A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Creating a Lily Garden ??????????

We are buying a piece of property in a subdivision that has not had any tlc (only field grass, weeds, and dying trees... which we will have down this week if the weather allows for leveling it.) The property is in the shape of a triangle in the center of the subdivision (the road Y's with our property in the center.) This is the first thing you see when coming into the subdivision and I want to tackle it because it is an instant eyesore. I would love to do a lily garden with various species of lilies. I love daylilies, asiatic, and hybrid lilies... what others could I mix in? I want it to be rather dense planting. What other flowers could be added that would complement them? Any border suggestions... I am not a fan of landscaping timbers or masonry borders, I would rather have some sort of planting for a border? Does anyone else have something like this? I bought a home and garden magazine that was in the grocery store news rack... and it had some mixed lily beds which were gorgeous. Now I am just nervous about it because dh mentioned it to the owner of the subdivision... so I feel more pressure to make sure it is really nice (rather than the comfort of no one noticing if it is a flop.)
Thanks for any input,
Katherine

Pressure, Pressure LOL

From your description I envision a need for some sort of bush or small garden structure maybe a pyramid arbor and plant clematis vines, or a Hibiscus. My reason for that thought is lilies are low you will need some height and structure. Also, you need 3 season interest in an entrance area. trees, bushes, garden structures do that when nothing is blooming.

Next you will want to investigate bloom times. Since you mentioned daylilies they bloom at different times. Different varieties can bloom from spring until fall. Then pick a color scheme since it is in the front of my house. If it is a conservative side of town you may want soft colors pinks, peaches, whites, yellows. I got this from a friend that hated to come home because they had planted screaming colors of red, oranges and yellows in the front courtyard. She said it looked like a circus.

OK, now for what I have planted in my lily garden.

Ground cover is Sedum and rose Companion.

The companion flowers Balloon flowers, Coreopsis, Delphinium, and do not forget to buy some spring Bulbs….Tulips, Daf, Crocus, and and…LOL

Have fun. Remember if you do not like it you can always dig it up and put it in the back gardens.

OK...now to complicate things, dh and Mr subdivision owner have discussed adding a tall flagpole with Am'n flag to the front of the triangle with floodlights on the flag... so now I am trying to switch gears, trying a red, white, and blue theme around the flag pole... then trying to figure out where to place my lily themed beds (behind it, beside it, all together in a different area?) I guess it would be a lily themed bed since I love some of the flowers with "lily" in the name that are not true lilies (does that make sense?)
I am a novice... I just love plants and getting dirt under my fingernails as my way to relax and release stress... but I really want this to look nice since it is the first thing everyone sees driving into the subdivision. I also want it to be easy to maintain since I have 3 children 4 and under to keep up with and which often limits my free time. Any suggestions?

My first suggestion...start small. Maybe a small round bed to either side of the flagpole with a red crepe myrtle in it, on the other side, a white crepe myrtle, and red, white and blue petunias at the base. A lily bed in front of the flagpole, again, maybe small and round, like with the preformed concrete/gravel borders, or the steel ones. Until you know what kind of weed problem you'll be dealing with, you could be making a lot of trouble for yourself if you go too big. You could do all the containers you want to, all the TLC they really need is watering. Whiskey barrel planters look good...

Have you measured the area? What size are you planting? I normally say start small. The one thing I kick myself for is now I have to dig so many plants out and to amend the areas notice I said "AREAS" it is going to kill me.

Someone posted the lasagna method here and that is the first thing you should do before you do any planting. If you do not get the soil right you will be disappointed with anything you plant it will be a weed infested jungle in a month.

If you want to plant now, put the newspaper down and have some good soil trucked in, then put 2" of mulch, you will not have to worry about the weeds.

Then go with the red, white and blue petunias this year to cover around the flag pole and start investigating what color lilies you want. It would give you a year to plan and have it exactly the way you want it to look. Maybe buy them and plant them in the back then you will know what blooms when and what looks good together.

Less pressure..LOL