Lets Plan A Garden In Norway! (heavy graphics)

Ohhh yes lets!

I need major help with the grounds surrounding the cottage and my father-in-laws home. As you know, i know my herbs. That is no problem for me. What is, is i have no clue what to plant flower wise around here. But here are the facts: Summer is pretty hot (comming from the Arctic, everywhere is hot) around mid 80's to low 90's F. or high 20's to low 30's C. Winters are brutal but warms up very fast by April. No matter how warm it can get there is always the chance of a last snow fall at least until May. So those are the facts.

Now the tour:

This is my entry way, as you can see it is all driveway, so that basically i am going to claim as my potted herb area. Maybe a plant or 2 for hanging. (help with the hanging plants please)

Here is (front?)side of the house where i can just dig up the whole area. I have already started so far, by raking and seeded some hyssop and kamomil next to the already there rubarhb. On the left of it that is. What i would like to see to that area is kind of an english style garden with stepping stones and such. Not neccesarily english plants, but plants that would work here. This area gets full sun all day and most of the night until about 11:30 at night.

This is the back side of the cottage that is all shade until about 4-5 in the afternoon then full sun until late at night.

The back of the cottage is actually the start of the back yard. As you can see it going into shade. It is full sun until about 1 in the afternoon then shade until about 8 in the evening. As you can also see the drive on the left goes all the way to the end of the hytte and on the right is the side i showed above that is just a little strip of land.

Now, here at the very back of the yard bordering the neighbors is a rhodadendrum (errrr, spelling please,,lol) that has the flag pole behind it. There is a stone border there so something at one time must of been planted there.

In this pic, all i can say is it probably at one time was a circle garden. You can see the rhodadendrum plant to the left, then there is a walking space then this, um, well area i will call it. The crocus' are at the top of it. There are a few different plants already comming thru in that area, but i have no idea what they are. I'll just post, let you get an idea, and we will take it from there what should be done with it all.

Also on the first of these 3 you see a small yellow work shed. That is KB's dads area, he builds bikes,repairs them, sells them, ect. That area will be filled with bikes in a week or so because everyone around here knows he is the bike guy to come too. So planting over there is off limits unless i plant in planters on the fence. Thats okay.

Now the back of his house, is just,,,well lets say a mess. There is a huge rose bush, that is so tall the snow mashed it to the ground and it us just comming up again. This also gets full sun most of the day then shade about 2 in the noontime, then back to sun until sundown.

There is also the side of his house and the front that have beds in them, but i will post those later. Any help will be so appriciated. All i ask for is very easy to maintain, not alot of fuss plants and i will be so happy.

_________________
If you don't have faith in what you believe, then don't believe at all.

Ohhh geez now i really don't know where to start,,lol. The 2 areas i think i am going to concentrate on is the large area infront of my house, off the drive, and that circle place in the middle of the yard. The area along the back of Dads house does have plants in it, but i have no idea what. I think there is daffodils and this:

is that a weed maybe?

and a whole bunch of daffodils, just in clumps all over and another plant that has thicker leaves, i'm thinking it might be tulips, from what i have seen on the Stew.

Then there is this monster rose bush (tree,,,lol) can this be cut now that it is starting to get buds?

Netty, thank you for the offer of seeds but i can't have anything delivered unless they come in a prepacked package from a company. But i am getting to order some plants from Sweden. I just don't know what yet. lol. I'm like a kid in a candy store.

Toni, i do like that idea of chairs and pots turned upside down. Also i like the trellis idea. I have free rein to do as i want, all but near the bike shop. KB's dad, (Kristian) told me dig the whole yard up if i want, then no need to mow the yard...lol.

Sadly no veggies i think, but i do plan on trying tomatoes down here and some salad stuff. But not this summer for a real veggie lot. Strawberries are a must, but i am going to hang them along the front of Kristians porch.

Droopy, I figured you would know what it is like down this way. And i asked KB where we could get some large rocks and, low and behold, right in the empty lot across the dirt drive way. Ohh happy days for me, so i will try your advice.

Thanks all, this is opening my world up now to flowers. It will be lots of fun,,,lol!!!

_________________
If you don't have faith in what you believe, then don't believe at all.