Working on the Woodland

I was recently offered the chance to preview eminent plantsman Keith Wiley's new book, Designing and Planting a Woodland Garden: Plants and Combinations that Thrive in the Shade.

If you are interested in creating a woodland garden, or even a woodland patch within your garden, then this book will become an invaluable source of information. The visual appeal is always important to me in a gardening book, and this one has it in spades (excuse the pun!), with plenty of inspiring photographs depicting wonderful and practical woodland planting combinations.  Keith Wiley offers his vast knowledge of woodland planting throughout, and an informative and extensive directory helps you choose the right plant for the right place. It really fired up my imagination to get out and make a few changes in my own little woodland border.

Now, my area couldn't be classed as strictly woodland, I'm not sure you'd find many bamboos on your Sunday stroll through the woods, although Keith does give them a mention in the book. The majority of the plants here do fit in with a woodland theme though. Of course there are ferns. Many ferns!

In fact, there are ten in this small area, and I was delighted during my recent garden revamp to discover three baby Cristate Male Ferns just behind the parent plant. I've potted these up and am looking forward to filling the space out with them (what little is left) when they're a bit bigger. It is definitely one of my favourite ferns thanks to it's tall, statuesque dark green fronds.

After reading Keith's book, I decided to move all of the Hellebores scattered around the garden to this area. I've always thought they looked rather out of place in the other borders but never knew what to do with them. They look so much more natural here, especially the tall Xsternii which was a bit of an eyesore elsewhere.

I've always been stumped by this shady little patch right of the bamboo, against the fence where it meets the patio. Nothing much grew here, and I've tried many plants over the years. I could have added another fern, but wanted something with a spark of colour that would cover the fence. Thanks to the book, I think I have now found the low maintenance solution...a Pieris!

This one was growing in my front garden, or rather outgrowing the raised bed it was in. I'm sure it will happily romp away here.

I let plants like Campanula and Hardy Geraniums have free reign in this border. They looked lovely in the summer.

Dianthus are slowly starting to spread out and clothe the border edges.

And hopefully the Brunnera will do the same. It seems that just as a new plant pops up, it gets destroyed by slugs and snails. I've already picked half a dozen nibbled leaves off the three that have survived from last year.

Not a woodland plant, but one that really adds some colour is Houttuynia 'Flame'.  It's planted in a pot in the ground here as it is incredibly invasive, I do keep a close eye on it too. It prefers damp soil, so being able to control the moisture in a pot is ideal.

Colour is what has been missing from this border during late summer, other than green, so I've moved all of my Japanese Anemones here and I have more growing on to go out next year. They should mix nicely with the earlier flowering plants that are already here.

And I love my Acer! This is Sango-Kaku. It has yellow/orange leaves in Spring that turn green in summer , change to pink and then yellow in the Autumn. So pretty! This is in a pot in the ground as it can have quite a large spread and I don't want it taking over.  It seems to be doing really well and I'm highly impatient for it to get a bit taller.

Natural ponds can appear in woodlands and my ones here in the border have matured nicely.  The frogs really appreciate having all the undergrowth to hide in and sitting on the bench and looking back on the woodland patch is relaxing.

I'll be adding some spring bulbs here and then I think it will be mostly complete. One border down, three more and a front garden to go!

I hope you enjoyed my little woodland patch tour. Keith Wiley's book will be published by Timber Press early 2015 and will be available from AMAZON. One to add to your Wishlist!

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Working on the Wildlife Ponds

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Working on the Wildlife Ponds.

The hard work has been continuing in the garden since my last post, and I am now seriously ready to put my feet up for a while...or until the Autumn//Winter bedding plants and bulbs arrive anyway.  I tackled the wildlife ponds, some of which had become very overgrown, and ended up completely rearranging this area at the back of the garden.

I'm not sure the frogs were impressed, they were definitely giving me the evil eye at one point and this gang of three looked set to pounce!

I'm happy to say they've settled back in nicely after the changes and I counted eight in there this morning. Not bad for a pond made from a plant pot!  Anyway, onto the plants. Once I'd spent a couple of hours clearing the area, I reset the slates around the pond and added a Lythrum Salicaria to the back of the area. I'd not come across this plant before, but its purple spires are very pretty and it enjoys moist soil so should be right at home here.

