Our new garden project 5--creating a woodland and stumpery

Once the seating area in our new garden was completed, the next phase in our garden project was to do something with the bottom left hand corner of the garden.  This is the bit just below the seating area. We spent quite some time thinking what to do here. The silver birch tree had been planted near to the fence and the rest of the space was just grass. Should we leave it grassed or should we have a planting area?

A bit of digging revealed that right down in the bottom corner was just stones. We had come across this problem when we had done the other side of the garden and had turned that corner into a bird feeding area. I didn't need another bird feeding area, so I decided that I would plant a few shrubs just below the seating area and the silver birch tree and put some logs and tree stumps in the stony corner where it was impossible to plant anything. This would create a little woodland stumpery and wildlife area.  I have seen stumperies when we have visited open gardens and often thought I would like to build one.

        

We had a few tree stumps down at the allotment which we brought back to the garden and arranged in the corner. I obtained another stump from our local builders merchants where we buy a lot of the materials for our garden project. I spotted the stump amongst a pile of logs and asked if it was for sale.  They very kindly said I could have it for free. So that made me very happy.

Over the winter I planted a few shrubs-- a yellow stemmed dogwood, a contorted Hazel a witch hazel and a choiysia.

In the spring I planted crocus, mini daffodils, snowdrops and hellebores. There are some ferns around the tree stumps. In the bottom corner where the stony ground is I had to leave the ferns in pots but I was able to plant others in the ground away from the stones.

In a previous blog post I wrote about bringing plants from my old garden and I had a lovely time planting up the stumpery with foxgloves, aquilegia, pulmonaria, tellima, to name a few. To finish off the soil was covered with a layer of bark chippings which gives a nice woodland look. I am going to put a few stepping stones down to avoid having to keep walking on the soil as it is quite a big bed. 

  

I'm quite pleased with this little garden area, it should look good once the plants are more established and hopefully will attract the wildlife. 

Our new garden project 4--planting up the beds

Gardening experts always say that when you move into a new house not to touch the garden for a year to see what plants are growing and what the soil conditions are etc. We haven't done that with our new garden as the back garden was just lawn. There were no trees or shrubs--nothing. So we were able to get started straight away.

As we continued with our plans for the new garden, I spent time thinking what to plant where. There were problems with the soil as I mentioned in previous blogs. In our last garden we had a lot of shade so I always had to bear that in mind when buying new plants. In this garden there is more sun, still some shady areas and heavy clay soil which retains water. So I have had to think about these conditions when planting. I did a lot of reading up on the best plants to grow in moist conditions and I now have a long list. 

When the seating area and raised beds were completed at the end of the summer last year, I decided it was time to start planting up the beds.  Those raised beds looked so good filled up with soil and the good thing was that they didn't have the problem with the water that some of the other areas of the garden have.  I had brought some plants with me from our old house, I bought plants in plant sales, I had garden gift vouchers given to me for my birthday, I explored all the local garden centres. For months after we moved in there were pots set out in the borders, whilst I decided the best places to plant them all. Much as I wanted to get plants in the garden, I often felt daunted by it all not wanting to make any mistakes. But mistakes don't matter because plants can always be moved if they are in the wrong place.

We wanted to plant some trees for height and structure so the first to be planted was the trees. We bought a Silver birch, a Rowan, an Amelanchier and a Liquidamber. I also had a contorted willow in a pot given to me by a friend a few years ago which I decided to plant in the ground. I was so excited when the trees were delivered. It's lovely to be able to have your own choice of trees instead of being stuck with something which came with the garden and you may not like.  I love silver birch, as well as the lovely white bark they are a really graceful tree, their small leaves creating dappled shade. Rowan has berries in the autumn, so good for the birds.

Amelanchier

The amelanchier has blossom in the spring, berries in the autumn loved by birds and good autumn colour. Liquidamber also has good autumn colour and lovely shaped leaves.

Liquidamber

Once they were all planted I put some of the shrubs in. I had read that Hydrangeas soak up water so I thought that would be a good one for our garden. Other shrubs I planted were Pittosporum for evergreen foliage, Cottinus, Fatsia, Physocarpus, Cornus.

Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight'

Trees and shrubs form the backbone of the garden, providing structure during the winter months. After these the herbaceous planting went in. There were  grasses, some tall ones for the back of the borders, some smaller for the front or middle. Grasses look good in the autumn and winter when other plants have gone over. I like grasses, there are so many different sorts, some of them are so tall they can provide screening just like shrubs can. I was able to bring some from our old garden.

As well as growing plants and shrubs that look good at different times of the year, I like to grow plants which I can cut to bring in the house, some for foliage some for their flowers, so that was another thing to think about when buying plants.

Japanese anenome

Salvia

I set out pots of plants in the borders so I could get an idea if they would look right. This took a lot of imagination. The pots got moved around several times before I finally decided I just had to make a start. Once they were in the ground they looked great and as I said before, if they are in the wrong place I can always move them. Most plants are fairly tolerant and don't mind being messed about.

I planted up the raised beds and the border down the right hand side of the garden with mixed planting--trees, shrubs and flowers. In the bottom border where all the water is I just planted the trees and shrubs for the time being as there is still work to be done down there.

