The Garden Harvest.

Autumn Harvest

October heralds the garden harvest, when all your hard labours in the fruit and vegetable garden are now realised. It often also produces a glut of produce and once you have exhausted all your family and friends with ‘food parcels’, the next thing to do is get preserving so all this tasty home produce can be enjoyed through the winter months ahead. Here are a few ideas.

Apple Bramley’s Seedling

Apple Bramley’s Seedling: The classic cooker, found in many gardens, needs 2 pollinators, crops November to March. Large fruits with crisp juicy flavour.

Tomato ‘Gardener’ Delight’

Tomato Gardener’s Delight: A well know variety that is an easy to grow cane fruit, with medium sized red salad tomatoes.

Green Tomato and Apple Chutney: A classic chutneys and prefect for glut crop

Recipe: 900g/2lb Cooking apples, peeled, cored and remove all bruised and damaged areas. Rough chopped.

15ml/1tbsp: mustard seed, 900g/2lb, green tomatoes rough chopped.

350gms/ 12oz Onions, skinned and rough chopped. 1Garlic clove, skinned and finely chopped.

225g/8oz Sultans. 350G/12ozs demerara sugar. 25ml/5tsp curry powder. 5ml/1tsp cayenne pepper.

20ml/4tsp salt. 900ml/1 ¼ pints malt vinegar.

Using a large preserving pan. Put the apples in with ½ pint of water and cook till tender.
Add all the other ingredients and stir well until the sugar has dissolved.
Heat gently for about 3 hrs, stirring occasionally, to prevent sticking, until most of the liquid has gone and the chutney is a soft brown colour.
Prepare sterilised jars, warm ready, pot the chutney will still hot, and cover in the usual way with waxed discs (wax surface down).
Label and store. Tip: due to the vinegar in chutney, metal jar lids will go rusty, so use plastic lids or just the cellophane covers.

Blackberry Lochness

Blackberry Loch Ness: Thornless variety which is a reliable cropper. With large berries.

Blackberry cheese: cheeses became very popular in Elizabethan times it is like a very solid jam that can be stored in an open dish and be cut into sliced or squares to be enjoyed on crackers or toast.

Recipe: 900g/2lbs Blackberries, ripe and undamaged. 450G/1b cooking apples, peeled cored and rough chopped. Sugar ( quantity depends on the weight of the fruit puree)

Put all the fruit into a large persevering pan with 1 pint of water and cook for about 30 mins until fruit is tender.
Now spoon the fruit into a large sieve and press through with a wooden spoon. Measure the puree. For every 600ml/1 pint of puree add 350g/12oz of sugar.
Heat gently stirring the sugar until dissolved., bring to the boil cook until the mixture becomes thick and the wooden spoon leaves a clean line when drawn through the mixture.
All need to be sterilized. Either put in jars or shallow dishes and cover in the normal way or the cheese can be put into small moulds, so the cheese can be set and then turned out and served whole.

Redcurrent ‘Red Lake’

Red current Red Lake: Mid -season current with bright red fruit and a heavy cropper.

Raspberry ‘Malling Jewel’

Raspberry Malling Jewel: Main crop, firm good flavoured fruit perfect for freezing and persevering.

Summer fruits in Vodka: There is nothing like experimenting with flavours by adding fruit flavours to your favourite spirits. They also make great Christmas gifts as the fruit will have infused after a few months.

Recipe: 450gs/1lb of mixed soft fruit, red currents, raspberries, loganberries. All stems and leaves removed and any damaged fruit. 17g/6oz caster sugar. Vodka

Thoroughly clean a large glazed stone ware jar, with firm lid and which can fit a saucer inside it.
Toss the fruit in the sugar until completely covered and leave for 2 hrs.
Layer the fruit into the jar, then pour in enough vodka to completely cover the fruit.
Place the saucer on top of the fruit to keep it completely submerged. Now cover with a layer of tight cling film. Add the lid and store in a cool dry place.
Every week or so stir the mixture to make sure the sugar and vodka are fully mixed. Make sure you cover well.
Label and store for at least 1 month before using, the longer you can hold off the better the flavour. The fruits can be eaten with ice cream or cream and the fruit vodka will be like a liqueur.

Damson Farleigh

Damson Farleigh: Also know as the Crittenden Damson, The earliest Damson to crop. No need for a pollinator. Good flavoured black fruit with green juicy flesh.

Damson Jam: This is a beautifully flavoured jam and well worth making as it is not available in shops.

Recipe: 2.3kg/5lbs wash and undamaged and ripe Damsons. 2.7kg/6bls sugar. A knob of butter.

1) Put the fruit in a preserving pan with 900ml/1.1/2 pints of water. simmer until the fruit is soft and pulpy.

2) Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar until dissolved. Add the butter.

3) Put back on the heat and boil. Using a slot spoon, remove the stones as they come to the surface.

4) Continue to boil until setting point is reached.

5) Remove any scum from surface with slot spoon, pot and cover in the usual way.

Crab Apple John Downie

Crab-Apple John Downie: A large showy crab-apple with upright habit. White blossom and in September large conical yellow flushed red fleshy fruit, full of flavour.

Crab- Apple Jelly: Jellys are beautiful with their clear colour and full flavour. Either used with roast meets, traditionally Lamb or cold meats or as a less sweet treat on scones.

