|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on Sept 7, 2008 19:57:25 GMT 1
Unless the weather picks up for a last gasp at the tail end of the season I guess the summer (such as it was) is about over. I want to make a real effort with the garden over the next few months...so that it doesn't end up a mud heap with dead stuff in it..
I plan to buy some nice globe hebes and heathers (NOT the painted ones) for the pot in the front garden and maybe a few dozen pansies for the flower border...anybody else wondering what to plant over winter? I don't really have any permanent structure in the garden as most of the stuff I grow is tender or peaks in the summer....
Suggestions gratefully received....I may have to invest in SHRUBS...ooer...what about you chaps? how do your gardens perform in the late autumn/winter months?
|
|
|
|
Post by 4pygmies on Sept 8, 2008 8:34:22 GMT 1
Your garden has never looked less than lovely, Cheery! Heucheras are good value in the off seasons I think......or Sages, Lavenders, Salad Burnets, Camelias, Daphne mezereum.........
|
|
|
|
Post by debbiem on Sept 8, 2008 10:08:23 GMT 1
Mine's nearly all shrubs Cheery - how about some low growing conifers or small junipers? Or some hellebores? Euphorbias look lovely all year round. Euonymus? There are all kinds in different colours and are as tough as old boots!
|
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on Sept 8, 2008 13:13:04 GMT 1
I'm with you Debbie on that although I have them in nice pots. They are tucked away quietly in summer but in winter I bring them through to the front garden to give a bit of a show before the bulbs come through. There are junipers, a golden Yew, some clipped box (clipped by Mrs C - ex hairdresser) and a small pine.
|
|
|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on Sept 9, 2008 17:55:10 GMT 1
Well today I've made a start...got 6 small globe hebe plants to overwinter in the box out front...I'm looking for a nice viburnum and a daphne mezereum...maybe a small juniper if I can find one I like.  |
|
|
|
Post by maggyd on Sept 9, 2008 22:13:06 GMT 1
I love my Viburnum and my Winter flowering Cherry is really lovely it usually starts to flower just before Christmas and last into May. I like a couple of tubs of Pansies even covered with snow you get the colour peeping through and the conifers come into there own I think in Winter rather than summer, my hellibores are late winter early Spring! and the Hebe can keep its flowers all through the winter if it is in a sheltered spot I also have a couple of the winter Jasmine although I have cut a lot of it back as it was going behind the greenhouse and it looked as if it was eady to push the glass through.
|
|
|
|
Post by 4pygmies on Sept 18, 2008 7:59:56 GMT 1
I bought some overwintering onions and garlic yesterday, to try and motivate myself in the vegetable garden....I have a LOT of clearing and weeding to do again, hampered by the massive squashes and pumpkins that the kids planted...they have spread for miles! Still, it'll be fun finding the fruits won't it? And I was very strict with myself (mainly cos I was so shocked by the prices...) and only bought some blue Allium bulbs....English bluebells were literally twice the price from this GC, compared to the little nursery near me...I guess the packaging makes up the difference - in the cheaper one all the bulbs are loose so you can pick your own, which is better anyway isn't it? And there isn't the range either.........but even so, it's pretty much a rip off across the board IMO......I don't really want to buy a standard pack, whatever the size of the bulbs, with a huge glossy picture printed on cardboard with garbled and minimal care instructions........why not reduce it all and let people take a smaller advice sheet if they want? Anyway, I am planning to plant a lot of Alliums in the border of the flower garden this Autumn. They did really well this year in other parts of the garden and I find them really cheering and easy! |
|
|
|
Post by devondumpling on Sept 18, 2008 8:09:04 GMT 1
I'm still working on mine, I have shrubs but a lot are deciduous, so I've been trying to put some evergreen shrubs and perennials in as last year most of it died back and looked very boring. It's all going to take time though. I love mahonia and sarcocca, also pittosporum and coronilla
|
|
|
|
Post by 4pygmies on Sept 18, 2008 8:20:39 GMT 1
You have a major advantage with your climate really, don't you DD? Loads of beautiful plants you can grow - must be difficult to choose! |
|
|
|
Post by elsie on Oct 12, 2008 14:29:25 GMT 1
My favourite evergreen plants are Sarcococca confusa ( Christmas Box) Sarcococca hookeriana Osmanthus heterophyllus and davidii Skimmias - I have a lovely one with white flowers but can't remember the name  Euonymusses? Viburnum tinus I also wouldn't be without my Arum italicum pictum which is around in the Winter but disappears for the Summer! I love Bergenias too! |
|
|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 20, 2008 19:20:31 GMT 1
I nearly bought a viburnum (V. ferrari )today....but it really gets too big for my garden....Dad has an Eve Price which is sposed to be quite compact (but isn't) There's one called Korean Spice that is a dwarf variety..but I haven't seen it anywhere.  I shall carry on looking...there's no rush the ferrari has such a delicious scent tho...might not be able to resist it.... ;D |
|
|
|
Post by plocket on Oct 21, 2008 8:16:19 GMT 1
I don't have many shrubs Cheery but I have some nice hebe's in the front garden. I like Euphorbias but some people are a bit funny about having them because of the sap. Heucheras are also good but vine weevil love them - not that I've had that problem so far  I also like epimediums - they are really underrated little plants and are quite happy in shade. You can't beat a cotoneaster - I've got horizontalis growing up a wall and the insects and birds love it. |
|
|
|
Post by plocket on Oct 21, 2008 8:17:06 GMT 1
Oh and you can get dwarf ceanothus too!
|
|
|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 23, 2008 17:47:59 GMT 1
Thanks Plocket. Today I was taken to a GC by my sister ( ) so I bought a few little hebe plants, 2 green ones and 2 that look like little conifers (but they're also hebe, honest) Also got a very small photinia and pieris (sp?) and a mad berberis. I popped them into the trough I have by the back door and they look lubbly. |
|
|
|
Post by plocket on Oct 23, 2008 19:19:27 GMT 1
They are such useful little plants and I think you'll not necessarily get lots of joy from them but at least appreciate them. I haven't been to a GC in ages - can't afford it!! |
|
|
|
Post by cheerypeabrain on Oct 23, 2008 19:57:01 GMT 1
neither can I |
|
|
|
Post by maggyd on Oct 23, 2008 20:43:28 GMT 1
Car boot sales are probably the cheapest way to buy plants Ive found unless you can get some neglected plants from wilkinsons and nurse tem better. I cut my pieris right back about 6 weeks ago! it was looking leggy with just a few clumps of leaves at the top and it hasnt looked its best this year like a few other peoples Ive heard so fingers crossed it comes back next year. And I have plans to cut back my Acer I think it is japonicum 'Aconitifolium' ive been told the winter is the best time to prune Acers although I know for a fact that my O.H. chopped quite a lot off a couple of years ago and it was in the spring. I planted some fritillia's a couple of months ago not sure what colours they will be I just hope I dont pull them out thinking they are grass. |
|
|
|
Post by plocket on Oct 24, 2008 10:19:04 GMT 1
We don't seem to have a lot of car boot sales around here, but there's a farm up the road that usually does good bedding plants so I might go and check there.
I've never cut a peris! I hope it does ok for you!!
I don't really know about pruning acers either - I'm just glad that my two have survived for a couple of years, following on from other disasters. Label the frits so you don't yank them out! ;D
|
|
