@steve - yeah he comes over.. chats for a while. Certainly adds some value! He is a super nice chap and i couldn't have gotten to where i did without him. Obviously all the work came from me... he only turned up a couple of days to tell me how to plant my rose and that I should think about layout of my garden x instead of y.
@punkdot & aym - i cant really put bath water there... and it certainly got v.dry there this summer. Maybe some type of star jasmine and other climbers would be best..
Congratulations - The garden is looking lovely Pokhim - and you have some nice planting already What are the 'strappy' leaf plants? Perhaps day lilies? Maybe a few more similar foliage plants and / or a few more grasses could be a form of repeat planting if you want to go down that road. You can still add other plants but you would have a continuous 'thread' running through the garden.
When I said 'dot planting' I meant planting just one or two plants of lots of different species which can all end up looking very busy (I know - I do it all the time!) Bulk planting of fewer varieties and repeat planting can give a more relaxed and coordinated feel. But it's entirely a matter for personal choice!
IMO the most successful areas in your garden are just to the right and the house side of the arch and I think that's because you have deeper borders there.
I would suggest going for a straight path (same slabs) from the left hand edge of the patio in front of the shed - perhaps 2 slabs wide - to meet with the existing path and running slightly behind the 'tank' border. This would give you a good width path and 2 nice deep borders to work with.
AYM makes a good point about the heat generated from the metal wall for climbers. I was thinking of trellis attached to posts set inside your boundary but even then the reflected heat might be too much. Perhaps some additional physical barrier is needed if you're thinking about that?
I think a small tree (a crab apple or a weeping tree perhaps?) would look good in a deep border in front of the shed which, with some taller shrubs, would help to break up the impact of the metal wall. Add some obelisks with climbers planted and that might be enough to detract from the wall without bothering with trellis. Won't be instant - but good gardens rarely are.
I wouldn't plant bamboo - it can be extremely invasive if you get the wrong stuff. Better grown in large containers IMO.
Last edited: 10 February 2017 21:37:56
Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
Hi Pokhim, I have just googled your plant list and it's a lot of ferns and dark plants and no height.
I thought you was looking for modern country/cottage theme from what I recall from the tv show and previous posts? I def would lose the lawn and def not have bamboo as don't think they would suit your lovely garden why not look back at the beautiful planting you liked at Chelsea and choose some plants from there and then chose some you already have to repeat in your new border.
Recommended rule of thumb planting density is five perennial plants per square metre. You have about eight square metres so you should be looking at about 40 plants. Ground cover plants use between 5 and 9 plants per square metre. So lots more plants required!
'Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement' - Helen Keller
Thanks for all your help, I have decided to do the following:
Continue the path in a straight line to the shed, so I have 2 big borders to deal with. I will focus on the left hand border to begin with.
Reduce the variety of plants as I don’t want to be ‘dot planting’.
Add a small tree, which is probably a crab apple. This will be slightly in front and to the left side of the shed. This will create a little more dappled shade which will reduce the amount of direct sunlight onto the metal shed. It will be also directly diagonal to the olive tree I have in a pot on the patio.
Add some larger shrubs to the back of the border to cover the metal shed area, I do in fact have a fatsia japonica which I can move there which is quite small at the moment but will grow up nicely.
Add some buxus hedging and grasses to create more of a flow from the other areas of the garden and create more structure.
I think I’ll give the obelisk a miss. I don’t want to make it too cluttered.
Hi Verdun - thanks very much for your input on this. I might be new to gardening but i am keen on getting lots of different plants.. perhaps i am a 'plants guy'. I am going to take your advice onboard and choose a number of different plants but i think i'm going to connect them all with grasses to create a flow from the front to the back of garden...perhaps i'll repeat some of the stipa i have..
@aym - thanks for your opinion! i've decide to go with a multi stemmed crab apple tree, something which looks more interesting and provide broader coverage than a single stemmed straight variety. I am also going to get a bay pyramid which will be instead of the obelisk that i was going to get. Both of these will provide year round interest and will be good for my cooking!!!
I would appreciate any other comments people have. I will also post my final plant list here in the next couple of days FYI.
Posts
I would not use Bamboo behind your other planting, it takes a lot of water and will make it harder for other plants to establish.
