What would be some good flowers to plant?

I want to plant some flowers to add color to my front entrance area, but I don't know what would work the best. I live in Illinois, the area faces south, and it gets some direct sunlight (but is usually in shade). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

FlowersBirthday FlowersSympathy FlowersThere are a lot of different things you could do depending on how much you want to focus on it. For a front entry it seems likely that you would want something that looks nice all season with a minimum of effort, so I'll offer suggestions with that in mind.


Make Hosta Lilies the foundation of your garden. They come in so many textures and colors that you are bound to find one, or several, that appeal to you.They are wonderful, tough reliable plants with basically no care issues, even the really fancy looking ones. If you like, add some Coneflower. The old-fashioned species type blooms beautifully all summer long in far less sun than is usually recommended. I've grown them in deep shade and they've done great. Maybe a daylily or three in the sunniest part ( they come in very cool colors now). If you want a tough, pretty, perennial groundcover I'd go with Lamiastrum Golden Archangel which has lovely silvery leaves. Creeping Phlox might be nice too. It has a dense mosslike foliage all summer and blooms in a gorgeous carpet in the spring. If you want to mix it up a little tuck in a couple of specimen perennials like a bleeding heart here or a lily there, perhaps some dwarf iris. After that just fill every little hole with a combination of impatiens and annual salvia, both of which come in many colors and habits so that you can easily customize your look. All of these plants are durable, reliable and affordable, in addition to being very attractive and undemanding.





I don't have a garden right now. Can you tell that I miss it? Good luck and enjoy!
Reply:roses are nice - irish's come back every year
Reply:Along my walkways, I always plant marigolds. They are so easy to plant and make a beautiful border. Just pull them up every fall and plant new ones in the spring. You can get the mixed colors, but I usually always buy the orange color. They stay nice all the way up until Halloween. We live in NYS, which has about the same weather as you.
Reply:Wel..u can plant roses, tulips, marigolds, sunflowers, and there are many more...
Reply:I would plant astilbe's white, red, and pink(20 to 30" high), Roma Astrantia (deep pink - 20 - 30" high), Ruby Wedding astrantia (Maroon - 20 to 30" high) and maiden hair ferns to set them off although cinnamon ferns would go well also. If you want it to look like a bouquet I'd add some white or pink babies breath.





Another suggestion would be to use a mixture of cone-flowers with white Christmas caladiums.


*** it would really depend on what color combinations you want to showcase your entrance way.
Reply:With flower gardens you have two basic choices -- perennial plants, which flower every year, but are not so showy and take time to grow. Or annuals, which are fast and cheap, but new ones have to be planted every year.





Good perennials are roses, irises, all kinds of spring bulbs, coreopsis, azalea bushes, columbine, shasta daisies, hardy chrysanthemums, etc.





Good annuals are impatiens, marigolds, pansies, flowering tobacco, etc.





The best idea is to go to your local specialist garden center (not a big box store) and see what they are recommending that grows well in your area.
Reply:You could have a nice mix of foliage and flowers. If you get a fair bit if shade you could grow bleeding hearts and hostas. Columbines could do well, but they can be finicky. Vinca major is nice, but it is vining- so it might not be what you want. Check out a catalog that has a good shady section. There are lots of shade tolerant plants with lots of color.computer