Category Archives: Gardening News

Pretty in Pink

 A pink flower border

A pink flower border

The white garden and even now the hot garden and cool counter part, has been pretty much ‘done’ to death. So if you want to be in the vanguard of a new look, why not hit your dreamy feminine side, get all ‘Barbara Cartland’ and go ‘Pretty in Pink’.  Here are a few plants to get you started.

Hebe 'Great Orme'

Hebe ‘Great Orme’

Hebe ‘Great Orme’: A wonderful domed evergreen shrub up to 1.2/1.5m in size. With Swirls of long mid-green leaves and large dramatic spikes of bi-coloured flowers from rick pink to soft white. Mid summer. Any good free draining soil. Full sun.

 Syringa pubescens Subsp. microphylla 'Superba'

Syringa pubescens Subsp. microphylla ‘Superba’

Syringa pubescens subp. Microphylla ‘Superba: This is a lovely slowish growing compact Lilic. Getting to about 1.5m in height or a little taller. Small rounded mid green leaves. With small clustered mid pink flower clusters which are highly scented in June – July. Good soil full sun.

 Rosa 'Gertude Jekyll'

Rosa ‘Gertude Jekyll’

Rosa ‘Gertrude Jekyll’: This is a vigorous upright rose, produced by David Austin. Up to 2m, also can be used as a short climber for a fence or arch way. Good disease resistance. Eye popping shocking pink cupped flowers with strong scent produced from early summer up to the frosts. Good humus rich soil with good moisture retention. In full sun.

 Anemone hupehensis japonica 'Prinz Heinrich'

Anemone hupehensis japonica ‘Prinz Heinrich’

Anemone hupehensis japonica ‘Prinz Heinrich’: This is a great end of summer perennial that will just flower and flower. The huge advantage is it is shorter than most Anemones at 70cm and much better behaved, it is less likely to spread. Flowering from July to the first frosts with rich pink open flowers and golden stamens. Full sun or part shade. To even quite dense shade. Most soils.

 Bergenia 'Eroica'

Bergenia ‘Eroica’

Bergina ‘Eroica’:fabulous low growing ground cover perennial. Evergreen with rounded leathery leaves of mid green that go a superb wine red in the colder months. Flowers held on red stems are a eye shocking magenta with a black central eye. March/April. Good humus rich soil dappled shade.

 Salvia hemorosa 'Rosa Queen'

Salvia hemorosa ‘Rosa Queen’

Salvia nemorosa ‘Rose Queen: Clusters of base leaves in mid green and a mass of mid pink flower spikes produced from May to August, this perennial earns its keep. Height 45cm. Full sun well drained soil.

 Pretty in Pink !

Pretty in Pink !

I hope I have inspired you to try something a little different, whether you decide on one particular shade of pink or mix it up, don’t forget shades of foliage and even pink new growth. Splashes of white can help to space the colours, you can go as mad or as restrained as your creative juices desire. Good Luck.

Don’t forget,if you want help creating an eye catching pink garden, I would be happy to help, just give me Emily a ring 01273 470753.

The Gravel Garden

 A gravel Garden

A gravel Garden

The Gravel Garden, was brought to public notice, by the wonderful gravel garden that Beth Chatto created out of the car park, of her garden in Essex. It has developed into a particular garden style, not only defined, by free draining soils and in full sun. But the radio plants to decorative mulch and rocks and stones. The plants tend to be more spaced and in small groups, so the individual habit can be enjoyed. The choose of mulching chippings is important, to frame the plants and large Peebles, rocks and stones can also be used, begging the question when is a gravel garden not a rock garden? Most gravel gardens tend to be flat or on slight slopes, with generous irregular shaped beds and winding paths, allowing self seeding to create the informality that is a hall-mark of a gravel garden. Here are some plants to consider.

Cistus dansereaui 'Decumbens'

Cistus dansereaui ‘Decumbens’

Cistus dansercaui ‘Decumbens’:  A good compact small cistus, with aromatic evergreen foliage. Wide flat open papery flowers, which are white with a big splash of red at the centre and golden stamens. Flowering June into July. Full sun.

 

Ceratostigma willmottianum

Ceratostigma willmottianum

Ceratostigma ‘Willmottianum’: A small open twiggy shrub, with stems that are red  with small leaves that turn a rich red in autumn. Clusters of sky  blue flowers with white centres are produced freely from late summer up to the first frost. Full sun

 Ulex europaeus 'Flore Pleno'

Ulex europaeus ‘Flore Pleno’

Ulex europaeus ‘Flore pleno’: A mound forming compact shrub with prickly evergreen foliage. Sweetly scented double flowers produced from April-May and into June. Full sun.

