“ 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

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)

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

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: 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 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.

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

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

Cloud pruning Topiary on an impressive scale.

Good Luck and let your imagination go wild!

Encouraging Birds into the garden was important.

It is always good to go back and see the gardens you have designed, landscaped and planted a few years after the work has finished, to see how it is all settling in.

A journey down the garden

The first garden was designed for a couple who had a mature garden and were very knowledgeable and keen gardens, but as they got older they needed a garden which was easier to maintain. So the planting beds were reduced in size and planted with dense planting with all year round interest that would be easy to look after.

A wide sweeping path leads to the bench at the bottom of the garden

Also the narrow gravel path was replaced with a wide sweeping paved path, which was easy to walk on and less work to look after. A wide bench was placed at the end of the path, so views down the garden could be enjoyed. There was an enthuses on using plants to attach the wildlife particularly birds, So a row of Crab- Apple trees was planted, so not only could the blossom be enjoyed in the spring but also the birds could feast on the fruit in the Autumn. Bold and vibrant colours were chosen in the planting to cheer the sole at all times of the year.

The second gardens I went back to see were a front and back garden in East Grinstead. The back garden has strong lines of hard landscape and bold blocks of planting, giving it a crisp modern feel, with stunning warm Indian sand stone, and  the walls painted a soft yellow orca  and caped with the same warm stone.

The sunken garden with hot tub, the yew hedges are still to reach their mature height.

The sunken hot tub garden is screened from the main garden and the side of the house by Yew hedges, to aid privacy. The hedges have to still reach their mature height but are doing well after only a couple of years.

Views across the main dinning terrace

The planting round the main dinning terrace is in bold and dramatic blocks and squares and is beginning to fill nicely, the corners of the beds are picked out by low lighters, that give a gentle light pool and atmospheric soft light to lead you round the night garden.

The front garden and sweeping new drive edged by generous planting

The front garden, needed a new larger drive to accommodate the new budding drivers and their first cars. So a larger circular drive was created, as there would be quite a bit of turning on the drive, gravel would not be suitable so instead a soft coloured gravel mix was used in a resin bonded surface. The colour scheme was pulled through from the back garden with the same orca walls and soft yellows and corals and purples for the planting. Clipped mounds of box and low Ballard lights, show the edge of the drive. A dense textured planting edges the drive set below the branches of groups of Crab-Apple Trees which are settling in well and making good growth. The trees give height and scale to the scheme. The front garden has a good balance between the needs for parking and generous planting to soften the hard structure and link the house to the garden. A wide path sweeps through the planting to reach the side gate into the back garden.

The third garden I went to see, was again landscaped only a couple of years ago and sits almost on the Downs on a very thin chalk soil. The new wooden extension of the house steps out into the mature shrubby of the garden which remained. The clients wanted a garden that was easy to look after and fitted with the down

Planting beds by the house give way to the informal lower garden

land views beyond. So the design was to have a very light touch. A more formal upper garden was created round the new terrace just below the large windows of the extension adding to the existing mature shrubby. With minimal planting beds with soft country style planting

An informal garden, views back to the house from the long grass meadow.

The lower garden was to be much more informal, with few new trees and to become a meadow. As the garden is close to the Downs and the soil very poor it was decide to use a normal grass turf and allow the down land plants to seed and populate it over time, so that wild thyme, marjoram, ox-eye daisies, to name but a few would follow, which is beginning to happen.

A newly planted Birch draws the eye to the end of the garden and the Downs beyond, in front is set the rustic oak pergola, so views can be enjoyed back up the garden.

Mown paths cut through the grass meadow leading to the central bird bath and on down to the rustic pergola at the end of the garden.

The meadow is under planted with naturalising narcissi,  to give early spring colour before the grasses and invading wildflowers get going latter in the year. The meadow is cut in August and the cuttings cleared to keep the lawn poor and encourage the next batch of invading wildflowers to take hold.

The garden is still very young but is beginning to settle down well and is much enjoyed by the new and keen novice gardeners who own it.

I hope you continue to enjoy your own gardens as Summer unfolds.

If you want to transform your garden into a new and wonderful space, then do give me Emily a ring 01273 470753

Stunning Hydrangeas, make great cut flowers

I say Heroic hydrangeas, as they are often the wall paper at the back of a large boarder or thought of as lining the drives of stately homes, but these shrubs come in a variety of shapes and sizes, lace-cap or mop heads and some in between and a variety of colours that change with age and even are beautiful as dried flowers.

