The Flowerbed Gardens of the Do It Yourself Landscapers, Doris and Jim McComb

My Flowerbeds

Wondering what our flowerbed gardens look like?

Wondering what kind of flowers we planted?

On this page we, the DIY Landscapers, share our flowerbed gardens with links to all of the planted blooms.

The above flowerbed image is one of my island gardens

This Middle Island Garden receives at least 8 hours a day of direct sunlight and then part sun to filtered sun for the remaining day. Ergo, the annual and perennial plants are for sun and many are drought tolerant. Although there is no such thing as a truly drought tolerant plant, many can withstand short periods of time with less watering.

This flowerbed was viewed a little different. Since it was not mounded and I really wanted to incorporate my favorite, the Siberian Larch tree, we created an oblong island garden and planted a Larch at each end as specimens.

These magnificent trees look like evergreens, however are deciduous. Their needles are soft and turn a wonderful burnt red/orange in the fall. They can grow to be very big trees, however I prune mine to keep them balanced to the size of the flowerbed.

Growing around my centered sundial element at different heights are Becky Daisies, Lamium, Carpet Roses, Roses, Spiderwort, Bellflower, Bee Balm, Coneflower, Lambs Ear, Liatris, Dwarf Lilac, Salvia Black and Blue, Lavenders.

The framers are Dusty Miller, Ageratum, Campanula, Gazania, Gaillardia, Sedums, Tobacco Plant, Coral Bells, Spreading Evergreens, Coreopsis, Ajuga, Calendula, Hens and Chick

Below are the links to the annual and perennials planted:

Planted behind these flowers are:

My Mounded Island Garden flowerbed image above was taken July 19, 2009. This garden receives hot sun all day. In designing this flowerbed I compared it to a tiered wedding cake, mounded and viewed from all sides. I knew I needed the taller plants for the center. I anchored the island bed with two Blue Spruce. Then medium sized plants like Ribbon Grass, Rudbeckia, Daylilies, Yarrow, Catmint and tall Tobacco Plant (Nicotiana) and finally the front border plants or the framers such as Celosia, Marigolds, Coral Bells, Angelonia, Euphorbia.

The flowers planted are as follows - from left top, down and to the right.

Not seen in image but planted:

Below is another view of the same flowerbed.

Going back to my Middle Island Garden, the image below shows my sundial as a garden element and the flowers I planted surrounding it. Both annuals and perennials can be planted, however I planted perennials.

From the above view, here are the perennials planted from left to right:

Surrounding close to the pedestal of the sundial is Lamium .

Another view of the same sundial. The Lamium can be seen as well as the Shasta Daisy Becky.

My South Flowerbed Garden, in the above image (taken August 31, 2009) receives part sun early in the morning, then part shade and finally a filtered sun towards the evening hours. This flowerbed garden is against a newly built cedar fence where Jim built a wooden retaining wall so the added soil would not rot the new fence.

I again viewed it with the tiered method. Taller shrubs in the background like the Heliopsis, Joe Pye Weed, Butterfly Bush, Golden Elders, Ninebark and Dogwoods.

Medium sized to taller annuals or perennials came next for the middle area such as Hydrangea, Cleome, Cosmos, Golden Rod, Salvia Blue Night and Salvia Victoria Blue.

Then shorter plants or framers for the front like Coral Bells, Dusty Miller, Ageratum, Rozanne Geranium, Forget-Me-Not, Astilbes. I call the edging plants framers as they frame the entire garden the same way that a frame encloses a picture.

Depending on how the plants have melded and if I still need fillers I add Begonias and Impatiens.

Below are the links to the annual and perennials planted:

Sample Design for planting around a Garden Element

Besides using perennials to surround a garden element, annuals are just as effective. Below is a drawing using a sundial as the garden element but a birdhouse on a pedestal or any medium sized garden element will work with this design. The color combination is brilliantly bright and it works on the concept of the taller plants first, then the medium sized and finally the shorter annuals.

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