 Hebe 'Red Edge'

Hebe ‘Red Edge’

Hebe’ Red Edge’: A lovely densely mounding low hebe with dramatic evergreen sliver foliage which has winter tints of red and purple. The flowers are pretty insignificant and are small and white, if produced in mid summer. It is all about the foliage.

 Euphorbia myrsinites

Euphorbia myrsinites

Euphorbia myrsinites: This is a very unusual looking plant, it creeps and crawls its way across the ground. It is evergreen, with pea-green stems with sparsely produced green glorious leaves and clusters of pea-green flowers in April. A must for the edge of the gravel  garden. Full sun.

 Heleanthemum 'Wisley Primrose'

Heleanthemum ‘Wisley Primrose’

Helianthemum ‘Wisley Primrose’: No gravel garden would be complete  with out a mound forming and spreading rock rose. This is a lovely sliver leaved variety with soft yellow flowers from mid to late summer. Full sun.

 A very colourful gravel garden

A very colourful gravel garden

Top Tips: Gravel gardens require very good drainage and are best in a sunny spot on poor free drainage soil. You can help the drainage of your gravel garden, by adding pea-beach and horticultural grit. Also by mounding the planting beds with crushed stone or even crushed brick, before adding a layer or top soil mixed with gravel. Choose gravel and chippings for mulching that are local to your area, are you going to vary the sizes, so the paths are different? Decide if you are going to have groups of  larger stones as focal points in the planting or around specimen shrubs. Are there going to be large rocks at path junctions or as seats. There is a lot to consider when designing your gravel garden.

If you would  like help designing a gravel garden, then I know just the person to give you a hand. Give me Emily a ring on 01273 470753 to discuss your garden project. I would be delighted to help.

 

 

 

A Small Front Garden

 A small front garden

A small front garden

Sadly front gardens tend to get over looked, or just seen as a way to the front door or a car park. But a well designed and planted front garden can give both you and your neighbours joy as well as passers- by. It can also be a rich habitat for wildlife.

Most front gardens need privacy, either from neighbours or the road, so boundaries are all important. Move beyond the obvious fencing and add hedging as a living boundary which will change through the seasons and  be a home to birds and help to reduce, noise, car lights and pollution. Here are a couple of suggestions.

Hebe hedges

Hebe hedges

Hebe ‘Mrs Winder’: This is a lovely hebe with a good compost habit up to 1/1.3m in height, with dense evergreen foliage of mid green, which has winter tints of purple and red in the older weather. It has purple flower spikes produced in late summer July-August. Most soils, with good drainage. Quit hardy for a Hebe. Full sun.

 Berberis hedge

Berberis hedge

Berberis: x frikartii ‘Amstelveen’: This Berber’s makes a compact dense prickly hedge ideal of a street boundary. Growing up to 1.5m or more it has small glossy green leaves with a glaucous underside. A mass of small bright yellow flowers in spring followed by blue-purple berries. Soil with good drainage, sun to part-shade.

A tree is a must in a front garden, even if a small space, it gives height and scale to the garden particularly to balance a high house facade.

 Malus Everest

Malus Everest

Malus Everest: This is a wonderful tree for a small garden reaching 3/4m in time and with a compact habit of acceding branches, giving it a champagne flue like shape. With blush pink clusters of flowers in the spring, giving way to mid-green foliage on the light crown. Followed by rusty autumn leaf tints to its, crowning glory clusters of small red crab-apples which hang on the bare branches through all of winter into early spring. All good soils, not water logged, full sun, will cope with a bit of shade.

In a small garden boundaries are very dominant but they also have the advantage of being another planting space. Scent in a small space, particularly near the front door where you can enjoy it can really lift the sprit.

 Rosa 'Buff Beauty'

Rosa ‘Buff Beauty’

Rosa ‘Buff Beauty’: This is a wonderful ‘David Austin’ Rose all the beauty and scent of old fashioned roses but repeat flowering. Roses are wonderful, as they will start flowering in May and will go on even to Christmas depending on the frosts. This is a small climber with healthy dark green growth. With clusters of old gold /Apricot flowers highly scented which fade to a creamy yellow. Followed by deep orange hips. Good fertile soil which holds moister, not water logged. Full Sun.

Pyracatha 'Golden Charmer'

Pyracatha ‘Golden Charmer’

Pyrcantha ‘Golden Charmer’: This wonderful wall shrub can be clipped into a dense shrub to clothe a side wall or fence or cut to shape round house windows. A great nesting spot for birds. Also growing climbers on house walls has been shown to keep your home at a more balanced temperature throughout the year, reducing heat in Summer and heating bills in winter. A spiny evergreen shrub with glossy dark green leaves. Clusters of slightly scented white flowers in spring. In the late summer and autumn great bunches of golden yellow berries. Good fertile soil to poorer soils. Sun to part-shade.

In a small space every plant has to work hard, with long flowering seasons and or evergreen foliage so there are no blank and dead spaces in the winter months.

