Fixing patio beds and the patios.

[Julianna]

This house has two patios. Normally, I would have already turned them into jungle retreats, but small humans and one crankier large human have been hampering my efforts .

I immediately took the front planting areas when we moved here and said I wanted to fix them. One day i dug them and removed the sod and then over the next week or so, I collected free succulents and plants and a few other cuttings for cheap. I put out my rock collection, and I felt happy with the bed. I wanted something drought tolerant that I could leave alone for weeks at a time. Mission accomplished. Two seasons later, it is still doing very well. I said all this because I have been sitting on this couch for 2 months and thinking how much I am disappointed in my back patio bed and decided no. I can focus like I did on the front and do this.

Front bed for reference: spring 2021.

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Originally, there was only one bed on the back patio. I tossed some cosmos there and loved it. My husband hated it. Complained that whole season and ever since. Said it was wrong that the flowers were so tall, didnt want anything over a foot high, etc etc. So my dream of a surround of cosmos? Dashed. That sort of threw me off for a while. I had to regroup.

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This past weekend, I decided to scale back a back bed that is mostly shade. I started to transfer some plants to the patio beds. One bed is all herbs except for an impatiens. One is mint and looks ratty. One is a new giant bed I dug last fall. I scattered seed on all the beds but the birds really got most of my seed. I decided to thin some of my succulent overgrowth from the front and move it to the back. Have a few plants coming from Annie's: a culinary lavender, a Lotus (parrot's beak), and tall cineraria. I also plan on growing a few cosmos and marigolds in the back middle. Maybe scatter a bit more elsewhere. I also will intersperse Nigella and bachelor's buttons. The currently blooming salvias will be 3x4. The bush impatiens are surrounded by foxglove. The bed is half shade and half sun. It is already looking better. The bamboo support was from my sweet peas last year. I kept it up as a self reference for the sun to shade border. I will remove it. The chicken wire has sweet peas starting on it, balloon flower vine (cardiospermum) and I may put moonflower on it in a bit.

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The herb bed. It looked fine last year and those bare spots get chamomile. There are also two baby lavender that will fill put some space hiding in the broader view.

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This is the mint mess. Poppies overtook the bed early on and stunted the mint. This season, no poppies. However, I think I will put a deep purple dwarf salvia on the upper left, move the calendula and parsley out to the herb bed, have a middle diagonal drift of mint and lemon balm (both already there), and then add an aloe ferox to the front right. Af doesn't grow quickly here and stays stunted.

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I am moving those containers on the side to the other patio. I will continue in a second post below.

[Julianna]

This is the patio off the kitchen. I actually love it and my husband does not like it at all. I feel it is nice because it is very private. That is what he dislikes about it. He wants to sit and see things and not feel walled in. It is mostly shady, but there are a few full sun parts and a few part shade parts by the door. I decided to move my alpine strawberries to the part shade stairs portion. Those strawberries did very well in part shade and terribly in the sun by comparison. I am moving my artichokes to the sun part. I also decided this year to grow castor beans in the sunny part and coleus in the shade. All containers. I will keep my canna in its container but move it to a bit more sun. I may add some hanging plants, but first we will see how the other part goes.

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Also, better herb bed shot and the wall of cosmos.

[Julianna]

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Thought I would add a few past garden pictures. I promise I am capable of making a nice garden .

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And another

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[MissS]

I love all of your beds. So many different leaf forms and textures to make it interesting and pleasing to the eye. It's too bad that your husband doesn't care for the cosmos. I think that they look just fine there and one little person seems to enjoy them too.

[Julianna]

I love all of your beds. So many different leaf forms and textures to make it interesting and pleasing to the eye. It's too bad that your husband doesn't care for the cosmos. I think that they look just fine there and one little person seems to enjoy them too.

And they are effort-free, cheap, and in this climate, you just sow every few months and you have year-round bloom. Oh well!

Thank you! I love mixing florals and succulents and leaf colors. I like things to look good in or out of bloom. I also am super lazy, so I enjoy not having to water. That is why I transition to drought tolerant stuff and generally contain my watering to one area.

[rossomendblot]

There are some more compact cosmos varieties out there e.g. Sonata, Casanova and Xanthos. I like the big cosmos but they take up so much space and take forever to start flowering here.

[Julianna]

There are some more compact cosmos varieties out there e.g. Sonata, Casanova and Xanthos. I like the big cosmos but they take up so much space and take forever to start flowering here.

I have Sonata. He still says they are too big. He wants everything to be under a foot high. I just decided meh. Going to just plant the beds and put the tall stuff at the back. He will live. I think once he sees it done, he will be fine. He was ok with the herbs after he saw them.

What is funny is the cosmos brought in so many bees. He hated that. This year he got one cucumber. I wanted to point out that the cucumbers were using those bees ...

[MissS]

@Julianna check out the cosmos at Select Seeds & Plants. They have a few varieties that are 1 1/2' - 2 1/2' tall. They are very pretty too. I grew Apricot Lemonade and really liked it.
https://www.selectseeds.com/annuals/cosmos/

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[Julianna]

@Julianna check out the cosmos at Select Seeds & Plants. They have a few varieties that are 1 1/2' - 2 1/2' tall. They are very pretty too. I grew Apricot Lemonade and really liked it.
https://www.selectseeds.com/annuals/cosmos/
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I have seeds for that one! I haven't tried it yet. I have a space in the back where I plan on growing my double clicks.

[Julianna]

Today my Annie's plants arrived. I also picked up a Spanish lavender, a short salvia, and some creeping thing whose tag i need to read to renember.