We've been living here for 2 years now and I'm gradually getting round to sorting out the garden, starting with a (pretty much empty) 11m long border. I have a good idea of what plants I'd like and have checked their soil preferences, light requirements etc but one of the things I'm uncertain about is how close together to plant things.
I've done a sketch, initially for 2/3 of the border. (The left-hand side may be more tricky as there is a 10m high cherry tree in place and therefore also shade, roots and dry soil. I may wait with that section until I have more confidence/experience, hopefully gained by planting the right-hand side of the border.)
I've taken the height (from the Crocus website) into account so that taller plants are behind shorter ones and I've used the 'spread' info for the 'diameter' of the plants on the sketch. Is this the right thing to do? I am aware that this is the maximum spread and therefore it might take a while for some of the plants to grow to this size.
I have actually cheated on my sketch with a couple of the big diameters. The white circle is a choisya (2.5m spread on Crocus but I have done 1.5m) and the biggest blue/purple circle is a hibiscus (2m spread on Crocus but I have done 1.5m). Is this a problem? If I actually use the full spread, there'd barely be space for other plants!
To give you an idea of the other plants on this particular sketch, the biggest light pink circle is a cistus and the rest are lavatera, verbena, lupin, erysimum bowles mauve, agastache, agapanthus, lavender, penstemon, geranium.
Does the closeness of the plants on my sketch look OK or would that be too crowded? Do I need to leave space for being able to get to the plants at the back to maintain them (deadhead, prune etc)?
Please or to access all these features
Please
or
to access all these features
Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.
Gardening
planning my border
20 replies
NotAnEMERGENCY · 08/10/2016 11:04
OP posts:
Please create an account
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.