This area is probably not the best area to have a flower bed because of water run-off. In 2019, it was a storage area for all the stuff I had moved from our previous house.
In 2020, I planted flowers around the pomegranate tree I had in a pot.
The coleus absolutely loved this area!!
In 2021, I needed to do something to help with soil erosion though.
Water comes from the front yard (sloped) as well as a gutter downspout to the right of this area, so I thought putting in PVC for drainage might help with everything getting swept away. (The pomegranate tree was planted in the ground in my camellia garden.)
Still had water issues, and I wasn’t about to dig a trench to go downward so it would drain. I just let it be for the time being.
In mid-April 2021, I planted 6 ‘Candy Stripes’ creeping phlox plants behind the planter and used weed fabric to keep my indoor/outdoor cats from digging in this area until they filled in. The zinnias and wishbone plants in front of the planter did well that year. Landscape fabric was holding the soil in place.
In 2022, the weeds got aggressive. Also, the border dahlias I planted with the wishbones did terrible, so I had to move those. It’s hard to spot the dahlia plants in the picture below because of all the weeds.
In 2023, the creeping phlox had filled out to create a beautiful ground cover that spring.
I didn’t bother planting anything in front of the planter because the weeds were winning. I put down black plastic and mulch mid-June.
But heavy rains washed almost all of the mulch away within a couple weeks.
The middle of last December, I planted out at least 75 pansy seedlings in front of the planter, along with an ornamental cabbage.
But by February of this year, they had been washed away, mostly.
The only thing that really did excellent here this year was the Supertunia Vista Bubblegum petunias.
Even the creeping phlox was looking rough – to the point it looked like it was dying. Come to find out, you are supposed to prune it back some after it flowers to keep it from smothering itself. So I cut all of the plants back hard – like, to the ground. If you ever want to know if creeping phlox suppresses weeds, here is your answer. This is what it looks like now.
Nothing but weeds… an eyesore when you first pull into the driveway. Cleaning this up is on my current to-do list. I am replanting creeping phlox but will maintain them every year since I know you have to do that now. I will more than likely move the planter forward some and have a narrow band of creeping phlox in front but that’s it. I have already removed the landscape edging that used to define this area. I am still going over ideas, but for now, this area will be pretty simple next year.