Daphne x altantica 'Eternal Fragrance'

Daphne x altantica ‘Eternal Fragrance’

Daphne x alantica’Eternal Fragrance: This is a wonderful small compact evergreen shrub with dark green leaves and a neat habit. Its main flowering season in June, but it will flower on and off throughout the growing season. Small clusters of waxy blush flowers are produced which are highly scented. Humus rich soils with good water retention. Full sun.

 Lavendula x intermedia 'Grosso'

Lavendula x intermedia ‘Grosso’

Lavendula x intermedia ‘Grosso’: This is a lovely Dutch Lavender with large sliver grey foliage on a mounding shrub. The attractive aromatic foliage is evergreen, making it perfect for edging the front path or drive. Long stems hold the large elongated light mauve flowers well above the foliage. Flowering in July and into August. The scented flowers are a magnet for a great variety of insects. Poorer soils in full sun.

 Hellaborus orientallis

Hellaborus orientallis

Hellaborus orientallis: This is a wonderful long flowering plant. Mounds of large evergreen palmate dark green  leaves make a compact herbaceous perennial The flower stems rise from the base in late December to flower, December to the middle of March or latter. The colours vary from, clear white, cream with purple spots, dusky pink, dark purple and to light green. The Flowers are followed by very attractive seed pods which last till May. Good humus rich soils sun to deep shade.

Geranium 'Rozanne'

Geranium ‘Rozanne’

Geranium ‘rozanne’: One of the best and free flowering of the hardy perennial geraniums a clump of mid green leaves are produce in early spring. A mass of clear blue/purple flowers with a white centre are produced from mid spring right through the summer up to the autumn. After each flowering shear of the dead flowers, to encourage latter flowering. Sunny spot on most soils.

 Small front garden

Small front garden

I hope I have inspired you to look again at your front garden and to make the very most of it.

 

 

 

 

Planting steep slopes and Banks.

 

 A stunning example of a sloping garden.

A stunning example of a sloping garden.

Although lots of people feel a steeply sloping garden or area is a hindrance and a problem area, they do have their advantages. It allows you to see a cascade of planting with different textures and colours, also most banks can be viewed from many angles giving alternative views. But there is no doubt they do have their planting and maintenance challenges. Here are some plants to consider.

Cotonester dammari: This is a must for all steep and sloping sites, this plant will grow almost any where, although it will not like water logging. a very low growing shrub that hugs the ground. With evergreen foliage of neat dark green leaves and small white flowers in spring, followed by blood red berries in the autumn.

 Ceanothus griseus var. horizontallis 'Yankee point'

Ceanothus griseus var. horizontallis ‘Yankee point’

Ceanothus griseus var.horizontallis ‘Yankee point’: This is a prostrate form of ceanothus with dark evergreen foliage and small mid blue puffy flowers in May-June. Grows on most well drained soils. It reaches heights of 1-1.3m or higher on good soils, and has a very wide spread. It will add a good splash of colour to a planted bank and may even have the odd repeat flower in the early autumn.

Rosa 'Snow Carpet'

Rosa ‘Snow Carpet’

Rosa ‘Snow Carpet’: This delightful rose, literally crawls along the ground with neat leaves and small clusters of mini white roses, repeat flowering through the summer into early autumn.

 Juniperus horizontalis 'Bar Harbour'

Juniperus horizontalis ‘Bar Harbour’

Juniperus horizontalis ‘Bar Harbor’: This is a wonderful low growing conifer, it may be a bit slow but it is worth planting. It has attractive blue green foliage which turns a dusky purple in cold winter months.

 Juniperus horizontalis 'Bar Harbour'

Helianthemum ‘Wisley Primrose’

Helianthemum ‘Wisley Primrose’: This is a wonderful rock rose, low growing it will spread well. With sliver evergreen foliage and a clear yellow open flower from May to June.

 Rosmarinus officinallis 'Prostratus Group'

Rosmarinus officinallis ‘Prostratus Group’

Rosmarinus officinallis ‘Prostratus Group’: This lovely shrub has evergreen sliver foliage which is low growing and spreading. With rich mauve flowers in late spring to early summer. With the added advantage that it is a good cooking herb.

A planted bank with dram from top to bottom

A planted bank with dram from top to bottom

Top Tips: When considering planting a bank, do look at how steep it is, will you be able to comfortably stand to weed and prune? Also think about the depth of the boarders on a slope, if possible you want to be able to stand on a path or step and lean into the planting to weed.. Particularly as most of the shrubs I have suggested, have a dense habit of growth and standing in amongst the planting would be difficult and may well ruin the shape of your shrubs.  So if it is a very wide slope, or very steep it may be advisable to break the slope up with a flight of steps with wide landings and possibly the odd path, so you can maintain your planted slopes better.