Recipe: 2.5kg/5.1/2 lbs washed undamaged crab-apples all stalks and leaves removed. 6 cloves. Sugar ( depending on quantity of jelly)

1) Rough crop the crab -apples ( do not peel or core!). Put in preserving pan with 1.7L/3 pints of water. Bring to boil. Simmer for about 1.5hrs. Until fruit soft and pulpy. Stir to stop sticking. Add a little more water if needed.

2) Spoon the fruit into a jelly bag. Turn a short stall upside down. Attach the jelly cloth to the 4 legs and leave to drain into a large bowl. ( over night is good.)

3) Once all the liquid has drained through the bag, discard the pulp.

4) Measure the liquid. For every 600L/1 pint of liquid add 450g/1lb of sugar. Return to pan and heat gently.

5) Stir to prevent from sticking and bring to the boil, boil until setting point is reached.

6) Remove any scum and pot and cover in the usual way.

Enjoying Homemade Jam

Top Tip: for all preserving, use ripe ( depending on the recipe) and most importantly undamaged fruit. Good equipment; a jam thermometer is a must. All jars and bottles need to be clean and then sterilized . Make sure all tops and lids are also sterilized. For jams, jellies, chutneys and relishes make sure you have wax discs and cellophane tops and rubber bands. NB the waxed side of the disc is what goes against the jam/chutney surface. A pack of labels with date made and in Chutney case a date it can be eaten ( All chutneys need about 3 months to mellow before eating, so one made in October will be perfect for the cold ham and turkey on boxing day!)

Stored jams, preserves, chutneys and pickles from the garden harvest

I hope I have inspired you to get cracking with preserving your crops or even to get planting some fruit so you can have home made, jams, jellies, fruit spirits and liqueurs and chutneys and relishes on tap. So even in the depths of winter you can still enjoy the abundance of summer.

Enjoy !

Go-Prairie

Prairie planting

Prairie planting is often short hand for a more naturalistic style of planting that started to be made popular in Germany in the 1970’s and 1980’s and by great exponents like Piet Oudolf and Nigel Dunnett among others. It tends to concentrate on using grasses and mostly but not always late flowering perennials. Hence the ‘prairie ‘ part of the name, using a lot of North American and Mexican native plants. Using a reduced pallet of plants that thrive on the same soil and climatic conditions and maintenance requirements. The plants are planted in bold groups and sweeps, with the odd accent plant (Piet Oudolf and the early German style) and Nigel Dunnett has taken the principles of the same habitat requirements and planted in a more naturalistic way, where the varieties are ‘scatter’ through the planting either totally mixed or the odd one or two together or a few in larger groups, to give a look that broadly represents planting in nature. So here are a few plants to consider, that work well in Prairie planting.

Panicum virgatum ‘Heavymetal’

Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’: This is a top favourite of mine, possible because of the name? Stiff metallic grey leaves in good upright clumps up to 90cm tall. Powder blue flowers turn soft yellow in the autumn, up to 1.20m in height. Prefers a richer moisture retentive soil.

Pennisetum aloepearoides

Pennisetum alopecuroides: clumps of mid green arching leaves up to 75cm.With soft feathery brown spikes of flowers produced August to October that turn yellow in winter. Flowers best in full sun. Will cope with dryer soils.

Rudbeckia fulgida var. sulivantii ‘Goldstrum’

Rubeckia fulgida sulllivantii ‘Goldstrum’: The late flowering perennials never fails to gladden the heart, it produced massive of buttercup golden daisy like flowers with a distinctive black centre from August, right up to the first frost. Above mid green clumps of leaves. Reaching heights of 70cm. It likes a good moisture retentive soil in full sun.

Helianthus Lemon Queen

Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’: Sunflowers, what a joy in late summer and this is a beautiful soft lemon one, that flowers freely from July to September, up to 150m tall, planted in a clumps, so they have maximum impacted. And plant in full sun.

Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’

Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’: this is a twist on common ‘golden rod’ and no ware near as invasive. It produced dense clumps from 1 to 1.5m, with graceful long racemes of golden flowers from late summer well into autumn, it likes a good moist soil, neutral to acid.

Echinops bannaticus ‘Globe Blue’

Echinops bannaticus ‘Blue Globe’: clump forming with large, serrated dark green leaves with white undersides, spiral up the tall 80cm-1m stems. Round thistle like blue flowers, much loved by insects from July to September. Will grow on most soils. Full sun.

Vivid Prairie Planting

Tips: First decide what soil type you have and how, fertile it is and how moisture retentive it is. A lot of the classic prairie type plants, surprisingly like quite a lot of moister, I have seen Helianthus growing in drainage ditches in Kansas. It is important to choose plants that are going to grow well on your site and grow well together. It is important to decide which are going to be the thugs, and rampant self seeders, to reduce their number and possible slightly contain them so they will not over whelmed the scheme. Remember the thing about naturalist/prairie planting, once it is established it is meant to look after it’s self to give it that natural look, so your choice of plants needs to grow well together. Watering well and weeding well in the first couple of growing seasons will be needed for the prairie scheme to establish. The joy of the planting is that although it is very heavy on perennials although there is no reason why some sub-shrubs and even shrubs can not be used, the planting is left to stand for the winter, giving invaluable resource to wildlife, but also the grasses looking great in winter winds and the seed heads wonderful in the frost and snow.

