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Post by Auricula on Jun 15, 2012 8:47:17 GMT
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Post by carolann on Jun 15, 2012 9:19:38 GMT
I start off with the intensions of colours and sizes of plants then everything just goes to pot either with S&S's eating trailers or other things and not having any left to fill in so I tend to just plonk things in willy nilly after that and hope for the best ;D
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Post by Auricula on Jun 15, 2012 9:38:14 GMT
;D I'll be back later to say what I do - but I'm always changing my mind  |
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Post by Ladygardener on Jun 15, 2012 9:41:43 GMT
Good idea for a thread Auricula. You'll have to explain to us how your garden came to be as well.  I started my small garden from scratch, it was all weeds when I first moved in here about 10 years ago. I started out making some borders and the garden has evolved through trial and error ever since. Every year is different in some way as I'm constantly adding and loosing plants through the seasons. I was a real novice when I started but have gained experience over the years. I'm moving away from having blues whites and pinks/purples to adding some hotter colours these past couple of years. The weather still plays a huge part in what I can grow as we get a lot of rain and cooler temperatures than those of you on the mainland. I've found that I love the taller more cottage type plants but they need so much staking here, especially now that the garden has matured, I'm having a bit of a rethink.  I do try to plant the smaller flowers in 3's but of course I don't have room to do that with everything. Overcrowding is a big problem for me as I have such a limited space, with a few exceptions, most of my plants are perennial. |
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Post by Missredhead on Jun 15, 2012 10:20:50 GMT
I just bung stuff in..... ;D
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Post by Barbara on Jun 15, 2012 10:25:25 GMT
Well when I moved here the gardens were a real tip, as this house had been split into 3 flats, and the back used as a dumping ground, for all and sundry. so 5 0r 6 skips, and 16 dead cats in carrier bags later, we just lawned the lot, it had a plum tree already here and that was it, I will find a picture from the loft as it was then, but sadly I didn't do one of the original mess, the house had to have all the attention first so the garden had to wait, as I was working full time as well as Hubby and doing the house in ''spare'' time, anyway when everything was to my liking inside I moved outside I did the front first I built up the rockery lawned the top (thats gone now) and made it to my mind as a 1930's garden should be, the same when I came to do the back as well cottagy was always my theme we even had a picket fence, but that had to go when I started child minding as it wasn't classed as secure enough to keep the kids in or the bad guys out except for roses as I'm not mad about them I think it does look like a cottage garden do you ?. Pastels are my favourites but with splashes of colour to stand out in the beds, I can't stand it untidy as to me it's all part of the house, I like to eat out in the back garden but I can't stand BBq's. Is that enough info for the ''nosey '' one. ;D |
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Post by Jilly on Jun 15, 2012 12:18:03 GMT
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Post by Jasmine on Jun 15, 2012 15:24:20 GMT
I plant and then the bunnies tuck in! ;D
No, not quite. Will answer properly tomorrow - I'm off to the theatre!
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Post by andy on Jun 15, 2012 15:49:39 GMT
Im very fussy on this but luckily, as the garden is so big, i can do what i want. I won't plant anything in numbers less that 5. They all have to be done in even numbers and i plant in blocks or drifts with contrasting colours next to each other. I like using foliage as well as flowers. For example, i have 15 lythrum dropmore purple, next to 15 Actea simplex next to 15 perovskia atriplicifolia next to 15 Helenium moreheim beauty next to 15 coreopsis grandiflora However at the bottom of the bank, i just have a mish mash of dwarf carnation, phlox subulata, alyssum saxatile, aubretia, iberis, dianthus deltoides, saponaria and osteospermums....all flowing over and between rocks to give a stunning spring display. Im not a lover of using mixed coloured varieties...i have some mixed penstemon i grew from seed and it's drivng me mad among the blues of the delphiniums, reds of the poppies, yellows of the aqualegia and pinks of the lupins. They'll be coming out this autumn !!!! As my manager said...we need obsessive fanatics...and he rekons i'm one !!!!  |
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Post by Auricula on Jun 15, 2012 17:27:23 GMT
