Curb Appeal

My foxgloves started blooming this week. I've heard they're hard to grow here in Middle Georgia, but I had to try anyways. They're one of the few really beautiful, showy flowers that like the shade. I love the color on these, too. They start out creamy and get a hint of pinkish purple as they open.

Foxgloves in my garden

In our neighborhood we get a lot of walkers--people walking the dog, going for a jog, or just enjoying an evening stroll. There's a retaining wall along the sidewalk at the front of our yard, and I've long thought how nice it would be to have flowers cascading over the wall for passers-by to enjoy. My house is up a hill, so you can't see the garden very well from the street except for what's immediately by wall. The roses I won in February have a low, spreading growth habit, so I thought they'd go perfectly near the wall. Since visibility is an issue with backing out of our driveway, I needed some lower-growing plants to go in front of them, closest to the sidewalk.

The 'Flower Carpet' rose didn't look like much when
I planted it by itself in March.

I love the purple and red combination, so I chose heat-and-sunshine loving purple verbena ('Homestead Purple') to go with my red roses. I saw some dwarf lavender ('Munstead') at the garden center I couldn't resist. I've heard mixed reviews about whether lavender will grow in the South, but I thought if it will grow, the sunny slope by my retaining wall might offer the best possible conditions. I bought a couple of lavender plants to fill in between the verbena, spacing out the plants according to their expected final size. Since the flower bed is so far from the house (and right next to the hot concrete), I chose plants that are all drought-tolerant in case I forget to water them. Roses like a lot of water in general, but these low-maintenance rose varieties ('Flower Carpet' and 'Red Drift') will tolerate drier conditions.

Verbena 'Homestead Purple'  with 'Red Drift' rose (left)
and 'Munstead' lavender (right)

If your garden is limited to a patio or balcony, this flower combination would also be beautiful in a large pot in a sunny or part-sun location. I bought the 'Red Drift' rose a couple of years ago, and it lived and bloomed quite happily in a pot for the past year. It's the red rose that's blooming in the pictures (the 'Flower Carpet' rose I won hasn't bloomed yet.) The dwarf lavender might also lend itself well to a container with its compact size, and verbena is always a winner in container plantings.

'Red Drift' rose, 'Munstead' lavender, and 'Homestead
Purple' verbena complement each other.

After figuring out the approximate spacing of my plants, I roughly planned out the size and shape of my bed. I decided it would be a nice extension of the current holly/ivy bed on the corner. My husband dug up the grass in March, and I prepared the bed with plenty of compost. I finally finished planting and mulching it last week. So far the mulch hasn't been washed down the slope by the rain. I'm crossing my fingers.

I expect the plants to fill in the entire bed by the end of
the summer.

It doesn't look like much yet, but it should be quite eye-catching when the roses and lavender double in size and are covered in blooms. Being a gardener requires a lot of patience. What have you planted to add to your curb appeal?