When I laid my new sod a few weeks ago, I intentionally didn't sod some areas that I intended to turn into landscape beds. I don't have very much experience or skill in landscape design, but I knew I wanted to plant some knockout roses. I have been late to the knockout rose craze that has swept the county the last 10 years. My thoughts were that I would plant some knockout roses with annuals and replace the annuals a few times a year to keep it fresh. This post is the first of two beds I have created.
This first bed is in a corner of my yard where the fence meets together. I wanted to plant one double knockout rose in the center and a row of white begonias lining the bed border.
Here is the knockout rose I planted. This is a double knockout rose, which I learned is designed to make the blooms look more like the blooms of traditional roses. I have always noticed that regular knock out blooms looked a little different then regular roses. I was happy to find the double knockout.
Here is what I started with.
I used the string tied to the fence post to mark an even curve.
Next, I cut the sod and used the remnants to fill in the curve.
I used my tape measure to measure the distance
between the begonias around the curve.
between the begonias around the curve.
My wife said I was being OCD, I said I was being precise.
Finished product with pine straw mulch.
9 comments:
very pretty! i'd like to put sod in my yard but we have so much space and so little funds!=)
Thanks Kelli, It can get kind of pricey. Down here sod ranges from $85 a pallet for bermuda to $150 a pallet for zoysia and others.
I went with bermuda because of cost and it took 4 pallets to do my area. So $340 wasn't to bad for my area. A pallet down here covers 500 sq. ft. I don't know how much grasses up north cost a pallet, but it can add up if you have a huge area to sod.
Very nice and I think you will be pleased with the knockout roses.
Lisa
Very nicely done and that's a beautiful rose!
Lisa - Thanks, I hope so too. I tried to measure the bed width so that the knockout rose will completely fill that corner. It said they get 3-4 ft wide and tall. My neighbor has the regular knockouts and they are huge. They are everywhere down here where I live.
Jenny - Thank you, it is a tiny plant because I had to be cheap and get the 1 gallon size but I hope it gets bigger quickly. I gave it a dose of fertilizer to help it along.
Kris, looking good! Your rose should start take off in a month or two once it gets established. Nice choice of the bronze leaved begonia for contrast. We'll have converted to a flower garden in no time.
Thanks Ed, I have always liked begonias. I originally told my daughter she could pick out the flowers for the bed and of course she picks bright orange marigolds. I figured that would clash with the roses so I decided to put the marigolds in the garden and swapped in some begonias.
That looks really pretty, and I never thought about using spray paint like that, that is a really good idea.
Oh, well, my husband and I can never decide who is more OCD when it comes to gardening. :) In your above post to said you had a red maple. My husband is going to be teaching himself grafting in the fall. He has 25 Japanese Maple root stock coming.I love how the more you know about gardening there is always more to learn.
Have a great Week.
Thanks Farm Girl. I love Japanese red maples, mine is just a regular autumn blaze red maple. It is starting to get pretty big, I would say it is about 25 feet tall now. I planted it about 7 years ago. As far as the OCD thing, she just knows that gets me going. I just like to do things right or why even bother.
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