Calling shovetheholly and other gardeners! Help!

[SkodaLabia]

I have a very weirdly shaped garden. I've posted about it before but since then it's got weirder thanks to the discovery of a second patio under a deck that we recently removed.
I'm at a loss as to how to work with the shape. It's short and wide and faces due West.

I really want more privacy, and anything that could help to minimise the noise from a busy road, but at the moment dealing with the shape has me defeated!

[SkodaLabia]

Thanks, I feel I'm getting a handhold worthy of the relationships board on here!

Have just bought 3 ferns in the Homebase sale for £2.48 each. I'm thinking if I get them in amongst the acanthus mollis and the fatsias in the shady corner we could be feeling a bit 🌴.

Perhaps my mid to low palette should be ferns, cannas, hostas, and any grasses that are more the jungly Japanesey type like that amazing one beginning with h.

Then for height I have the Two Unmentionable Trees, the acer that I think will fit in nicely, and I could perhaps do something with the bamboo I have, but I don't want to take them out of their pots.

Will have to think about flowers though, I want the bees to be happy. Will go for the clematis armandii apple blossom on the trellis.

Maybe this is the time to unleash my canary island date palm from its patio pot and get it in the ground...

[SkodaLabia]

Wow Astrantia, did you just chuck all those plants out?! What are you putting in instead, the grasses you were telling us about before?

[shovetheholly]

skoda - answering your question about whether you should aim for unified planting, I think the answer is yes! As you note, the conditions in your shadiest corner are very different to those in your sunniest spot - but if you choose a colour theme that runs through both, that will help. I also think that different kinds of plants are more or less 'imprinted' with a kind of cultural stamp of how we are used to seeing them used. So if you're going for jungle planting, you might use, say, fatsia in the shade corner (as you've suggested) or kirengeshoma, and then tetrapanax in a sunnier spot. Both have a kind of form that echoes the other, and the same sort of overall feel. You might want to avoid something like, say, lavender since most people will associate that with a different style of planting (though there are no 'rules', if you really adore something just go with it!!). Something like a morning glory vine, however, might work just as well in a cottage garden as a jungly one! There is relatively little rhyme or reason, as far as I can tell, as to why something 'fits' - I guess it's cultural??!

Check out different leaf colours, too - in a very leafy planting scheme, a shot of colour from canna leaves or variegated hakonechloa can really sing. White flowers also look sensational against glossy large-leaves, but for a rather fierier palette, you can go for things like gingers, crocosmia, and some of the more exotic looking lobelias (not the blue trailing one perhaps, though!!). Love the idea of incorporating agapanthus.

[SkodaLabia]

I spent a fortune on various types of alliums, all various shades of purple, so I think I should let them come through and see what they look like, they might bring the garden together because even though they're not jungly they look good with ferns.

Yes! Halonechloa! According to a couple of websites that's good for sun and shade so that would work.

The fantastic grasses in this border would give great height and be better in the wind than bananas. I wonder what they are.

And look! Tropical plants in front of a non-tropical tree! And it looks ok!

[SkodaLabia]

Yes, the cultural thing is interesting. I'd buy rosemary in a tropical garden, but not lavender. Maybe it's the shade of green?

[shovetheholly]

Yes, it would be a shame to waste those alliums. If they do look strange, and I suspect they might, you could always wait til they are done and move them to the front garden with your grasses!

I am not good on grasses. I think that might be a Miscanthus giganteus. Really like the darker leaved additions to that border - looks brilliant.

[SkodaLabia]

How do I know when they're done? I've not had bulbs before. Is it like daffodils where once they've finished flowering they go all brown and manky? Then should I just dig them up?

[shovetheholly]

Yes, exactly - the leaves go brown - this means they've almost gathered all of the energy in the plant back into the bulb and it can be dug up and moved without too much damage. The seedheads can be removed and dried for decoration!

[AstrantiaMajor]

No I did not chuck them, I put them on a a site called Freely Wheely and I met some really lovely people. My front garden went first, huge pots, massive plants and garden supports. They went to one lady who had just moved and she made her daughter write down the names and how to care for them. She still emails me. The rest of the front garden went to a lady who ran a church community group. The back garden stuff went to all different sorts of people. Allotment holders, gardeners, vegetable, growers. In all that greenery there was a stumpery and wild like rock garden, and that went too. Fortunately I made the decision to revamp inAugust but the work did not start to December. That gave me lots of time to decide what to keep. I knew I wanted mostly trees to compliment my Acer colllection but was not sure how to make it look interesting. is looking a bit bare at the moment, but 9O% of the planting is done and I am just waiting for it to fill out.

[SkodaLabia]

How fantastic that so many people now have bits of your garden. I love acers, if it weren't so windy (and sometimes salty) here I'd have more. I have the one orange dream and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for it.

