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Design Help Needed!

davescott81davescott81 Posts: 2
in Garden design
Hi

My wife and I are new to having a garden.  We have enthusiasm, but little experience and knowledge.  

Last year we did well in the back garden, mainly growing fruit and veg and keeping the lawn going for the kids.  With the current lockdown we're turning to the front.  We just don't know where to start and what to do with the below.  

In summary, we don't really like the tree (Crab Apple).  We much prefer an Acer or something with a more attractive shape.  But it's the only established tree we have, so are worried that replacing it would take away the only "large" tree we have. 

You'll see the garden is stones all over.  Small pebbles with slate over all the borders.  The borders are largely overgrown with a plant that has white flowers - it seem pretty overpoweringly evasive.  There're not much under it.

So I think you're questions are:

1.  Is there a way to prune or shape the tree into a more pleasing shape?
2.  Am I correct that we should pull out the overpowering white flowered plant?
3.  What should we plant in the borders?  We like colour, and evergreen/red stuff!  Garden is North East facing, getting a reasonable amount of light in the morning, we're in the South West of the UK, so plenty of rain!
4.  Any other design/improvement tips!?

Thanks in advance for any help or ideas!


Posts

  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Hi Dave, welcome to the forum. The white flowered plant is vinca major 'Alba'. it can be quite rampant so it you don't like it, just dig it all up. It is quite pretty though and evergreen so some people like it, I've got a bit under a fence to hide a gap.
    The flowering crab apple can be pruned in winter and I would just remove one or two of the lower branches that are leaning in the direction of the bin in the photo, then stand back and walk round the tree and re-assess the shape.
    I would personally remove all the broken slab edging as it looks messy and adds nothing to the garden. I would also remove the two odd beds and bag up the blue slate chippings (for possible future use elsewhere, it's too expensive just to chuck).
    Once, you've done all that, again stand back and reassess what you've got and whether you want to remove the gravel altogether or keep it. If you want to keep it, you might like to think about doing a circle, which would allow more planting room all around it and it would look more interesting. Would you want to plant some small shrubs or a small hedge along the wall?

    Once you've decided what you want to do with the space, come back on the forum, possibly with anor photo and we can give you suggestions for plants.  Good luck! 

    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 835
    Personally, I would never remove a healthy tree (unless it was causing a problem like subsidence), even if I was intending to replace it with another. Crab apples are a pain in the rear. There's one just my neighbour's side of the front garden and I'm not a fan of it dropping its berries everywhere. However, the blossom is gorgeous and it's a much better tree for wildlife than something like an acer ever could be. I've never pruned a tree but I'd get a professional out to do it in the first instance and ask for tips about pruning so you can do it yourself in future.

    If you're after colourful and evergreen, I'd go for some heucheras and/or heucherellas. They're evergreen, come in a variety of different colours and can tolerate (depending on variety) full shade to partial sun. I absolutely love them and currently have 11 different varieties. I have a bit of a heuchera problem!

    As for overall design, I'd clear everything bar the tree and take a look at what you're left with. Pinterest is amazing for getting ideas you can adapt to the space you've got to work with.   
  • Tanty2Tanty2 Posts: 231
    I'm with Lizzie on this - is there some soil under all those pebbles?  I might be tempted to scrape them away and see if there's some plant-able ground down there :)  You could always add some more topsoil and that would really open up your planting options.  Good bits of stone are usually worth keeping and if you have a corner in the back garden where you can store them out the way, they might be worth hanging on to.  And, like Lizzie, I had a Vinca and while it was super pretty, it was a complete thug because it suckers like mad which means it puts down little roots as it goes along so when you dig it out, it can be tricky but even if you miss little bits and it sneaks back, it's easy enough to spot!
  • Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
    edited April 2020
    I never knew Vinca came with a whie flower, very pretty
  • davescott81davescott81 Posts: 2
    Thank you for the tips.  It sounds like we're best to spend a couple of evening clearing things up and then seeing what we can salvage and what we need to start afresh on. 

    I think the Vinca (thank you for the identification!) will certainly have to largely come out - it's certainly out of control and seems to spread further each day!

    I like the tip on the heucheras.  They look great and we like the variety of colour.  I think we might look to use a selection of these in the beds, with a couple of taller plants to add some height and hide the bins.

    Thanks again - we really appreciate the help!
  • Tanty2Tanty2 Posts: 231
    Just one thought about Heucheras - they are beautiful and the range of colour is amazing, but if they're in a damp spot they can quite easily get rust (spots and discolouration of the leaves) so in  my experience they need to be somewhere where they won't be sitting on damp soil the whole time.
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