I hope I have given you some ideas and inspiration to get started on tackling your own planting bank. If you need help with your planting project or with any aspects of garden design, then I know just the woman to give you a hand. Do give me Emily a ring on 01273 470753.

Sliver and White Planting

 

Sissinghurst famous white garden

Sissinghurst famous white garden

The concept of the white garden was created when at the turn of the 20C  Vita Sackville-West designed her famous white garden at Sissinghurst Castle in Kent. No doubt many before her had hit a upon this winning formula, but as a prolific garden writer her creation hit the fashionable gardening titles and garden supplements of her day. The fashion for the white garden or just white border for those with humbler gardens was born.

Here are a few plants to consider adding to your sliver and white border.

 Pyrus salicifolia var. orientalis pendula

Pyrus salicifolia var. orientalis pendula

Pyrus salicifolia var.Orientallis ‘Pendula’: A beautiful small weeping tree, with delicate thin foliage held on graceful dipping branches. This tree will give height and elegance to a white garden.

 Philadelphus coronarinus varigatus

Philadelphus coronarinus varigatus

Philadelphus coronarinus varigatus: This medium sized shrub is a must for the white garden, with an upright habit and almost sliver variegation, and strongly scented white flowers in  mid-summer.

 Hebe albicans

Hebe albicans

Hebe albicans: A wonderful small compact shrub with a domed habit, this evergreen hebe is a must for the front of the border . With tight sliver foliage and small white flowers in late summer

 Artemisia absinthium 'Lambrokk Mist'

Artemisia absinthium ‘Lambrokk Mist’

Artemisia absinthium ‘Lambrook Mist’:  Has  fine feathery  aromatic foliage with a colour of soft grey. With clusters of small white flowers in mid-summer. It is a  small sized sub-shrub which can be a  bit tender, but it’s dramatic foliage means it is a worth while addition to the garden.

Convolvulus cneorum

Convolvulus cneorum

Convolvulus cneorum: A delicate small mound forming shrub. With soft sliver foliage. Small white blushed trumpet flowers are produced from mid to late summer. This evergreen, is a valuable shrub for the front of the boarder.

 Helianthemum 'The Bride'

Helianthemum ‘The Bride’

Helianthemum  ‘The Bride’: For a sunny spot at the edge of a path, or tumbling over a wall, this rock rose, has small grey evergreen leaves and a mass of semi-double white flowers produced in mid -summer. A good addition to the white garden.

 White and sliver planting

White and sliver planting

Top Tip: White is a recessive colour so it makes things seem further away, which is a good illusion to use in garden planting, It enables the designer of the planting to use white to give a stretchered and false prospective. Also white as a colour ‘leaps out’ of darker surroundings so is wonderful in shady spots. A Sliver and white border will particularly come into its  own  in the lower light levels of twilight and into dusk.  As wonderful as a solid white and sliver border may be, consider using splashes of soft mauve and light blue, intermittently through the planting, to help to add visual lift the planting palette.

 white and sliver , make for a

white and sliver , make for a dramatic cut flower display

I hope I have inspired you to get creative, if you need help to design your white and sliver garden, I know just the woman to give you a hand. Do give me Emily a ring on 01273 470753, I would be delighted to design your garden  project with you.

Hebes:  a garden staple.

 

 Mixed shrub planting with Hebes

Mixed shrub planting with Hebes

Hebes, are a wonderful shrub with a good growing habit adding structure and form to mixed planting and dense evergreen foliage acting as a main stay of the winter garden. With the added advantage of a long flowering season and coping with tough growing conditions including exposed coastal sites. There is much to commend this shrub and it’s many varieties. Here are some to consider.

Sadly there is no ‘free from copyright’ image to illustrate this plant.

H. ‘Blue Clouds’: This small compact shrub reaches about 1m in height, with dense glossy green foliage with tints of purple in the winter. With long flower spikes of light mauve from August to October.

Hebe Cupressoides

Hebe Cupressoides

H. cupressoides: This unusual hebe is a one of the ‘whip cord or conifer’ hebes. With very different foliage. It is a dwarf shrub with spreading habit. With grey green conifer like foliage. Soft purple flowers in a small clusters June to July.

Hebe 'Great Orme'

Hebe ‘Great Orme’

H. ‘Great Orme’: This is a small to middle sized shrub with a rounded habit and slightly lax growth. Long green purple leaves and long pink fading to white flower spikes in mid summer. Can be tender.

Sadly thee is no ‘Free from Copyright’ image to illustrate this plant.

H. ‘Black Beauty’: A beautiful small neat shrub with bark purple foliage, to 60cm. with small neat purple flowers mid summer. Can be tender.

 Hebe 'Emerald Green'

Hebe ‘Emerald Green’

H. ‘Emerald Green’: This is a small compost shrub with small mid-green foliage and makes a very dense shrub. Would work will as an alternative to a clipped box ball.