Then end of February or early March here in the south east of England, cut all old flowering stems down and most grass varieties to the ground, spread a good thick layer of organic mulch to help keep the moisture in and feed the planting and most importantly to help suppress the weeds.

Prairie planting in the winter

I hope I have inspired you to consider creating a Prairie garden or at least planting up an existing boarder in a more naturalist style. If you would like help creating your Prairie garden, do give me, Emily a ring 01273 470753, I would be delighted to discuss your planting project with you.

Sussex Heritage Trust Award Winner 2023

The Byre – Sussex Heritage 2023 Winner

The Byre is a 13th C. grade II listed flint barn. It’s restoration and conversion and it’s surrounding landscaping and pond were awarded a Sussex Heritage Trust 2023 award in the small residential category.

Read the full story of the restoration of the pond, it’s surrounding landscape into a variety of different wildlife habitats and connecting the Byre and it’s new extension with steps and paths to the new garden, using local materials, in keeping with the historic building and the South Downs National Park environment.

The jetty after a few years of growth, leading out through the pond rushes to the water.

The jetty after leads through the rushes to the waters edge.

Learn more about the Sussex Heritage Awards.

Arcadia Garden Design, worked with the clients from surveying of the site, to commissioning environmental reports, designing the pond and surrounding landscaping, producing all the technical and construction drawings for the project from the steps leading from the Byre to the restoration of the pond and the jetty. Designing all the planting and carrying out the aquatic. marginal and bog garden planting.

The pond after a few years, the planting has now settled in.

Views across the pond to the Byre.

Find out about staying at the Byre – A luxury retreat, lovingly created from the restored Barn, set in the heart of the South Downs National Park.

Hooray for Hemercallis

Hemerocallis a splash of different colours

These tough as boots grow pretty much any where hard working perennials, need to be ‘shouted’ about much more. They come in small up to 50mm to pretty large up to1m in height and will grow in sun or partial shade in most moist soils. They come in a wide range of colours from white, pink, to many different yellows and golds to burning oranges to deep reds. Some are even multi coloured. From robust singles to ruffled doubles and delicate spider trumpets, there surely is a Hemercallis to suite every taste! Here are just a few to sample.

Hemerocallis ‘Chorky’

H. ‘Corky’: This is a top favourite of mine, with robust mid green sword like foliage and refined slim trumpet flowers on tall stems in buttery golden yellow with stripes of brown on the back of the petals. Flowering mid summer with a later splash of flowers in late summer.

Hemerocallis ‘Joan Senior’

H. ‘Joan Senior’: This is an elegant mid height hemercallis, with clear white flowers with a deep light green throat, wonderful for a white planting scheme or dappled shade.

Hermerocallis ‘Luxury Lace’

H. ‘Luxury Lace’: This is a rather blousy soft focus Hemerocallis at 60/70cm tall with mid-green foliage and large ruffled edged flowers in soft apricot/pink with a green throat.

Hemerocallis ‘Stella de oro’

H.’Stella de Oro’: this is a wonderful small variety up to 40/50cm with clumps of skinny light green leaves and wide open bright yellow flowers. Flowering mid-summer.

Hermerocallis ‘Burning Daylight’

H. ‘Burning Daylight’: This Hemerocallis creates a large bold clump up to 70cm tall, with eye popping intense fire orange flowers which are scented, one for the hot garden. Flowering June/July.

Hemerocallis ‘Crimson Pirate’

H. ‘Crimson Pirate: This is a striking Hemerocallis with spidery vivid red flowers a real garden talking point. Flowering mid summer.

just some of the stunning colours of Hemerocallis

This over looked perennials demands more use whether as a splash in mixed planting, or a giant edging sweep along the front of the border. I hope I have inspired you to look again at Hemerocallis.

The Potager- Ornamental Vegetable and Herb Garden.

A Potager Garden

The Potager garden was originally designed by medieval French monks, but its hay day was in the 16Cth. When no french garden would be complete with out one. A potager is an ornamental vegetable, fruit and herb garden. With symmetrical and geometric patterned flower beds, intersected by narrow paths. The fruit and vegetables are as ornamental as possible but also edible and planted in groups and in decretive patterns.

Here are some varieties to get you started on the design of your potager.

Laurus nobilis as a clipped hedge.

Laurus nobilis- bay, in fact a large evergreen tree. But it can be chipped and trained into many topiary shapes from, cones, squares and lolly-pops. These trimmed trees will add structure to your Potager garden even in the winter months. You can add an extra dimension by training your lolly-pop standards to have twisted trunks. The leaves are used to flavour sauces and meat dishes particularly in Italian cookery. A must to define the axis’s of your design.

Rosmarinus officinallis ‘Miss Jessopp’s Upright’

Rosmarinus officinallis ‘Miss Jessopp’s Upright’: although Rosemary has in fact been re-classified as a Salvia, I think it is still best known as Rosmarinus and all nurseries will know what you are asking for. This is a lovely variety of the evergreen shrub with a small compact habit and upright stems, making it perfect as a low hedge to edge the vegetable beds of the Potager. The aromatic leaves are used in both savory and sweet dishes and to scent clothes draws. The flowers are also edible.