Not nosey... interested   Our large garden was a jungle when we moved in 9 years ago. It took us 18months to clear it and actually see what ground we had.OH has the artistic vision, I am the craftsperson i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd161/GWDAdmin1/Smilies/Default/smiley.gif In the damp shady areas I planted camellias, rhodos and hydrangeas and they have filled out and now do their own thing. I have a stream bed with a fatsia,tree fern, gunnera and hypericum and that is fairly self sufficient too. My pride and joy are the herbaceous perennial beds. I started trying to plant in groups, tiers and colour swathes but it didn't seem to work for me  I kept changing my mind and moving things. I love bright colours, like pastels but am not keen on white or green, so the effect can be a bit psychedelic I'm more of the school of Christopher LLoyd rather than Sarah Raven  Now, I just fill out the beds with things I've propagated, especially phlox,penstemons,hemerocallis,hardy geraniums and fuchsias. Some may think these plants boring and run of the mill, but I love them and their muddle  My guilty pleasure is alstroemerias and I have planted them en masse in a bed in the front garden. I do need some colour variation in the bed though as several are very similar in colour, but they don't like being moved so I am in a bit of a dilemma......unless I buy more and extend the bed I'm reasonably happy with my planting, but find it dreadfully labour intensive................perhaps I need a Fergus Garrett?? |
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Post by Auricula on Jun 16, 2012 9:23:54 GMT
Was mentally planning the large pots I was going to put on our possible new bit of patio.....then we got the quote  back to the drawing board and no more PoshPots in the forseeable future ;D ;D |
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Post by Jilly on Jun 16, 2012 10:09:33 GMT
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Post by Auricula on Jun 16, 2012 10:11:43 GMT
Patio ;D We wanted individual granite sets around a smooth piece if granite on which we could put a table and chairs.........I don't remember asking for it to be gold plated  |
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Post by Dutchy on Jun 16, 2012 10:16:38 GMT
Nothing wrong with a good DIY pot though. Try and find a creative yet bored soul near you and slip the following in a conversation.
Do you suppose any one woulbd be able to make a whopping deluxe garden pot from hypertufa?
You never know....
I plant in numbers whith the basics but plonk some attention grabbing single ones in the clumbs/drifts of backbone plants.
And then I see something nice an get greedy and forget all about my plans.....
( And I plant with layers, tree, shrub, evergreen perennial, not evergreen accent plants perennial. I have some bi-annuals but not this year as I forgot to sow foxglove and those hate doing their thing on their own on clay.)
And I desperately need to get the knife out and clear some Spring show stoppers back to ground level.
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totp
Assistant Gardener
Posts: 128
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Post by totp on Jun 16, 2012 11:07:00 GMT
I have a very small garden I am very governed by the weather and by the fact that half my garden is in shade for all but an hour a day. Initially I bought lots of shade loving plants, which tend to be architectural and foliage based (hostas, fatsia, ferns) but I like that.
In the sunny bed I dream of having a Piet Oudolf perennial wave of flowers but it's too small to get the effect, and I can't get the sods to flower. Plus I am always buying inappropriate plants. I grow a lot from seed which is a bit hit and miss, and as I buy the seed in the UK of course they are difficult to replace.
I do like plants that self seed and or spread into mounds, so I have lots of aquilegia, monarda, poppies. I like tall, wavy plants verbena, cosmos and this year i am trying to grow angelica. My main problem is I keep looking at magazines like the English Garden or Gardens Illustrated and getting ideas above my station. I'd love an avenue of pleached limes but everything else would have to go. I think what I have discovered is that it is the gardening I enjoy and the results will always be less important.
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Post by Jasmine on Jun 16, 2012 12:07:39 GMT
I tend to dot things about. I have given up trying to get things to grow that bunnies eat as it is soul destroying. Some beds are sort of protected so they do get planted with my choice. I buy plants and grow a lot of plants from seed/cuttings. I try to do tall at the back coming forward with shorter things then something pops up that doesn't realise it's meant to be 40 cms tall and towers over everything!
I tend to have beds of colours. The one border I'm quite impressed with at the moment is the shady border which has sort of grown together and the colours all seem to work.
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Post by Auricula on Jun 16, 2012 12:37:29 GMT
In my alstroemeria bed, I have several plants with different names,and catalogue descriptions, which have flowered to look exactly the same..........( a bit like some penstemons)...I feel an e mail to a certain supplier may be on the cards ;D |
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Post by Jasmine on Jun 16, 2012 13:36:08 GMT
Good idea.
I have come to the decision that Willy's Purple, Ted's Purple and Lily's Purple are exactly the same - same purple shading, same markings. If there is a difference I'm missing what it is!
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