The garden looked so much better with plants in, especially those around the seating area.  Well that's the first lot of planting done, there will be more to add over the year as we do more work to the garden. I want to put some climbers and wall shrubs in along the fences. Months later everything is looking ok and although the cold weather hasn't left us yet, the plants seem to be coping well.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

 

I've been reading a few gardening blogs today and somehow or other I found my way to Carol at May Dreams Gardens  There I read about Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. To blog about what's flowering in my garden on the 15th of every month sounds like a good way to keep record of my garden progress. To start this in January is a bit of a challenge, but I thought I'd have a go. So on this very cold but sunny morning I went out with my camera.

The garden is still looking a bit white after yesterday's fall of snow, but it's gradually clearing. I found primroses around the borders, these are native primroses which I planted a few years ago.They have formed some big clumps now and I really must get around to dividing them sometime.

The viburnum tinus has some white flowers. I love this shrub and the flowers have a lovely delicate fragrance. The witch hazel is in it's second winter. I bought it with garden vouchers given to me by my daughter. I'd wanted one of these for ages for it's winter colour.

Another shrub just flowering is winter jasmine. I brought this as a cutting from my daughter's garden a few years ago.This is planted in the woodland garden where it drapes itself over the wall. The hellebores are also flowering in the woodland garden.

In the front garden I spotted some flowers on the mahonia. This is another shrub with a lovely scent.

Although there are no flowers yet on the snowdrops there are  plenty of green shoots pushing their way through the soil. That's something to look forward to in February.

A spiritual garden

This blog post is dedicated to 2 of my Twitter friends who are wanting to create a spiritual garden on the theme of love and peace. I believe it will be a paved garden with plants in containers. They want ideas for plants to grow. As I can't answer that question in 140 characters I decided to do a blog post with my thoughts!

 I  find a lot of relaxation, peace and spirituality in gardens, not just peace in the sense of being quiet, but bringing a feeling of inner peace. My own garden has developed over a period of 27 years. We  get a lot of traffic noise from the front of the garden. Sometimes in the back garden we have noise from neighbouring gardens, children playing, family barbecues etc. Despite this 'noise' we can still sit in our garden and feel 'peaceful'. My garden is large, has trees, shrubs and flowers. Lots of flowers because I do love my plants.

So what makes a spiritual garden?   Is it the planting scheme? Type of plants? Maybe that helps. I'm not a professional gardener or garden designer, I've just put plants together in my garden which I like. I spend time in my garden, because I love being there. I find it a good place to think, to pray, to play with my grandchildren, to relax, to read, to eat, drink, talk and work. For me it is a spiritual place.

In planning a new garden, I think you would need to look first at which way the garden faces, where there is sun or shade and buy plants to suit the right position. Most plants will grow in containers, even smaller trees, and different heights is another thing to think about. You would also need to have a mix of deciduous and evergreen plants for all year round interest, and variety of colour and leaf texture.  Then you might want to think about colour schemes. Green and white is very relaxing and need not be boring, there are many different shades of green from dark to pale,  variegated and even lime green.  You could bring another colour in, like yellow, or blue to create an effect. I like Euphorbias for their lime green colour. There are lots of different sizes, from a few inches tall to a couple of feet. The taller ones would look great in containers.


Even in a very small garden it's good to have an area where you can sit. That could be a table and chairs on a patio, a bench, or just a tiny corner with a small seat. I love secluded seating areas, somewhere you can take yourself off to sit and be quiet. An area like this could be surrounded by scented plants. I have one in my garden, with aromatic herbs like, rosemary, thyme, sage, mint, and lavender which can just be brushed with your hands as you're sitting there.  Other scented plants could be sweet peas, a climbing rose, honeysuckle or jasmine. Climbing plants could grow over an arbour, up a trellis or tripod, depending on space available. In May Lilac is lovely, later in the summer Buddleia is in bloom. Buddleia has lovely graceful arching branches. Both have white varieties as well as the different shades of purple and both smell divine.

Water is very relaxing to listen to in a garden, and you don't need a big garden for this. There are many water features available which could be used in smaller gardens. For plants to use around damp areas, you might consider, Astilbe (white, pale pink, dark pink).

Statues look good in a garden when they are surrounded by greenery. Something like a Buddha, an angel,a cherub even a bird bath depending on your taste. Hostas, ferns, Solomon's Seal ( Polygonatum) look good together for green planting if you have some shade in your garden. Grasses also look good in containers, there are many varieties available, deciduous and evergreen, tall and short, green, variegated, golden colours.  Some grasses also are good sensory plants, nice to brush your hands through, like Stipa tenuissima and some of the Carex varieties. Other grasses are just interesting like Miscanthus or Calamagrostis with tall flower spikes. I love grasses they bring gentle movement to the garden.

There are many  shrubs available at garden centres, deciduous and evergreen, with different leaf colours, some green, some variegated, some golden. Acers have been suggested, they have a lovely delicate leaf and there are a good range of colours to choose from. For evergreen shrubs, there are the Viburnums, which have white flowers, sometimes followed by berries. For spring colour,  Forsythia has yellow flowers, Deutsia, white flowers, flowering  late spring, early summer, I love this, have it in my garden. Then there's the Weigelas, with lovely pink flowers, late spring and early summer and arching branches. I have 2 of these in my garden, one of which is variegated. Hydrangeas are lovely shrubs, look good in containers and there is a wide range available, especially some lovely white ones. The Choisya,  has glossy evergreen leaves and white scented flowers in early summer.  There's a dark green and a yellow leaved variety.

I could go on forever thinking about plants. These are just a few of my thoughts, I hope they are helpful to my friends and can't wait to hear how their garden develops.

Does anyone else have any ideas for planting in a spiritual garden?