What follows bulbs

Floral Architecture floralartistry2000@yahoo.com
Mon, 16 Aug 2004 16:35:26 PDT
Well, I have a whole list of misc things that cover
for me and they all work out fine. 
Hosta, Hosta, Hosta. They work in sun and shade,
sprout as bulbs are going down and last all summer. 
Daylilies, foliage is similar to a lot of bulbs so it
is pretty well covered
Echinacea, starts late but covers quickly once up
weeds, not a joke, I can't always keep them under
control so, why work against nature? If someone ccomes
by, they are distracted by the weeds and don't notice
the fact that there is dying bulb foliage (but this
doesn't happen all the time though).
Campanulas many sprout early enough to give cover.
Iris - the foliage is not as complete a cover as say
hosta but, it is in it's prime when the early bulbs
are going away.
Heucheras

And the list could go on. 

I think that if a bed is planted correctly, there
shouldn't be any gaps in the show. If you are
expecting a continuous amount of color, go to
Disneyland. My gardens are always a riot of color
somewhere. Things come and go and always in different
locations. Lilies here, Penstemons there, Campanulas
over there, daylilies, Echinaceas, Wisteria over head,
roses everywhere all summer, callas intermingled,
Clematis elegantly drapping on evergreen shrubs, iris
all over the place, peonies all over the place, etc.
I am lucky in the fact that most of my gardens are
rather spacious. But, when you have smaller gardens,
your choices must be more precise. 
For a tight little area, I would suggest succesion
planting. This might include, Aconite, crocus, early
daffs, late tulips, planted around a favorite
perennial succh as hosta or evergreen daylilies. These
are all early things, if you wanted later, you could
add a layer under the bulbs of lilies and intersperse
with some late flowering asters. 
You can even increase the bloom time by having
Helleborus. Depending on your locale, some start in
Dec on into March. So in essence, you would only be
out of bloom in fall say for 2 months (maybe Oct. and
Nov). Which at that time you have seed pods,
ornamental grasses, exposed barks and berries, etc. 
There is no reason for a garden to be lacking anything
if done with some thought about the future. 


=====
John Ingram in L.A., CA. 
http://www.floralarchitecture.com/ check it out 
Floralartistry2000@yahoo.com
310.709.1613 (cell, west coast time, please call accordingly. Thank you)


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