Front flower bed

Last year GMF and I built a wooden flower bed at the front porch. This area is very sandy and dry so the partial raised bed will help retain the soil and water for the plants.  As you can see in the before it was mostly weeds :(.  The hosts was split off the giant plant we have growing in the backyard beside the air conditioner.  It's a little yellow in the pics from last year because of transplant shock and sunburn, but it came back beautifully this year. 

Here is what I planed last year.  The hosts, some day lilies, 2 mandavilla plants (beautiful flowers) and a coronation plant.  The gnomes are some dollar store finds.  Kneesa cat enjoyed the new space.

Here's another pic from later in the year last year.  The mandavilla plants have grown and have lots of flowers.  The carnations are kinda spent.

Ok moving onto this year.  The carnations came back great!  They are a nice mound to white flowers.  The hosts is also doing great - super green and large. I think I will have to split it this fall already to keep it from getting as large as the one in the backyard.  The Lillies are also back.  I added a hanging basket from the grocery store and moved my hibiscus outside again.  I added a pair of Black Eyed Susan vine starters at the back in hopes that it grows up the railing.  The flowers on these vines are a glorious bright orange with a dark centre at first and fade to more of a yellow.  As you can see kneesa is exploring the new spring growth.  

Heres a pic of the hosts in the backyard (and this is still spring so imagine it at full size) I need to move this somewhere else (or many other places).  I have received a water barrel from a neighbour and I want to install it there on a platform. This job will probably happen in the fall. 

I did buy some mandavilla vines again this year but decided to keep them in a planter so I can bring them inside over the winter.  I also like that I can move them around and enjoy the pretty flowers wherever I am working or relaxing.

Here's an update at the end of June.  As you can see the black eyed Susan vine is growing up as planned and I can't wait for it to really start to cover the railing.  The hanging baskets are doing beautifully adding so much colour. I usually have hibiscus flowers by now but I had something eating the buds. I have picked and disposed of all the buds and hope I've got the all the culprits.  The plant itself is looking very healthy.  I've also added some zinnia and calendula seedlings.

Next update: July 1st.  The Black Eyed Susan's are progressing nicely still. The hanging basket is still doing ok.  The petunias are starting to dwindle but the supercells are very prolific.  And I really like the lantana flowers.  They produce multiple tiny little flowers in an umbrella shaped clump.  And I've got some beautiful yellow day Lillies. You can also see the mini gnomes are beginning to get lost in the zinnia's which are growing faster than the calendulas.  

Here's a close up of the lantana.

The squirrels have also gifted me some plants.  These are peanut plants.  They are nestled in my hibiscus pot and the pots around my property.  Silly squirrels.

What should I do with these peanut plants? Have you grown peanuts before? Let me know in the comments below.