Stunning Hydrangeas, make great cut flowers

Of course over the years there has been a fashion for fiddling about with the soil pH to produce blooms of deep blue on an acid soil, a pH of less than 7 ( the lower the deeper the blue) less acidic and it heads towards purple. Pink and into deeper pink on alkaline soils with a pH  above 7.  Personally I think the joy is letting your Hydrangeas just colour with what your soil is and see how they change in  different planting potions, but of course if you have picked a “ Blue” variety and you are on natural to alkaline soil, the chance it it will not be a deep  blue at all, so don’t be disappointed. They need a good humus rich damp soil, in dappled shade, but will cope with full sun. flowering from July to the end of September.

So baring all of the above in mind, here is a selection to consider.

Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’

H. arborescens ‘Annabelle’: This has been the hydrangea of the moment or the last 7 to 10 years at least as the ‘new’ designer fashionable one that started to pop up at Chelsea in main avenue gardens and it is certainly a show stopper. A medium sized shrub with a floppy open habit, of large white to flushed green flowers up to 30cm across freely produced from July to September.

Hydrangea paniculata ‘Grandiflora’ 

 H. paniculata ‘Grandiflora’: A large shrub, with a mass of panicle shaped flowers of sterile florets appear in August and become a deep pink towards Autumn.

Hydrangea macrophlla ‘Ami Pasquier’

H.macrophlla ‘Ami Pasquier’ : a small to medium sized shrub with a good compact habit, a good mop-head variety with deep red florets.

Hydrangea macrophlla ‘Blauer Prinz’  

H.  macrophlla ‘Blaucer Prinz’: A medium sized shrub. A good mop-head variety, with heads that are shades of pink into deeper red on alkaline soils and shades of purple into deep blue on acid soils.

Hydrangea macrophlla ‘Lanarth White’

H. macrophlla ‘Lanarth White’: A small to medium sized shrub with a neat compact habit, one of the best lace-cap varieties. It produces large flattened heads, with central flowers which are pink on alkaline soils and blue on acid soils , surrounded by white florets.

Hydrangea macrophlla ‘Madama Emile Mouillere’

H. macrophlla ‘Madame Emile Mouillere’: a medium sized shrub with large mop head flowers of white florets with a pink or blue centre depending on soil pH. With serrated sepals.

Hydrangea quercifolia

H. quercifolia: This unusual hydrangea has, leathery deeply lobed leaves, oak like in shape, with a white underneath that turn a blistering coppery red in the autumn. It produced large creamy white shaggy panicle s of flowers in August. It is a medium sized shrub.

A mass of Hydrangeas.

I hope I have made you think again about these shrubs that fell out of fashion and were considered some what Victorian, they are beginning to be planted more widely and have must to offer, in fact what is not to like about Hydrangeas.

The Winter Garden

Many may feel the depths of winter are not a time to be in the garden and the only type of gardening jobs that should be considered, are flicking through seed catalogues while sitting cosy in front of a fire. But the winter is in fact a good time to carry out remedial and repair work in the garden and get the garden ready for the next growing season.

falling down fences

The first thing to look at is the garden boundaries, now that a lot of plant cover will have died down, check all walls, remove any large quantities of ivy, it is good for wild life so leave some, but it can be a disaster with old mortar particularly on flint walls. Also check fences and posts, that they will be up to winter winds. If repair work is needed, then while plants are dormant this is the time of year to have the work carried out.

Over grown wall

Now that it is mid winter, take time to walk round your trees and check all trees ties, which may have become loose in the autumn gales.

check tress ties

While large sections of the garden are dormant, now is the time to add a thin layer of garden compost or well rotted farm yard or horse manure, over whole beds or round the base of shrubs and trees, Also top up mulch on flower boarders. Be sure not to build up the height of compost round trunks and crowns.

adding compost

Now is the time of year to get cracking on pruning your Apple and Pear trees. Removing dead and diseased wood, branches that rub and prune to fruiting spurs, for full details on fruit tree pruning see January 2016 blog.

fruit tree pruning

Check climbing plants and wall shrubs, make sure they are tied in well and will not be pulled off the walls and fences in the winter storms.

tieing in wall shrubs

If you have free standing structures in the garden like archways, pergolas, trellis sections, now is a good time to check them, and repair where needed also carry out any re-staining, while most of the planting has died down.

staining trellis and fences

So as you can see there is a lot of gardening to carry out in January, but hopefully you have planted some good scented winter shrubs and hellebores and snow drops which will cheer the sole while you work.

