If we are lucky to have a full complement of all five senses we are fortunate gardeners. At different times of our life these senses may wax and wain, I for one can no longer read the small print on seed packets nor hear my wife when she asks me to do something other than gardening.

Gardeners would garden just for the sheer pleasure but they also want to take into account and compensate for those with impaired senses. Here are some suggestions to help focus on the five senses one at a time but the pleasure is doubled by combining plants that augment all the senses. I you have focal points for viewing what do you call points for touching, smelling, hearing and tasting?

Five Senses – Sight

• Bold colours spring to mind and one favourite is the brash Sunflower but in the veg garden Swiss Chard ‘traffic Lights’ is most colourful
• Different shapes and contrasting leaves can be added via Heuchera or Hostas. Ornaments and statues are good for creating focal points.
• White and yellow flowers start in spring with Snowdrops and Daffodils and continue through a variety of annuals and perennials. I suggest a range of Marigolds and Roses will give pleasure.
• Birds and butterflies are natural sights in a well balance garden

Five Senses – Sound

• Close your eyes and listen to your garden. Birds and insects add a vibrancy to your garden so attract them with appropriate plants.
• Trees with open canopies like birch and beech are great rustlers in a breeze.
• Bamboos sway in the breeze and if you can stand the added noise make a wind chime from the dried hollow stems.
• If you have running water so much the better. I saw a deer scarer run by solar power in a garden this week.

Five Senses – Touch

• Use pathways and lawn edges for the plants you most want to touch and hide away the spiky and prickly devils.
• Textured leaves like the hairy Lambs tails or Silver Sage are very touchable.
• Flowering grasses are airy and good for running your hands through.
• Again an appropriate statue can be stroked and petted.

Five Senses – Taste

• Herbs and vegetable come out strongly in the taste sense. Who would be without strawberries some varieties of which can now be grown in hanging baskets or containers.
• Mint, Rosemary and Lavender are old fashioned stand-byes for strong taste and the plus of scent.
• Members of the onion family including chives garlic and shallots have there own appeal.

Five Senses – Smell

• Sweet smelling garden Pinks and Chocolate Cosmos attract more garden visitors than you would imagine.
• Sweet Peas are my all time favourite and you can pick bunches for indoors throughout the flowering season.
• Over breeding has reduced the scent of some plants so smell before you buy at your local nursery or scrounge plants from other gardeners where you know the pedigree of the smell.

Much is said about collecting and conserving water during drought conditions. Careful management of your soil and garden structure can achieve many aims without recourse to extra water.
Increasing your soil’s water holding capacity and reducing the evaporation and consumption of water will make significant management improvements during drought conditions.

Soil Conditioning

• Dig in organic matter which can dramatically increase the soils water holding capacity.
• Mulch heavily – 3-4″ of composted bark or garden compost reduces evaporation and discourages weeds.
• Do not walk on heavy wet soil in winter. This causes compaction damaging the structure and reducing the capacity of the soil to hold water.
• Stop digging or cultivating soil by the end of March. Hoe only the weeds to reduce evaporation.
• Erect barriers to stop valuable dry soil from blowing away

Management of Growing Conditions

• Catch ‘run off’ on slopes by building up a soil damn to keep the water we do get.
• Build a water retaining depression around plants to form a ‘water saucer.’
• Remove weeds promptly as they suck water out of the soil.
• Use fine compost in large pots and baskets with water storage granules

Soil & Crop Selection for Drought Conditions

• Delay new tree and shrub planting until Autumn when more natural water should be available. If watering water at the base of the plant at cool times.
• Choose drought tolerant plants like Mediterranean or arid region varieties.
• Reduce ‘water greedy’ crops & bedding plants like begonia, fuchsia and lobelia to a minimum. Pelargoniums and Livingstone daisies need less water.
• Lawns can be thirsty, keep the grass long to reduce evaporation and do not worry about brown patches.

