Things you don't grow but would if you had the space

thevictorian

Is there something you like but you don't grow because you don't think you can spare the space in your garden? If you see a plant mentioned and you wish to change people's minds as to why they should, please add your experience.

I'll go first and say that I've always liked bearded iris for their amazing coloured flowers but as it seems such a short display and they need such a valuable position in the garden, I've not grown them. I think I'm probably missing out but would rather keep that sunny spot for a long flowering salvia or similar.   

fidgetbones

I have space. What I don't have is the climate to be able to grow all the exotics I  love. Instead they go in a frost free greenhouse for winter, but I will never have a flowering jacaranda or an orchard of citrus trees.  They say travel broadens the mind, it just induces plant envy in me.

Obelixx

A cedar of Lebanon.  Always loved them but saw some fab specimens at Chaumont last summer.  Their height and spread was impressive but they'd also self-layered where branches touched the ground and looked like they were walking.

bédé

thevictorian said:

I'll go first and say that I've always liked bearded iris for their amazing coloured flowers but as it seems such a short display and they need such a valuable position in the garden   

In Loseley House walled garden there is a deep mauve Wisteria on south-facing wall.  In the narrow space below there are deeper mauve bearded irises.  They flowewr together.  Takes up no space.

Uff

Fabulous trees @Obelixx
In our old garden before we moved to this cottage I had a 25ft polytunnel and grew white and black grapes, a nectarine and a peach tree. All delicious. I miss the tunnel very much and would love another but no space in this small garden. 

pansyface

An amazing maze. 🙂 I could go and sit in it for hours and nobody could find me. 😊 And in this weather I could play out the final scenes of The Shining. 😜

puschkinia

I have so many: 
A Luma apiculata
A multistem birch
A grape vine over a pergola
An amelanchier
An olive tree
A weeping willow 
An oak tree

... you get the idea

Nollie

With enough drainage, Bearded irises can be grown successfully in pots sunk into the ground thevictorian. Once they’re over, easily lifted and relegated to a corner somewhere to make way for something else. 

Mine would be trees for autumn colour. Space is not my issue either @fidgetbones but it’s mostly terraces that have been stripped of all topsoil in the making, leaving a thin, rocky layer of impenetrable clay subsoil lacking sufficient depth for planting trees. Pretty much everything else has to be grown in raised beds.

B3

I was going to say a cedar too

didyw

Oh I nice big spreading cedar - with a bench underneath, that would be fab.
Failing that - an orchard. With chickens. And time and energy to tend to it and them.

B3

I'm quite partial to an avenue of massive London Planes too.  Perhaps the avenue could lead to the cedar and a lake with those plants that look like giant rhubarbs