Thymus serphyllum ‘Russetings’

Thymus serphllum ‘Russetings’ : A wonderful evergreen low creeping thyme, which will grow in the cracks of the paths or run around under standards like gooseberries and bay trees. With a mass of pretty small purple flowers much loved by insects from mid summer. It has the added advantage of being a mainstay of the culinary herbs being just widely in the recipes of many cuisines.

Apple saturn ‘Stepover’

Apple Saturn ‘Stepover’ : grown on the most dwarfing stock, M27, these apples have been developed to grow low to the ground almost like a horizontal cordon, so you can step over them as the name suggests. A wonderful talking point to edge the main path. This variety is self-fertile, has good disease resistance and is a superb apple, with a strong flavour and a crisp flesh which is very juicy. Pick October and keeps to January. Surely a must for you Potager.

Rainbow chard cut & come again

Rainbow Chard: This is a wonderful vegetable which can be harvested for many months and particularly comes into it’s own in the autumn and winter when it has it’s main cropping season, just cut the stems and remove the tougher leaves but eat both stem and leaf. But it’s ornamental merit is what is attractive for the potager. It has vivid stems in white, cream, pink, red, orange and yellow. A stunning vegetable, that tastes good to.

Cynara scolymus ‘Gros Vert de Leon’-Globe artichoke

Cynara scolymus ‘Grosvert de Lean’: This is a statuesque hardy variety of Globe Artichoke from France. It produces a great sword of sliver grey leaves and a a tall flower pick up to 2m tall. With tight round green buds which are very succulent and have a knock out taste are produced in late summer. If you miss the odd one or two in your harvest then they will open to reveal their beautiful blue thistle like flowers. Insects will love the flowers and birds the seeds.

A potager garden

Top tips: The site for your Potager should be in full sun if possible a little shade from the odd tree over part of it is probably ok. But don’t forget it is all about symmetry so you want the same key plants to mirror in different parts of the garden then having the same light conditions through out will help. Also don’t forget that some flowers are also edible and this can increase the amount of colour in your potager garden. Marigold, Borage, violas and natstershams to name a few.

The mixed planting of a Potager garden

I hope I have inspired you to have a go at creating your own Potager, if you don’t feel confident having a go your self, then I know just the woman who can help you, just give me Emily a ring on 01273 470753.

Don’t forget, in a Potage Garden the edibles are the stars not ornamental flowers.

Spiraea, Philadelphus and Weigela- Late Spring-Early Summer Shrubs

Spring and Summer flowering shrubs

Spiraea, Philadelphus and Weigela, could be considered to be the holy trinity of summer flowering shrubs, these are the back bone and structure to any good large boarder planting scheme. Often summer colour is thought of as roses and herbaceous planting and shrubs get over looked. But they have much to add when in and out of flower and no good planting scheme would be with out these three. Here are some varieties to consider.

Philadelphus Belle Etoile

Philadelphus ‘Belle Etoile’: ‘mock orange’, it is all about the scent with Philadelphus, and this variety has to be amongst the best. A medium sized shrub with tall upright, arching growth, gives a statuesque feel to the boarder. Mid green leaves and wide open white flowers flushed with a maroon centre. Flowering June to July. Sun part shade.

Pheladelphus Manteau d’ Hermine

Phiadelphus ‘Manteau d’ Hermine’: A compact variety producing a neat mound of low growth with fresh green leaves. Long lasting sweetly scented flowers June into July. Will grow in any reasonable soil with good drainage, they do not like being water logged.

Spiraea Arguta

Spiraea aruguta: ‘ Bridal wreath’, this is a truly spectacular late spring early summer shrub, when in full flower. A mound forming medium sized shrub with long arching branches, it really must be given it’s head and allowed to fully develop its habit, which is graceful and eye stopping, but sadly to often is hacked into submission. Small clusters of white flowers produced in profusion line the branches from April to May. Followed by small mid-green leaves. Sun or a little shade.

Spiraea japonica ‘Candle Light’

Spirea japonica ‘Candle Light’: This is a small compact growing Spiraea ideal for the small garden or flower bed. With a compact dense habit and small bushy soft yellow leaves that mature into a strong yellow. Flat heads of soft pink flowers are produced from July to August. Sun or a little shade. These tough shrubs will put up with a lot of different soil conditions but not water logging.

Weigela florida ‘Foliis Purpureis’

Weigela florida ‘Foliis Purpureis’: A small to medium shrub which is slow growing with a dense compact habit. With grey-purplish leaves which act as a stunning foil for the pink trumpet like flowers produced in clusters from May to June. Grow in full sun although will tolerate a little shade. All good well drained soils.

Weigela florida variegate

Weigela flordia varigata: Medium sized shrub with a dense habit. Leaves have a delicate variegation of creamy white edging to the leaves. Scented pink flowers in June. Best grown in dappled shade, so the variegated leaves do not get scorched.

Spring shrubs can be wonderful in pots and containers

Tips: These three hardy shrubs will grow nearly anywhere. From good rich soil to thin chalk. They like good light levels and a sunny spot, but the yellow leaved and variegated forms of all three shrubs are prone to scorching in very hot sunny potions. Only prune if really needed, to reduce size or remove very old or diseases wood. If you have chosen the right shrub for the space it should not need to be pruned. If you do need to prune, then after flowering is the best time, to allow for regrowth and the development of next years flowers.

