For the first time I have the opportunity to plant a flower garden. I have moved into a home that has some flower garden/landscaped area already but it has been sorely neglected and could use some cleaning up and re-planting. I love being outside and love getting my hands dirty but to be honest I've never gardened before so I haven't got a clue where to start short of "Gardening for Dummies".

My husband and I have already been out cleaning out weeds but the largest area has some sort of vine that we tilled up but keeps coming back every couple of days. After reading through a few other threads I'm afraid that this vine might prevent us from planting anything else in the area.

So, what I'm hoping for are some tips on some fairly easy-care perrinials just to get me started and also some tips on how to get rid of the vine that keeps growing back so that I might be able to plant something new in this area. It isn't a thick vine, it is very thin and doesn't have that wood-like root that I saw mentioned earlier.

I am very interested in planting some hosta in the vine area as there isn't much sunlight that hits it but I don't want to put time, money and energy into this area if it is a hopeless cause. If the best advice I could find for ridding the vine from the yard would be found in the thread about Euyonamus then I will try there again. Otherwise, I am still very interested in some suggestions for a first-timer.

Thank you

Hey ,
I have Hosta's that I want moved, a tree died and now there is no shade for them. I would give you a hosta. Maybe I or some other
larryviller could help you identify the pesky vine. Sometimes you have
to be aggressive and use vegetation killer, which means you won't be
able to plant anything there for at least a year. Let me know.

Well I hope the plant you are dealing with is not this:

http://www.invasive.org/browse/genusthu ... =31&sort=3


Also know as winter creeper(Euonymus).
I managed to eradicate almost all of the Virginia creeper in our yard-just keep pulling or paint weed killer on the leaves and let it die slow.

As for low maintenance, Lillies,hostas,coneflowers, Milkweed which blooms very fragrant and natural wild sweet william, virginia phlox are very nice and all work naturally together. They continue every year. Hibicus are also good but you must plant them where they get the morning sun and close to the house to protect them in winter(mulch sometimes). Mine put out blooms about 2 1/2-3 feet in diameter now. Last year had one bigger than the neighbors 3 year old child.

OK, so as I understand it there aren't any plants you want to keep in the flower bed? If that's the case, then I'd just napalm the stuff with Round Up.

Read the bottle, but I believe you don't need to wait a year to plant again. With the regular brand of round up. Now, they make an extended control or year long control product. You of course wouldn't want to use that. But, pretty sure that after a week or two, if you tilled and worked in some organic matter you plants would be just fine. Check the bottle to be sure.

Good luck.

Anything Roundup touches will die, including grass. Saw a guy kill his whole lawn with the stuff cause he watched me treating sidewalk grass with it. I had one small bed I used it on then after it died, dug out the dirt and moved it to compost down elsewhere. Then I laid down a barrier weed blocker cloth put topsoil on top and continued to plant the same year. Seems like it worked very well.

I took some of those Applebee carryout containers from my son and put jiffy mix and/or miracle grow in them, sowed my seed packet in them,lightly watered them snapped on the lid and four days later they are up and growing in their own little terrarium. When they are tall enough I will take them to the garden and use scissors to cut the base off and plant them. Much cheaper than buying the plants.

Thanks for the great advice so far. I appreciate it. So, after some research I've found out that what I have is not a horrible vine afterall (thank goodness) but Vinca and to me what seemsto be a whole lot of it.

So, for an area of 5'x20' (approx.) would "Round Up Napalm" be the best way to get rid of it to plant something a little less messy?

turncheryl-
I am having trouble PMing you. If you have not received any of my messages please email me at psilla.brown@gmail.com.

Somehow I knew it was Virginia Creeper!

Think real hard before eradicating the vinca. Assuming it is Vinca minor, which is a perennial, it will get pretty blue flowers on it--and it stands up to the KS heat beautifully. You can plant your other perennials among the vinca vines and the vinca's leafy presence will actually help keep invasive weeds from sprouting and crowding out your desired plants. It will also serve some of the duties of a mulch in that it will keep the ground cooler and thus help keep your plants from suffering the effects of heat.

If you truly don't like the vinca in that location, you might want to start a plant exchange--a lot of people would value a vinca root or two, as it's great on slopes (to avoid soil erosion), or just for any area where someone might want some easy-care groundcover. You might be able to get lots of freebie plants by trading vinca starts. Or you could move it to any area of your yard where you'd like bare spots filled in, or you don't want to have to fuss with anything.

Other shade-tolerant perennials you might wish to try along with hostas are astilbe, merrybells, trillium, bleeding heart, and true (woodland) geranium, also called "cranesbill." (The bright red- or pink-flowering plant we commonly call "geranium" is actually "pelargonium." Go figure..) Cranesbill is a delicate-looking, but hardy plant, with spring flowers in various shades of purple and lilac.

Good luck with your gardening. It is a very rewarding pastime.

Thanks for the information Greydog & Dorothy. I gave up for a little while on pulling it and it's starting to come back in full now and it looks much nicer than before. I think it just went unchecked for too long. It looks much healthier now. I'm glad I will still have the ability to plant among the vinca and that it offers weed control. I was worried about laying mulch so close to my house.

I am going to check out your shade flower suggestions. Thank you again.