Garden Update

DFW

All,

A few of you may recall that I posted back in September last year regarding the newbuild property I'd recently moved in to, and I'm happy to report that I've been making (slow) progress extended the beds, adding top quality soil to a depth of about 2ft, and also - just recently - adding some plants/shrubs.

There's still plenty to do mind you, but I wanted to get your thoughts on two questions:-

1. What climbers should I put up this wall?  It's south facing so pretty much gets the sun all day long.

2. Further up from the Beauty of Moscow Lilac Tree I'd like to plant a larger tree, but it obviously can't be huge as it's only a relatively small garden.  Something that will:-

a) Be quick growing

b) Provide some sort of screening from the property over the road

c) Be aesthetically pleasing

On a side note, the slugs are devouring my recently planted Dahlia's (have put beer into an ice cream tub tonight to catch some of the blighters), and the Weigela that my grandmother gave me (next to the California Lilac) doesn't look like it's going to take.

Thoughts/advice/abuse welcomed.

Daniel

Cloggie

DFW, just my thoughts.  That bed is very slim.  The next time it rains, have a look where the rain doesn't touch due to the shadow of the wall.  Plant outside of this dry area.

A semi-evergreen that I've found to be fabulous is Solanum Crispum Glasnevin.  It loves sunshine and flowers like mad.  It is a bit of a thug in a place it likes and will love your wall but you did ask for fast growing.

Here it is in a small garden in June (it's the lilac coloured flower).

The climber in the foreground is Clematis Armandii, another huge plant (didn't know this when I put it in!).

Hope this helps one way or another.  I planted these to screen us from the windows of the properties beyond the fence.

 

Fairygirl

I'd agree - the border is too narrow for big shrubs or trees. Even slimmer shrubs - and by that I mean ones you can wall train or keep tight - will encroach or your grass. I'd take  a.good chunk of that grass away if you want some shrubs along the wall.

Amelanchier would provide screening - light canopy and can be pruned lower down to give a 'tree like' trunk with foliage further up. That would allow you to underplant. Escallonia can be kept quite tight against a wall too.

DFW

Both,

I do agree with you, and in an ideal world the border would be much wider, BUT I've only got a very limited space to play with, and if you look back to my older post from September you'll see that I've already widened it from what it was. I'd love a bigger garden - and in due time I'll have one - but for now I'm going to make do. On the plus side, the border does widen significantly the further up the garden you go (you can't see it clearly in the photo I attached to my post).

I'll certainly be keeping well on top of the pruning side of things though to ensure nothing encroaches too much on the grass, and I hope - in time - that it'll become a little gem.

Further advice welcomed!

Daniel

Dovefromabove

Have a look at Campsis radicans ... we have 'Flamenco' against a fence in a sunny corner ... gorgeous once it gets going ... initially it needs trellis or wires to cling to, but as it matures it develops little adventitious roots that cling to the wall

https://www.burncoose.co.uk/site/plants.cfm?pl_id=5099 

There is also a yellowy/cream coloured variety. 

Hostafan1

I think you've identified your own problem:

"I'll certainly be keeping well on top of the pruning side of things though to ensure nothing encroaches too much on the grass,"

If you're already thinking of cutting stuff back, you must realise, you've either got the wrong plants, or the wrong sized bed. 

I agree with others, it's too narrow for what you have planted there. I'd make it wider,but then again, I'd not have a lawn in a small garden. 

Dovefromabove

If it was my garden I'd do exactly that Hosta ... but if I remember correctly DFW has two small children who need to run around and burn off some energy so for the time being he'll have to make some compromises ...........

Hostafan1

When my children were born , our garden was 14 feet by 40 feet, but I still had decent deep borders.

I'd train the kids, not the plants. 

Last edited: 20 May 2017 09:20:48

Dovefromabove

You're a hard man Hosta .................... and to think that all this time you've been masquerading as a sweet softeeeeee 

raisingirl

One problem with the narrow bed is the rain-shadow of the wall affecting the plants (as Cloggie explained) and one solution to that may be to lay a soaker hose under the surface now, while the plants are small, so you can water the border plants regularly without getting your grass sodden round the edge.

Weigela are tough and unfussy plants, so lack of water is the most probable cause of it struggling to establish.

Dovefromabove

Another fan of the soaker hose here ... I have one laid permanently along the north-facing Shady Bank as otherwise the clematis and honeysuckles there really suffer from the rainshadow effect of the high fence.