"Riddles" wrote in message
om...
Hi, I am new to the list and curious to get some opinions about the
kinds of perennials to plant this upcoming growing season.

My bed in question runs the southern and western perimeter of the
house, which is approximately 80' and 42' long. The bed extends 2'
from the wall with full sun on the south and part-sun on the west.
The bed is irrigated with a buried drip line, which is on an
electronic irrigation system. The bed cannot widened due to the
location of the sprinkler heads for the lawn.

Last year was our first year in the new house, so I kept it very
simple by planting pale yellow petunias that complimented the color of
the siding and the brick. Now that the lawn is in, I want to be able
to devote more time (and color!!) to my largest bed.

A 2 foot depth is pretty skimpy for a perennial border, in fact a good many
mature perennials will exceed that spread easily. Traditional perennial
borders are 6-8 feet and upto 15 feet deep - larger borders tend to be
double, that is accessible from both sides.

If you cannot increase the size of the beds, what you will have is a long
row of perenials - not necessarily bad, just not offering the same level of
interest as a true border with planting in tiers.

To offset this, I'd suggest varying heights of the neighboring plants so
that you develop a rolling mass that undulates up and down in height. Since
there are a huge number of full sun perennials that are hardy to most of the
northern hemisphere, you are certainly not limited in your selection. Send
for a few catalogs or get some books on perennials and pick out what you
like. The border will present a more cohesive appearance if you limit your
primary color choice to three with other colors playing a lesser role as
accents. Repeating of certain plants or plant forms throughout the length
will also help tie everything together.

To avoid having this area totally bare ground in winter, consider adding a
few small evergreens, either perennials, evergreen grasses or small woody
shrubs like lavender, hardy salvias, candytuft, dwarf conifers, etc.

pam - gardengal