cleanup (or complete re-do) is a task for another day! One thing at a time and we’ll have this space looking nice(r) one of these years.
To get a better idea of what I’m aiming for with this bed, take a look at Kristen’s post over at Shifting Roots. Her native perennial bed is dreamy. In the past few years, as I’ve added new plants to the landscape I’ve made an effort to include native, wildflower types myself. In this post I’d like to share with you a couple of the plants that I put in this week.
First up is Agastache Kudos ‘Yellow’. This plant is native to the upper Midwest USA and has the expected “wildflowery-native” characteristics. Notably, it attracts butterflies, pollinators, and hummingbirds; is deer resistant; and tolerates hot, dry sites.
The other is Sedum album ‘Coral Carpet’. While not native to the United States, it has naturalized here over time. In addition to most of the the same properties as the Agastache, it also makes a very attractive ground cover.
I just love the coloration of the leaves. I know from experience that some sedums can spread rather quickly, something to keep in mind.
There are a few others that I planted; one is a hardy mum and the other two are wand flower and coneflower. Except for the mum, the other plants’ blooms have faded, at least for now. None of the pictures that I took really did them justice, so we’ll just save them for another day. I’m pretty sure they are not done blooming for the year yet. I did catch them all on video before the flowers wilted in case you are interested in watching:
Are you adding any perennials to your garden this fall? This is generally the best time to get them, as the nurseries often have them discounted in price; and it’s also the best time to get them into the ground, as they settle in and establish themselves better without having to deal with the heat of summer.
Until next time, this is Angela signing off with a friendly reminder to get out there and play in the dirt!
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