Hiding Those Unsightly 'Knees' In the Garden

We all have them. Yup, you know what I am talking about, the knees. They are unsightly and annoying to look at! We need to try to cover them up some how. It is going to take something really drastic though. I know-more plants, not pants mind you. Oh, you didn't think I was talking about your knees did you? Gee, I hope not as I am most certain I've not seen your knees. I am talking about the 'knees' of plants.

You didn't know plants have knees? Well, I shall tell you what they are and then you'll understand. Likening plants to people (okay I might be taking it a bit far but follow along now okay?) it would make sense they have an upper part, a middle part, and a lower part. For us humans our upper part would be the head, the middle part would be the torso, then the lower part would be the legs. In plants the upper part is the bloom and stems, the middle part will be the bulk of the plant, and the lower part will be the area where the plant rises above the ground and begins branching out. The knees would be the area of the plant right about where the crown comes out of the ground and the plant spreads out in its branching habit. It is usually a knobby, ugly, area we don't want to see in the garden. Not all plants have knees mind you. Daylilies don't have knees. They look good from the ground up. It is the same with many plants but there are a special few that do have knees and this is an area we do not want to see in the garden. Enter companion planting and walah, we have a solution. It might be likened to putting on a pair of long pants for humans who have knobby knees. In this case we'll plant a plant in front of the offending plant so as to hide the plant's knees.

I noticed my 'Sunny Border Blue' veronica has knees in a bad way. These plants are in the front foundation bed and are very visible to everyone coming and going, especially me. I knew I needed a plant to hide those unsightly knees but was not sure which one. The plant would have to fit in front of the veronica and look good all the time. It had to hide those brown stems lower down on the veronica and go well with the blue bloom. Enter 'Going Bananas' daylilies. 'Going Bananas' is a reblooming daylily that is fairly short as far as daylilies go. Its sunny yellow color complements the blue of the sunny border blue veronica and most of all, the foliage hides sunny's knees. Problem solved.

Many plants are notorious for ugly 'knees's in the garden. Some that come to mind are sunflowers, helenium, and goldenrod. Many low growers work well to hide knees. Some that I like in addition to the daylilies are: 'May Night' salvia, marigolds, santolina, and coreopsis. Has anyone else ever seen 'knees' on plants? And what are your solutions?

in the garden....

Pine Straw to Plants part 2

By Skeeter

Today will be part two continuing from yesterdays post about the new area I am creating in my Georgia Garden. Yesterday, I showed you the Heuchera (Coral Bells), Spider plants, Black Elephant Ears and Hosta. Today we shall move to the right of that area to another spot where I have a little Rock Garden started.
Here you can see several different plants. To the top of this picture, you can see the post of my two water gauges. I rely on these to keep me informed of the rain fall when I am away from the garden or sleeping with rainfall during the night. I have formed this Rock Garden by the rain gauges to make them not so noticeable as they are not real pretty gauges. That is a big trick for me in the garden, disguise the ugly things with beautiful things. Remember my boat shed, air conditioner unit, propane gas tank? LOL...
Moving in for a closer look, you can see the focal point being a bit of Whimsy. These turtles are busy taking care of the garden with their shovel and rake. Right behind them are Elvis the Hosta I talked about last year. Click Here to see that if you missed it. I had two Elvis but one was over come by either a Vole or Drought. I was able to salvage the one and baby it back to life this spring. The picture above was taken before Elvis was blooming for me. However the Catmint to the right was blooming and attracting bees and butterflies by this time. I had to rescue the Catmint as well last year. Here you see the Catmint blooms. I think they are such pretty little blooms. Thank goodness for the zoom lens!

There is Elvis in all his glory a bit later then the other picture was snapped. This picture was snapped today, being July 1 so he should be about played out by the time this goes to posting. He sure does have longevity in the blooming department though as he blooms longer then any hosta I have had.
As you can see in this picture, the Catmint has turned yellow on me. They are not in the ground as they are in pots buried in the ground instead. I told you about the soggy conditions we had this spring. I need to put it into the ground now that the area has dried. Elvis will remain in his pot as the Vole will destroy him for sure if he is in the soil.
Here is a new addition in my garden this year. I found "Armada Rose Sea Thrift" on the Bargain Bin for a dollar each. I picked up 4 to place in between the Rocks which I picked up for free at the lake.
I found them on the Bargain Bin in late spring so I was only able to enjoy a few blooms such as this one. Hopefully, they will give me plenty of blooms next spring.
Another new addition is "Cooper's Ice Plant". The Saint spotted these and really liked them. We picked up 2 one-gallon pots at $2.98 each. They are spring bloomers also but we found them early therefore, we enjoyed some late blooms from them.
The foliage is interesting. It looks like a succulent but it is not. It is a ground cover which likes some sun and where they are located, they get some sun. I hope it will be enough as we really do like this plant and the blooms.
Look at the foliage a bit closer. I think it looks like an Aloe Plant!
And Purple blooms. I can't get enough of purple blooms as they are my favorite color of flower.
Now what is that plant called. That is OJ the neighbors kitty coming to visit me in the garden. He likes where I placed this one flat rock. He thinks it was put there for him to perch himself. He is my buddy so I let him stay put. What is that plant in front of him you ask?
Well, that would be Speedwell. Not the speedwell I am use to seeing but "Speedwell Veronica Waterperry Blue". This is a ground cover as well which has tiny blue blooms. I have yet to see the blooms but at $1.00 each, I am not complaining. They will give us blooms at some point. I hope anyway...

Pentas is not a new addition in my garden but I did not have any of the annuals last year. I did not find them last year but I did this year. I really do like this flower as it attracts the Hummingbirds and Butterflies. They give blooms from spring until frost and don't require much attention from me. My kind of flower! I found these 3 for a super bargain price of .25 cents each! They had to be mislabeled as the remainder of the rack were not priced at a quarter each! My lucky day...
The blooms are clustered and so awesome. They come in different colors but this bargain find were pink. I like Pink in the garden and at that price, I would get them no matter what color they were.
I planted the 3 Pentas behind the rain gauges. They will get taller and help to hide the poles of the rain gauges.
OJ, get off the Speedwell and back on your rock okay? Be a good boy and not a pain in the you know what. Well, there you have it, a new area being created with bargain finds at a slow pace. I hope all will fair as this area does get really soggy with rain.

I also found 2 Lantana plants at $1.00 each but I don't have a picture with them in it. They are to the very front of this Rock Garden area. They were small when I purchased them and without a tag. I had no idea what color they were but to my luck, they are the multi orange, red, yellow ones! Ah, perfect as they are my favorites.
As you can see even though I have a good start here, I have lots more room to go from PINE STRAW TO PLANTS, In the Garden...