Credits
Dry garden with arbor by ~My aim is true~ CC BY 2.0

Dramatic gardens can be designed on minimalist principles. Minimalist gardens need to look good during all seasons and at all times of the day. Thus all your senses plus horticultural nous need to be considered when setting out your initial design.

Essence of Design in a Minimalist Garden

• Minimalist gardens need to be immaculate.
• Minimalist options include a formal or romantic look but you must have the clarity of vision and stick too it.
• There is no room for ragged edges, dirty gravel or scattered chippings.
• Minimalist gardens may be designed to look cool and welcoming but check that that is also true for the plants. Often cool plants are planted in hot spots
• Invest in good quality hard landscaping, it is hard to do minimal on the cheap!

Working in a Minimalist Garden

• Minimalist spaces need to be kept cleaner and tidier than traditional layouts.
• Sweeping and clipping can be soothing work but they are still jobs that needs doing even in a minimalist garden.
• Unless a plant is grown for it’s seedhead you will need to remove dying flowers. Going to seed is debilitating for the plant and quickly looks ‘seedy’
• Clip and prune to get shape, light and outlines.

Planting in a Minimalist Garden

• Euphorbias can cope with hot spot planting but are also at home in shade.
• Free form trees are less work than wall trained figs or fruit trees.
• Plants of varying heights make use of vertical space and can accentuate the hard landscaping.
• Airy plants like Stipa gigantea or fennel will provide movement but remember in a minimalist garden less is more.

Credits
Skulpturenpark Köln / Cologne Sculpture Garden. Hubert Kiecol: "Rheinwein" (Rhine wine) in Sou Fujimoto’s "Garden Gallery" from 2011 by wwwuppertal CC BY-NC 2.0

Contemporary BBQ Island by Architectural Environments by Landscape Design Advisor CC BY-ND 2.0 ‘The landscape designer made the most of the limited outdoor space by integrating Mediterranean style and contemporary, minimalist accents. A brick garden wall provides privacy from nearby neighbors while creating a stunning backdrop for the outdoor kitchen area. Grasses, ferns, and simple shrubs soften the view for anyone sitting at the BBQ island.’

Making the Post Firm
That is why you are using concrete.
The hole should be 2 feet deep and at least three times as deep as the post is wide.
Use a post with straight sides and a flat bottom to add strength.

Avoiding Early Rotting
Use pressure treated or tannalised wood.
Do not have the end of the post in a pool of water. Concrete under the post to protect the end grain.
Finish the concrete above ground level and make the top of the concrete convex so water runs away from the post.
Put a cap on the top of the post so the end grain is not open to the elements. It is easier to replace a cap than a whole post.

Keep Posts Firm and in Line
Align the posts with each other using a string or rope line.
Use a spirit level to ensure the posts are upright
Allow the concrete to harden before attaching the rails or panels.
Support the post until the concrete dries with couple of timber props at either side.

There is great power through planting in drifts. Sometimes as gardeners we are a bit tentative and plant in ones and twos and so our garden becomes a bit of a hotch potch. However, if we can be bold and plant in large groups and drifts, the effect can be very impressive.

Tips for Planting in Groups

• Even in small gardens don’t be shy to plant in large groups.
• The above photo is taken from Oxford Botanic Gardens and shows some purple ornamental onions flowering in May. This is a herbaceous border which focuses on large drifts of plants. At any one time, there may only be 1 or 2 plants in flower; but the theme creates an impressive display.
• Use groups of the same plant or of similar structure.
• The leaves on the group below show how planting for shape and texture can be just as important as colour.

Tips for Planting in Drifts.

• If you buy a large number of plants the average cost will be cheaper, you can benefit from economies of scale.
• Don’t just plant in regimented blocks and straight lines, allow the groups to merge into each other and plant in S shapes. This helps create a more natural look.
• Don’t just focus on the flowers but think of plants that provide all year round architectural interest.
• The top photo shows a planting scheme carefully chosen to concentrate on a particular colour theme. This creates a calming effect. It is good to have some aspect of the garden with these conservative planting rather than always focusing on bright colour.
• The photo below shows the use on one species, Primula candelabra, to provide the drifts unity and colour themes.

