Neat & tidy don't know the meaning of the words, distraction now there's a word, i go to bed at night thinking of the main jobs to do in the garden next day, next day comes wonder into garden spot a plant needing pruned, a flower needing dead headed, before i no it im pottering and the main jobs are getting put on the back burner until tomorrow, then it all begins again, yes i formulate planting schemes in my head, but the never end up even close to what was in my head to start with...
I'm trying to be neat, but my plants have gone mad this year, even ones I have had for several years have suddenly come to life (it may have something to do with me feeding them which I have never done before!!!!), so now my garden isn't neat and looks a bit overgrown so some serious moving about and dividing to be done when I can.
My GH I like to keep neat but at the minute it looks like a bomb's hit it....it will be neat again soon when I've finished planting everything and tidied up!!
When I first started gardening I tried to be neat.Nice trimmed borders etc but somewhere that got lost in the chaos that is nature. The shrubs at the bottom need pruning right back...the flowering redcurrant,forsythia,the honeysuckle rambling around the old dog kennel where I keep my junk.I've got self seeded violets under there which probably wouldn't have been if I'd been neater with my pruning.I love the randomness of nature and straight lines don't do it for me.Each to their own though,which is the beauty of gardening.
I like the way that the 'neat bits', straight lawn edges and rows of vegetables etc, accentuate the lush burgeoning bounteous overspillng of the flower beds and the rambling scrambling nature of the climbers on the fences and trellises and the wildness of the little wilderness.
For me, you can't have one without the other
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I like my rhododendron surrounded by a circle of pink geraniums flowering later. I like my harts tongue fern also encircled by purple heuchera ( although that needs attention as I didn't realise how much the heucjera would grow). A neat path of lavender is planned. A clump of chives in the middle of ? Stachys (lambs ears) will also overgrow soon. Having a plan of fireglow euphorbia with again purple heuchera in front of it and helianthmum's little orange flowers poking out of the heuchera ( and an elusive blue poppy hiding somewhere there). So far this is my take on neatness. Intermingled but sort of planned. Still learning how much the plants grow and spread.
I try height Verdun, but it all seems to be later in the year, nothing for now. Maybe I need some evergreen types? Mini conifers? For form? Grasses you will say, and now I have a couple elsewhere, I will tend to agree... Where are my 'planted last autumn' eremuris? They dont look well.
I like neat. I like straight lines, sharp edges, right angles, things in threes or fours to create triangles and squares, and a general nice uniformity that would pass an ISO 9001 inspection with the paperwork twice signed and neatly clipped in a folder.
I wonder if this is why I prefer vegetable plants to pretty flowers? They lend themselves so much more naturally to lines.
(I'm the kind of person who irons socks so they look more neat in the drawer).
I agree with aspects of what you say Clari - when I plan borders, beds, fences etc they have to relate to each other proportionately and with similar angles, curves etc. My art school training means that using the Golden Section is automatic.
However, my planting spills out over it all like a Dutch still life cornucopia
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I don't like to see bare soil and I also like alot more plants (or am experimenting with) than I have room for.
Most things I grow for the flowers and while I like to see the shape of something that has a nice shape, lupins or potentilla for example, some flowering plants don't have particularly nice foliage and look better tangled into the mix.
I treat foliage plants slightly differently, my ferns and 1 x hosta and Heuchera have plants around them but not exactly elbowing them in the face, otherwise there wouldn't really be a point to them (I think).
My problem at the moment is trying to prevent the garden looking too 'fussy'- a few little girls have commented how much they liked my garden which was nice but got me thinking...are there too many small things? I'm hoping when some shrubs and trees start to establish and age it will balance things out...
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David that is one beautiful explosion there!
Neat & tidy don't know the meaning of the words, distraction now there's a word, i go to bed at night thinking of the main jobs to do in the garden next day, next day comes wonder into garden spot a plant needing pruned, a flower needing dead headed, before i no it im pottering and the main jobs are getting put on the back burner until tomorrow, then it all begins again, yes i formulate planting schemes in my head, but the never end up even close to what was in my head to start with...
I'm trying to be neat, but my plants have gone mad this year, even ones I have had for several years have suddenly come to life (it may have something to do with me feeding them which I have never done before!!!!), so now my garden isn't neat and looks a bit overgrown so some serious moving about and dividing to be done when I can.
My GH I like to keep neat but at the minute it looks like a bomb's hit it....it will be neat again soon when I've finished planting everything and tidied up!!
When I first started gardening I tried to be neat.Nice trimmed borders etc but somewhere that got lost in the chaos that is nature. The shrubs at the bottom need pruning right back...the flowering redcurrant,forsythia,the honeysuckle rambling around the old dog kennel where I keep my junk.I've got self seeded violets under there which probably wouldn't have been if I'd been neater with my pruning.I love the randomness of nature and straight lines don't do it for me.Each to their own though,which is the beauty of gardening.
I like the way that the 'neat bits', straight lawn edges and rows of vegetables etc, accentuate the lush burgeoning bounteous overspillng of the flower beds and the rambling scrambling nature of the climbers on the fences and trellises and the wildness of the little wilderness.
For me, you can't have one without the other
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I try height Verdun, but it all seems to be later in the year, nothing for now. Maybe I need some evergreen types? Mini conifers? For form? Grasses you will say, and now I have a couple elsewhere, I will tend to agree... Where are my 'planted last autumn' eremuris? They dont look well.
I like neat. I like straight lines, sharp edges, right angles, things in threes or fours to create triangles and squares, and a general nice uniformity that would pass an ISO 9001 inspection with the paperwork twice signed and neatly clipped in a folder.
I wonder if this is why I prefer vegetable plants to pretty flowers? They lend themselves so much more naturally to lines.
(I'm the kind of person who irons socks so they look more neat in the drawer).
I agree with aspects of what you say Clari - when I plan borders, beds, fences etc they have to relate to each other proportionately and with similar angles, curves etc. My art school training means that using the Golden Section is automatic.
However, my planting spills out over it all like a Dutch still life cornucopia
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Is it alright to be undecided or say it depends?
I don't like to see bare soil and I also like alot more plants (or am experimenting with) than I have room for.
Most things I grow for the flowers and while I like to see the shape of something that has a nice shape, lupins or potentilla for example, some flowering plants don't have particularly nice foliage and look better tangled into the mix.
I treat foliage plants slightly differently, my ferns and 1 x hosta and Heuchera have plants around them but not exactly elbowing them in the face, otherwise there wouldn't really be a point to them (I think).
My problem at the moment is trying to prevent the garden looking too 'fussy'- a few little girls have commented how much they liked my garden which was nice but got me thinking...are there too many small things? I'm hoping when some shrubs and trees start to establish and age it will balance things out...