And that fountain I photoshopped in the picture of my final plan? This is it.

It's $150.00 and that's out of our price range, but isn't it cool???!!

You're good with wood...

I did a lot of googling last night, but it's hard to find exactly what I need. I want an arrangement of flowers that do well in sun and shade that I will always have at least something blooming from spring to late summer. Also, I don't want pink or purple. I'd prefer reds and oranges and a little blue to match the artwork that I did on the boarded up windows.
Yeah, the ladies still talk about it back in Kansas City. Seriously, though, That's a good idea. I could also build one out of wood and coat it with joint compound and then water seal it. That's a really good idea, Sky. Thank you.

OK. So our first spring in the new POAC headquarters is approaching, and if our budget permits, I'll be doing some landscaping for Mrs. POAC. But the location is really really tricky. I'll explain:

The area I want to plant is along side of a garage. The west side. So looking at the flower garden, you'd be facing east.
Here's what I'm working with:

Here's a photoshop of what I had in mind:

and here's what I have so far:


Now, as you can see from the first picture, the sunlight is VERY uneven. The left side is almost always in the shade and the right side gets scorching sun during the summer. We had three hostas (I HATE hostas) and the one on the far left did great in the shade. The one in the middle did OK. The one on the far right was burnt to a crisp by the end of the summer.

Is there anyone here who can suggest some flowering plants that would work in both conditions? (Both super sunny and super shaded) Or am I going to have a mix-matched left and right side to this garden for my wife? And please note, I HATE hostas!

We live in zone 4b. Any help would be appreciated.

I've just posted your question (only much, much smaller) on Yahoo Answers... I'll let you know what, if anything, I learn!
BTW, what's all that 'zone 4' business?

That means in the summer it's farkin hot, but the winters are extra farkin cold!
Means he needs "hardy" plants or they won't survive.

"Zone 4" is for dangerous Liberals who may be engaged in Anti-State activity, but have not yet become sufficiantly pissed off to go the next level down...

Gitmo is in Zone 13.

SKy, you are a one clever muthuh. If we were neighbors, I bet we'd be makin' stuff all the time. I'm looking into the fake stone. And for more uses than just a fountain. A stone bed would look cool!

Thanks Karen. Zone 4 is the agricultural hardiness zone. I don't know if they have that in the UK.
http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html?

Nah honey... we only have icy-cold and damp, cold and damp, luck warm and damp, or somewhat sunny and damp here. Sometimes it's windy too!
I've got something (possibly a couple of things in fact) somewhere in TWM about making your own planters and such like... I'll dig them out, hang on....

My mind was wandering, thinking about where on earth I'm going to plant all the herbs I want too grow... <snip>

http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/g00117.asp
And here's some text...
"I found directions for making the planters in a rock-gardening book by H. Lincoln Foster, and then fine-tuned them into my own recipe. You'll need peat moss, perlite, and Portland cement. Make sure you buy straight Portland cement. You don't want any of the pre-mixed concrete or mortar you'll find on the market."

Nothing wrong with British Gypsom for this job, I guess it's a similar substance to 'Potland cemente', and I'm guessing that 'perlite' is stone or pea-shingle. To be honest I don't see why a straight forward concrete mix can't be used... I'll let you know how I get on with that, and if I need to bung in a shovel full of John Innnes number 2 I'll let you know that too.

Here's a pic or three...





"Planters require two stages of curing:
Curing refers to the drying of the material and to the chemical bonding that takes place. Curing has two stages: an early stage when the planter should not be moved, and a longer drying period following removal of the mold. The initial curing period takes 14 to 36 hours, while the latter takes about three weeks.

For the first 36 hours, cover your planter with plastic. The plastic makes it cure more slowly, and slower curing produces a strong planter.

After a day and a half, I test the hardness of the mixture with my fingernail. If I can scratch the surface, the mixture is still too soft and should be left for a few more hours and then retested. When it requires a screwdriver to scratch the surface, the planter is ready for the second stage of curing."

That's really cool. Karen. Thanks!

I've just posted your question (only much, much smaller) on Yahoo Answers... I'll let you know what, if anything, I learn!
BTW, what's all that 'zone 4' business?

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/cemap/p...oxvictoria.html
http://www.willowaynurseries.com/ptw.htm
check the zone 4 varities
http://www.johnstonplants.com/shrubs.shtml
Again, check zone 4

European Plant Hardiness Zones

Maybe barberrys for the shrubs? They're used in a lot of commercial landscaping.

For the blue flowers, maybe Anchusa azurea. Or Delphinium, but they're considerably taller than that, and probably not hardy. Um, some kind of lavendar? Chinese forget-me-not would be good. Cynoglossum amabile

The stuff in front looks like an impatiens, which you could plant as an annual. Or, any other kind of low annuals.