Sedum Rhodiola rosea

A garden needs visual variety and I hope we show some of that on Gardeners Tips. I know the senses we tend to focus on are sight, taste and smell but hearing and touching have their place.

Seeing Your Garden

• Colour is often the most striking way our sight is stimulated but take time to consider and inspect the subtle variations you can achieve from leaves, barks and young shoots as well as flowers.
• If you like topiary you will understand the impact of form and structure in your garden. Structural design can impart the essence of a gardens formality, informality or sense of fun by the features chosen and the way they are implemented.
• The Form some plants take is also important and often the leaf or petal arrangements can be very attractive in their own right – Mother Nature knows what she is doing.
• Texture can be seen and felt and soft grasses can complement furry leaves.

• Abundance and repetition can be an attraction to shape and form as with this fern above. Small young plants are supporting acts for more mature specimens.
• Patterns, either man made or natural, can add distinction to your garden. Look at professional gardens when you visit for ideas.
• Geometric precision with water features and pathways may help focus on the plants you wish to display.  A standard rose in a solitary circular bed can look very distinguished.
• From Algae to giant Redwood trees there is a range of sizes to fit all circumstances. I do not suggest you grow both of these extremes in a garden but you can profitably vary the height of your plantings and you do not need to always put high plants at the back.

Colour and texture can go together if the right plants are selected.

As a child did you read ‘The Black Tulip’ or try to grow a black rose? Well here are some tips to help you grow black plants in your garden’. Most of my black plants unfortunately are dead but that still leaves 1999 other varieties to choose from.

Foliage

• Certain dark purple leaves look almost black including Cotinus Smoke Tree ‘Royal Purple’, Heuchera ‘Palace Purple’ and Purple Beech Fagus Atropurpurea
• New Zealand flax phormium tenax has various purple varieties. There are also black mondo grasses nigrescens.
• If you want black in the fruit and vegetable garden try a grape vine ‘Purpurea’ or bronze fennel. If space permits the Black Walnut tree has black fissured bark.

Flowers

• Hollyhocks have a black variety not surprisingly called ‘Nigra’ latin name  Alcea rosea
• Cosmos atrosanguineus
• Bowles Black violas are very popular and freely available
• Nemophilia menziesii ‘Pennie Black’ is grown from seed and has deep purple to black centres with white edges
• Dianthus ‘Black & White Minstrels‘ is also available as seeds from Thompson Morgan
• Fritillaria persica are dark flowered and provide a contrast with other flowers
• Tulips are still striving to be true black but ‘Queen of the Night’ and Recreado come close.
• Scabious Ace of Spades is virtually black and has fragrant blooms that attract bees and butterflies whilst making impressive cut flowers.

Black Plants: 75 Striking Choices for the Garden by Paul Bonine

Flowering Cherry trees contribute most to the floral pageantry of spring blossom and they are easy to grow. Cherries are graceful and well shaped trees and many varieties have excellent Autumn colour. (Scarlet leaves of Prunus sargentii and pubesens, yellow of hybrids Pandora or Tai-Haku or coppery Ukon.)

Historically most varieties originate from China and Japan including the doubles called Yae zakura. Special parties and holiday trips are arranged to visit flowering cherries in Japan where they are revered as inspiration for artists and warriors as a symbol of purity.

Designing with Cherries

• Double flowered varieties give the best effect when planted as solitary specimens or groups of 3 of the same variety.
• Do not mix varieties that flower at the same time as they detract from one another.
• An isolated specimen planted by a pool can be quite stunning when reflected in the water.
• The wild species Prunus avium looks best in large groups perhaps on a hill side.
• Single varieties are the best for avenue planting like Prunus Washi-no-o (with a name like that why not hunt it down).
• Plant 20-30 feet apart depending on the vigour of the variety.

Growing Shapes or Habits

Different species have different habits and the ultimate shape of a Cherry tree is in the DNA. For a small space a narrow upright fastigiated (clusters of erect branches often appearing to form a single column) tree resembling a short Poplar may be useful. Prunus Yedoensis erecta for example.

