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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Right ladies...please can I have your collective flower bed wisdom

12 replies

ingles2 · 30/04/2009 13:41

So we have been gardening seriously for about 5 yrs now.
We've done the herb garden and the veg garden and planted an orchard but am now about to start my first big flower bed from scratch
The bed is about 250 sq ft. It's south facing on clay and behind is a new hornbeam hedge with espalier apple trees which separates the orchard.
So where do I start? Any recommendations on Shrubs, small trees especially autumn/winter interest.
I would like more rose bushes, any favourites?
I'm good on the bulbs and perennials but it's the basics I haven't got a clue on.
Hoping you can all tell me your favourite flower bed staples.
Thanks.

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fortyplus · 01/05/2009 01:13

You need the Royal Horticultural Society Plant selector

Cornus (Dogwood) is good - especially if you choose a variegated one. Leaves and small flowers in summer and if you hard prune some of the stems you can get lovely red or bright yellow/green stems in winter.
David Austin great for roses.

If you choose plants that have been given an rhs award of merit it will help.

Daphnes are lovely for very early flowers and fabulous scent.

Combinations of red Acers and 'Philadelphus Aureus' look great in springtime through to early summer.

Have fun!

ingles2 · 01/05/2009 12:55

Thankyou 40+. That plant selector will be a great help.
I was thinking we should have a smallish acer

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ShellingPeas · 01/05/2009 17:48

Ooh, I love acers - I've got 3 Acer palmatum dissectum - a green one, and 2 red ones and they are brilliant for autumn colour. I have them planted with a white azalea and a Daphne bholua (which has the most amazing scented flowers in winter), and underplanted with hellebores (Lenten rose). You can also add in some spring flowering bulbs like snow drops or daffs and you'll have something of interest for most of the year.

ingles2 · 01/05/2009 20:16

That sounds good Peas. I like azaleas and I tried one before but we are really windy in winter and I think it killed it off.
Have you had any problems with it?

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HelensMelons · 01/05/2009 21:37

I love, skimmia, euphorbia, agapanthus, allium, sedum. They all look lovely in a garden.

I expect every single one of them is spelt wrongly too, sorry about that. x

ingles2 · 01/05/2009 21:55

Thanks Helen. I love euphorbia and agapanthus too. I don't know the others, I'll go and look.

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ShellingPeas · 01/05/2009 22:12

I think azaleas probably prefer a sheltered site so perhaps not ideal. They do need an acid soil too, so I suppose it depends on your soil pH.

I'll have a think about plants suitable for clay - I'm assuming south facing you gets lots of sun?

Agapanthus might struggle in a clay soil in the winter if it's prone to getting waterlogged, so if you do plant them, make sure you dig in lots of grit to help with drainage.

Medee · 01/05/2009 22:24

Ingles - Rachel de Thame did a Gardener's World special last year on planning a big border - sounds similar in that there was a hedge backing it. Maybe you could track it down on You Tube or something?

I remember her having lots of roses, several large grasses. I'm very jealous!

MarmadukeScarlet · 01/05/2009 22:26

Also don't azaleas need, erm, whatsit soil? You know acid - not the hippy kind.

Techincally if it has a hedge behind it and cannot be viewed from all sides it is a border, not a bed .

Also, techincally from a (traditional) garden design ponce position you should not grow anything at the back of the border which will be taller than the bed is from front to back. Apart from a tree, obviously!

With your lovely clay soil (called Hastings Bed, btw) you need to add loads of organic material and stuff. Clay is good because it is not water permeable so holds on to more nutrients, but is a bugger to dig and gets very compacted. You can free it up by adding sand, farm yard manure (FYM) - well rotted obviously, spent mushroom compost, home made compost/leaf mold etc. I would double dig it, which (if you don't know) means to take out a trench at one end and ssave this earth. Fill trench almost to top with organic matter, fym etc, dig next trench throwing diggins over the fym and so on. Until you reach the end, then you use earth from first trench to cover fym.

For planting I would decide on your colour palette first, I like a simple one personally.

Repetition of shapes etc can help make it look less busy, so a group of dwarf larkspur near the front and some tall ones at the back.

Plant in groups of 3 or 5 for a natural looking result.

Good luck

MarmadukeScarlet · 01/05/2009 22:28

I have a fabulous planting plan for a big border which I could be tempted to give you a copy of if you buy me a latte in SB's 'tis a fab and envy making plan.

BannedInternationalFlight · 01/05/2009 22:28

For a year round garden have a look at Tilia 'winter orange' It's a small lime tree, up to about 20ft, orangey red stems, beautiful...

ingles2 · 02/05/2009 09:10

Thanks all.
Yes I remember that GW feature now... I'll have a look for it.
MDS...it won't be me double digging, that'll be dh's job I get to do the nice stuff!
Love to do SB's... can you do middle next week? or week after?
BIF, love that tree, that might be my first choice

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