All these beautiful shrubs, add a bold splash of colour to the late spring garden.

I hope I have inspired you to take a fresh look at these under used shrubs, with their long flowering season, scent, spectacular flower displays and varied foliage colour. As well as the range of sizes. These shrubs really do deserve to be planted much more widely.

If you need help to revamp a planting area and to redesign a planting scheme, then I know just the woman to help you. Give me Emily a ring on 01273 470753, to discuss all your garden design needs.

Pretty in Pink

A pink flower border

The white garden and even now the hot garden and cool counter part, has been pretty much ‘done’ to death. So if you want to be in the vanguard of a new look, why not hit your dreamy feminine side, get all ‘Barbara Cartland’ and go ‘Pretty in Pink’. Here are a few plants to get you started.

Hebe ‘Great Orme’

Hebe ‘Great Orme’: A wonderful domed evergreen shrub up to 1.2/1.5m in size. With Swirls of long mid-green leaves and large dramatic spikes of bi-coloured flowers from rick pink to soft white. Mid summer. Any good free draining soil. Full sun.

Syringa pubescens Subsp. microphylla ‘Superba’

Syringa pubescens subp. Microphylla ‘Superba: This is a lovely slowish growing compact Lilic. Getting to about 1.5m in height or a little taller. Small rounded mid green leaves. With small clustered mid pink flower clusters which are highly scented in June – July. Good soil full sun.

Rosa ‘Gertude Jekyll’

Rosa ‘Gertrude Jekyll’: This is a vigorous upright rose, produced by David Austin. Up to 2m, also can be used as a short climber for a fence or arch way. Good disease resistance. Eye popping shocking pink cupped flowers with strong scent produced from early summer up to the frosts. Good humus rich soil with good moisture retention. In full sun.

Anemone hupehensis japonica ‘Prinz Heinrich’

Anemone hupehensis japonica ‘Prinz Heinrich’: This is a great end of summer perennial that will just flower and flower. The huge advantage is it is shorter than most Anemones at 70cm and much better behaved, it is less likely to spread. Flowering from July to the first frosts with rich pink open flowers and golden stamens. Full sun or part shade. To even quite dense shade. Most soils.

Bergenia ‘Eroica’

Bergina ‘Eroica’:fabulous low growing ground cover perennial. Evergreen with rounded leathery leaves of mid green that go a superb wine red in the colder months. Flowers held on red stems are a eye shocking magenta with a black central eye. March/April. Good humus rich soil dappled shade.

Salvia hemorosa ‘Rosa Queen’

Salvia nemorosa ‘Rose Queen: Clusters of base leaves in mid green and a mass of mid pink flower spikes produced from May to August, this perennial earns its keep. Height 45cm. Full sun well drained soil.

Pretty in Pink !

I hope I have inspired you to try something a little different, whether you decide on one particular shade of pink or mix it up, don’t forget shades of foliage and even pink new growth. Splashes of white can help to space the colours, you can go as mad or as restrained as your creative juices desire. Good Luck.

Don’t forget,if you want help creating an eye catching pink garden, I would be happy to help, just give me Emily a ring 01273 470753.

The Gravel Garden

A gravel Garden

The Gravel Garden, was brought to public notice, by the wonderful gravel garden that Beth Chatto created out of the car park, of her garden in Essex. It has developed into a particular garden style, not only defined, by free draining soils and in full sun. But the radio plants to decorative mulch and rocks and stones. The plants tend to be more spaced and in small groups, so the individual habit can be enjoyed. The choose of mulching chippings is important, to frame the plants and large Peebles, rocks and stones can also be used, begging the question when is a gravel garden not a rock garden? Most gravel gardens tend to be flat or on slight slopes, with generous irregular shaped beds and winding paths, allowing self seeding to create the informality that is a hall-mark of a gravel garden. Here are some plants to consider.

Cistus dansereaui ‘Decumbens’

Cistus dansercaui ‘Decumbens’: A good compact small cistus, with aromatic evergreen foliage. Wide flat open papery flowers, which are white with a big splash of red at the centre and golden stamens. Flowering June into July. Full sun.

Ceratostigma willmottianum

Ceratostigma ‘Willmottianum’: A small open twiggy shrub, with stems that are red with small leaves that turn a rich red in autumn. Clusters of sky blue flowers with white centres are produced freely from late summer up to the first frost. Full sun

Ulex europaeus ‘Flore Pleno’

Ulex europaeus ‘Flore pleno’: A mound forming compact shrub with prickly evergreen foliage. Sweetly scented double flowers produced from April-May and into June. Full sun.

Hebe ‘Red Edge’

Hebe’ Red Edge’: A lovely densely mounding low hebe with dramatic evergreen sliver foliage which has winter tints of red and purple. The flowers are pretty insignificant and are small and white, if produced in mid summer. It is all about the foliage.

Euphorbia myrsinites

Euphorbia myrsinites: This is a very unusual looking plant, it creeps and crawls its way across the ground. It is evergreen, with pea-green stems with sparsely produced green glorious leaves and clusters of pea-green flowers in April. A must for the edge of the gravel garden. Full sun.

Heleanthemum ‘Wisley Primrose’

Helianthemum ‘Wisley Primrose’: No gravel garden would be complete with out a mound forming and spreading rock rose. This is a lovely sliver leaved variety with soft yellow flowers from mid to late summer. Full sun.