Hebe 'Red Edge'

Hebe ‘Red Edge’

H. ‘Red Edge’: This shrub with it’s low mound forming habit and striking grey foliage with the leaves edged red in winter, makes a good low hedge.

Hebes can cope well with coastal planting.

Hebes can cope well with coastal planting.

Tips: Hebes are fast growing, but not all are hardy, even in the south East of England, if there is a particularly cold spell, it can  kill sections of a mature plant or even kill a small one. But in southern climbs most are hardy, but if in doubt plant with some protection from other shrubs. They do make good low hedges and some of the larger variates informal taller hedges. As they are fast growing, they are not particularly long lived shrubs. They cope well with coastal areas and salt winds, not in the first line of planting by the sea, but in the second planting line.

I hope I have inspired you to add Hebes to your garden planting. If you would like help with designing your garden, then I know just the person to give you a hand. Give me Emily a ring on 01273 470753, to discuss your garden project.

Hooray for Hemerocallis

 Hemerocallis in mixed planting

Hemerocallis in mixed planting

These tough as boots grow pretty much any where hard working perennials, need to be ‘shouted’ about much more. They come in small up to 50mm to pretty large up to1m in height and will grow in sun or partial shade in most  moist soils. They come in a wide range of colours from white, pink,  to many different yellows and golds to burning oranges to deep reds. Some are even multi coloured. From robust singles to ruffled doubles and delicate spider trumpets, there surely is a Hemercallis to suite every taste! Here are just a few to sample.

Hemerocallis 'Corky'

Hemerocallis ‘Corky’

H. ‘Corky’: This is a top favourite of mine, with robust mid green sword like foliage and refined slim trumpet flowers on tall stems in buttery golden yellow with stripes of brown on the back of the petals. Flowering mid summer with a later splash of flowers in late summer.

 Hemerocallis 'Joan Senior'

Hemerocallis ‘Joan Senior’

H.’Joan Senior’: This is an elegant mid height hemercallis, with clear white flowers with a deep light green throat, wonderful for a white planting scheme or dappled shade.

 Hemerocallis 'Luxury Lace'

Hemerocallis ‘Luxury Lace’

H. ‘Luxury Lace’: This is a rather blousy soft focus Hemerocallis at 60/70cm tall with mid-green foliage and large ruffled edged flowers in soft apricot/pink with a green throat.

 Hemerocallis 'Stella de Oro'

Hemerocallis ‘Stella de Oro’

H.’Stella de Oro’: this is a wonderful small variety up to 40/50cm with clumps of skinny light green leaves and wide open bright yellow flowers. Flowering mid-summer.

 Hemerocallis 'Burning Light'

Hemerocallis ‘Burning Light’

H. ‘Burning Daylight’: This Hemerocallis creates a large bold clump up to 70cm tall, with eye popping intense fire orange flowers which are scented, one for the hot garden. Flowering June/July.

 Hemerocallis 'Crimson Pirate'

Hemerocallis ‘Crimson Pirate’

H.’Crimson Pirate: This is a striking Hemerocallis with spidery vivid red flowers a real garden talking point. Flowering mid summer.

Mixed Hemercallis together

Mixed Hemercallis together

This over looked perennials demands more use whether as a splash in mixed planting, or a giant edging sweep along the front of the border. I hope I have inspired you to look again at Hemerocallis.

Rambling and Climbing Roses

A mass of blooms

A mass of blooms

June is all about the mighty rose this is the height of the rose season and if you are lucky enough to have the space then a mighty climber or rambling rose can be a show stopper! From a mass of colour up the façade of a large barn to a romping rambler over a crumbling garage, these roses are goliaths and add drama and romance to the June garden.

Dramatic arches

Dramatic arches

The difference between Climbing and rambling roses: Rambling roses normally only flower once. They have clusters of blooms in bunches. They produce long lax stems of growth, they are very vigorous and very tough putting up with even dry shade, doing well planted up trees to ramble over. Climbing roses,  normally have single roses, or small groups of flowers, growth is upright and there are climbing roses in most of the rose groups, Noisette, English Roses, Tea Roses, Bourbon and Hybrid-Tea Roses.   Here are some classics to consider.

 R. Alchymist

Rosa Alchymist

R. Alchymist: this stunning climbing rose, with old style rosette-shaped flowers of a warm apricot fading to soft pink, with a strong fragrance. With good vigorous upright growth up to 18ft. One major flowering in June and repeats flowers with less flowers into the autumn.

 R. Altisimo

Rosa Altisimo

R. Altissimo: An eye stooping climbing rose, with large single flowered blood red blooms with a cluster of golden stamens. Repeat flowers but a bit shy, it has huge orange hips that stay on till spring the next year. 12 to 15ft.

