Create a Beautiful Lightscape

As dying embers of the sunset hits,
the solar  light begins to glow in the receding
daylight.

Too dark at night on your lawn? Try to use solar-powered lights. Solar lights add an extra-dimensional presence to your yard, whether you utilize them in the front yard or the back yard. Walk around the perimeter of your area or measure it with a retractable tape measure. Then evenly space out your solar lights every four to six feet.

Even on snowy nights, as long as there has been some light on even a cloudy day, the soft glow of the solar lights will disperse an eerie light over the snow.

Enhancing a yard with solar lights is definitely worth it for the added ambiance alone, which is not counting the added security benefits of having extra lighting. For new or replacement solar lights, go to any store's garden section--there is usually a choice between black, gold, silver or copper-colored solar lights.

Shepherd's crooks can accent your landscape
by holding solar powered lanterns as well as
provide the landscape with added elegance.

The shepherd's crook featured
here was originally used to hold
an ornate hummingbird feeder, but
has entirely outlived the crushed,
wind-battered feeder.

As the dim light fades into darkness,
the solar lights in this yard come alive,
shining brightly.

Good Ground Covers: Phlox

Creeping Phlox is a hardy ground cover that comes back
year after year, covering your lawn with shades of pink
or white in the Spring, and green for the rest of the year.

Phlox is mildly drought-resistant in
South for the most part, but looks
better when it is watered regularly.

A good way to layer the composition
of your garden is to put your Phlox
on the outermost layer next to your
flowers, Hostas or showy Caladiums.

Looking for a good ground cover for the gaps in your flower garden? Try Phlox--no--not the gigantic kind--the moss-like variety called Creeping Phlox that covers hills in a deep pink each year. The best place to get Phlox is probably at Krogers when they have a three for $10.00 deal, or some similar deal at your local plant nursery. Match your Phlox to be the same colors for the most stunning impacts. Plant the Phlox in between other flowers and around a young spruce tree or other trees and shrubs.

In four years, the Phlox will cover your gaps for you, which will amaze you. How fast this plant grows, coming back year after year! For even faster growth, water the Creeping Phlox in your yard with Miracle Grow and hose water the ground coverings periodically. Such watering is especially important during the hottest part of the Summer, and even more so if the location is prone to droughts, which can kill off even returning flowering plants.

And viola! You have a gorgeous flower garden without many gaps given time. In future years, one may always plant more Phlox if the plants are not covering up the areas you want covered up.

Organizing Your Flower Garden

Labeling Flower & Vegetable Types

T-shaped labels by Woodstream 

will allow one to simplify the
 process of identifying plants.

Label your flowers: if you have a growing collection of the different flower colors, then the next thing you should be doing is to label the flowers in your collection-label each different color name and variety. Either your local nursery or even walmart will have little plastic tags that you can stick in the ground by what you've planted . These are seasonal items and they appear around March or April. Sometimes the name stakes go really quickly at places like Walmart, which disappear by late summer or early fall at most outlets.

For a very affordable price--next to nothing--you can  buy plastic, white name tags at Walmart that you can put in the ground around your plants. Sometimes it is a seasonal item--so look for them in the garden center in late Spring through mid-Summer. T-shaped labels by Woodstream will allow one to simplify the process of identifying plants, while allowing easy visibility of plant or flower names with white labels that are easily pushed into soil. The white plastic labels cost $3.38 at Wal-Mart, excluding sales tax.

Keeping Track

Invest in some sharpies to keep track of your garden. The particular brand I used a few years ago (not the one pictured) comes with a graphite pencil in the bag. The Sharpie will last longer than the "Dauntless" pencil. This works particularly well for Irises, Daylilies, and any other flowering plant you wish to categorize. So, the next time someone asks "What variety is that plant?," you can tell them. The Sharpies may wear off after  a year. Therefore, it will be important to have a paper copy as well to update the labels or replace weathered ones with.


Bad Flower Bed Experiences

Never assume the lawnmower man will
leave your Irises, Cannas, or Yuccas
still standing from their mowing spree.

Believe it or not, it's been eight years since I labeled my irises and some of the original labels in the shade are in still crisp black handwriting. Last year our lawn mower man mowed all of my irises down and all of the labels along with the plants; the irises were out of blooming season but the mowing damaged some of the rhizomes too, which did not come back this year. I attribute losing four varieties to that lawn mower man plus myself for not watching out for erosion.

Lawn fencing like this very inexpensive
stone edging is not only cheap, but
will let the lawn person know not to
mow over your flower bed.

Another painful lesson was earlier this year when the lawnmower man mowed over the sunflowers that were coming back from last year. The final lesson learned here is to not count on the lawn mower man to recognize what is and isn't a flower bed. This year I put up a faux stone border around the surviving iris plants to protect them. It's just in time too; since our old lawn mower man moved, a new lawn mower man starts tomorrow.

Welcome to Fit Gardening!

Welcome to Fit Gardening!


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