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The driveway bed

 


just a short stretch of the driveway bed in mid-June 2011, showing off evening primrose, lamb's ear, germander and other flowers.

The driveway bed is a narrow strip between the driveway and the property line (with the neighbor's privet hedge) where grass wouldn't grow - so we turned it into a garden. You can imagine it has its challenges: it gets roasted by the sun hitting the macadam in summer, gets snow piled high on top in winter, and isn't among the first garden areas in line to receive water in periods of drought. So it's survival of the fittest, and there are some tough plants in there. Many other used to be in there, and met with an untimely demise.

It's not the tidiest garden area, but in spring and summer it's a cheerful strip of color. Since it's such an elongated area, you'll have to scroll your screen to see the full image below. The map was made a couple years ago, and is in sore need of updating (see the stories of demise above). Soon, hopefully...

An even narrower strip of garden separates the other side of the driveway from the front yard. The strip is backed by a low-growing hedge of Korean boxwood - which is never quite sure it appreciates being selected for this task - and features a rag-tag assembly of unrelated plants: some species tulips and autumn-flowering colchicums, a few unhappy cranesbill geraniums, and self-seeded blue flax and blazing stars. Another area that needs help...

A partial list of the plants growing in the driveway bed

Achillea 'Schwellenberg' (yarrow)
Achillea ptarmica 'The Pearl'
Achillea sibirica var. camtschatica 'Love Parade' (yarrow)
Aegopodium podagraria 'Variegata' (bishop's weed; goutweed; snow on the mountain)
Agastache hybrids (hyssop)
Alchemilla mollis (lady's mantle)
Allium aflatunense (Persian onion)
Allium cristophii (star of Persia)
Amaranthus hybrids (amaranth)
Amsonia 'Blue Ice' (blue star)
Amsonia hubrichtii (narrow-leaf blue star)
Amsonia rigida (stiff blue star)
Antennaria dioica (pussy-toes)
Antennaria plantaginifolia (pussytoes; lady's tobacco)
Anthericum ramosum (branched St Bernard's lily)
Aquilegia bertolonii (Bertoloni's columbine)
Aquilegia vulgaris (columbine)
Arisaema ringens (Japanese cobra lily)
Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed)
Aubrieta deltoidea (purple rock cress)
Baptisia 'Twilite Prairieblues' (false indigo)
Baptisia australis (false indigo)
Berberis fendleri (Fendler's barberry)
Buxus sinica var. insularis (Korean boxwood)
Campanula latifolia subsp. latifolia (bellflower)
Campanula persicifolia (peach-leaf bellflower)
Cercis siliquastrum (Judas tree)
Clematis integrifolia
Clematis recta var. purpurea (ground clematis)
Codonopsis pilosula (poor man's ginseng)
Colchicum 'Waterlily' and 'Giant' (autumn crocus)
Dahlia 'Jazz' and 'Bishop of Llandaff'
Delosperma cooperi (hardy ice plant)
Dianthus deltoides (maiden pink)
Dianthus x roysii
Dicranostigma franchetianum 'Aristocrat'
Digitalis purpurea 'Primrose Carousel' (foxglove)
Digitalis trojana (Helen of Troy foxglove)
Echinacea pallida (pale purple coneflower)
Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower)
Eryngium tripartitum (sea holly)
Eryngium yuccifolium (rattlesnake master)
Euphorbia dulcis 'Chameleon' (chameleon spurge)
Fragaria 'Lipstick' (Alpine strawberry)
Geranium pratense (meadow cranesbill)
Geranium sanguineum (cranesbill)
Gladiolus
Heliopsis helianthoides (false sunflower)
Hemerocallis 'Carefree Peach' (daylily)
Hemerocallis 'Chicago Princess' (daylily)
Hemerocallis 'Frankly Scarlet' (daylily)
Hemerocallis 'Frans Hals' (daylily)
Hemerocallis 'Pardon Me' (daylily)
Hemerocallis 'Rosie Meyer' (daylily)
Heuchera americana 'Dale's Strain' (alum root)
Heuchera hybrids (alum root)
Hibiscus moscheutos (hardy hibiscus; swamp rose-mallow)
Hyacinthus (hyacinth)
Hylotelephium spectabile (showy stonecrop; tall sedum)
Hypericum frondosum 'Sunburst' (golden St John's wort)
Hypericum latisepalum
Hypericum sp. (shrubby St. John's wort)
Hyssopus officinalis (hyssop)
Indigofera amblyantha (pinkflower indigo)
Iris (tall bearded hybrids) (bearded iris)
Iris ochroleuca
Iris sibirica (Siberian iris)
Kalimeris incisa (cutleaf Japanese aster)
Layia calliglossa (tidy tips)
Leucanthemum x superbum 'Becky' (Shasta daisy)
Levisticum officinale (lovage)
Liatris spicata (blazing star; gayfeather)
Lilium (lilies (various species and hybrids))
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Lychnis coronaria 'Alba' (White rose campion)
Melissa officinalis (lemon balm)
Mentha spicata (chocolate mint)
Monarda bradburiana (eastern beebalm)
Muscari armeniacum (grape hyacinth)
Narcissus 'Salome' (daffodil)
Nepeta racemosa (catmint)
Oenothera caespitosa (tufted evening primrose)
Oenothera speciosa 'Rosea' (Mexican evening primrose)
Paeonia (garden peony)
Papaver orientale (oriental poppy)
Pennisetum orientale 'Karley Rose' (fountain grass)
Penstemon digitalis 'Husker Red' (foxglove beardtongue)
Penstemon hirsutus (hairy penstemon)
Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian sage)
Phlox subulata (creeping phlox)
Physocarpus opulifolius (ninebark)
Pinus densiflora (Japanese red pine; tanyosho pine)
Potentilla nepalensis (cinquefoil)
Rabdosia longituba (trumpet spurflower)
Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm' (black-eyed susan)
Salvia hians
Salvia subrotunda (hummingbird sage)
Salvia vanhouttei
Sedum 'Autumn Joy' (showy stonecrop)
Sedum aizoon (stonecrop)
Sedum kamtschaticum (Kamtschat sedum)
Sedum spurium 'Dragon's blood' (caucasian stonecrop; two-row stonecrop)
Sidalcea malviflora 'Party Girl' (prairie mallow)
Solanum rostratum (buffalo bur)
Solidago virgaurea 'Peter Pan' (goldenrod)
Sorghastrum nutans (Indian grass)
Stachys byzantina (lamb's ear)
Teucrium chamaedrys (prostrate and upright germander)
Teucrium hyrcanicum (Caucasian germander)
Thermopsis chinensis 'Sophia' (dwarf southern lupine, pea bush)
Thermopsis villosa (Carolina lupine, Aaron's rod)
Tulipa whittallii (tulip)
Verbascum diascia (mullein)
Veronica spicata (spike speedwell)

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Last modified: March 04, 2012
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