Winter Garden Magic

Happy Gardening.

All government and local government guide lines and advice are to be adhered to. As much as possible, all meetings are to be held outside. This means entering your garden through a back or side gate if possible. If the garden can only be reached by walking through the house, then I/we will wear face masks.

Some sections of the meeting will involve paper work and the presentation of plans, this is to be outside if possible, on garden tables, or inside porches or garages or conservatories etc. If due to weather or the time of day, it means a meeting does have to be inside your home, then everyone present at the meeting should wear a face mask.

Landscapers and all site contractors will also follow all COVID-19 guidelines and best practice outlined by government and local government, at the time of landscaping. They will avoid entering your home as much as possible. If they need to come into your house they will wear a face mask at all times.

Clients Please Note: Due to the COVID-19 shut down and reduced working practices, some supplies of materials may be harder to source and there may be longer lead in times. Also work may be disrupted if a landscaper has to self-isolated, quarantine or is ill, due to COVID-19. Also, government guide lines may change without notice and work on a garden may have to stop. All of these things are beyond the control of Arcadia Garden Design. We will do our upmost to keep you informed if any of these problems arise and will be in discussion with you.

Fabulous Ferns

Ferns are often an over looked group of plants, but since their Victorian heyday they are quite rightly beginning to have their turn back in the limelight. They are much more than the go to plant for a shady difficult spot. They go from the large and dramatic, to small and delicate foliage. Although most do like damp humus rich conditions in partial shade, some do well in full sun and even dry shallow chalk. Here are a few to consider.

Asplenium trichomanes

Asplenium trichomanes: The maidenhair fern, is a stunningly delicate fern, it is evergreen with mid to dark green pinnate foliage on elegant black stems. Reaching 15cm in height, and with spreading rhizomes. In fact they will sneak in and populate small crevices in walls and will cope well with lime and tolerate dry shade.

Athyrium niponicum var. pictum

Athyrium niponicum var.pictum: The Japanese painted fern. Is a stunningly beautiful fern. The leaves blend from pale grey through to powdery blue with splashes of soft pink and sliver. This deciduous fern likes light shade and moist humus rich conditions. Growing up to 30cm tall is makes good dense ground cover.

Cyrtomium falcatum

Cyrtomium falcatum: Japanese Holly Fern, a striking evergreen fern forming a strong growing clump growing up to 60cm. With dark green glossy fonds with a holly like appearance. Ideal for a shady spot. It is a acid lover and thrives in humus rich soil.

Polystichum setiferum

Polystichum setiferum: Soft shield fern, this is a wonderfully tolerant garden plant, it will cope with deep shade and bright sunshine, good in humus rich soils but will also thieve in thin drying chalk soils. An evergreen fern which produced a wide clump of mid green pinnate fonds up to 60/90cm high. Brilliant as a back drop plant as well as a evergreen statement in a winter planting and also dose very well in a pot in a shady corner, it has much to commended it.

Dryopteris cycadina

Dryopteris cycadina: The Buckler fern, A deciduous fern, with a dramatic habit of upright growth. Mid spring sees bright green shuttlecocks unfurling into mid green fonds. Growing up to 60cm tall, it will cope with some sun and tolerate dry shade. A dramatic addition to the garden setting.

Dicksonia antarctica

Dicksonia antaretica: The tree fern. This is the big daddy of the fern world, and it has that wow factor in spades, whether seen in it’s native habitant of temperate rain forest in Australasia or as a lone specimen in a garden. An erect rhizome covered in a mass of roots, forms the ‘trunk’. It is very slow growing taking 10 years to grow 30 cm. From the top of the trunk unfurl, a reset of long mid green fonds, you really can imagine a Dinosaur., wondering between them! It is possible to grow this fern in the warmer parts of England, as long as they are grown in a sheltered position in semi-shade in humus rich moist conditions and the crown of the fern and trunk are insulated with straw and well wrapped in the winter months. It is a worthy addition to any shade garden.

