Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

[SugarPlumTree]

Potting shed thread for those who enjoy talking about gardens and plants. Plenty of garden chairs and the wood burner lit now there is a chill in the air, please join us !

Hello. I saw the old thread but it was massive by the time I did and never joined in. Can I join this time?

I moved house last year and after a year of watching the light, ripping out lots of horrible ugly overgrown shrubs and digging about a tonne of pebbles (why!?) out the soil I've got a week off in two weeks time and I'm going to plant my lovely new garden!

Yes, of course, Woozlebear. Welcome to you and Lala.

Hi Woozlebear, that sounds very exciting! Must be lovely to be at that stage after loads of hard work. What are you planning on planting ?

Party staple when I was a child

I'm not young!

Oops didn't spot we'd moved on another page.

Welcome Woozlebear

Missed that bit about Agadoo, was a part of my teenage years !

Agadoo was the equivalent of gangnam style and harlem shake.

Welcome to all new posters!

Terrible commute to work this morning took ages so I left on time today for the first time in my entire working life i.e at 5 pm on the dot and was shocked to get home not tired.

Gladioli byzantinium are a lovely cerise pink colour as are phlox.

Hello everyone. Thanks! Yes, so excited. We're having loads of horrible building work done at the same time do it'll be lovely to have an excuse to take refuge in the garden, and to have something that looks nice!

The planting is still a bit up in the air. It's a tricky one as I really want a cottage garden but have a shady London garden! To complicate matters it's a very symmetrical layout of two curved raised beds round a circular lawn, one South facing, one North!

So far my inspiration list has on it:
Acanthus
Aconitum
Anchusa
Astrantia
Aquilegia
Bergenia
Campanula
Dicentra
Geranium
Hellebore
Heuchera
Monarda
Penstemon
Polyanthus
Pulmonaria
Tiarella
Verbascum
Vinca minor

Some I've had before but not all. I'm now looking at lots of full shade stuff as well that I don't know at all but looks lovely!

I'm not really envious, the list looks great, just couldn't resist the opportunity to put up the emoticon!

That does sound lovely, Woozlebear. I too am contending with London shade. Do you have London clay too, for good measure?

Hello everyone, and particularly new posters

The orchard is fine thanks funny, not the best crop of apples but pears are doing well. I watched a dragonfly laying eggs in the bank yesterday. It is a bit nettle-y but it will be strimmed soon so that should clear some space. Good for wildlife anyway! When BabyCobbler learns to walk we will spend more time down there, I can't put him down in that bit at the moment.

oh, lovely poem. I didn't know that one.

Yes great list Woozlebear.

I love that Gladiolus funny, I'd forgotten about that one.

Welcome Lala & Woozle. Woozle, I love that your list is in alphabetical order.

Maudant actually thank god by dint of the raised beds we don't suffer from clay too much. But yes, the ground here is otherwise full on clay. Last house was awful - you'd stand in a flower bed and leave it with half attached to your foot!!

Blackpudding, I may possibly have a job related to libraries

The funny thing is, until you said, it hasn't occurred to me for a minute that it was anything other than the only possible reasonable method

Maudant- what are your favourites that do well in your garden? Experienced advice gratefully received!

As it happens, Woozlebear, I have quite a few of the things on your beautifully alphabetical list.

In the shadiest bed, I have three different viburnums, a rosa glauca and a pittosporum. The perennials beneath them are a mix of pulmonarias, aquilegias, heucheras, geraniums (Kashmir White looks particularly good in the gloom) and a few other oddments. The astilbes have done badly this year (I think because it was too dry). In the dry shade under the apple tree I have hellebores and cyclamen. In other parts of the garden I have more roses (because they like the clay), euphorbias, phlomis, Japanese anemones, buddleia and peonies. On the fences I have ivy (an elementary planting mistake as it's too vigorous), clematis, a climbing rose (also too vigorous) and solanum. Jasmine (the white one and the yellow one, can't remember the Latin name) is going great guns on the obelisks.

Of the things on your list, I found that monarda didn't thrive (partly because a self-seeded goat willow suffocated it) and I dug out the aconitum because I was scared of how toxic it is.

Phew! That's quite an essay.

Oh and winter box. It is happy even in deep shade and smells gorgeous.

I forgot about winter box, it would be just the thing for the side of the house by the drive. Will it grow in pots?

Woozlebear that is a great list. How exciting, a brand new garden!

I'm a bit late to the thread and a long way from home. Welcome Lala and Woozlebear. Right now I'm looking out at misty hills. You know that thing in photos when each range becomes fainter as they are further away? They're doing that.

Lots of lovely gardens seen, and my inspiration is osmanthus and possibly horsetails as a water garden plant in a container, though mozzies might be a problem.