Sump garden

Here's one of the three new beds in the garden this year: the sump garden. It's irrigated by the sump pump hose several times a day. This bed slopes downward ever so gently, so river rock pebbles were added to form channels that guide the flow of the water. This garden is planted with hardy hibiscus ('Kopper King' is in bloom here), Angelica gigas, Darmera peltata, bronze-foliaged cardinal flower lobelia, and a couple of other perennials that prefer shade but do fine in full sun if they get lots of water: three different varieties of astilbe, and a ligularia (the yellow flower you see in bloom in the back). There's a castor bean plant in the center which hasn't yet reached its full potential, and a black colocasia with pathetically stunted growth. A hardy tradescantia, a tender tradescantia and a coleus fill in the foliage picture. I'm expecting great things from these bed once it's given another year to settle in and a normal stretch of hot, muggy summer weather.

Comments

[Kathy]

Those window boxes look stupendous!

[Chan S.]

Thank you, Kathy! Wildseed Farm's 'Laura Bush' petunias, sweet potato vines ('Marguerite' and 'Blackie'), and dwarf snapdragons are the foolproof recipe.