I think I'm going to freecycle the two apple trees that I inherited when I bought the house. They're not really thriving anyway, and don't go in the front garden at all (new build estate with loads of architectural coastal planting all over).

[SkodaLabia]

Sorry Astrantia, just read back and it looks like I was telling you off! I was only wow-ing because I'm so panicked about wasting more money in this garden I'm tying myself in knots trying to use everything no matter what style it is.

[AstrantiaMajor]

Hee heeeee heee. I never read anywhere that you were telling me off. Probably would have sailed over my head if you were.

[SkodaLabia]

For those of you coming on this journey with me, I've had a bit of a revelation. I've realised I really like ferns. And I think they could work with the trees I already have.

I've realised that in this part of the world it's mostly wet, which is why I don't think I ever really achieved the prairie look that I aspired to. I'm a bit in love with the fern/acer/hosta combo.

[SkodaLabia]

Some lovely pics here for those of us who like the damp, big foliage look.

[MaudOnceMore]

That is indeed gorgeous, although I suspect being on a jetty helps keep the hostas looking so pristine. Even moving mine into pots topped with gravel and slow roasted eggshells couldn't keep the slugs and snails at bay.

[SkodaLabia]

Yes, I love hostas, but I'm not sure I'd cope well if they were getting munched. What's an alternative?

Am making my circular lawn this morning, and it's going well. Little half logs as the edging. Going to fill it with top soil and seed it anew. The garden is pretty soggy, and the shady part of the old lawn is slippery and muddy, so I think I've done the right thing restricting the size and moving it over.

Once the lawn is done I'm going to make an inventory of what I have, and apportion everything 'dry' to the front garden. Then take stock of what I have left. The jetty garden's theme seems to be foliage, as opposed to tropical, Japanese etc. I like that, but I'd need to have some flowers to satisfy my wildlife aim.

Do bees like clematis, or are they more honeysuckle fans?

Wonder whether buddleia could work in the damp/foliage garden, or whether they have to go to the front. Similarly the sambucus nigra black lace, where could that go?

[JT05]

Bees like anything with an open flower, such as clematis. Buddlia grow in most aspects. I'm on the hunt for a non standard one, at the moment. I prefer not to buy from the internet. I like to choose the plant.
Sambucus are great for a dense foliage effect. I have a small one and the large stags horn tree version, growing in pots. They do lose their leaves in winter, not that it matters much.

[JT05]

Just looked at the foliage pictures, lovely effect. Have you thought of the larger versions of crocosmia? The long green foliage is striking and then the bright red/ orange flowers cut through it dramatically. It's also very forgiving and looks after itself!

[SkodaLabia]

I LOVE stags horn tree, but the suckers have put me off. Never thought to grow it in a pot, thanks.

I too prefer to buy in person. There's a great nursery a few hundred yards up the road where the guy only stocks plants that will grow where we live, so choosing is easy!

Crocosmia grows like buggery here, so that could be a very good option, ta.

[MaudOnceMore]

My sambucus nigra Black Lace seems very happy in my damp, shady garden. It's not like for like, but where I used to grow hostas I now have telling grandiflora, which is bombproof.

Crocosmia is all well and good, but Lucifer (for example) tends to keel over under the weight of its own flowers. The bog standard crocosmia masonorum self seeds everywhere and is a thug.

[shovetheholly]

That's a great suggestion maud - such wonderful, dark foliage!

I went to a garden last year that had PERFECT hostas. And it was unbelievably damp, so ideal slug territory. I asked them how they kept them from being munched, and whether they were using chemical controls. They crossed their heart and hoped to die that they weren't doing the latter - the answer was to keep them well-nourished and watered so they weren't stressed. Apparently, that keeps the pesky beggars at bay.

There are loads of lovely smaller crocosmias - I like George Davison, which is a zingy yellow.

[SkodaLabia]

Right, the lawn edging is done, and now it's at the stage where everything looks worse. DP wasn't very encouraging when he got in. You need confidence not to just fill a garden with a lawn, don't you?

[MaudOnceMore]

Yes, yellow crocosmia are fab. I have a small clump of Norwich Canary, but it's gradually being swamped by the masoniorum and it's impossible to weed it out until both are in flower. I also like the garish charms of Emily McKenzie.

The other plant I mentioned was tellima grandiflora. Bloomin' autocorrect.

[AstrantiaMajor]

Well done SkodaLabia. Did you do it all yourself? You are right about it getting worse before better. I am always overplanting because of lack of patience. I love your photos. I would really like a tree fern now.

[SkodaLabia]

Yep, can't afford landscapers. Or a tree fern, sadly!

I'm very intimidated by the prospect of planting. I read this article, which emphasises the importance of only using a few different types of plant. I just don't know how to plant the space though, there are two beds viewable from all sides, and I don't know how to manage the low/medium/high aspect.

I'm wishing we had a long thin garden and I could just do bountiful beds down each side. There are so many pics online for that.