I just found this website and am already a fan! I am not a great gardener, but I am enthusiastic. I have some raised beds that we have used for vegetables in the past We are not planting them with vegetables this year (another story), but we are having our son's wedding in our yard in early August. I am wondering what I could plant in the beds that would look nice, not take a lot of maintenance, and not cost a bundle. We are in the Comox Valley (Vancouver Island) on the waterfront, so we are cooler and windier than most places on the Island. The beds get sun and shade each day. Watering is not a problem and the soil is good. I was wondering about wild flowers, but don't know where to get seed and which variety would be at its best in early August. What other options might there be? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Re: flowers for a large area-help, please! It seems California poppies could work out, although I don't know how these might look by August. There could also be a problem with sowing them this late. I'd also look into calendulas. Or maybe crimson clover. That's used along freeway banks near here.
Ahhh... LOVE the area. My grandparent's live on Whidbey Island and we travel to Vancouver Island as often as possible! Both my grandparents and my cousin (lives in Duval, WA) are avid gardeners with yards that look like Sunset Magazine. Here's a list of shade loving flowers: Perennial Flowers that do well in shade: Actaea spp. (Bugbane) Alchemilla mollis (Lady’s Mantle) Astilbe Aquilegia (Columbine) Begonia grandis (Hardy Begonia) Bergenia (Pigsqueak) Brunnera (Bugloss) Dicentra (Bleeding Heart) Epimedium (Bishop's Hat) Helleborus (Hellebore) Hosta Iris cristata (Crested Iris) Lamium maculatum (Spotted Deadnettle) Phlox divaricata (Woodland Phlox) Primula (Primrose) Pulmonaria (Leadwort) Tiarella (Foam Flower) Tricyrtis (Toad Lily) Viola (Violet) Annual flowers that do well in part shade to shade and bloom all summer include: Impatiens Begonia -- including tuberous, angel wing and fibrous rooted begonias Nicotiana (Flowering Tobacco) Torenia (Wishbone Flower) Viola Read more: "Flowers for Shade or Part Shade: Easy to Grow Shade Loving Annual and Perennial Flowers" - http://flowergardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/flowers_for_shade_or_part_shade#ixzz0Du1sKUT3&A
If you want lots of colour and low maintenance, strew the area with zinnia seeds. They do great here on the Island and will come all summer from July til frost, they like the heat and will stand heavy sun and/or rain. Nicotinia as well, does quite fine and gives a lovely scent.
Thank you both for your replies. The list of shade lovers is great, I have another border as well that needs plants and it is part shade, so the perennial list is handy. I do want annuals in the raised beds, and zinnias and nicotonia are both good ideas. Do you think it would work to buy wild flowers and add zinnias and nicotonia to them? If zinnias like lots of heat, I am not sure they would do as well as they do in Pt. Alberni. So the wild flowers might be a bit of "insuance" that I have some colour??
Re: flowers for a large area-help, please! Thanks! I am just about ready to plant and I will look for crimson clover seed.