A very colourful gravel garden

Top Tips: Gravel gardens require very good drainage and are best in a sunny spot on poor free drainage soil. You can help the drainage of your gravel garden, by adding pea-beach and horticultural grit. Also by mounding the planting beds with crushed stone or even crushed brick, before adding a layer or top soil mixed with gravel. Choose gravel and chippings for mulching that are local to your area, are you going to vary the sizes, so the paths are different? Decide if you are going to have groups of larger stones as focal points in the planting or around specimen shrubs. Are there going to be large rocks at path junctions or as seats. There is a lot to consider when designing your gravel garden.

If you would like help designing a gravel garden, then I know just the person to give you a hand. Give me Emily a ring on 01273 470753 to discuss your garden project. I would be delighted to help.

Bulbs & Corms for Alpine, Rock gardens and Trough Gardens.

Bulbs in a rock garden.

Miniature flowering bulbs and corms add a splash of colour to the early alpine garden or the rock garden and are a must in trough gardens, here are few to consider.

Chinodoxa forbesii

Chinodoxa forbesii: A beautiful early flowering bulb March/April. With low clumps of flowers which are bright blue and open to show a white central splash. Flowers are held above the clumps of leaves. A bulb that is good for naturalising in the rock garden in Sun or part shade. 10-15cm

Cyclamen alpina

Cyclamen alpinum: These wonderful plants add a shock of colour to the winter garden. Flowering January/February. They have heart-shaped leaves with decorative sliver marbling. The dainty pink flowers are in clusters above the leaves. With a good long flowering period in dappled sun. A must for the winter alpine garden. 5/7cm

Iris donfordiae

Iris donfordiae: This is a lovely low growing Iris at 5/8cm high, perfect for a trough garden, giving very early colour flowering in February. Plant in small clumps to enjoy this elegant rich yellow flower. Full sun

Muscari maxabel

Muscari maxabel: A great addition to the rock garden this low growing muscari will naturalise well forming sweeps of colour. With it’s unusual flowers of sky blue and white edges. Perfect for a sunny spot. Flowering March/April. 10cm

Muscari maxabel

Narcissi bulbocodium ‘Golden Bells’: Small clumps of very fine green leaves, give way to this very delicate small flowered daffodil. Which has a very unusual golden flower with an wide generous trumpet and small tiny outer petals. Full sun, April flowering. 15cm. Lovely in any rock garden.

Scilla bifolia

Scalla bifolia : A wonderful early flowering bulb, not to tall so ideal for trough gardens at 5/10cm. This bulb likes more moisture and dose not like to dry out. But must not be waterlogged. Short wide leaves with star shaped open flowers are produced in March/April.

Groups of different coloured Iris

Top Tips: All of these bulbs require good drainage, they will not cope with water logging, so add grit to planting holes. To really get that alpine look plant in small clumps, surrounded by chippings and rocks, and if possible as close to eye level as possible, so you can appropriate the beauty of the individual flowers of this miniature world.

Iris retiuclata groups of varying colours can make a delicate but powerful impacted.

I hope I have inspired you to get planting, come the Autumn, so you can enjoy these winter and early spring gems.

A Small Front Garden

A small front garden

Sadly front gardens tend to get over looked, or just seen as a way to the front door or a car park. But a well designed and planted front garden can give both you and your neighbours joy as well as passers- by. It can also be a rich habitat for wildlife.

Most front gardens need privacy, either from neighbours or the road, so boundaries are all important. Move beyond the obvious fencing and add hedging as a living boundary which will change through the seasons and be a home to birds and help to reduce, noise, car lights and pollution. Here are a couple of suggestions.

Hebe hedges

Hebe ‘Mrs Winder’: This is a lovely hebe with a good compost habit up to 1/1.3m in height, with dense evergreen foliage of mid green, which has winter tints of purple and red in the older weather. It has purple flower spikes produced in late summer July-August. Most soils, with good drainage. Quit hardy for a Hebe. Full sun.

Berberis hedge

Berberis: x frikartii ‘Amstelveen’: This Berber’s makes a compact dense prickly hedge ideal of a street boundary. Growing up to 1.5m or more it has small glossy green leaves with a glaucous underside. A mass of small bright yellow flowers in spring followed by blue-purple berries. Soil with good drainage, sun to part-shade.

A tree is a must in a front garden, even if a small space, it gives height and scale to the garden particularly to balance a high house facade.

Malus Everest

Malus Everest: This is a wonderful tree for a small garden reaching 3/4m in time and with a compact habit of acceding branches, giving it a champagne flue like shape. With blush pink clusters of flowers in the spring, giving way to mid-green foliage on the light crown. Followed by rusty autumn leaf tints to its, crowning glory clusters of small red crab-apples which hang on the bare branches through all of winter into early spring. All good soils, not water logged, full sun, will cope with a bit of shade.

In a small garden boundaries are very dominant but they also have the advantage of being another planting space. Scent in a small space, particularly near the front door where you can enjoy it can really lift the sprit.

Rosa ‘Buff Beauty’

Rosa ‘Buff Beauty’: This is a wonderful ‘David Austin’ Rose all the beauty and scent of old fashioned roses but repeat flowering. Roses are wonderful, as they will start flowering in May and will go on even to Christmas depending on the frosts. This is a small climber with healthy dark green growth. With clusters of old gold /Apricot flowers highly scented which fade to a creamy yellow. Followed by deep orange hips. Good fertile soil which holds moister, not water logged. Full Sun.

