Disclosure: this post may contain affiliate links, which means I may make a commission if you decide to make a purchase through one of my links, at no cost to you.
Outdoor landscaping is one of those things that I’m occasionally but not consistently successful at. Kind of like Kanye West hiding his joy.
It’s easy to miss them if you’re not looking in the right spot. In my local store, you had to walk allllll the way past the outdoor display to the back corner.
Keep going…
At their normal price, I would have spent more on just one of these plants than I did on all three for the front porch!
They did a great job of brightening up front entryway while I continued working on the rest of the yard.
Wait… did you catch that cameo?
Pink vinca aren’t really my favorite (I prefer the white version if given the option), but for the price, they add a lot of great color. And even though they’re technically the end of the season, there is still plenty of warm weather to keep these blooming for a bit… as long as I can remember to keep watering them!
I wish I could show everything in one big, finished photo for the side of the house as well, but I’m not quite there yet. You see, I wound up scoring BIG on perennials, too! Almost ALL of the plants you see in the below photo (except for the red snapdragons, which I covered last week) were picked up for just $1 each. Lowe’s is now my favorite dollar store, ever.
I’ve spent the last two weekends of summer fighting off mosquitoes and trying to get these guys in the ground, but there is so much space to fill that it’s taking several weekends to properly weed, clean up, plant, fertilize and mulch these beauties. I can show you a few in-progress shots though. Remember this area by the garage on the right side of the house?
I’ve just never had much success with plantings over here. But at $1 per plant, this effort is well worth the gamble to see what survives the winter. For one thing, I’ve decided to dig up and straighten out the red scallop edging that has always looked really scraggly and made it hard to figure out where to mow (I also hate the color and shape of the edging, but it came with the house and would cost way too much to replace it everywhere, so I’m sticking with what’s free and available).
This spot is now getting the attention it deserves, which is a LOT of work (have you ever dug up and then dug a new line for stone edging? Ugh. Thank God for my mattock, though). But five years is probably long enough for procrastinating.
I’ve also snagged a few leftover edgers to create another little space on the right side of the fence as well. Hopefully the phlox will get plenty of sun in this spot and grow nice and full.
I will say, going ahead and completing the first section of plants, laying down newspaper for weeding, and mulch in front of the holly shrub makes things look instantly better!
The sage itself is looking pretty bleak (the flowers all promptly fell off the day I planted them in the ground), but I’m still hopeful that they will bounce back. And if they don’t, I’m out about the price of a Starbucks coffee, so I won’t be shedding any tears.
Sigh… still plenty more left to do. Maybe one more weekend?
poor sage. they were probably fried from being on all that concrete. no fear. water them well and tehy should come back next spring.
that brick edging looks so much better know.
idea for the fence corner – a trellis and a climbing rose and clematis …. will take over that spot and bloom like crazy with that sun!
can you spray the brick edging a different color? not sure what. white would be nice, but would obviously get dirty very fast. maybe dark green? love all your bargain plants – score!
I’ve sprayed the ones along the back of the house dark brown… they looked better, but there is SO MUCH of it that I’m not sure if I want to do that everywhere.
OMG I totally forgot about that! Ya, that would be a lot of work, there is a lot of it!!!
The sage will definitely come back. Those suckers are tough. Looking good so far!
You could turn the scallops over, it’s not nearly as much work as re-digging them. (Love your site),
That’s an interesting idea! Hadn’t considered it yet. If I turned them over though, the other side of it would still stick out of the ground, so I’d have issues running into them when mowing. Leaving them in place is a VERY wonky line, so they need to be straightened out. It’s a pain, but it will hopefully be worth the effort soon!
I owned a house with the same edging. I ended up turning it on it’s side and set it in the dirt with the scalloped edge facing the grass. It didn’t take to long for the grass to grown in along the edge and hide the scallop and it provided an edge for the mower wheel making it easier than ever. The other option would be to turn it over and bury the scalloped edge so the straight edge was up. A little more work but so much better looking. You could always try one of those.
I’m liking the side-turning idea! But since this side of the house slopes as much as it does, all of the mulch would have trouble staying put. I don’t think I’d have enough to double up the bricks (one for the top edge, one to turn on its side).
I love buying stuff at the end of a season. Not just plants but anything that’s seasonal. So many great deals to be had when you do that :)
It was good to read this post. Few days back, I planned to grow some flower plants but because of my ignorance they didn’t grew well. Now, I am thinking again with more planning..:)