Courtesy of new drive and pathway, we now have a nice, but narrow, border full of shiny new topsoil. It's going to be dry and it's relatively shady, and I have a hankering for epimediums as I think they'll grow there very nicely.
So, a question, if you don't mind? Can you recommend any epimediums that are pretty much evergreen, which have a bit of colour to their leaves for at least part of the year? We currently have Epimedium x warleyense in another thin narrow border at the back, and they've done well there for the past few years but I'd like something a little different. Are there plants that like similar conditions that combine well with epimediums?
So many questions...
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Sunday, August 26, 2018
Reawakening
Many people get excited by gardening in the spring, when plants start to grow again, flowers pierce through the grey of winter and sun (maybe) warms the land's bones.
For some reason, I'm more excited by autumn. Hence the resurrection (probably albeit briefly) of this blog. It's 10C at the moment, and raining, but my interest in the garden is reawakening. I suspect many of us go through stages of disenchantment with our gardens; for me this has led to disinterest over the past few seasons, exacerbated by my ongoing course and all those other bits of life that get in the way. But a new driveway and path in the front garden, which has slightly reduced the size of the borders, has led to a reassessment of what we have and a reawakening of interest.
In late spring in recent years the front garden has been a chaotic climax of colour, with foxgloves, peonies, forget-me-nots and many other late spring flowers. Then flump. A big gap of overgrown greenness until late summer when the asters start, fighting to be seen between the ever-spreading Japanese anemones. Now we've had a few shrubs removed, and a couple of dwarf apple trees are also to go. This has prompted me to re-evaluate other overgrown shrubs and come to the conclusion that the whole area needs opening out again. Light and air. Shrubs planted quite closely when the front garden was new and bare are now intermingled and crowded, usurping the herbaceous plants that I love. The same has happened in the back garden. From herbaceous border to shrubbery; and right now, I'm not of the same mind of the Knights that go Ni. I do not want a shrubbery.
So, this autumn and winter there will be reappraisal, opening up, and a lifting of canopies. Time for a reawakening.
For some reason, I'm more excited by autumn. Hence the resurrection (probably albeit briefly) of this blog. It's 10C at the moment, and raining, but my interest in the garden is reawakening. I suspect many of us go through stages of disenchantment with our gardens; for me this has led to disinterest over the past few seasons, exacerbated by my ongoing course and all those other bits of life that get in the way. But a new driveway and path in the front garden, which has slightly reduced the size of the borders, has led to a reassessment of what we have and a reawakening of interest.
In late spring in recent years the front garden has been a chaotic climax of colour, with foxgloves, peonies, forget-me-nots and many other late spring flowers. Then flump. A big gap of overgrown greenness until late summer when the asters start, fighting to be seen between the ever-spreading Japanese anemones. Now we've had a few shrubs removed, and a couple of dwarf apple trees are also to go. This has prompted me to re-evaluate other overgrown shrubs and come to the conclusion that the whole area needs opening out again. Light and air. Shrubs planted quite closely when the front garden was new and bare are now intermingled and crowded, usurping the herbaceous plants that I love. The same has happened in the back garden. From herbaceous border to shrubbery; and right now, I'm not of the same mind of the Knights that go Ni. I do not want a shrubbery.
So, this autumn and winter there will be reappraisal, opening up, and a lifting of canopies. Time for a reawakening.
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