Pyracatha ‘Golden Charmer’

Pyrcantha ‘Golden Charmer’: This wonderful wall shrub can be clipped into a dense shrub to clothe a side wall or fence or cut to shape round house windows. A great nesting spot for birds. Also growing climbers on house walls has been shown to keep your home at a more balanced temperature throughout the year, reducing heat in Summer and heating bills in winter. A spiny evergreen shrub with glossy dark green leaves. Clusters of slightly scented white flowers in spring. In the late summer and autumn great bunches of golden yellow berries. Good fertile soil to poorer soils. Sun to part-shade.

In a small space every plant has to work hard, with long flowering seasons and or evergreen foliage so there are no blank and dead spaces in the winter months.

Daphne x altantica ‘Eternal Fragrance’

Daphne x alantica’Eternal Fragrance: This is a wonderful small compact evergreen shrub with dark green leaves and a neat habit. Its main flowering season in June, but it will flower on and off throughout the growing season. Small clusters of waxy blush flowers are produced which are highly scented. Humus rich soils with good water retention. Full sun.

Lavendula x intermedia ‘Grosso’

Lavendula x intermedia ‘Grosso’: This is a lovely Dutch Lavender with large sliver grey foliage on a mounding shrub. The attractive aromatic foliage is evergreen, making it perfect for edging the front path or drive. Long stems hold the large elongated light mauve flowers well above the foliage. Flowering in July and into August. The scented flowers are a magnet for a great variety of insects. Poorer soils in full sun.

Hellaborus orientallis

Hellaborus orientallis: This is a wonderful long flowering plant. Mounds of large evergreen palmate dark green leaves make a compact herbaceous perennial The flower stems rise from the base in late December to flower, December to the middle of March or latter. The colours vary from, clear white, cream with purple spots, dusky pink, dark purple and to light green. The Flowers are followed by very attractive seed pods which last till May. Good humus rich soils sun to deep shade.

Geranium ‘Rozanne’

Geranium ‘rozanne’: One of the best and free flowering of the hardy perennial geraniums a clump of mid green leaves are produce in early spring. A mass of clear blue/purple flowers with a white centre are produced from mid spring right through the summer up to the autumn. After each flowering shear of the dead flowers, to encourage latter flowering. Sunny spot on most soils.

Small front garden

I hope I have inspired you to look again at your front garden and to make the very most of it.

Winter clean your garden shed

The Shed

Mid winter, particularly that nomens-land between Christmas and New Year is a great time to tackle, possible the most forgotten place in the garden, the shed. Often crammed to over flowing with, broken and discarded tools and cracked plastic pots and some very suppositious looking chemical bottles and boxes which have gone soggy and have labels falling off. This is the time to put aside a day or more and get things ship shape, ready for the growing season ahead.

The lawn mowers and other kit

The first thing to tackle is getting your lawn mowers and strimmers in to be serviced and have the blades sharpened, before Christmas if possible. Hopefully on the last couple of cuts, you managed to use most of the petrol, so it want go ‘stale’ sitting in the lawn mower/strimmer tank over the winter. Next unhook the spark plug for safety and on a dry day tip the mower over and remove all old grass and brush and scrub down also clean the surface of the mower. With strimmers give a general clean and in particular all guards. Ready to take your machines in for servicing.

Next check all seeds, they should be stored in a water proof box some where cool and dry. It is very easy to end up with lots of half packets of seed. Look at the ‘sow by date’ this is a good guide, however of course some can still germinate after this date. If you are not sowing direct into open ground of course you can use the seed and see what happens. If the seeds are for direct sowing, then perhaps use then up on a small area and buy fresh seed in date for a more guaranteed show. Always sow, carrot,parsnip, sweet corn and lettuce for example as fresh seed. Last years half opened seed will give poor results.

washing plant pots

Most sheds seem to be two-thirds full of plastic pots in a variety of shapes and sizes. Get bold and really reduce them down. Decide are they all going to be round or are you going for square, the stacking and sizing will be easier if you keep to the same shape. plastic pots also crack and break over time. So get sorting the sizes out and washing in a mild disinfectant solution, dunking in water afterwards and then leave to dry before stacking in the sizes back in the shed. Sadly plastic plant pots are the real environmental disaster of the horticultural industry, with few nurseries having a returns policy and at the moment as most pots are black, they can not be recycled in local authority recycling systems. However, there is some hope on the horizon, plastic pots in colours that can be recycled are being used, light blue and pink etc. But much better; pots are being produced for the nursery sector using compostable materials like cardboard fibre and coconut fibre etc. so we all have to hope this will become much more wide spread and will become the future

chain saws

If you have completed your winter hedge cutting and have used your chain saw a lot, then now is the time for them to have a full service. Disable the machines so they are safe to clean, with a soft brush, brush all surfaces and the blades and chain, so they are ready for surfacing. It is advisable to have at least one spare chain for the chain saw, so all the chains will need to be sharpened.

Fertilizers and plant food.

