The Planting Plan has the potential to make a great finishing touch to a project.
At our project Rocky Bay Home, the plan incorporates shrubs that take light, height, texture, color and a winter garden into consideration. Each shrub brings a power of working for the site in a collaborative way. Annuals have been added as window boxes brining a three-dimensional quality that the house was sorely missing. Perennials are still the missing piece and we look to our supporters here for a little bit of help.
The property has a beautiful mix of full-sun, partial shade and shade. If you are dividing your plants this spring and looking for a home for your perennials, we will gladly take them off your hands. This is a budget project and we would love a little bit of your garden in ours in Spruce Head, Maine.
A DRIP EDGE is a gravel line around your house that is as deep as your overhang plus 6”. The water will shed from your roof into this gravel and go into the ground gracefully instead of killing a plant and / or splashing water on the side of your home or (worse yet) back into your basement. Be sure you have a drip edge!
FOUNDATION PLANTINGS: After your drip edge add the foundation plantings. Foundation is concrete, brick or stone intended to be the structural foothold of your home, not intended to be viewed from afar. It is meant to be visually buffered by the soft lines of plants. Here are my favorites that will be used at Rocky Bay Home:
AZALEA: These evergreen shrubs will add color in the spring and leaves all winter long. They are part of the winter garden and when it’s really cold their leave droop down to stay warm and pop up when it is mild – a lovely barometer!
Note: Keep their sister, Rhododendron, further away from the house because they become too large for a healthy house.
GRASSES: I am introducing Miscanthis sinenis, ‘zebrinus’ in the front of the house because it will grow about 9 feet tall and will buffer the strange vertical lines of the front. Miscanthis sinenis ‘ ‘adagio’ will be under the kitchen windows facing the water. They won’t grow very tall but will add a nice visual buffer as they sway in the wind. They start growing in May and will bloom in September. They too are part of the winter garden will turn tan and can stay until early spring or cut them down when the snow flies.
HYDRANGEA: I’m still choosing between ‘mop head’ and ‘pee wee’. And add lovely color and cut flowers in late spring / early summer depending on sunlight. I tend to prefer the white, but they come in the bright blue and pink as well. In the winter they will become sticky which I think adds interest and texture.
LILAC: ‘Miss Kim’ These will live under the curved windows in the living room facing the water. Since they won’t grow very tall, you will be able to enjoy the fragrance and beauty without blocking the view. They will bloom in June.
SEDUM: ‘Autum Joy’ These will be planted in the front garden. They start to grow slowly in the spring with succulent leaves and bloom in the fall. They can stay as late into the winter as you wish then become part of the spring clean-up.
CREEPING PHLOX: I love creeping phlox even though some people think it’s too creepy. I plan to plant this around some significant ledge rocks that have moss and lichen on them in the front. My dog Charlie has found her favorite spot in the front by the driveway to protect our house and I thought this would be a nice groundcover for her to rest her little head on.
Check out our Plant List on Pinterest with links to more information on the plants. If you are looking to learn more about the Rocky Bay Home project, check out our BLOG on www.rockybayhome.com and the Amy Dutton Home Pinterest page has the entire Rocky Bay Home project organized as it developed.
Happy Planting!
Resource for plants: http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org