I'm in need of some ideas for the front of my house which faces east it gets full sun. We put in a raised bed last spring I have a Endless summer hydrangea and painted daisys in the back and hosta in the middle and I have creeping plox in the front. The hydrangeas and creeping phlox are doing the best out of everything. I'm just looking for something to put in place of the hostas and maybe move the painted daisys too. I'm looking for perennials for zone 4. Preferably something that flowers from summer to frost.
If one of the new Geranium wallichianum hybrids like Jolly Bee (I like this better than the more prevalent Rozanne) would grow in your climate these flower for months.
Hmmm... That's a good question. I'd like to hear answers too. Are you looking for perennials? It's hard to find perennials that flowers from spring to frost. I'd like some suggestions too. Would you like leaf colour as opposed to flowers? I have some Lamiastrum 'Herman's Pride' that is awesome! The white/grey mottled foliage with yellow flowers in spring. It grows like crazy too!
Again, provided it is able to grow there Frikart aster blooms mid-summer on. Potentilla fruticosa is shrubby but available in low-growing cultivars.
any of the hardy geranium would work - over the years, they spread out nicely and they'll bloom most of the summer.
October Fine Gardening has A late-summer show on page 20. The plants used that would be hardy in USDA 4 are Persicaria amplexicaulis Aster novi-belgii Sedum 'Autumn Joy' (correctly 'Herbstfreude') It is a British design so Lythrum salicaria is included (it is a noxious weed in North America), and the specific cultivars indicated may not be available - or necessary - here.
i was going to suggest that sedum - wasn't sure it would work in that location due to the hydrangea doing well since hydrangea prefer moister conditions and sedum do better on the drier side. if the soil isn't too, too moist, it'll do in that spot. it won't get extremely tall, though, as it would with more sun - will still grow properly though (will just be a little shorter). there are also other varieties with different color variations - from light greens to darker greens to greys to reds and even some purples ;)
Not a rock garden type of sedum, has even been put in another genus (Hylotelephium) by at least one author. Note that other plants specified for same scheme like moist soil.
I have "Autumn Joy" blooming with some summer heathers in a sunny border, and because I like to keep the heathers well-watered I was keeping the sedum fairly moist, too... it is not a rock garden type of bed. It is doing well, after a slow start when first planted last year. It complements summer heathers in an interesting way... the contrast in heather spikiness vs. the creeping sedum with the round flower-clusters.
