Heuchera

I have never had so many good ideas day after day as when I worked in the garden. ~John Erskine

New Plants! My idea of a great weekend is adding something new to my garden. Above I laid out 5 Heuchera's under my tulip tree.

Heuchera 'Caramel' - I love the unique color of this coral bell. It blooms white flowers in early to midsummer. It grows to only 8" tall, so would be great for borders. The leaves are golden orange that become more apricot with warmer weather. Heat and humidity tolerant and deer resistant too.



Heuchera 'Brownies' - This Coral Bell blooms creamy flowers in midsummer and grows to 16" tall. It produces huge chocolate-green leaves with rosy red undersides. It is heat and sun tolerant and a vigorous grower.

In Front of the Barn - A New Flower Bed

Last year W.J. and his brother built a mini barn or large shed. As you can see the paint job is a little dull. This year we are going to paint it barn red and white ..... hopefully he will start on it soon.

So of course a flower bed has to be done in front of it. The above picture I am edging the outline and going deep so grass doesn't creep into the bed.


I decided to lay newspaper on top of the grass where I won't be planting anything, it's much easier than digging the sod out and I don't like to use plastic or landscape fabric, as I'm always adding more plants later on. Ripping out the fabric later to make room for plants is a pain. Newspaper also helps the soil when it decomposes, it's like adding compost. Four or Five layers overlapping each other usually will do the job. Make sure you wet the paper as you go along, or it will fly away....

I also make sure I tuck it into the edge.



You can put mulch, top soil or both on top of the paper.


Here I laid out my plants. I planted 3 Hydrangea 'Annabelle' and double impatiens, red and white.



Finished and it looks great and no back breaking digging to remove the sod. I decided at the last minute to leave the corners open with mulch. It seems my kids and well... yes myself tend to walk through that way to get on the porch... I'm going to add a couple of round stepping stones in the corners.


A view from the porch looking out.

Tulips After The Rain

"April's rare capricious loveliness."
- Julia Dorr