I took pictures of all the outdoor areas of the house when we first went to look at it, and this is what the back patio area looked like before we moved in.
For the first 2 years we lived here, I just focused on growing things in containers on the back patio. The previous owner left the long concrete planters for me, so I planted my favorite Tidal Wave Red Velour petunias in them, started at the previous house before moving. Summer 2019:
These petunias lived from 2019 through the end of October 2022!
2020’s look:
I made that plant stand at the previous house for our back deck, so I finally put it to use on the back patio here.
In 2021, I started trying to get the area in front of the back patio under control. The grass seemed to have disappeared, and the weeds were taking control. Also, I had to put down rolled fencing to keep our 2 indoor/outdoor cats from using the area as a litter box – right outside our back door.
As I look through pictures, I am still kicking myself for not taking more ‘full scene’ pictures. I take lots of pictures of the flowers but not of the entire area, so I don’t have any progress pictures from 2022. The back patio area at this time wasn’t really a priority for me, so I didn’t really take many pictures.
In spring of last year, 2023, I decided to plant creeping phlox in the area in front of the patio. I loved how well it did in the garage bed, and with it being evergreen, I figured it would make a nice ground cover.
The weed fabric was absolutely necessary for a couple reasons: 1) cats trying to use the soil as a litter box, and 2) to keep the area from washing away when it rained. As the creeping phlox spread, I would cut away the fabric so the new tendrils of phlox could root into the soil.
In February of this year, I started working on the other side and planted out quite a few propagated plants I had made from the garage bed area the year before.
March 2024. This is Candy Stripe Creeping phlox.
The right side was filling out nicely too!
I finally added gravel to the walkway for the time being (still not set on how we are going to do that area – the boyfriend doesn’t like the bricks). This year, I had planned to fill in the areas between the creeping phlox with Cora Cascade vinca, which is a trailing vinca. This way, it would spread out to cover the bare areas this year so you wouldn’t see the weed fabric for now.
However, I ended up not finishing the planting out and ended up taking time off from gardening this year. What I did get planted grew beautifully! I had to remove the lower section of weed fabric because the weeds were out of control in that area, growing through the holes. I hate spraying weed killer, but I finally sprayed this area because of the weedy grasses. I tried pulling them up, but they are tough! I forgot to mention that for the entire growing season of 2023, that right side was covered with black plastic and pine straw in an effort to kill off weeds. It didn’t work.
And now I am not thrilled with how the creeping phlox looks on the left side. It always looks gorgeous after it blooms, but it lacks appeal now and looks like it’s dying.
As I mentioned in a previous post about the garage bed creeping phlox, I did not do any pruning after these bloomed, so that was mistake number one. Also, I have not stayed on top of watering these this summer, and it’s been excessively dry this year. These are getting replaced with a low-growing juniper.
Honestly, I am not a fan of juniper because every time I see it in landscapes, the lower part looks like it’s dying. But, it can’t be much worse than what the phlox looks like now.
This vinca though! One of the best ground covers I’ve grown! I am definitely growing it again next year.
It’s done so well, it’s covered up most of the creeping phlox on this side.
Our patio area is usually a mess…. ignore the cat carrier that one of our cats peed in at the vet (had to rinse it out and dry it), and the empty computer cases the boyfriend hasn’t decided what to do with yet. Plus the random carpet pieces to try to smother out weeds that JUST WON’T DIE! 😂
