Forum home› Talkback
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Talkback: ...and so to bed

Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
in Talkback
I share your hate of Bizzie Lizzies, but everyone to their taste.

Agree with bedding plants in swathes, as opposed to regimental lines. Enjoy mixing my bedding plants to give added colour, and variety.

«1

Posts

  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Taste? What a cheek! Stop dissing those lovely flowers dude!
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    have you visited the botanical gardens in edinburgh lately? wow!
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    I have hanging baskets and planters because I can't get "down and dirty" any more due to arthritis. At least I can get down, but getting up again is a totally different matter. The borders now do their own thing. The orange double daylilies, once occupying a corner of one bed, have multiplied and taken over half the bed. The daffodils come up in spring, and once finished the daylilies start to re-emerge. I weed that part then forget about it for the rest of the year until they die back. Weeds don't stand a chance against those flowerbed thugs. A quick hoeing over the top when they die down, and I can forget about it.
    This end has forsythias underplanted with cyclamens and miniature bulbs. They've been there for 40 years, and one has died, so I am going to cut them down, and fill the border up with other weed suppressing stuff. The border the other side is filled with flowering shrubs which have intermingled making a dense hedge. The birds love it, and weeding is minimal.
    The top corner has a huge Lavatera. It fell over last year under the weight of the flowers. I asked my grandson to stand it up and stake it again, but he forgot. I thought it would die, but it filled the corner up with purple blooms over 8 feet high, and with a spread of about 7 feet. There is no way it can fall down any lower so I am leaving it there. The tubs and planters mean I can have flowers and weed them with ease.
    My vegetables are in raised beds too, so I can still grow my own. I haven't the strength to dig the garden. 40+ years of digging in compost, straw,manure etc. has made no difference. It still goes from baked brick to a swamp in a matter of hours. Dig down 2 feet and you hit yellow clay. Ugh!
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    I've had a lovely display of summer bedding plants this year but does anyone know if I can compost them. Will the seeds they've produced just rot down, or will they germinate once the compost is used in my garden?
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    I have 16 baskets full of Bizzie Lizzies still in bloom, truely a beautiful picture.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    bizzie lizzies have their place I have two hanging baskets and they are beautiful give a lovely cheerful approach to my home with their blossoms hanging down so extravagantly.
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    bizzie lizzie's good shade plants try white ones with trailing pelegoniums and mixed blue/white lobelia in hanging baskets, brighten up that shady corner also good in tubs!!
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Ah, but aren't the borders outside the Tate by a german lady?!!
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    What a lot of Bizzie-Lizzie lovers there are out there. I see the point of them (especially white ones in shade as Valylily says) but still cannot get over my personal dislike (maybe that is too strong a word - indifference is better). There are lots of plants that will do the job better - the best place for shade/woodland plants is Crug Farm Nurseries in North Wales. An absolutely earth shattering range of plants many of which have been collected in the wild.
    Borders at the Tate are indeed not bad but a bit flat (I don't know who designed them - could be a German or it could be that the Garden Monkey is stirring things up!).
    Have not been to Edinburgh Botanic Gardens for years and cannot find a good picture but, being Scottish, they are probably lovely! Is that all we can come up with?
    Beryl seems to have got easy gardening pretty well sorted - although you do have a lot of yellow in your garden (daffs,daylilies and Forsythia - the Lavatera must come as a welcome relief.)
  • Gardeners' World Web UserGardeners' World Web User Posts: 17,147
    Bizzzies are ideal for plonking into a container then enjoying-trouble free until zapped by the frost. I think we should be respectful of each others' tastes,there are no 'right' or 'wrong' types of plants to grow, there's room for all comers in our gardens, that's what makes us a nation of gardeners.
Sign In or Register to comment.