Emma
Evil Liberal Leftist
Of which I am sorely lacking 
I've had a landscaper working on my yard throughout the summer and now he's ready to start planting. He's cleared and mulched areas around the house and porch, and a bank in the front yard (leading down to the sidewalk). The back yard is tiered; the upper half I'm going to leave as grass, and on the lower half I had him remove everything but an apple tree and mulch the entire thing. I want to do an English garden/cottage garden type of thing down on the lower half with a winding path around the beds and maybe a bench or some sort of centerpiece thingy.
Around the house, I'm not sure what I want except I would like to have some azaleas in front. On the bank, I wanted some colorful groundcover that will be easy to contain (the previous owner planted ivy---I hated that ivy, it nearly took over). I asked him about phlox (so pretty!); not sure if that would be enough, or if I should add some other stuff in with it.
I'm totally lost as to what to plant on the lower yard or where to start... he's going to draw up some plans and asked me what plants I'd like to have in the 'garden'. Ack. I have no idea LOL. I want colorful flowers and plants that are relatively easy to maintain as I am not good with gardens and stuff... from what I've read, if you do it right and plant dense enough, weeds are kept to a minimum as they don't have room to grow. On the path, I found some photos of flat stones with irish moss between and around the stones; that looked so nice.
I'm in zone 7, bordering on 6 http://www.thegardengeeks.com/home/images/stories/zones_2006.gif
One side of the lower back yard gets full sun most of the day, the other side is partial shade. So I guess I have to take that into consideration too.
This is a bit overwhelming for me. He said we can take it in steps, but I don't want to mess this up...
If anyone has any suggestions as to the type of plants and flowers to use, I'd appreciate it
I've had a landscaper working on my yard throughout the summer and now he's ready to start planting. He's cleared and mulched areas around the house and porch, and a bank in the front yard (leading down to the sidewalk). The back yard is tiered; the upper half I'm going to leave as grass, and on the lower half I had him remove everything but an apple tree and mulch the entire thing. I want to do an English garden/cottage garden type of thing down on the lower half with a winding path around the beds and maybe a bench or some sort of centerpiece thingy.
Around the house, I'm not sure what I want except I would like to have some azaleas in front. On the bank, I wanted some colorful groundcover that will be easy to contain (the previous owner planted ivy---I hated that ivy, it nearly took over). I asked him about phlox (so pretty!); not sure if that would be enough, or if I should add some other stuff in with it.
I'm totally lost as to what to plant on the lower yard or where to start... he's going to draw up some plans and asked me what plants I'd like to have in the 'garden'. Ack. I have no idea LOL. I want colorful flowers and plants that are relatively easy to maintain as I am not good with gardens and stuff... from what I've read, if you do it right and plant dense enough, weeds are kept to a minimum as they don't have room to grow. On the path, I found some photos of flat stones with irish moss between and around the stones; that looked so nice.
I'm in zone 7, bordering on 6 http://www.thegardengeeks.com/home/images/stories/zones_2006.gif
One side of the lower back yard gets full sun most of the day, the other side is partial shade. So I guess I have to take that into consideration too.
This is a bit overwhelming for me. He said we can take it in steps, but I don't want to mess this up...
If anyone has any suggestions as to the type of plants and flowers to use, I'd appreciate it