 R. Constant Spry

Rosa Constant Spry

R. Constance Spry: Named after the famed florist and cook. This is a huge climbing rose up to 20 to 25ft. But what a sight. Cup shaped multi-petalled blooms, in soft pink with a strong old tea scent, this once flowering climber gives an impressive one off show in mid- summer.

 R. Albertine

Rosa Albertine

R. ‘Alberine’; A traditional rambler with strong growth growing to 20ft. Salmon red buds open to lax semi-double flowers of a coppery pink. Strong scent and free flowering. With one off mass of flowers and the odd one or two produced latter.

 R Veichen blau

Rosa Veichen blau

R. ‘Veilnblau’: This unusual rambler produces clusters of same semi-double flowers, from purple to light mauve and a mass of small orange hips. It is almost thorn less and has a strong orange scent. Vigorous growth up to 20ft.

 Rosa Wedding Day

Rosa Wedding Day

 

R. ‘Wedding Day’: This is a big daddy of rambling roses getting to 35ft and some with ease. vigorous grower. A one off mass of bloom. With clusters of almost golden buds opening to soft white single flowers. A very healthy rose that is strongly fragranced. For that romantic ruin!

 Roses in full bloom add wow factor!

Roses in full bloom add wow factor!

Top tips: traditional climbing and rambling roses, usually only give one off massive displays, more modern varieties of climbers, will repeat flower. It is rare to find a rambling rose repeat flowering. For tips on pruning see January 2017 Blog. If you do not have a large façade or a romantic ruin to grow these big roses over. Then shrub roses can be trained to grow up stranded height fences and smaller arches and pergolas and for most of us this is the best option to enjoy a garden wall or fence with a rose on it. A Rosa ‘kifsgate’ on a bit of trellis next to the sitting room window, will cause nothing but misery. Right rose right place!

The full impacted of the wonderful Rose.

The full impacted of the wonderful Rose.

I hope I have inspired you to choose one of these ‘grand-dames’ of the rose world to take centre stage in your garden. If you want help redeveloping a rose garden or a summer mixed boarder or any other garden design needs, then I know just the person to help. Give me Emily a ring on 01273 470753.

Colour Plant Portraits from my Garden

Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’ and Nectaroscorum sisculum

Early morning light on Allium hollandicum ‘purple sensation’ and Nectaroscorum sisculum.

Iris Berkley Gold, Iris Kent Pride and Allium Globe Master

Iris Berkley Gold, Iris Kent Pride and Allium Globe Master

Tall Bearded Irises, Berkley Gold and Kent pride, nestle in the gravel, with splashes of bold purple round heads of Allium ‘Globe Master’.

Iris Jane Phillips and Iris Sable

Iris Jane Phillips and Iris Sable

Soft mauve of Iris ‘Jane Phillips’ and the velvet richness of  Iris Sable.

Iris Jane Phillips

Iris Jane Phillips

The shades of purple from Alliums and Nectaroscorum give way to a back drop of soft slivers of Stachys byzantine and the fresh lime green of Euphorbia characias ‘Wulfenii’

Nepta x faassenii 'Six Hills Gaint', Geum 'Totally Tan

Nepta x faassenii ‘Six Hills Gaint’, Geum ‘Totally Tangerine and Allium ‘Globe Master’

Spires od sliver and soft mauve flowers of Nepta x faassenii ‘Six Hills Giant’, mingle with the oranges of Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’. The dramatic uprights of the drumsticks of deep purple Allium ‘Globe Master’, rise up through the soft spilling planting.

Stachys byzantine

Nepeta and Iris Kent Pride

There is something really wonderful about the May garden, every thing is fresh and new, the planting is beginning to fill out with fresh spring growth. These photos I took one morning while I wondered round my small garden early in the morning with my early cup of tea, the low sun light lifts the colour along with the morning dew.

Nectaroscorum sisculum ans Allium hollandicum 'Purple Sensation

Nectaroscorum sisculum ans Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation

I hope you to are enjoying your garden.  If you want help to redesign and plant your garden do give me Emily a ring 01273 470753

Heathers: Ericas and Calluna

 Mixed, heather planting

Mixed, heather planting

Sadly heathers have become deeply unfashionable, but are they due for a return to garden fortune?

They first had their heyday in the Victorian era. With the Victorians love of the romantic landscapes of the Cumbrian fells the Scottish highlands fed by Royal fashion. They were widely planted over the Victorian rocky, great and small. Heathers next big moment on the British garden scene was the 1970’s with the island bed, with mixed conifers and heathers to give all year round interest and a desire for low maintenance. But these tough plants, have long flowering seasons and a lot to offer. Here are some to consider.

 Calluna vulgaris 'Beoley Gold'

Calluna vulgaris ‘Beoley Gold’

Calluna ‘Beoley Gold’: Low growing with good golden evergreen foliage and delicate bell shaped white flowers in August to September.

