The Front Flower Bed

This in "no man's land" in our front yard. It's on the other side of our driveway, receives the harsh western sun and is a pain to water since it's a sorta lopsided pie-shaped area. When my husband and I moved in, we immediately decided to gut it of all the grass and make it a flower bed. I plant many low-maintenance perennials and self-sowing annuals in there. This is also where most of my daylilies are planted. I know they're not necessarily low maintenance, but they do well over there. I thoroughly enjoy roaming through the plants and seeing what's growing besides the weeds. My goal is to eventually to have plants mature enough that the mulch can't be seen. That might happen in about 5 years! Here are some of my favorites that are blooming now.


Sweet Alyssum~Came in a mix of low-growing wildflower seeds. The white really stands out in the garden and the smell is lovely.


Mealy Blue Sage~This was a tagalong plant in a container of Frogfruit. This is a Texas native and I'm so excited that I got a "two-fer".


Blue Sage~Different than the Mealy Blue Sage above, but similarly colored flowers. This one is shorter and spreads more prolifically.


Part of the front bed. The butterfly bush (bright purple bloom on the left.) was a rescue from the nearly dead table at Wal-Mart several years ago. The blooms smell wonderfully! There's Silver Ripples daylily, yellow Four Nerve Daisy, and another purple salvia, May Night in this pic.


Balloon Flower~This is a self-sowing annual. It dies back in the winter, but it's come back every year I've had it. Just mulch it well in the fall and wait patiently for it's first leaves to poke through in the spring. I have a problem with that waiting thing, though!


Pink Skullcap~Another native that I'm excited about. This came to me last fall as a trade. I couldn't get it in the ground before it got cold, but it had set seeds, so I harvested the seeds and put the plant in my sunroom to overwinter. The plant survived and when I winter sowed the seeds, almost every single one germinated! I have these spread along the borders of this bed.



Daylily 'Hawaiian Nights'~first flower opening on this one and it's a beaut! Well worth the wait!


Pinks, purples, and blues. They will nicely accentuate the yellows and goldens I'm waiting to bloom.


Lastly, I leave you with a view of the bed from this morning's shade looking toward the street.