Patio Planting at Home

Adjacent to our new home's patio was a small planting bed. It was full of thick landscape fabric, which suffocates life in the soil and gets tangled up with plant roots. See the "Before" photo with gravel scattered over the exposed fabric. I enjoyed pulling out the fabric and adding compost to the area to improve soil health.

I removed the existing plants: day lilies and a silver/red maple hybrid. While native maples are wonderful for wildlife, they are not suited to be placed 5' from the house. I replaced this tree with a Redbud. I added a Black Chokeberry to hide my hose reel. I added stepping stones that were already on site, and flanked those with Narrow-leaved Primrose, Purple Coneflower, and Virginia Sweetspire. This corner gets shade for much of the morning followed by afternoon sun, so these species should be happy here. I soon began to notice Hoverflies and Green Sweat Bees enjoying the new flowers.