I left the Campanula and Carex in place, as well as Hedgy the Hog, who is looking a little worse for wear now but has been in the garden for years and I can't bear to part with him. He looks rather good once the Campanula starts to grow over him and you just see his face peeking out.

I've been a huge Heuchera fan since I started adding them to my garden a couple of years ago, and there were a few that were not being shown off very well so I moved those to the pond area and added a new one too. This is Strawberry Swirl, and it has the prettiest dainty pink flowers and ruffled leaves.

Ginger Peach is nestled among Key Lime Pie, with some Ajuga Black Scallop at the back to break things up.

Heucherella Sweet Tea has been hidden under a mound of other plants for a while, but is starting to look better now I've moved it. Heuchera Paris next to it only has one leaf as I've ravaged it for cuttings, which are coming along nicely in the coldframe. I'm sure it will bounce back soon.

And Lime Marmalade is the last and such a gorgeous green. It really brightens up the area.

There will be splashes of colour with various bulbs and bedding plants going in soon, although I'm really happy with it just now.

The other two wildlife pond areas just needed a bit of tidying up. The Carex and Hardy Geranium had really taken over in the woodland ponds, so I dug up quite a lot of it which was no mean feat I can tell you. The roots for both might be fairly shallow, but they're thick and really take some digging, if I fell on my backside once I fell a dozen times, it's lucky I'm shielded from all the neighbours there! There's not much to see in these ponds at the moment other than frogs, as the pond plants such as Marsh Marigold and Bog Iris are really the stars of the show and have now finished flowering for the year. At least you can see the water though.

The front of border wildlife pond  (there is water in there somewhere!) has been quite spectacular with masses of  Pickerel Hyacinths during July which are just starting to die off now. I didn't have to do too much here except trim back the Lamium and dig up some Hardy Geranium that had spread too far. I also rearranged this whole border in front of the shed, hence the many bare spaces. They won't stay bare for long though!

I hope you enjoyed the little ponds update. I'm off for a lemongrass latte and a rest now :-) .

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It's all happening now!

It's been crazily busy here over the last week or so. I decided to get all the 'boring' jobs out of the way early in the year so I could spend the latter months doing the things I really enjoy, like planting, sowing seeds and taking cuttings, as well as just sitting and admiring the garden when everything is in bloom.

So, I've painted trellises and fence panels, scrubbed a zillion pots, had a shed revamp, re-lined the fish pond and generally worked my little socks off to get everything ready for the coming season.

My beautiful Hellebore Xsternii, a hybrid between Argutifolius and Lividus, is still putting on a great show of delicate green flowers tinged with pink, providing the bees with some much needed pollen.

The petals on my Angel Heart tulips are just starting to fall now. I do wish they would bloom for longer, as their colour is just wonderful.

Dicentra are getting ready to show off their fabulous teardrops. I must have gone a bit made with divisions last year, as they seem to be appearing all over the garden! The white varieties are lagging behind the pink though, no sign of their little blooms yet.

Clematis Freda leaves are appearing...and leaves are all I got last year! They were new plants though, so I'm hoping now they're established in their permanent homes and have had lots of tlc, they will reward me with masses of their deep pink flowers. I have one growing up my shed and another along the fence. I'm hoping they'll eventually meet to clothe that whole corner.

I still have Narcissus Thalia, a beautiful double headed white, in full bloom. And Muscari are everywhere!

Bluebells are just beginning to show. Still nowhere near as many as I want in my garden, so this might be the year I finally get around to purchasing more. I really want to fill the gaps I have in my little woodland areas  with them.

Anemone Blanda still in bloom. Azaleas and Aquilegias waiting to blossom and Marsh Marigolds are adding a touch of yellow sunshine.

And, this is not pest I really wanted to find in my garden again. They stopped me growing my favourite Oriental Lilies because of the devastation they caused, they started on my pond lilies last year, and now, NOW, I find them on my fritillaries! Pfft, darn things. Beautiful they may look, but they are complete pests, leaving barely anything of their favourite plants left. Leaves, buds, seed pods, they eat them all! Bye, bye Liliy Beetles, it's the squish for you!!

But these little darlings are more than welcome. At last, the first batch of tadpoles have emerged! Still lots more to come so the ponds are definitely going to be heaving and I'm going to need more fish food to keep their tummies full!

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