A fernery

I hope I have inspired you to think again about these wonderful plants that should be set for a resurgence even if not quite on the level of the enthusiastic Victorians. Happy Planting!

Fiery colours

As high summer approaches, many gardeners feel that colour socked boarders of mid-summer are over and July into August is a difficult time to injected summer brightness into the garden. Crocosmia can be your saviour. As hardy as hell, putting up with must soil conditions and creating great sweeps of colour there is much to love about this dependable old favourite.

Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora ‘Emily McKenzie’

C.x crocosmiiflora ‘Emily Mckenzie’: clumps of sword like green foliage and very long lasting orange trumpet shaped flowers with a green throat, from August to September.

Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora ‘Geogre Davison’

C. x crocosmiiflora ‘George Davison’: Darker green leaves in dense clumps up to 75cm, with rich butter yellow flowers, July to August.

C. x crocosmiiflora ‘Solfatare’: Bronze foliage up to 60cm, with soft apricot trumpet flowers from July to September.

Crococsmia ‘Lucifer’

C. Lucifer: This is the big Daddy of Crocosmia, due to it’s height and the smack you in the face colour, it can’t be missed. Tall clumps of leaves 1/1.2m tall with flowers of vibrant red produced June to July.

Croccosmia mansoniorum

C. masoniorum: Arching stems and leaves up to 90cm tall, with bright vermilion orange flowers produced July to September.

summer show stopper

This herbaceous plant loves a bright sunny spot , but will cope with a little shade although they will not flower quite so well. So get planting and brightening up your high summer garden.

If you want help with designing planting and re-designing your garden, do give me, Emily a ring on 01273 470753.

Architectural Planting

Architectural plants, are plants from herbaceous to trees that has stand out ‘star’ quality and can be used as a statemented at the corner of a boarder or edge of the path or bang slap in the meddle of the lawn, they are meant to stop you in your tracks. All of the plants listed below if used in the right spot have the ability to do that.

Abies koreana

Abies koreana: the ‘Korean Fir’ is a very slow growing medium tree, with a broad crown. It has a mass of short blunt dark green needles held on white stems. The foliage looks very dramatic, It has dense barrel shaped blue crones that are held on the branches for a long time. This is a beautiful conifer which can be planted even in a smallish garden due to it’s very slow growth. It can be enjoyed for many years as a shrub. Good rich soil slightly acidic, in full sun or partial shade.

Yucca filamentosa ‘Bright Edge’

Yucca filamentosa ‘Bright Edge’: Stiff lanceolate slightly glaucous leaves with creamy margins are held in wide rosette spirals up the stem/trunk of the shrub. A tall flower spike in hotter summers is produced in July/ August and rises up to a 1m above the plant. It is this shrubs striking form that makes it so eye catching. Although be careful when gardening with it, as it has sharp spikes on the end of the leaves. Good draining soil in full sun

Gunnera manicata

Gunera manicata: This is the wow factor plant of any bog garden or waterside planting. With huge palmate leafs of up to 1m across held on stout stems reaching 1.5/2m high, Strange conical flowers that are brown/green are produced in July to August. Good humus rich damp soil part-shade, protect the crowns in the winter.

Cortaderia selloana ‘Sunningdale Sliver’

Cortaderia selloana ‘Sunningdale Silver’: Pampas grass, it may have had bad press in the past, but in the right place this really can be a specimen plant. It makes a dense clump of arching 1.5m long thin leaves, which have a creamy white edge. Flower plumes of white to creamy flowers are produced from August to October and will last through the winter.

Tachycarpus fortunei

Trachycarpus fortunei.: This is a striking addition to the English garden, this ‘Palm’ adds a touch of the exotic! It has wide palmate leafs of dark green palm like fond on 30cm long stems edged with spikes. These leaves are produced in a spiral round the central trunk It can be either grown as a tree, or as s shrub in a planting or does equally well as a container plant. It is hardy and will cope with sea winds. Grow in good free draining soil in full sun.

Miscanthus x giganteus

Miscanthus x giganteus: This a huge grass and not for the faint hearted gardener. It has broad arching green foliage that hangs from statuesque stems reaching up to 3m tall, it make dense tickets of stems and can form a grass forest. It has white plumes of flowers held upright above the stems and produced in late summer. It is a great screening plant and although the leaves fall in the winter the dense stems remain.