As I have said previously, think carefully about white flowers against that background.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
@steve - yeah he comes over.. chats for a while. Certainly adds some value! He is a super nice chap and i couldn't have gotten to where i did without him. Obviously all the work came from me... he only turned up a couple of days to tell me how to plant my rose and that I should think about layout of my garden x instead of y.
@punkdot & aym - i cant really put bath water there... and it certainly got v.dry there this summer. Maybe some type of star jasmine and other climbers would be best..
Congratulations - The garden is looking lovely Pokhim - and you have some nice planting already
What are the 'strappy' leaf plants? Perhaps day lilies? Maybe a few more similar foliage plants and / or a few more grasses could be a form of repeat planting if you want to go down that road. You can still add other plants but you would have a continuous 'thread' running through the garden.
When I said 'dot planting' I meant planting just one or two plants of lots of different species which can all end up looking very busy (I know - I do it all the time!
) Bulk planting of fewer varieties and repeat planting can give a more relaxed and coordinated feel. But it's entirely a matter for personal choice!
IMO the most successful areas in your garden are just to the right and the house side of the arch and I think that's because you have deeper borders there.
I would suggest going for a straight path (same slabs) from the left hand edge of the patio in front of the shed - perhaps 2 slabs wide - to meet with the existing path and running slightly behind the 'tank' border. This would give you a good width path and 2 nice deep borders to work with.
AYM makes a good point about the heat generated from the metal wall for climbers. I was thinking of trellis attached to posts set inside your boundary but even then the reflected heat might be too much. Perhaps some additional physical barrier is needed if you're thinking about that?
I think a small tree (a crab apple or a weeping tree perhaps?) would look good in a deep border in front of the shed which, with some taller shrubs, would help to break up the impact of the metal wall. Add some obelisks with climbers planted and that might be enough to detract from the wall without bothering with trellis. Won't be instant - but good gardens rarely are.
I wouldn't plant bamboo - it can be extremely invasive if you get the wrong stuff. Better grown in large containers IMO.
Last edited: 10 February 2017 21:37:56
Hi Pokhim, I have just googled your plant list and it's a lot of ferns and dark plants and no height.
I thought you was looking for modern country/cottage theme from what I recall from the tv show and previous posts? I def would lose the lawn and def not have bamboo as don't think they would suit your lovely garden
why not look back at the beautiful planting you liked at Chelsea and choose some plants from there and then chose some you already have to repeat in your new border.
just my thoughts
Recommended rule of thumb planting density is five perennial plants per square metre. You have about eight square metres so you should be looking at about 40 plants. Ground cover plants use between 5 and 9 plants per square metre. So lots more plants required!
Thanks for all your help, I have decided to do the following:
Continue the path in a straight line to the shed, so I have 2 big borders to deal with. I will focus on the left hand border to begin with.
Reduce the variety of plants as I don’t want to be ‘dot planting’.
Add a small tree, which is probably a crab apple. This will be slightly in front and to the left side of the shed. This will create a little more dappled shade which will reduce the amount of direct sunlight onto the metal shed. It will be also directly diagonal to the olive tree I have in a pot on the patio.
Add some larger shrubs to the back of the border to cover the metal shed area, I do in fact have a fatsia japonica which I can move there which is quite small at the moment but will grow up nicely.
Add some buxus hedging and grasses to create more of a flow from the other areas of the garden and create more structure.
I think I’ll give the obelisk a miss. I don’t want to make it too cluttered.
What do you think?..
Sounds great - look forward to seeing the results!
You've got bigger borders now so you can include plants off your list as well. No grass to cut. Win win
Last edited: 13 February 2017 16:32:04
Loving your revised plans
fyi if you fancied another olive tree they have some good sized and good priced ones in Homebase
Hi Verdun - thanks very much for your input on this. I might be new to gardening but i am keen on getting lots of different plants.. perhaps i am a 'plants guy'. I am going to take your advice onboard and choose a number of different plants but i think i'm going to connect them all with grasses to create a flow from the front to the back of garden...perhaps i'll repeat some of the stipa i have..
@aym - thanks for your opinion! i've decide to go with a multi stemmed crab apple tree, something which looks more interesting and provide broader coverage than a single stemmed straight variety. I am also going to get a bay pyramid which will be instead of the obelisk that i was going to get. Both of these will provide year round interest and will be good for my cooking!!!
I would appreciate any other comments people have. I will also post my final plant list here in the next couple of days FYI.