Friday, February 12, 2010

Friday Afternoon Garden Club

Lonicera dioica

It’s FAC time in The Art Garden! Grab your favorite beverage and pull up a chair. You didn’t really want to work this afternoon anyway, did you? Leave a comment to join the garden party.

Today’s topic:


Does your yard contain mostly woody plants (shrubs and trees), herbaceous ornamental plants (annuals, perennials, grasses), or food producing plants? Why?



9 comments:

Jocelyn H. Chilvers said...

I'm not sure that I have a positive ID on that honeysuckle vine. Could it be Lonicera prolifera Kintzley's Ghost instead?

Debbie@gardenofpossibilities said...

Jocelyn,

My garden is mostly woodies with a slow and steady addition of herbaceous plants. When I started my garden years ago mu kids were both young (they're teenagers now) and woodies were easier and less work. I was more interested in playing with the kids than the plants.

Now that the kids are growing up, I have more time to fuss in the garden and am turning my attention to perennials and other additions that appreciate a bit more TLC throughout the growing season.

Jocelyn H. Chilvers said...

That is actually a great strategy, Debbie. The woodies help form the structure of the garden and should be planned and planted first. Now you can have fun filling in with the herbaceous plants. You still have lots of opportunities to create depth and interest with layering.

Thanks for stopping by the FAC!

Les said...

My garden is mostly woodies, with perennials filling in the gaps between shrubs. I also left some pockets to plant annuals as I like to experiment with different ones every season. I did not use good judgement in planting a few trees on my very small lot, but had to have them. Other than a few herbs that do double duty as ornamental edibles, I grow nothing to eat in this garden, but maintain a veg. patch at work.

Mark Amershek said...

Jocelyn -
My garden is a conglomeration of various and sundry... I really enjoy diversity - as much as possible in clay/sand soil and Denver Zone 5 climate. I took out my back yard grass last summer and put in what I refer to as a wildscape. I fill in with annuals but prefer perennials.
How was your talk in Ft. Collins on Saturday. I am taken with the term "perfect plants". Do they really exist???
How is Kyoto doing?
Have a great week - it is supposed to warm up soon. 10 degrees at my house this morning - brrrrrrr!

Jocelyn H. Chilvers said...

Les, I envy you your woodies. I've killed more shrubs than I care to admit! However, I've recently started the process of trying to convert some of my perennial gardens over to more shrubs and groundcovers, so I will sontinue to experiment.

Mark, congratulations on developing your wildscape! It's really a joy to have critters visiting the garden.

Kyoto is still in quarantine. Much improved, but not 100%. Last Friday we did a partial water change by removing about 15% of the water in his tank and replacing it with water from the pond.

The class in Ft Collins went really well---about 50 students in attendance. I'm sure you've heard the phrase "right plant-right place" before? My lecture re: perfect plants is a detailed exploration/explanation of that concept.

Kathy Green said...

My gardens are definitely in the "mostly perennials" category, as that is my specialty and true love. My definition of perennials includes flowers, groundcovers, ornamental grasses and herbs as well as cacti, succulents, and sub-shrubs such as lavenders and sages. Even most of my pots hold things that are considered "perennial" in my book!

Kathy

Megan said...

We're all about perennials in our garden. I'd say about 70% succulents. I do have a few shrubs to fill things out. Just bought some cool new vines at Annie's to help cover up the vintage (old and almost falling down) fence.

Jocelyn H. Chilvers said...

Megan, sounds like you've hit on a great solution to your "vintage" fence problem! Vines so make great camo...