shrubs
Hi all, haven't been on for ages.. just had birthday money and a,m thinking of getting these 3 shrubs for front west facing garden, gets quite a bit of cun but does have shade as large lime treee in front of house and next door have 2 lollipop hollies.. so, i have chosen 'Gardenia 'crown jewels', hydreangea 'hot chocolate' and daphne odora, does anyone have any comments? soil i haven't tested but hydrangeas ( mopheads )go pink and camellias and rhododendrons do well in neighbouring gardens, thought I may put gardenia in a large pot, also thinking of a prunus (kiku shadare?)in a large pot and twisting periodically to cut off roots (saw Chris Beardshaw do this to an apple tree a while ago on Beechgrove, any help very much appreciated, thankyou in advance
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It would probably be worthwhile doing a soil test, as hydrangeas go pink in alkaline soil, camellias will grow in neutral or acid and rhodies only thrive in acid. Bit of contradiction there, so would help you to know what you've actually got!
The hydrangea looks lovely and would certainly end up either pink, blue or a bit of both as advertised, so would make a nice centre piece. The daphnes can be a bit tricky, but they are lovely and if you want to spend your birthday money, worth a try. The gardenia I'm not so sure about. It would definitely have to live in a pot as you would need to bring it inside at the first hint of frost and you only get a tiny plant for a large plant outlay. Crocus have good info on care, but it sounds quite a demanding plant to me. I like gardenias, but have bought an indoor one to enjoy close at hand without all the worry and weather watching. Much cheaper too!
My daphne died suddenly, only grew it because I wanted to know what it smelt like and I've never seen one round here, Dordogne. Now I know why! A friend gave me a Gardenia in a pot, it died too. Choisya grows well here, so does Exochorda "the Bride" and Sambucus "Black Lace"
Hi thanks all, sorry for delay, we've all had an awful sick bug, haven't left the house for 12 days! I did see a choysia dewittiana(?) I liked, just worried about it looking a bit yellow (can't abide yellow) , I will try to get to the g.c and test the soil, i like lighter coloured hydrangeas, not dark pink or reddish, hmm I remeber Monty pkanting one that had white inner petals (sepals?) then blue or pink fertile flowers around that, anyone remember whoch that was? Ths camellia I'd been readig about is supposedly hardy , certainly couldn't do with faffing about bringing it in or covering it, I've learnt that even if I mean to sdo these things... I don't! Haven't even got round to sowing any sweet peas this Autumn, am I too late?
Sorry to hear about your tummy bug, hope you are well now.
Choisya Ternata has glossy green leaves. Sorry I don't know about camellias or hydrangeas.
You could always try sowing sweet peas and see what happens.
I'd leave sweet peas till spring now. Unless the temps are good enough, they won't germinate. You could try a few and see what happens.
Regarding shrubs, if you don't have a lot of time, stick to tried and tested plants which don't need too much attention.Gardenias will high maintenance as they're not hardy. Look in a local GC or nursery fro varieties of Hydrangea or Camellia. Camellias are beautiful when in flower, but bad weather can wreck the flowers very quickly, so they can be disappointing just when you want them to be gorgeous! They're pretty unimpressive the rest of the year, and need plenty of moisture in late summer when they form the new buds. The standard Choisya ternata is easy.
Look at what grows in your area too.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Hi rosemummy, Camellias are very hardy plants, I know I'm in the south but my mother-in-law, whose fault it is that I got my collection of them, lives in south Yorkshire and they all did really well there too. Its true that frost closely followed by morning sun will ruin the flowers but that's only on East facing and your site is west. I've had most of my collection in pots in all weathers for the last 20 years and even with a bit of neglect when my family has had me focussing on their lives eg birth of my grand daughter, they will still come back and flower their hearts out if you feed them and water them especially across summer months when they set their buds. With your soil you will have it at lost easier than me with my chalky clay (hence them still being in pots). When they flower in the spring they are magnificent and well worth any effort, and they keep doing it for years and years so great value for money. The flowers can last for alot longer than a lot of plants and shrubs too. As you can tell I'm a big fan lol
thanks all, I think maybe camellia then ( though I have 2 teeny tiny ones that I've let dry over summer and they're not much bigger than when I got them ..admittedly for £1 from supermarket! I'll look at choysias again... the last thing I'm still wondering is the prunus in a pot, then twisting to keep it small..? yes, I'm being ridiculous, I could try that when the littlies are bigger!
Hi, don't worry too much if they didn't get enough water to flower much this spring they are amazingly forgiving, one of my best ones was from the supermarket for a couple of quid and is now about 4ft and flowering healthily, they can also be pruned to maintain size if space is limited and they even forgiven you that, just choose when to so you don't miss out on flowers,
good luck