Quote:
Originally Posted by CateS
Following. Sorry, no suggestions. We are building soon and I will be looking for similar ieas.
|
I see you are from Michigan. We are ex-New Yorkers and pre-covid used to regularly attend the lectures put on by the cooperative extension. Best quote from one of the early lectures we attended was-first he asked how many of the people were northerners.
The punch line was forget everything you knew about gardening.
We bought our place new and it was builder landscaped. It was well done, proper plants chosen and each in the right place-except for one a bottle brush bush that was small when we purchased the house and is now way too large.
The soil in most of The Villages is sandy clay and it is loaded with limestone. Most is PH 7-8 alkaline. First thing you want to do is improve the soil by adding organic matter and it takes a lot.
People love to talk about their garden. I would suggest you drive around, not in the new sections but in the older sections and see a style you like. Ask about work to maintain.
Fruit-roses=WORK. People with a plant that died. There is a reason, water,sun, soil, climate. If, it died, you need to find the reason and solve it. Otherwise do not plant the same plant find one that will be happy where you want to stick it.