PLANTING PLAN AND PLANTS
To be honest my true planting plan is, if there is a space stick something in it. That something could be a plant, a pot, a pot with a plant in it, a statue, a piece of sculpture, anything that fills the space and perhaps more importantly adds to the interest in the garden. I do not make any special effort to blend colours together although I do like to “splash a bit of white around”.
Even though I am now really short of planting space I still wander around various garden centres and nurseries to try to find the slightly different and unusual. Whether that is the leaf shape of a tree or plant, such as Eriobotrya Japonica, Acer Palmatum “Butterfly” or the Wollemi Pine, the colour (Acer Dragon’s Fire) or the branch shape (Euonymus Alatus Compactus); if my selection has a long flowering period and a lovely scent as well – brilliant. I am always initially attracted by shape and form (aren’t we all), perhaps colour and then what’s on the label. If necessary I will always confirm “winter hardiness” with a member of staff and yes, I have come across “hardy perennial” plants with label instructions indicating “protect from frost”.
Having said all that, because I don’t have a great knowledge of plants the “slightly different and unusual” to me, may be quite normal to a knowledgeable gardener/plants person. Here I must confess to being somebody who has no interest in growing from seed, no interest in growing from cuttings and is a “failed” compost maker. I have been described, by an eminent Hertfordshire gardener, as a garden decorator rather than a gardener. It is a description with which I am more than happy because it so true. I do not have a great desire to learn all I can about plants and I do look upon them as “items to decorate my garden”.
Visitors to the garden will find a file at each seating area. The file has a plan of the garden broken down into various areas (see link above) and a list of the plants that are situated in those areas. The list also gives details of the flower colour and when the plant flowers. It’s a useful reference for me as well because I am hopeless at remembering the names of plants although, through necessity, I have improved quite a bit since 2007.
I am not including a list of plants on this website as, with all the moving of pots and plants that goes on, it would be a nightmare to continually update but if anybody is particularly interested I am happy to e-mail a copy of the up to date list from the file that is placed on each seating area on Open Days.