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[CLKD]

Crikey - where's the Winter gone 

In the sunshine on clay based soil we have lavenders and rosemary, roses LOVE clay ……. fruit trees.  Spring bulbs are up from mid-January and I add bulbs in the Autumn to fill gaps.  This year I bought 50 aconite corms which are being planted as gap fillers in groups of 5.  Nasturtiums are good but attract blackfly, hence they are used as companion plants on allotments.   They come in various types: climbers, ramblers, clumped in lots of lovely colours.  They can be eaten in salads too 

Suggested: "Re cottage garden plants - haven't done it for years but, Lavatera, Godetia, Nicotiana, Night Scented Stock and Nasturtium all gave colour and scent. They did need re doing every year but worked well   â€¦â€¦. "

I have tried to grow wall flowers both in pots and the borders, they didn't thrive.  Would love a wall  .  Would hostas or ferns grow Honeybun, in that area - unless it gets hot sunshine all day.  [can't remember what you said that border gets … ] : may salads ?

[honeybun]

Too dry for hostas and ferns, got them under the trees. Garden is South facing but this border faces East.....does that make any sense.

Just want something that I can have for winter foliage but that I can add to in the summer for colour and scent.

Don't want much really  . The other borders are good with rambling roses and climbing hydrangeas and a purple wisteria, oh and clematis. Masses of flowers and colour. This border is quite narrow and my problem.


Honeybun
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[CLKD]

Wish I could grow wisteria here - am trying for the last time in a large tub.   Yep, border faces East …….

Right - could the narrow border accommodate pots?  Remove soil, put down slabs of slate and stand pots on?  Spring bulbs which are then over-grown with …….. (camellias are lovely but don't like facing East as the buds open on freezing mornings then get browned).  Need to get my thinking cap on !

Jasmine; forsythia; under-planted ………. with annuals?  Fuchsias?  shrub and climbers.  Go onto one of the gardening web-sites, i.e. Sarah Raven, for inspiration?

[dazned]

I love stocks and godetia and nicotina,Hollyhock all the old fashioned cottage garden things too.

[CLKD]

Hollyhocks are OK but not foxgloves  Night scented stocks, oh and tall yellow evening primrose which spreads ……. where it likes 

[honeybun]

Need to google me thinks. It's a border next to a dwarf wall that falls away to a path. Something that tumbles would be good.

Dont want much do I 


Honeybun
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[CLKD]

So is the border above the wall?  Aubretia might do it, pinks/purples and white ……..

[dazned]

Iberis white and its hardy,spreads easy.Think you can get a pinky mauve one too .

[honeybun]

Grass, border, small wall of about two feet.Over the wall is a drop of about four feet to a path.

Going to look up all the suggestions, write them down and head for the garden center very soon.


Honeybun
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[CLKD]

Can I come with you 

[bramble]

How wide is the border HB? And how long?

Have I got this right?

Border ? wide ? long between grass and 2 foot wall
facing east, dryish
scented if possible
Do you want something low growing? perennial?

Bramble

[honeybun]

The border is about 20 foot long and sort of curves out at both ends and narrower in the middle.

I don't want anything too tall but I would like some shrubs to give a bit of green in the winter.

I have a couple of small Hebes but they don't look right. Also had lavender which is not doing well and also a couple of large poppy plants. It's just been one of those beds that have had all sorts bunged in....things that people have given us and things we have moved from else where.

It all needs to come out and a lot more thought given to what will work.


Honeybun
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[CLKD]

The hebes and lavender will re-plant into pots, both will tolerate a hard prune but not into old wood.

Shrubs : holly, dark leaf and a variegated one?  underplanted with Spring bulbs.  Privet is old fashioned but slow growing with lovely small, scented flowers.  Ice plants [Sedum] ?

[bramble]

The hebes should have been ok. However:

ordinary box clipped into shapes
winter box Sarcococca fragrant smallish shrub slow growing
epimedium evergreen ground cover flowers in late winter
London Pride evergreen, flowers in summer
Alchemilla mollis
Vinca ground cover. Minor is less than a thug than major.
lovely variegated ivies
Perennial geraniums
Dicentra spectabilis spring flowers
Pulmonarias -
Heucheras different coloured leaves all year
Hellebores spring
Bergenia summer flowering
Euonymus small variegated shrub
spring bulbs

Hope I have not bored you! All the above are as tough as old boots. I grow them all.
Bramble

[honeybun]

Off to print out the last two posts.....


I don't have green fingers but I'm really keen. This is really the first garden we have had that we just have to please us. It's was for kids before. Tree houses climbing frames and even a putting green complete with holes 
Those days are gone and I so enjoy being in the garden. It does something good for the soul.


Honeybun
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