We decided it was about time to give one of our borders here at Avocet a totally new look. Originally we had planted a tropical border in this patch as it is south facing and sits snuggly between the conservatory, the kitchen wall and the wall of the utility room. So we were confident that we could get some of the hardier palms, gingers and other exotic looking large leaved plants growing happily. However we soon learned that our garden was at the bottom of a slope where the frosty air settled after rolling down from the hill behind us. Thus our tropical plants were turned to mush in the first harsh winter.
Hence the rethink. We decided to strip the area bare, add copious amounts of our garden compost and replant with plants that hinted at the tropical look.
So the first task was to remove those plants that had survived including a large Black Bamboo. Hard work!! Next we had to replace the wooden edging board to hold back the gravel on the seating area alongside. Otherwise the gravel and soil slowly manage to get totally mixed together. Our selection of plants waiting to be planted can be seen in the picture below right.
We then laid out the plants and played around with positioning them until we were satisfied with our new look. When we finished planting up our new friends we added hundreds of miniature daffodils and brightly coloured tulips in orange, red, yellow and purple. Purple Tulipa “Havran”, Ruby flowered Tulipa “Pallada”, and aptly named Tulips “Orange Brilliant” were planted in clumps between other clumps of Narcissus “Hawera”.
We chose three varieties of different coloured Phormium with their tall sword shaped leaves. These are shown in the photos below – Phormium tenax Joker, Moonraker and Alison Blackman.
The final look! Yes, we are quite pleased with that. We can’t wait to watch it develop from next spring onwards.
In between the Phormium you can see Fatsia japonica, Leucothe walteri “Zeblid”, Geranium palmatum, Heuchera “Obsidium” and Heucherella “Solar Eclipse”.
greenbenchramblings 