Small Garden Design: Have a bit of a plan! ‘Naff’ is the best way to describe this – and because it was done by a house building firm, I am not insulting any homeowners by saying so! So what’s wrong with this. The main problem is the vinca (the green plants in the centre) these are tough grow anywhere
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I am a little unusual in that I am the only person on the planet (I think) who doesn’t like the smell of sweet peas, however I haven’t yet met anyone who doesn’t like geums, especially the red one, Mrs Bradshaw. This little innocuous plant, just sits in the ground, looking frankly, a bit run of the mill, but
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Hellebores: These are definitely garden essentials, they are ‘Royal Marines’ tough, not much likes to eat them, they don’t take over or swamp other plants, they are good for shaded, hard to grow anything in areas and then they flower in the winter when nothing else does! You probably know them as Christmas Roses, and the white one is lovely,
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Stipa Gigantea: Not everyone can have this plant in their garden as it does need a bit of space, not because it takes up loads of room, but because grasses belong in the open, so by planting tall grasses next to a wall or squeezed into a narrow gap they will end up looking like a squashed tutu. Grasses
Read moreSmall Garden Design: Banish Boring Bits! Not everyone is blessed with beautiful houses in stunning locations, in fact most of us in the UK live in towns or cities in road after road and they all ens up looking the same. So how do you go about improving the look of your house, without spending a fortune! Two problems
Read moreSmall Garden Design: Don’t waste potential In a small garden, everything must work hard and demand a place in your garden. Small gardens simply don’t have the space for lacklustre or boring plants or areas. If you don’t have much to look at so make sure what you do look at is gorgeous!
Read moreSmall Garden Design: Don’t be dull! One of the most common ‘mistakes’ is to make the border too narrow, so you end up planting everything in a straight line, usually at the same distance apart – the result is not very inspiring and looks a little unnatural.
Read moreSmall Garden Design: Read plant labels carefully! I have made many mistakes when gardening, most of which you learn from, but although you do learn, some of the mistakes made can be a right royal pain in the do-da’s to sort out! The most annoying mistake I ever made, was buying about 20 bulbs of Allium Triquetrum, now I love
Read moreSmall Garden Design: What does your Front Entrance say about you? Apologies to the owner here, it is difficult to cut back a large shrub well, but in this case it is essential otherwise the car gets scratched every time you enter or exit! However this does now look a little sad and rather savaged – so how to
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I bet you never thought you could get a plant which is stripy, well you can and this one is lovely. Libertia Peregrinans is an orange and green stripy grass like plant – but not ‘just about’ orange coloured leaves, it has really really orange leaves; excellent with purple plants, blue plants and black plants. It’s not too tall and would look rubbish
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