I really enjoy reading Things I Love Thursday at The Diaper Diaries. I haven't participated until now, but she's having a giveaway that I'd really like to enter, so I'm playing along!In honor of spring, I thought I'd share a list of my favorite easy-care plants for the flowerbed. I'd love to show you pictures, but my flowerbed hasn't yet been cleaned out after the winter, and it's a MESS. I don't know when it will be tidied up - not any time soon, with Baby David arriving in less than two weeks!
Anyway, here's a list of my favorites:
- Dianthus: a very forgiving, pretty inexpensive perennial. I've got some in shade and some in sun, and it seems to thrive pretty much wherever. It grows nicely, and can easily be split after a year or two to spread to other parts of the flowerbed. It has a nice full bloom in early summer, and if you cut it back, it'll have another full bloom in late summer/early fall.
- Don Juan climbing rose: I first tried these when we lived in Missouri, and I liked them so much that I went looking for them again when we moved to Tennessee. They're a deep red color, with an incredibly yummy rose scent - I think these are the best-smelling roses I've ever had. You do need something to tie them to; they won't naturally twine around things like a vine.
- Coral bells: a shade-loving perennial with nice big leaves. It comes in many varieties; I've got some purple ones and some light speckled-green ones. I pretty much bought these at Lowe's, plunked them in the dirt, and ignored them, and they've done amazingly well. I don't do any kind of pruning or cutting on them, and they do just fine & come back every spring looking great!
- Tidal Wave petunias: the only annual on the list. I LOVE these petunias. They're a bit pricey for an annual, but they grow so BIG and provide so much beautiful color, I can't help but buy them every year. They're best in full sun, and look great in containers as they grow & spill over the sides.
