Garden Interventions & Brainstorming

[wildflax]

So the garden intervention at my sister's house is mostly complete. 5 garden areas in front: 3 completed, 1 in training, 1 to brainstorm. lol. Anyone have ideas for a large 12'x 7' rectangular shade section by her porch? To me it begs various vertical heights and a seating area or waterfall type of thing but they don't have much money and I'm not very construction-savvy. They live in a suburb and live busy lives -- little time for garden maintenance. What would be good perennial plants and bushes that don't need a lot of TLC? Also, would a section in pots/containers need extra attention or do just as well as plants in the ground?

If I can figure out how to post pics of the two most recent plantings I will. I know, they look sparse but in a few years when they flesh out they should look fabulous ( in my humble opinion). Thanks all.

Michelle

[lessa's dh]

You wouldn't happen to have a picture of the area that you are planning to work on would you?
As for not having lots of money - there are several avenues for picking up things on the cheap.
Most landscaping centers that supply landscapers always seem to have an area where there are
leftovers (paving stones, etc) that can usually be had for a very good price.
And at this time of year - plenty of garden centers are trying to get rid of stock so there are some
good buys out there.

[wildflax]

Unfortunately, I did not take a pic of the area when I was there last. I'll try doing a diagram and loading it later. Thanks!

[morgansrgr8]

I love going to yard sales that have dug up some of their perenials to sell. I have gotten a few good deals that way. The last time I got 5 bags of perenials for $1 a bag. They were moving and were selling all of the plants. Then sometimes you drive down the road and they have bags of plants at the end of their driveway. Lots of opportunity to get different plants around here.
The other day someone stopped here asking if we would sell any of our sandstone. Then she saw my hosta beds. She was in heaven. We got all our sandstone when the county rebuild the bridge by the house. We asked for it first since most of the work was at our back door. Funny, We saw one of our neighbors talking to the boss in charge and he pointed to us. We knew he was asking for some sandstone. I will have to get a pic of what hubby did with all that stone.