That was my point @Plantminded. Unless the ground conditions are sorted, very little will thrive, and it's a waste of time and effort, as well as cash.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I removed the sedge but notice a few babies every year which I remove. I think they must blend in with all of the other weeds I'm pretty poor at tackling. I cut the goat willow right down last year because i couldn't face digging it out but that's a job to be getting on with.
I think the water butt will greatly help with the drainage issue but I also know that I am a bit lazy and might not end up going out in winter to empty it frequently enough. The area that the guttering comes down onto is quite tight with the fence and the side of the conservatory so I'll only be able to fit a slim one and might still have to deal with overflow. With that in mind, perhaps the cornus alba would be a good idea from the bog garden list? I already have a dogwood but it's at the bottom of the garden in the shade of the fence so doesn't have very good winter colour. I've just left it to do its thing as the flowers seem to be beneficial to wildlife and it's behind a trampoline and can take the pretty rough conditions! Then I could maybe have a buddleia or one of the prettier flowering shrubs a bit further down where the ground isn't saturated.
The cornus alba says that it could reach an overall height of 3m but that it'll be around 1.5m if cut down in spring. Do you think it'd be ok to instead just cut a third of the stems every year once it needs pruning to get some nice colour but also keep some height? And maybe I could just lightly trim bigger stems if they become too large? The dogwood at the bottom of the garden is left alone and is only about the height of my 6m fence but that could be a smaller variety. Having seen the treatment my current dogwood can withstand, I feel like it might be tough enough to take it. I think the variegated one is pretty in summer too.
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I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I think the water butt will greatly help with the drainage issue but I also know that I am a bit lazy and might not end up going out in winter to empty it frequently enough. The area that the guttering comes down onto is quite tight with the fence and the side of the conservatory so I'll only be able to fit a slim one and might still have to deal with overflow. With that in mind, perhaps the cornus alba would be a good idea from the bog garden list? I already have a dogwood but it's at the bottom of the garden in the shade of the fence so doesn't have very good winter colour. I've just left it to do its thing as the flowers seem to be beneficial to wildlife and it's behind a trampoline and can take the pretty rough conditions! Then I could maybe have a buddleia or one of the prettier flowering shrubs a bit further down where the ground isn't saturated.
The cornus alba says that it could reach an overall height of 3m but that it'll be around 1.5m if cut down in spring. Do you think it'd be ok to instead just cut a third of the stems every year once it needs pruning to get some nice colour but also keep some height? And maybe I could just lightly trim bigger stems if they become too large? The dogwood at the bottom of the garden is left alone and is only about the height of my 6m fence but that could be a smaller variety. Having seen the treatment my current dogwood can withstand, I feel like it might be tough enough to take it. I think the variegated one is pretty in summer too.