Alternatively, add an inch or two of gravel and xeriscape it. No, I'm serious. How's your drainage?

Edit: Apparently there are hardy Euonymus. And for the baskets, um, native Monardella odoratissima in the smaller ones and, um, annuals in the big ones.

*sigh*. Mrs. POAC just put in her two cents. She's wondering about anything edible. Like blueberry bush's and stuff. I can look those up and see what would work in 4b. She's so high maintenance. lol.
I'm gonna get a bottle of wine in her tonight and see if I can talk her into letting me pull up all of the grass and turn the whole right side of the back yard into a vegetable garden.

Man... the grief I get for trying to feed my husband!

Actually, It only makes sense to grow things that we can eat...can...freeze! Guess that is the leftover farm girl in me.....

We have rhubarb... now we need asperagus, blueberries, raspberries....herbs... and of course the ret of our garden!

Yeah, grow food! Chemical free and covered in mud! No corporations involved!
Fantastic!

I've got no garden to speak of, just a concrete space at the back of the house where the outhouses (Shed and toilet) used to be, but last year I managed to grow spuds, carrots, radish, and spinach in containers. I tried other things as well, but unsuccessfully.
I'll do the same again this year, only better! Might add some fruit into the mix too!

*sigh*. Mrs. POAC just put in her two cents. She's wondering about anything edible. Like blueberry bush's and stuff. I can look those up and see what would work in 4b. She's so high maintenance. lol.
I'm gonna get a bottle of wine in her tonight and see if I can talk her into letting me pull up all of the grass and turn the whole right side of the back yard into a vegetable garden.

Beans and cucumbers grow well. In our first place we did beans, cauliflower, broccoli, strawberries (these take a few years and you have to over winter them)...... I think that might be it...

I can't wait for spring.. so we can grow tons of food and can it ... we have finally run out of what we canned two years ago.

This year all we had was tomatoes...but all organic... very nice.

Hey...do you have rhubarb in england? I know they don't in the southern US... but it is big in canada....

Best regards

use native wildflowers. All you do is plant them and leave them, no need to ever care for them.

use native wildflowers. All you do is plant them and leave them, no need to ever care for them.

It's Iowa, and he's already got corn!

Seriously, I'm trying to start ten native species from seed right now. Hopefully something will come up by spring...

use native wildflowers. All you do is plant them and leave them, no need to ever care for them.

Listen to this guy, he knows what he is talking about. He loves plants so much he would have sex with them if it wasn't illegal. Wait, is that illegal? I'm going to look into that before friday night.

They might call that cross pollination.
I say plant weeds.
That way when the crappy flowers come up instead of weeds, you won't mind so much!

if you plant weeds, then they aernt weed! A weed is something growing where you dont want it! ITs totally subjective.

if you plant weeds, then they aernt weed! A weed is something growing where you dont want it! ITs totally subjective.

use native wildflowers. All you do is plant them and leave them, no need to ever care for them.

Idea/thought.

Out in that area where yer gonna letthe field corn grow, why not start a couple dozen sunflowers?
When they get large they're quite magnificent, and make good feed for the critters in the winter.
With the size of the sunflowers they should fit right in with the corn, and they're hardy.

I love the idea of that. We'll see what Robin thinks. I have a sneaking suspicion that she's gonna want something more exotic.

And thanks to everyone who has chimed in with suggestions. We have a great resource here and you guys have been really helpful. Count on more questions in the future.

Why not just plant a bunch of trees? Get one of them there trees that consumes a ton of carbon. I remember hearing about how there is some kind of tree that are being planted on the sides of highways.

So we all agree, POAC will make his property into a forest. If anyone else needs a problem solved, let me know.

Why not just plant a bunch of trees? Get one of them there trees that consumes a ton of carbon. I remember hearing about how there is some kind of tree that are being planted on the sides of highways.

So we all agree, POAC will make his property into a forest. If anyone else needs a problem solved, let me know.

We're the only house on the block missing a tree in the front yard. So We'll have that going in the front. Not in the back, though. Our neighbors have ginormous trees that block out the sun from much of our yard. What sun light we do have, will be going towards a food garden and the little decorative testament I'll be building to my wife's awesomeness. On the side of the house, she's hinting that we should do some fruit baring trees, as well. I'm all for whatever she wants to do. However, I've yet to convince her on the benefits of a mushroom patch/hemp plot in the basement.

What sun light we do have, will be going towards a food garden and the little decorative testament I'll be building to my wife's awesomeness

However, I've yet to convince her on the benefits of a mushroom patch/hemp plot in the basement.

AWWW....
...

depends on the candidates, doesn't it...