Successful Bed Building
Cloggie
Posts: 1,457
As the custodian of a garden that had its glory days in the past (it was GIANT bramble weedy when I moved in!), I'm interested in seeing pictures of beds you've built that you are proud of.
For instance, after spending a lot of time on a new bed last summer, I realised this weekend that it had a terrible winter presence.
I've done some work on remedying this. I've bought some lovely evergreens and done a bit of a jiggle and fill-in operation to make the bed more balanced and less boring in winter.
I will take pictures but to be honest they don't say much until the embryonic plants and design in my head has had chance to mature.
Hence this thread.
Can you show me a Sambucus Nigra Black Lace next to an Escallonia iveyi alongside a Sambucus Aurea fronted by Cornus Alba Kesselringii and a bit of Euonymus Japonicus Green Spider thrown in?
Yeah OK, maybe not, but what plant combinations did work for you? I'd love to see mature successes.
Ta,
Cloggie.
Posts
You have dropped names that I've hankered after Verdun, e.g. Berberis Helmond Pillar. Where might I find your pictures exactly? ...<salivating> ha ha
I have a rose - Iceberg - with geranium Mrs Kendall Clark which is a combination I find very satisfying
I have one bed - difficult to photograph - which works pretty well all year. The bones of it are a winter flowering honeysuckle, a small rowan tree, hebe James Stirling and a convolvulus cneorum. The back is defined by verbena bonariensis. Around these are:
in winter, nandina domestica, hellebores, euphorbia myrsinites, iris Walter Butt and some really early daffs - rijnveld's early sensation.
Then (actually now) there is white flowering heather with dark blue reticulata iris and a silvery sword shaped leaf the name of which I have never known (garden centre bargain shelf).
Next it'll be geums, helianthemum, alchemilla and ajuga. I plant tulips every year (clay soil so none live more than a year) - this year's are all dark red.
High summer has a mix of tangerine and golden small flowered roses with blue geraniums and dutch irises.
Then the crocosmia george davison with aster Monch. There are some bigger crocosmia in there as well but they are only just getting established
In October the japanese anenomes at the back come into flower with an aster called 'Oktoberlicht' and the rowan is at it's best.
In November a very late flowering chrysanth takes over. And then we're back to winter.
Me too, Lovely ideas you two. I've made lots of notes.
What's great too is I have some of these so lots of propagation to do and mixing and matching. Fab, thanks.