Flower beds for sun and shade - Brief Article

Sunset, June, 2000 by Lauren Bonar Swezey

It's not too late to spark up your garden with colorful flowers and foliage--nurseries are filled with perennials in 4-inch pots and 1-gallon cans.

The two beds shown here measure just 8 to 9 feet in diameter; each is designed around a focal point--a birdbath or boulder.

Before planting, rotary-till the soil or turn it over with a shovel. Mix a 2- to 3-inch layer of organic mulch into the soil, then level the planting area with a rake. Set the boulder or birdbath in the center of the planting area (bury the boulder only halfway). Position plants, still in their containers, setting them far enough apart so they have room to spread. Dig the holes and plant. Water well and cover the area with mulch.

Sunny yellows and pastels

Pink and purple penstemons decorate the outer edges of this sunny bed, with coreopsis and yarrow filling the spaces in between. Low-growing clusters of diascia and blue-flowered catmint grow in the foreground.

DESIGN: Bud Stuckey

TIME: 1/2 day (including shopping)

COST: About $80 for plants

MATERIALS: Medium-size boulder (20 to 24 inches long); catmint, 2; coreopsis, 2; Diascia vigilis, 2; lavender blue delphinium, 2; penstemon, 1

A shady bird sanctuary

Burgundy foliage mingles with bright flowers in this handsome bed. Corydalis softens the edges of the birdbath, while, at front, heucheras mingle with orange-flowered geum. Low-growirg ajuga grows between the corydalis and heucheras.

DESIGN: Maile Arnold, Sebastopol (707/823-1373)

TIME: 1/2 day (including shopping)

COST: About $130 for plants

MATERIALS: Small birdbath. The one pictured here is from Smith & Hawken (800/776-3336 or www.smithandhawken.com; $98). Ajuga 'Catlin's Giant', 1 sixpack; Corydalis lutea, 4; Geum borisii, 6; Heuchera 'Palace Purple', 3; Heuchera 'Pewter Veil', 3