Hardy Tropicals UK

that blue/silver chammy is amazing. never seen one like it this side of the pond

mike maybe because its a brahea armata

Huddy wrote:mike maybe because its a brahea armata

It is a very blue armata.

Fooled me..i don't guess I have ever seen one of those in person either..just not cold tolerant enough for me..nice palm eith way

Looks really good.

Managed a couple of hours in the garden before breakfast this morning.

nicely done.
I don't think I would ever fancy such a heavy landscaping job myself

Its really coming along now! The drainage should be excellent at the top part of your garden for succulents and cacti, is that the plan? Bog type plants like gunnera at the bottom?

cheshirepalms wrote:Its really coming along now! The drainage should be excellent at the top part of your garden for succulents and cacti, is that the plan? Bog type plants like gunnera at the bottom?

That is exactly the plan although I'm debating whether to have the arids somewhere else..... Maybe the front garden or the side border next to the fence.


So far I've kept exactly to plan of my design I videoed a few months ago before I started in the garden proper.

I remember seeing your plans for the paths being decking boards laid from sleeper to sleeper but are you intending to edge the paths or just have them drop away either side to the soil/plants in the sleeper beds?

You're making excellent progress given the time of year. 6 months solid grafting weather from here on should see your garden well on it's way by autumn.

GoggleboxUK wrote:I remember seeing your plans for the paths being decking boards laid from sleeper to sleeper but are you intending to edge the paths or just have them drop away either side to the soil/plants in the sleeper beds?

You're making excellent progress given the time of year. 6 months solid grafting weather from here on should see your garden well on it's way by autumn.

The width from the inside edge of one bed to the next inside edge of the next bed (so the total with of sleeper/gap/sleeper) is around 56-59cm. I intend to put deck boards that are 60cm across these so just over the width of the sleepers. The soil will then come up to near the top of the sleepers (but not up to the top of the decking)

What do you think? Should the boards be wider that 60cm?

Sounds perfect to me, I wondered whether you were thinking of using more wood or stone to either side of the path and raise the soil level further but I think the way you describe will look great, especially with overlapping foliage in places.

little worried that the paths will be too thin depending on how crowded the beds get.
my garden path is too small for all the plants growing around it and it is wider than 60cm

will giles garden has paths about 2m wide from pictures in his book

Mr List wrote:little worried that the paths will be too thin depending on how crowded the beds get.
my garden path is too small for all the plants growing around it and it is wider than 60cm

will giles garden has paths about 2m wide from pictures in his book

The paths are very thin in this area of the garden as I want maximum planting space and the feeling of walking through the plants. It will open up more in other areas.

A bit like these narrow paths in a garden near you.

Couldn't agree more, getting interactive with the garden by brushing through exotic flora is my idea of what a jungle garden is all about.