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Last post 22-03-2009 3:28 PM by James Gardner. 24 replies.

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  • 12/01/2009 05:50 PM
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    • russian
    • Hants
    • 25 Nov 2008
    • 27
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    Thanks everyone.  These are intresting ideas.  The grass and lavender could look colourful and the grass makes it more informal.  I also like the idea of some "blobby" shaped evergreens like the green globe hebe.  I like myrtle but as far as I know they get big. Is tarentina the smallest? What other neat shaped evergreens are there?
  • 12/01/2009 08:44 PM
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    Hi Russian.  About these blobby evergreens,  I`ll be  following the suggestions as they flood in.  The names mentioned so far seem to be familiar, and I work on the principle if cuttings dont take and thrive then paid for pots wont either.  In other words I`ve tried and lost too many over the years.

    You dont specify how big is big for you or mention if you like pruning or not.  Bay trees that grow to 40 feet untended can be pruned to neat blobs.

    For years my dad had a very neat laurel bush, trimmed every year, I forgot to cut it back and now I`ve got a tree.  Neighbours have a spotted laurel bush which trebles in size every time it`s cut back, I dont know how it does it.  Two more to avoid.

    Happy hunting

    If anyone has the answer to the neighbours laurel invading,-  they had pebbles over weedproof membrane put down so sliding in to root prune is out of the question.  That I think is why it has suddenly expanded as my old neighbours used to dig the patch, which kept it a reasonable size for fifty years out of the last sixty.

    I`ve been looking at honeysuckles in the plant finder.  Because I`ve only ever seen them as hedges or wall plants it came as a surprise to see there`s one that can be described as ground cover, it`s evergreen as well.  There`s no scent but there are others that the RHS are hiding.  Would anyone in the forums know how they do in a normal garden?

     

    .
  • 13/01/2009 11:52 AM
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    • Susiq
    • Northumberland
    • 16 Feb 2008
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    ha ha ha all of my lonicera's are rampant growers, which I why I used some cuttings to put over some new arches two years ago and they are thriving. Must admit tho' I prefer to have ones with scent, for me thats part of the main beauty of them, not to mention the berries for the birds. Thats sounds very interesting tho' as ground cover, and I wonder how rapidly they would take over? What was the exact name of the ground cover specimen?

    We've got several gigantic laurels and agree with you, if you're not into pruning, then definately give them a miss!
  • 13/01/2009 03:23 PM
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    L.pileata and L. baggesens gold.  The latter I`ve seen trimmed into a golden hedge, low growing, but with no sun its lime green. I suppose it would pick up the lime green bits of what spurge I want to leave in the area.  Pileata looks upright in the photo, theres no indication of how it grows and spreads.
  • 14/01/2009 05:10 PM
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    • Alix
    • Bristol
    • 19 Dec 2008
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    whats wrong with roses? both formal and informal depending on how you plant them, goes well with lavender.

  • 14/01/2009 05:39 PM
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    Original posting - Russian has a driveway, which means cars and people getting in and out. I have a back door area to plant.  Our postings overlap at looking neat, i.e. neither bare nor straggly, in winter.... As far as I`m concerned my planting will have to withstand being trodden on occasionally as well.  I think that maybe is why roses have not been mentioned.

    I remember now the golden honeysuckle I`ve seen is a variety of L.pileata.
  • 14/01/2009 05:58 PM
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    ....due the week after next and had one question about hardy sweet peas, do they all have swollen roots like club root?  I wonder if you mean perennial sweet pea?  There is one called tuberosus which as you might guess etc, but usually clump, yes, tuber no. I think any tuber or other similar swelling is nothing to do with disease, club root or otherwise.

     ...as it died off I think something might be wrong. I did try turnips in that patch a few years ago so no brassicas survive... Consider if it is elderly, subject to water-logging or otherwise compromised by poor environment or cultivation methods.

     

    Boggy

    Beware the bat-eared bogweevil
  • 14/01/2009 06:18 PM
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    Thanks Boggy. 

    As long as the root system is known to be normal for the perennials, the annual sweet peas have no such problems,  it will be poor cultivation and an overdose of pests.  There`s a little seedling growing which is suffering the same fate I fear. It looked so healthy until I picked it up from the ground and tucked it into the supports - it`s being eaten by something, and it will be that same something that killed off its parent. Roots had nothing to do with it.
  • 15/01/2009 05:58 PM
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    • Annie
    • LINCOLNSHIRE
    • 11 Jan 2009
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    I found a good site on the web for front garden design.  we moved into our place and struggled with ground elder  for 4 years trying to keep the front garden in some kind of order-beautiful plants lots of shrubs-we were beaten'  tackled it.got someone in and with heavy machinery cleared the whole garden -laid a membrane down and covered it with gravel--left it for Three years unplanted. And then planted it up with  Magnolia /azalea/Rhodendron/Helleborous (christmas rose)Hosta/ Heuchera /dogwood/Cowslips/Ferns and for butterflies and bee's Coreopsis and cornflower--the garden is as lovely from the road as it is looking from my window --always with colour and little to no work looking after it.Good luck in your design, which always looks better from a well thought out plan, give plants lots of room---it will look bare for awhile, but before you know it it will have filled out and add to your property's value. 
  • 22/03/2009 03:28 PM
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    Hi, Whatever you decide on for the front garden good luck with it. One of the benifits of having a proper front garden is that whilst you are out working in it you have the opportunity to speak to you neighbours and passers by and get to knoe them a little. Something that the concreted over garden, out the front door and into the car merchants miss out on.

    James Gardner