So now is the time to sort your way through your garden ‘Medicine Cabinet’ wearing rubber gloves. It is far to easy to keep that box of sequestrated iron over a number of years and then realise with the damp it is now one huge solid lump and falling out of the box. Some old compacted plant food/fertiliser can be broken up and dissolved in water and still used as a liquid feed. Follow all manufactures instructions.

Herbicides and Pesticides.

Then turn your attention to the ‘nasties’ these are the herbicides and pesticides that you have in your shed. Again were protective gloves and long sleeves and possible a face shield. Follow manufactures instructions on safe handling.

Firstly are they all still licensed for use? www.rhs.org.uk/prevention-protection/withdrawn-chemicals. Would be the first place to check, to see if the old bottle at the back of the shelf should still be in residents in your shed. Check all the bottles and containers are in there original packing with their instructions on use and handling attached. Check there are no broken or leaking containers. Check use by dates.

Any chemicals that need to be disposed off, must be in their original packaging. Contact your local authority for advise on where you can take your unwanted chemicals, you can also have a look at the website. www.gardenchemicaldisposal.co.uk

Sort your chemicals safely.

I would suggest having 2 separate high shelves, one for foods/fertilisers and one for chemicals/herbicides and pesticides.

Of course once you started sorting through your garden ‘medicine cabinet’ you might decide you want to go organic and let nature take control.

Clean tools and oil.

Now after a growing season of hard graft, check and clean and care for your hand tools. Do any need new handles? clean all mud and soil from the blades, sharpen spades and hoes, or send them off to be sharpened and oil all tools. Shears and secateurs after a long season will need sharpening, again you can do this yourself with a wet stone, but if you are not comfortable, then many garden centres and nurseries offer this service.

Go through you bags of opened compost, reduced them and roll or tie the top. If you can get them under cover so the rain is not leaching out the nutrients in the compost, that is better, perhaps a spot at the back of the shed. Also now you are not in a flat spin in the growing season, get that muddle of a fruit net out of the shed and fold or roll it and put in a labelled bag, do the same with any garden fleece.

hand tools

So now you can see the back of the shed and you can move about in it, would more selfing help or hooks to get the hand tools off the floor of the shed so there is more room for the mower be a good idea? As the enthusiasm is now high this is the moment to get going on some shed DIY.

Get painting or staining your shed.

Perhaps the shed it’s self could do with some TLC? a fresh coat or couple of stain or paint? re-felting? new door furniture, now is as good a time as any.

I hope I have inspired you to work off some of the Christmas pudding and get cracking on a winter clearance of your shed. One thing is for sure, you will have earned a cup of tea and a big slice of Christmas cake!

Planting steep slopes and Banks.

A stunning example of a sloping garden.

Although lots of people feel a steeply sloping garden or area is a hindrance and a problem area, they do have their advantages. It allows you to see a cascade of planting with different textures and colours, also most banks can be viewed from many angles giving alternative views. But there is no doubt they do have their planting and maintenance challenges. Here are some plants to consider.

Cotonester dammari: This is a must for all steep and sloping sites, this plant will grow almost any where, although it will not like water logging. a very low growing shrub that hugs the ground. With evergreen foliage of neat dark green leaves and small white flowers in spring, followed by blood red berries in the autumn.

Ceanothus griseus var. horizontallis ‘Yankee point’

Ceanothus griseus var.horizontallis ‘Yankee point’: This is a prostrate form of ceanothus with dark evergreen foliage and small mid blue puffy flowers in May-June. Grows on most well drained soils. It reaches heights of 1-1.3m or higher on good soils, and has a very wide spread. It will add a good splash of colour to a planted bank and may even have the odd repeat flower in the early autumn.

Rosa ‘Snow Carpet’

Rosa ‘Snow Carpet’: This delightful rose, literally crawls along the ground with neat leaves and small clusters of mini white roses, repeat flowering through the summer into early autumn.

Juniperus horizontalis ‘Bar Harbour’

Juniperus horizontalis ‘Bar Harbor’: This is a wonderful low growing conifer, it may be a bit slow but it is worth planting. It has attractive blue green foliage which turns a dusky purple in cold winter months.

Helianthemum ‘Wisley Primrose’

Helianthemum ‘Wisley Primrose’: This is a wonderful rock rose, low growing it will spread well. With sliver evergreen foliage and a clear yellow open flower from May to June.

Rosmarinus officinallis ‘Prostratus Group’

Rosmarinus officinallis ‘Prostratus Group’: This lovely shrub has evergreen sliver foliage which is low growing and spreading. With rich mauve flowers in late spring to early summer. With the added advantage that it is a good cooking herb.

A planted bank with dram from top to bottom

Top Tips: When considering planting a bank, do look at how steep it is, will you be able to comfortably stand to weed and prune? Also think about the depth of the boarders on a slope, if possible you want to be able to stand on a path or step and lean into the planting to weed.. Particularly as most of the shrubs I have suggested, have a dense habit of growth and standing in amongst the planting would be difficult and may well ruin the shape of your shrubs. So if it is a very wide slope, or very steep it may be advisable to break the slope up with a flight of steps with wide landings and possibly the odd path, so you can maintain your planted slopes better.

I hope I have given you some ideas and inspiration to get started on tackling your own planting bank. If you need help with your planting project or with any aspects of garden design, then I know just the woman to give you a hand. Do give me Emily a ring on 01273 470753.