Phyllostachy aureosulcata f. aureocaulis

Phyllostachys aureosulcata f. aureocaulis: Please note always plant bamboo with a bamboo barrier round it it help to prevent spreading. Remember these are very vigorous plants and can become a pest if they start to take over. Having said all that this really is a striking form and you expect to find Pandas, lurking round the back of the odd stem. Up to 8m in height it can’t be missed, making clumps of dense golden yellow stems with good green foliage, this is truly an architectural plant.

Picea pungers ‘Hoopsii’: A stunning conifer for the smaller garden, it makes a small to medium sized conical tree. It has brilliant sliver blue foliage, the branches have a wonderful stiff structure, adding to the over all effect of this striking tree

Like with all good things, moderation is key, a statement plant is only a statement if there is one of it or it is used sparingly, to get that wow factor. A lot of the plants I have suggested are large and have thuggish qualities so plant with care. But they can truly own a space and be that talking point, just make sure they don’t over run it!

If you would like help with designing and planting your garden or a section of it. Then do give me, Emily a ring 01273 470753.

Mixed Culinary Herbs

Culinary herbs are easy to grow and no matter how large or how small your garden, even if it is just a window box.

Bouquet Garni

You can enjoy the added bonus of fresh herbs in your cooking, here are the top easy to grow favourites, which appear in many dishes.

Curly leafed Parsley

Curly leafed Parsley (Petroselinum crispum): A universal herb, possible the most widely used in Britain, from stews to salads or the last flourish as a garnish, it has a crisp fresh flavour. An easy to grow biannual, sow directly into drills in a moisture retentive soil in dappled shade to gentle sun, from April to August. Thin with care. The younger leaves of the first year are the most tender, remove flower spikes to length the cropping yield. To help continue harvesting into the late autumn, cover with a clouch. Also the harvest can be lengthened by cutting the remaining leaves at the end of the season and either freezing them or drying in paper bags hung in a warm space like a linen cupboard.

Marjoram vulgare

Marjoram (Origanum vulgare): A strong favourite in Italian cooking, with it’s distinctive flavour. From cooking fish to vegetable dishes and what rich tomato sauce would be complete with out it. A vigorous low growing preannual, grows well in any free draining soil, in full sun. It’s flowers are much enjoyed by butterflies and its pretty purple flower heads can turn great sections of poor chalk down land a rosy purple hue. Dries well, use the same method as above.

Chives

Chives ( Allium schoenoprosum); This delicate flavoured member of the onion family is a must in many dishes from potato salads to garnishing spring and summer soups. The flowers can also be used in salads. This preannual seeds freely, and will seek out pavement cracks. Grow in full sun in most soils except very wet ones. To lengthen the harvest freeze.

Mint

Bowles Mint ( Mentha x villosa nm. Alopecuroides): A wonderful herb this it just one variety out or a cornucopia of different flavours and colours, but according to Edward Augustus bowels who it is named after, this is the variety that makes the best mint sauce. As with all mints they can be vigorous thugs, plant them in open ground at your peril. So always plant in a good sized container, grow in good moisture retentive soil and in dappled shade. To lenghten the harvest, dry as above.

Rosemary

Rosmarinus officinallis: This is the common Rosemary, producing a strong growing evergreen shrub up to 1.3m in height and at least the same in width. Grow in free draining poor soils in full sun. This aromatic herb can be used to flavour both meats and puddings.

Thymus

Thymus vulgaris: the common thyme, a wonderfully versatile herb, a staple of a wide range of Mediterranean cuisines, from fish, meat and vegetable dishes and also adding a fragrant note to puddings and sweets. A low growing evergreen herb, it will grow well in most poor soils in full sun and has a mass of pink/purple flowers in mid summer.

pots of Herbs

This selection of herbs would be my starter kit of culinary herbs, all can be grown in pots, in fact apart from the Rosemary I would in courage this as it means the herbs are above cat and dog level. Culinary herbs are best as close to the kitchen as growing conditions will allow, so you can pop out and harvest them mid cooking.

cooking with herbs

Growing herbs is easy and can be achieved in little to no space and most important of all, fresh herbs can bring an extra dimension to your cooking. Enjoy!