You planted in the autumn, and very few plants grow in the winter ... the weather's beginning to warm up now so plants should begin to grow before long ... a little bit of patience needed
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
DH, you did the hard work, and nice to see the pics (new to the thread) but some patience now required! It's great that you are still interested, i think so often people revive a bed/repair a lawn or whatever and then find other hobbies that interest them more..the garden going back to nature!
it's worth knowing some of the compost wasn't just to give food for plants, but also to help retain moisture in your sandy soil during summer when they really need it most and it's in short supply.
You planted in more or less Autumn when there's less growth and so to be fair you should not expect much growth since then until now, but wait whilst you start getting warmer daytime temperatures and watch them grow much quicker than you've seen yet.
I'm not sure you've said exactly what was planted? either way i agree some shrubs for 'structure'. suggest evergreens. particularly i'd have two of the same shrub, one at each end, something that grows into a nice ball shape....maybe a hebe, they're not expensive, buy them now before nurseries and garden centers fill up with annuals/herbacious, as they have lots of EG plants through winter/early spring. If you want to spend more, BOX or Yew balls, or a Pinus Mugo maybe....but they'll cost three or four times a hebe, which is perfectly decent shrub. Maybe that Buddleja you fancy could go into the middle.
Speaking of annuals, you could buy a few annuals (very cheaply) in a few weeks time, to fill the gaps this year before your perrenials really get going.
I have a couple of Buddlejas from the buzz series and I could highly recommend them. I have Buzz Ivory and Buzz Indigo, and both were covered with butterflies last summer. Nice and compact and don’t take over the borders.
Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.
Thanks for the replies. To be honest, I think I made a mistake as I got the plants from yougarden and were a random 'perennial collection' sort of thing, rather than specifically choosing plants. As such, most of them are a bit small to fill out the space as I've planted them.
The 2 worst ones are these Dianthus that probably look worse than when I got them. Honestly no change whatsoever. Excuse the abundance of weeds that have formed over winter-
You can see the Bowles Mauve has thickened out quite a bit if you zoom in on the photo back a page compared to now-
There's actually another wallflower (winter joy) doing better than I thought compared to when I first got it. I reckon I'll lift some of the others though- heuchera, Scabiosa 'Barocca', foxglove, lupin gallery, Delosperma 'Wheels of Wonder', rudbeckia in place for some shrubs and relocate/pot them for a while.
I was round a few garden centres the other day and there was a nice selection of the buddelja buzz plants along with healthy looking foxgloves and some nice hebes. Determined to get at least one decent sized fuchsia in somewhere though. Stuff that won't take forever to get to a decent size would be good.
When the weather warms up a bit you should see some great growth.
Regarding the dianthus above, would you not have expected to see some signs of growth though? The original lavender plants I had from yougarden were the same, never looked great and when I uplifted them the roots had made absolutely no progress whatsoever.
Your Dianthus plants are unhappy because they are sitting in cold and wet soil. These plants need very free draining soil. Work plenty of organic matter or grit. In spring, the soil surface tends to be very wet. Maybe, place some small gravel around its base as they are still very young. The same for your Lavenders. You need to research more about your plant's likes and dislikes. Both plants are quite drought tolerant plants, so the soils need to be quite free draining, especially when they're very small plants.
The soil is sandy and seems pretty free draining. It was raining all day when I took those photos yesterday. Just wondering if it's too sandy around these specifically.
I dug one up today and the roots looked much as they were when I planted it- bear in mind it was the start of September then so it's not like they've been sitting in cold and wet the entire time.
The Bowles Mauve next to it likes similar conditions does it not? It's doing well.
Hi Dirty Harry, if you planted them back in September, they will not be really making much growth. The Wallflowers are far more robust and do put in some growth in the quieter months. Although they like free draining soils, I have found them very accommodating with heavier and damper soils.
Autumn planting tends to suit more moisture loving plants. Plants like Dianthus are better planted in spring. But it’s still there, and I’m sure will start to grow now. When not in flower, they do look like that anyway. All newly planted designs tend to look sparse and dotted about. Once the warmth sets in, they will grow.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
it's worth knowing some of the compost wasn't just to give food for plants, but also to help retain moisture in your sandy soil during summer when they really need it most and it's in short supply.
You planted in more or less Autumn when there's less growth and so to be fair you should not expect much growth since then until now, but wait whilst you start getting warmer daytime temperatures and watch them grow much quicker than you've seen yet.
I'm not sure you've said exactly what was planted? either way i agree some shrubs for 'structure'. suggest evergreens. particularly i'd have two of the same shrub, one at each end, something that grows into a nice ball shape....maybe a hebe, they're not expensive, buy them now before nurseries and garden centers fill up with annuals/herbacious, as they have lots of EG plants through winter/early spring. If you want to spend more, BOX or Yew balls, or a Pinus Mugo maybe....but they'll cost three or four times a hebe, which is perfectly decent shrub. Maybe that Buddleja you fancy could go into the middle.
Speaking of annuals, you could buy a few annuals (very cheaply) in a few weeks time, to fill the gaps this year before your perrenials really get going.
The 2 worst ones are these Dianthus that probably look worse than when I got them. Honestly no change whatsoever. Excuse the abundance of weeds that have formed over winter-
You can see the Bowles Mauve has thickened out quite a bit if you zoom in on the photo back a page compared to now-
There's actually another wallflower (winter joy) doing better than I thought compared to when I first got it. I reckon I'll lift some of the others though- heuchera, Scabiosa 'Barocca', foxglove, lupin gallery, Delosperma 'Wheels of Wonder', rudbeckia in place for some shrubs and relocate/pot them for a while.
I've also got a corner patch as per this thread that I'll be looking to fill- https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1007670/corner-border-shelter-and-shade#latest
I was round a few garden centres the other day and there was a nice selection of the buddelja buzz plants along with healthy looking foxgloves and some nice hebes. Determined to get at least one decent sized fuchsia in somewhere though. Stuff that won't take forever to get to a decent size would be good.
I dug one up today and the roots looked much as they were when I planted it- bear in mind it was the start of September then so it's not like they've been sitting in cold and wet the entire time.
The Bowles Mauve next to it likes similar conditions does it not? It's doing well.
Autumn planting tends to suit more moisture loving plants. Plants like Dianthus are better planted in spring. But it’s still there, and I’m sure will start to grow now. When not in flower, they do look like that anyway. All newly planted designs tend to look sparse and dotted about. Once the warmth sets in, they will grow.