 Erica carnea 'Golden Scarlet'

Erica carnea ‘Golden Scarlet’

Erica carnea ‘Golden Scarlet’: Bushy growth with bright yellow evergreen foliage. Masses of small white flowers. Flowering from December- March.

 Calluna 'Dark Beauty'

Calluna ‘Dark Beauty’

Calluna ‘Dark Beauty’: Low growing compact heather with mid-green evergreen foliage. Deep red semi- double flowers, flowering late summer.

Erica carnea 'C.D Easor'

Erica carnea ‘C.D Easor’

Erica cinerea ‘C.D. Eason’: Dark green evergreen foliage, with bright red flowers flowering from June to September.

Calluna 'Firefly'

Calluna ‘Firefly’

Calluna ‘Firefly’:A wonderful variety it’s green evergreen foliage turns a rust orange in the winter. Crimson flowers produced July-August.

 Erica x darleyensis 'Furzey'

Erica x darleyensis ‘Furzey’

Erica x darleyensis ‘Furzey’: Strong growing heather with dark foliage. Purple flowers produced from December to April.

Top Tip: Heathers, that is Cullnas and most Ericas, like a neutral to slightly acidic humus rich soil. But there are a few Ericas that will survive and even grow well in a chalky alkaline soil. This low maintenance shrub, needs little looking after. Just a light trim after flowering to keep good compact shape.

 Heathers mixed winter planting

Heathers mixed winter planting

Heathers have a lot to add to the mixed planted boarder, from sweeps of low colour in a winter planting. Or used in a rockery setting, or as a low maintenance plant with good ground cover properties. Heather is a superb plant for steep bank planting. There is an endless choice of varieties that take the flowering season from the bleak winter months, through spring and then become the highlight of late summer and autumn low planting. With many soft pastel shades of white, pink and purple to some eye popping reds and varieties with golden and even strong yellow foliage. These plants can shine through the year. If you have the right growing conditions, perhaps it is time to look a new at Ericas and Cullunas.

Redefining the Edge

Neatly edged flower borders

Neatly edged flower borders

Mid-winter is a good time to take a good hard look at your garden. You can clearly see, the structure of the garden and it’s layout. Perhaps the crisp lines of the rectangular beds you set out and the geometric circles and square of planting on the lawn, have lots their crispness. Or has the straight boarder along the house  begun to wavier. Have your planting beds become a little woolie about the edges?

 

 Planting flopping over the path edges.

Planting flopping over the path edges.

Now is a good time to redefine the edge of planting boarders, taking sprawling planting back in hand. Mature planting boarders can often become much larger than originally designed, the plants mature and flop and move forward, the edging geraniums and other exuberant herbaceous plants freely flow out of the flower bed onto the lawn, you start to cut round them and so year on year, the bed gets bigger and wider and the shape and form of it is lost. Paths can also fall prey to this, a little softness of plants edging the path is one thing. Overflowing planting can easily turn a wide path  into a narrow slalom course, which can get almost unpassable, particularly in wet summer weather when the weight of wet planting flops and sags forward even more. It can also be quite a trip hazard.

 Over grown path

Over grown path

But there are a number of things you can do to get your planting beds back into shape and this is the time of year to do it. Firstly take a good hard look at the shape and size of your planting, has it grown in size over the years? Have plants spilled to the front to get light leaving bare areas under other shrubs in the middle or the back of the boarder? So this may be the opportunity to not only redefine the existing edge of the boarder, but perhaps to completely reshape the boarder or even to reduce it’s size. So the next stage is to mark out using canes, the shape and size of the boarder, and then use string and pegs to mark the edges.

 marking out the edge of a flower bed

marking out the edge of a flower bed

Now you need to prune back any planting in the way of the new edge and possible even dig some plants out, perhaps they can transplanted back into new positions with in the same boarder or found a new home somewhere else in the garden or given to gardening friends. Be bold, it is no good putting an edging in that will instantly in the first growing season be swamped  by the planting.

 Digging up plants along the edge

Digging up plants along the edge

Next you need to decide what job your edging is doing, to help you decide what type will be suitable. Is the edging to be laid flat and level with the lawn to make lawn care easier, so you can mow over it so it is a mowing strip. Brick or paving slabs work well.

 brick mowing strip

brick mowing strip

Is the edging to help to retain a slightly higher soil level of the flower bed from the lawn level. Then both a metal edging of the right height like ever-edge or a brick edging would work.

