Yorkshire Kris wrote:Looks like your tropical garden is rivalling Will Giles' garden.
You are most kind, thank you, but you are confusing my selective photography with Will's amazing gardening skills
The big thing for me is how quickly this Exotic malarkey takes shape. All the other borders I have in the garden are a 5-years-to-decent-size and 7-years-to-maturity project. Exotic, in the main, is a done-deal in one year, and looking like its always been there after only 2 or 3. Tremendously rewarding
Deedee wrote:I tried Amaranthus last year from seed but they were pants, teeny little things, i was gutted
Someone else (unless it was you?!!) said the same thing to me earlier in the year, but I had already planted them by then and was thus expecting medocre results. We had a late spring and a dry summer, and they have not had much extra irrigation, so I reckon they are a winner
Perhaps the seed / variety you had was to blame? I bought several named varieties, and of those the "bog standard" one is the most disappointing. Its grown just fine, but looks just like I visualised Amaranthus would ... so I'll give that a miss in future, and stick to the named ones which I think have more character, and are more unusual of course.
From
http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk I got
Foxtail
Dreadlocks
Tower Red
need to check the labels to see where the last two were planted!!
Fat Spike came from a friend ... and Elephant Head from georgiavines (on eBay - they have some interesting things
)
out of interest, which of your garden theme's do you like the best? I would love to have a big enough piece of land to design different garden rooms, that would be amazing..
Interesting question
When we first moved in, 7 years ago, we created a shrub border. That took 5 years to get to decent size, and now we have decided we want a Blue & White theme there and are a bit stuffed with the other coloured shrubs - rip them out and wait, or live with them ... I've been interplanting herbaceous to force a colour change in shorter time frame!
Things like this Delphinium with Crambe cordifolia behind
On the opposite side we started a herbaceous border. We were a bit half hearted about that, and last year decided to have a "hot" theme of red only. I've grew a few plants from seed this Spring, and am ordering a lot more seed for next year, but it doesn't look nearly "stuffed" enough
Got some work to do to achieve that, and lots of the reds are just "wrong" (according to Management!!) so quite a lot of trial and error.
The Jungle is much easier. Single plants stuffed next to each other will do. I had a single Ricinus and Solanum laciniatum left over when planting out in the Spring. Chucked them in together, with one spare Nicotiana sylvestris. I couldn't get away with that in the Herbaceous, I'd need a group of 5 or 7 plants to have a "pool" of colour, but I think it looks just fine ("startling" even) in the Jungle.
You might just about be able to make them out!
I have two topiary projects ... a Chess Set in Yew at the front of the house and an aqueduct on the old tennis court. The chess pieces (bought as 6-footers 3 or 4 years ago) are approaching size to start trimming, but its a long term deal.
I've got 800 box plants I grew from cuttings 3 years ago, they are about ready to plant out, but we've gone off the Parterre idea we had originally! However, now thinking of using them for formal edging of borders, or some mad Topiary shapes. Mrs K hates my formal straight lines
and fancies an area to herself in pursuit of Anarchy! I think it would be something like this
But that's a 5 - 10 year project too ...
However, that hasn't stopped me taking nearly 1,000 cuttings of Euonymous this year for a knot garden. I've got some variegated green/yellow and some green/white which I think should give enough contrast ... but chatting to a friend this week he said he couldn't understand why I hadn't also grown plain green and made a French plait instead!!
This is the knot garden I admire:
although I think it would look better with contrasting colours.
This year I planted a Hydrangea walk. It looks a mess at present, but it will grow more quickly than a shrubbery and look OK in a couple of years time.
We've got serpentine walks to either side, and the idea is that the Hydrangeas will grow to more or less "touch" across the grass in the middle to just leave a vista. We've planted white at this end, through various shades of Pink to Red at the far end to try to get a rainbow effect. No idea at all if that will work!
And there is a fair collection of things bought-bulk, small and cheap, being grown on for other projects. This is being referred to as the Terrace Nursery!
Hollies for the maze, more Hydrangeas, lots of Gingers on the right (seed from AndyC
)
The whole family loves the Jungle. My eldest daughter (who says my gardening obsession has put her off for life!) loves it. I think once the rest of the garden matures they will have more tolerance and appreciation. Friend who visit love the jungle, in fact they ask to come to see it, which is very rewarding. But I look forward to being able to walk round the whole garden with visiting friends, its just that it is starting to take quite a while, even for folk that are not serious gardeners, stopping to discuss this plant and that plant, what the provenance of the plant is ... God I must be boring them to death, its amazing that they come back a second time!
Wow with your Trex, im pleased with mine this year, ive wondered why i havent grew it before, amazing tropical looking leave's, out of interest, which of your garden theme's do you like the best? I would love to have a big enough piece of land to design different garden rooms, that would be amazing..
Ladew, Harford County, Maryland, USA