Front Yard Annuals - Dusty Millers And More - Summer 2022

Yesterday, I shared some looks at the island beds (of annuals) that you can see in Luxembourg Gardens in Paris this year.  I've used them as inspiration in the past for some containers, but this year, I thought we'd try to use them as inspiration for our front yard in-ground bed. 

I decided to use a combination of 36 (small) Dusty Millers and some other colorful annuals (that I haven't bought yet).  I don't love pinks, so maybe reds is where I'll land. 

While the alternating color isn't locked in, the Dusty Millers are, indeed, 'locked-in'.  Here you can see them below:  six six-packs bought and brought home.

In 2020, I planted 24 impatiens.  Last year, we planted 20 sedum and 24 begonias.  For historicals:

• Our first full year - in 2018 - we planted some Ranunculuses - about eight of them.
• In 2019, we planted 16 orange marigolds. +8 plants yoy.
• In 2020, we planted 24 Impatiens. +8 plants yoy.
• In 2021, we planted 20 Lemon Coral Sedum and 24 begonias. 44 total. +20 yoy.

Here's the inspiration:

And here, below, is what the process looked like in our front bed (so far) with just the white Dusty Millers.  I decided to run them all the way down - from the stoop to the edge of the front border - in front of the troubled Norway Maple.  That's 18 pairs (36 plants) across the front.

You can see the gaps that I left for the alternating colors.  I'll get to those this weekend (hopefully).