Posts Tagged: planter

Planter boxes and Wildflowers

When my neighbor removed a 30 plus year old Mulberry tree (Morus spp.), I suddenly had sun in a corner of my yard. This motivated me to remove two shrubs and clean up that corner. Because of the tree’s size, I had a lot of big roots that had invaded my yard and would be very costly to have them completely removed.  So instead, I decided to have planter boxes made and planted them with, Gaura, Gerber daisy (Gerbera jamesonii), bee balm (Mondarda spp.), dwarf lavender (Lavendula spp.) and Geum, cone flower plants that bees, butterflies and hummingbirds would be attracted to.  But I still had the spaces behind the boxes to deal with. The soil was scratched up and a packet of wildflowers seeds were scattered behind the boxes, then a light cover of potting soil was put on top of the seeds.  In the mix were nasturtiums, clarkia, and Bells of Ireland.

Spring came and so did the nasturtiums (Tropaealum majus) which really filled in the space with blossoms of orange, pale yellow with touches of red and bright yellow with red spots, and a few white ones here and there. There was also Clarkia, Onagraceae, one of the plants blossom is bright pink, and the other is rose with pink strips. Bells of Ireland, Moluccella laevis pushed their way thru the nasturtium’s to stand tall with their bright green whorls. A Rocket Larkspur (Delphinium ajacis). in a bright blue-purple color.

So now I have color in a part of my yard that once was shade and a forgotten corner. What a difference, it even makes the yard appear larger.

Nasturtium (photos by Betty Victor)

Blue of rocket larkspur, the green of the Bells of Ireland (see right) and the pink Clarkia.

Ladies Class or Lady Class?

A couple of weeks ago on my way through the check out at Home Depot, I noticed a flyer for a “Ladies Class” on Vertical Gardening. It was only scheduled for an hour and promised fun and most importantly snacks. 

These folks are to be commended. There were four demonstrators and a big group of folks that included me, myself, and I. Yep, I was the only one!  These presenters carried on in a professional manner and still demonstrated the way to construct and plant the “garden”. 

Lucky me, since I was the only one who attended, I won the raffle which was the garden that they had just constructed!

Below are some pictures of how the “vertical garden” was put together:

• Box constructed out of redwood, with a hole drilled for drip line connection. Then it was lined with plastic and a drip line inserted, with a fitting for a hose on the outside.

• Soil was added.

• Landscape cloth and lattice added to contain soil, but allow for air and water.

• Holes were sliced into the fabric afterwards and then planted with marigolds and strawberries. 

Ta-Da!

NOTE: The Master Gardeners do not support or endorse Home Depot or any of its products.

 

 

 

Lining box with plastic and insert drip line. (photos by Patti Brantley)

Filling planter box with soil.

Box covered with landscape fabric and lattice.

Planting into the landscape fabric.

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