I love mailbox gardens. As I take my daily walk around the neighborhood, I marvel at the variety of plants and ornamentation my neighbors use for theirs. Some gardens have actually expanded to the point that they fill half the front yard! That’s the wonderful thing about these creations – they are highly visible, often in good sun, and can become addictive. We keep adding to them. If I could have no other flowers in the yard, I would absolutely need a garden at the mailbox. Nothing welcomes you home as much as blooming flowers at the end of the drive.
I’ve tried many combinations over the years. Pansies and kale in the winter. Impatiens and other blooms for the summer. Petunias and begonias, annuals and perennials. I’ve had vines, short flowers, tall flowers, and Swiss chard. Some of these combinations were very successful. Others – not so much.
I like Asiatic lilies. They looked great in the garden center. And, they are so beautiful when in full bloom.
The drawback is that they have a short blooming period. And then the somewhat awkward stems are around for a long time. Sometimes they don’t go completely dormant until winter. Here in zone 7, we keep them in the ground over the winter – but then it’s hard to plant anything around them. That’s the reason these lilies are unevenly spaced. The bulbs were moved around during subsequent plantings so that now they come up at random. I still have a couple left that will soon be blooming – and then hanging around until October. I’ve decided that I am going to dig them up this year and plant them in a pot. Next year when they have finished blooming, I will put the pot away until the next spring.
I also love clematis vines.There are over 300 varieties of clematis, and I tried one of the more common varieties. In the summer months, several mailboxes in our neighborhood are covered with clematis blooms. They grow best in cool, moist soil in full sun. My aunt always had this advice on clematis. “Head in the sun. Feet in the shade.”
Mine grew beautifully in year one. Then it died at the end of the summer and never came back. I think it was due to our being away and its not getting enough water. But I miss this plant and would love to have another.
The clematis wasn’t the only plant that didn’t make it through Atlanta’s hot summer. Since we are often away during August and September, the hottest months of the year, last year we added a simple irrigation system. The mailbox garden gets watered every other day for 20 minutes.
Last summer I decided on a yellow with purple theme. I started with the basic perennials stella d’oro lilies and coreopsis (tickweed) for the perennials and purple butterfly pincushion flower and royal candles for other color. There is also one lonely tall purple plant that comes up each year as seen in this picture.
While last year’s garden looked good at first, the plants quit blooming, and the plot looked rather gloomy. I added petunias for color, but I wanted the lilies and coreopsis to bloom too!
I learned that in order to keep the lilies and coreopsis blooming, you have to dead head the flowers. So, now when the blooms die, I pick them off. I do this on a daily basis So far, so good!
I guess a little fertilizer and plenty of water did the trick. This garden is something I enjoy coming home to. I’ll add some purple petunias again this year, and enjoy these plants until the frost!
Channelling Stanley 