 Ever-edge edging round lawn

Ever-edge edging round lawn

Is the edging to keep taller plants flopping on the edge of paths, perhaps you would like it to be decorative. Traditional rope edging tiles are beautiful, but if you do not have the budget or the time to hunt demolition yards then, there are dyed concrete edging kerbs that may be to your liking. As well as some fancy metal edging.

 metal hoop edging

metal hoop edging

Think about the area of the garden and the style of your garden to choose the right edging, so if it is a  cottage garden for an old thatched cottage, then tile edging or bricks on edge will be more suitable.

 brick edging

brick edging

 Tiles used as an edging

Tiles used as an edging

A woodland garden would be best with old logs or even sleeper edges, which even if they are new would soon weather down, to fit the mood of the  woodland planting.

log edging in Woodland planting

log edging in Woodland planting

If  your garden is a dry seaside garden, then, pebbles, and larger stones and even boulders, may be the edging of choice.

Once you have decided on you edging material and there is a huge choice on the market. Give yourself good working room in the planting bed to install your new edging. If you have reduced the size of the boarder then you may need to repair the lawn, with some top soil raked to levels, ready for seeding in the spring. Or you may have been lucky enough to have regained a path, from excess planting.

 Well edged flower beds, give the winter garden formal elegance

Well edged flower beds, give the winter garden formal elegance

If you need help to restore an old boarder or a planting area in your garden. Then I would be happy to help and this is the very time of year to carry out the work. Give me Emily a ring 01273 470753. I would be delighted to discuss your garden project with you.

Terrific Topiary

 

A herd of unicorns, may be considered to be topiary madness.

Topiary- is the horticultural practise of training perennial plants, by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs, and sub-shrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants which have been shaped in this way. As an art form it is a type of living sculpture.  The word Topiary, derives from the Latin word for an ornamental landscape gardener, topiarus, a creator of topia.” Wikipedia .

 clipping topiary

clipping topiary

Topiary is an ancient art from the Romans in Europe to the Parterre gardens of the 1600’s to the Eastern art of cloud pruning, a desire to clip, and train evergreen plants into unnatural shapes has always been the art of an accomplished gardener. Good  topiary can add strong structure to your garden particularly in the winter months and if you have the patience and skill a great amount of creative fun as well. Here are some suggested shrubs that are tried and tested as good topiary subjects.

Buxus sempervirens: Box, the classic topiary shrub, although now sadly fraught with possible problems ( see below)  This dense small leafed shrub is ideal for close clipping, and therefore for being trained into intricate shapes. Slow growing and will grow on poor shallow soils, it does not like being too wet. Grows in sun or part shade.

 Lourus nobillis (cornes)

Lourus nobillis (cornes)

Laurus nobillis; Bay can become a very large tee, but is also happy being clipped, it can be a little tender in cold areas, so clip no latter than August, so new growth can harden before the winter. Moderately fast growing, with glossy dark leaves, it clips well into geometric shapes. It has the added advantage of being used in a lot of Italian cooking. It will grow in poor soils and in full sun and even into shade.

 clipped myrtus balls

clipped myrtus balls

Myrtus communis terentina: a compact Myrtle, with dense mid green growth, the small leaves make it ideal for topiary. It can be tender so do not clip after late July. Small white flowers in mid summer and aromatic foliage.

 Taxus baccata-yew, clipped squares.

Taxus baccata-yew, clipped squares.

Taxus baccata: the mighty yew, with dark green needles and it’s ability to cope well in shade, makes a good topiary subject. It will cope even on chalky soils but it does not like to dry out, But equally it will not cope with water logging. It is not as slow as people think so with its small leaves it is good for the most artful topiary.

Ligustrum clipped into a peacock

Ligustrum clipped into a peacock

Ligustrum ovalifolium: the humble privet, can be elevated to a whole new level when used for topiary. It has many advantages, being small leaved it can be easily chipped into animal shapes and it is quick growing, meaning it trains at speed up wire models, so perfect for the topiary enthusiast  who is keen to have a Noah’s ark of animals.

 Varigated holly topiary lolly pop trees.

Varigated holly topiary lolly pop trees.

Ilex aquifolium ‘Marginate’: with mid sized holly leaves with creamy edged variegation and a female form with berries, this makes a topiary shrub with added benefits. Clips well into cones, pyramids, boxes and balls.

 wire topiary model

wire topiary model

Tip: you need good sharp shears and if you are trimming box have a bucket of week disinfectant to hand to keep dipping into, to try to prevent, both box tree caterpillars and infection of box tree blight. Which are now both common in South-East Britain, it may be a case of thinking of using one of the other shrubs I have suggested, as both of these  horrors are now a real problem. Also the thing about maintaining good shapes in Topiary is trimming little and often to keep that crisp line. Also if you are going adventurous and thinking of a peacock or a more humble spiral, then a good frame work model, in chicken wire can be invaluable at helping you train new growth but also a guide to clipping your growing topiary.

 Topiary in pots

Topiary in pots

 

 Cloud pruning Topiary on an impressive scale.

Cloud pruning Topiary on an impressive scale.

Good Luck and let your imagination go wild!