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Well, we certainly had a tough winter last year but I do think it has done me some favours in the garden. It has been the perfect excuse for a really good clear out.
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Planted fifteen years ago, many plants were getting a bit woody or were fighting for space with an ill chosen partner. My poor long suffering husband Dave has been in high demand to dig out a few not so tiny stumps after I have got going with the Felcos. If you are putting off this kind of work, don’t, it is so liberating!
I can’t believe how much more light is flooding into the garden and how much bigger it looks. We all make the odd mistake when choosing plants – mine are usually through over optimistic assessment of just how much I can fit into one border. I started out with the best of intentions but fell off the wagon somewhere along the line.
I can’t believe how much more light is flooding into the garden and how much bigger it looks. We all make the odd mistake when choosing plants – mine are usually through over optimistic assessment of just how much I can fit into one border. I started out with the best of intentions but fell off the wagon somewhere along the line.
So what have I planted since the big clear out. Well firstly two small evergreen plants for all year-round colour. Heucheras have moved on a long way since I first planted the garden and so Heuchera ‘Plum Royale’ was my first choice. This is a stunning new variety with plum foliage quite unlike any of the others – it has a steely matt sheen to it and so looks fabulous with blue grasses and rich plum penstemons. I find it loves sun and the colour gets even stronger in good light conditions.
I was also interested to see a new Heucherella appear on the nursery’s trial area. A quick bit of arm twisting followed and a sample was winging its way into my garden. What a trouper this is X Heucherella ‘Tapestry’ is a cross between a Heuchera and Tiarella and has glossy bright green leaves richly marked with chocolately purple. Again this is a plant for a sunny spot to get the very richest colour but it will thrive in a pot or in the ground. I think it is going to prove a real winner.
My next choice was Photinia ‘Pink Marble’, this is a brand new sport for the ever popular Photinia fraseri ‘Red Robin’. Now, if you are as old as me you will remember a sickly looking plant in the 1970s called Photinia davidiana ‘Palette’, don’t let memories of this plant put you off.
‘Pink Marble’ is a different species and a completely different beast. The foliage starts out bright pink then softens to clean blue-green with a white variegation and a tiny pink edge. It is extremely pretty, strong growing and makes a fabulous garden plant all year round. It will be big, but just like Red Robin it will respond really well to hard pruning. I can’t wait until it grows a little when I can grow a summer flowering clematis through it – perhaps ‘Comtesse de Bouchard’ or ‘Louise Rowe’?
My last plants were ones I chose because my garden is only small. I am always looking for ways to squeeze another plant in. I love trees but I already have three and the garden won’t stretch to another so this was my perfect solution.
They are Table Top Acers. They have been specially grown from the start in elegant shallow dishes to restrict the root growth, in a similar way to Bonsai trees. They are completely hardy varieties of beautiful garden acers in really attractive glazed earthenware bowls. The range includes varieties like ‘Butterfly’ with delicious grey-green foliage edged in cream and flushed with pink and ‘Orange Dream’ with orange-yellow foliage in spring softening to green in summer then hitting autumn in a blaze of brilliant yellow.
I keep mine on the table as a feature so that I can enjoy the delicious foliage while sitting in the garden but it could just as easily fit in with a group of pots on the terrace, sit on the edge of a pond or even in a Japanese garden.
They are Table Top Acers. They have been specially grown from the start in elegant shallow dishes to restrict the root growth, in a similar way to Bonsai trees. They are completely hardy varieties of beautiful garden acers in really attractive glazed earthenware bowls. The range includes varieties like ‘Butterfly’ with delicious grey-green foliage edged in cream and flushed with pink and ‘Orange Dream’ with orange-yellow foliage in spring softening to green in summer then hitting autumn in a blaze of brilliant yellow.
I keep mine on the table as a feature so that I can enjoy the delicious foliage while sitting in the garden but it could just as easily fit in with a group of pots on the terrace, sit on the edge of a pond or even in a Japanese garden.
Looking after these table top Acers is easy, simply feed with Vitax Q4 once a year and water as you would any other container. I love the fact that you watch them go through the seasons from the brilliant spring growth through the luxuriant summer foliage, colourful autumn foliage to the fascinating branch structure in winter. Even my garden robin approves of it!
All the plants this article are available to buy online in the Plantsmans Choice section.
All the plants this article are available to buy online in the Plantsmans Choice section.
