Transform a ho-hum bed into something more

Have you ever noticed how a flower bed can start to lose its appeal? Grass and weeds begin to creep in and take up residence with the plants. Some of the plants just aren't performing as well as they could. Oh, woe is the gardener that confronts such a situation with little time and even less money (the DOW was down again) to do something about it.

Recently, I encountered just such a situation at a very nice couple's home in Homewood. The bed on the back side of their home was divided into two or three sections. Some of the beds had loosely arranged rock borders, where the rock was basically sitting on top of the ground, and other beds had no rock border or delineation at all. Bermuda grass, the scurge of flower lovers, had found its way into much of the garden space, as well.
The recipe to upgrade this garden didn't take much time or expense.



The formula for this situation:
1. With a can of spray paint, I played around with some curved lines for the bed outline, letting some of the plants that were already planted dictate how far out from the brick the beds would extend.
2. Once the outline was determined, weeds and Bermuda grass were sprayed.
3. Using the stone that was already there and adding a little bit more (from my own personal pile!), the border was installed. Nothing fancy, here. Much of the stone was dug up over the last couple of years, right there on the property. Tip: When installing a stone border, try standing the stone on edge, buried a few inches and then tamped in, to get more mileage out of your resources.
4. After installing the border, a soil mix was added to the bed. A few plants were raised so not to be planted too deeply and ferns, hosta, peonies, and few other fun flora were divided and replanted (dividing plants, a great way to take up garden space).
5. Where appropriate, landscape fabric was installed to keep weed re-emergence to a minimum. And finally, mulch was applied.



To make this little project work, three things were essential.
1. A design that the client was happy with.
2. Proper installation techniques (in the case of this project, that would be plants and stone).
3. Maintenance (don't let weeds go unattended, mostly).
These three components are the keys to any successful landscape project. DESIGN, INSTALLATION and MAINTENANCE.