BAY WINDOW GARDEN REVAMP
We have a small garden bed tucked under our dining room bay window with a mature multi-trunk dogwood and some huge hostas left over from the previous owners. I added Bobo hydrangeas, a couple more hostas, liriope evergreen grasses, a green mountain boxwood, and finally a clematis to the area in 2019. However, the Bobos just weren’t happy and I knew they needed to be moved this year. I also wanted to fill this space in with different shade-loving perennials since 90% of the bed is in full shade and I didn’t want to worry about annuals getting enough light. So here was the status until recently:
The dogwood provides a lovely canopy when you walk into the garden from our new vegetable garden space, and it’s a well loved area by both indoor and outdoor wildlife.
So, the hydrangeas had to go and were moved to a different part of the garden where they’ll get more sun and will hopefully bloom more. Now, on to the new plants. I went plant shopping with my mom and we both stocked up on heucheras (sometimes called coral bells) which come in an assortment of red and green colors with cute pink flowering stems. The best part is: they love shade. I also grabbed a few more hostas with a lot of white variegation to brighten up the space, and a flat of evergreen pachysandra to fill in around the base of the dogwood. Finally, I grabbed some columbine which is in the only part-sun area of the bed and was just too cute to pass up. They’ll have cute pink flowers in the spring. To replace my two hydrangeas, I got two varieties of mountain laurel which will fill in the space right under the bay window. The hostas are the only thing that aren’t deer resistant, so I’ll spray those with deer spray every so often. A fresh layer of mulch will do wonders in this area when we get around to it.
While everything is short right now, the laurels will eventually grow 3-4ft. I also organized the heucheras so the tallest variety (about 2 ft tall) is at the left and the shortest is at the right instead of from back to front since we mostly view the bed from the angle below and I wanted to enjoy the stair-stepping of the heucheras. There is only one of the white hostas tucked in between the laurels since it gets to be 36” wide.
I had a few plants left over so I popped them into a neighboring bed that I’ve completely ignored in the past but will have a view of now after our kitchen is renovated. Two more of the white hostas, two green Heuchera, and two trailing Lamium/Dead Nettle should fill up the space nicely along with the existing hostas and evergreens.
I learned/put into practice two things I’ve ignored with garden design in the past: color variety and quantity. I didn’t know I needed red and frosty greens in my garden but it really makes a difference and helps to distinguish between layers. I tend towards the stereotypical “green” when planting but that can look flat unless there are a variety of textures creating an interesting look. I also have been known to stay on the cheap side and only buy one or two of something and then was disappointed when the space didn’t look full. This time around I bought at least 3 of each plant and bought multiple varieties over two trips to the garden center to make sure this space would fill in appropriately over the next few seasons. While buying plants can be a hit to the ol’ bank account, I’ve realized the amount of joy we get from seeing these beautiful spaces so we’re making more room in our budget to fill them up. Everything planted in these beds is also perennial so they will come back year after year.
So here is an overview of this part of our yard! We spend so much time in our back yard and it feels nice to have it starting to fill in. I also have a few videos over on my Instagram page if you’d like to see some short clips of the area.