Tulip or wine glass shaped are broader but still useful in smaller gardens Prunus Hillieri Spire. This sort can add height to a garden design without requiring too much ground space.

Upright spreading varieties such as Tai Haku are the most familiar. Prunus Spontanea and Okame are recommended varieties.

Weeping or pendulous trees are the opposite of fastigiate and are useful near ponds and are generally lower growing like Prunus Kiku-Shidare.

There are several other standard habits including Conical or Cone maintained in shape by pruning. For smaller gardens the Bushy topped varieties like Prunus Morello and the Autumnalis may suit. Another variety of note is Prunus Shirotae with a flat topped appearance when mature that is useful when a distant view is not to be obscured.

In Japan the flowering cherry has been revered for centuries. In 1594 cherry-flower viewing parties were held by the Japanese Emperor and holiday tour operators do similar trips today. Prunus is the family name for cherries and P. Serrulata the ‘mountain cherry ‘ is the Japanese favourite. Its pure white blossom is a symbol of chivalry, purity and honour.

Single and double varieties vie for our attention and shapes and sizes vary by variety so some guidance is given below.I prefer the single white but the double pink varieties. I am grateful for some comments on shape, form and examples by Geoffrey Chadbund in his book ‘Flowering Cherries’ ISBN 00211271X.

Further Cherry Trees Shapes and Varieties

1. Upright or narrowly fastigiated – slender habit useful for restricted spaces or junctions of paths. P. Yedoensis Erecta
2. Tulip or wine glass shaped – OK for narrow borders. P.Umineko
3. Inverted funnel shape – a rather stiff but common habit of cherries in street planting P. Kanzan
4. Upright Spreading- Familiar tree shape and habit of growth P. Spontanea
5. Flat topped or tabular – with branches spreading out horizontally this can be used in landscaping P. Shirofugen
6. Weeping or Pendulous – The opposite of fastigiated, all the branches hang or arch down in a pendulous fashion. Useful near streams or on the top of mounds. P.Kinku-Shirade
7. Bushy shrubs – as the description implies P.Incisa group

Tips on Selecting Flowering Cherry trees.

With so many varieties to chose from here are a few tips that may be of assistance in choosing your variety from a list of over 200.

• Some trees have attractive bark with rings (lenticles), shine and colour. Select one of these for winter interest.
• Fit the shape of tree to the surroundings. Consider if it will block a view as it grows or how it will look in say 10-20 years. Some grow quite robustly.
• Consider Autumn colouring which can be quite a feature and cherries although many bred varieties are sterile.
• Seek out a grafted ‘Standard tree’ if you want a small tree.
• Hillier or Nocutts nurseries usually have a good selection or use the RHS plant finder.
• There are two native species: the wild cherry P.Avium and the bird cherry P.Padus.

Greenery is all very well but I like to see swathes of colourful flowers.
I try to envisage how mixed planting will shape up in terms of colour but generally my minds eye falls short when it comes to the imagination department.
The best tip is to keep it simple with only a very limited number of varieties chosen because they are due to flower around the same time.

By contrast my wife, on the other hand, is wedded to green leafed houseplants, green conservatory plants and even green outdoors. (She is also wedded to me and I am not as green as I am cabbage looking so at least I get some colour into the garden)
Perhaps she should grow Gloxinia

I do not mind seeing my colour in wild meadows or just as yellow in a field of buttercups. This photo looks like a pointillist painting rather than a snap shot but it was planned by RHS gardeners to look something like this when the ground was laid out.

A friend at our village gardeners club insists she only grows flowers that avoid yellow – I guess she thinks it too garish and she misses out on some grand flowers.

Woodland walks in Spring would not be the same if it wasn’t for the Snowdrops, Aconites and Narcissus.
Even wild garlic is better when you can see the white flower.
Is white really a colour some folk ask – to me a resounding yes, just consider a rainbow.

I may be behind the times but here are some new, or new to me, ideas to enhance your garden pond this summer.

New Pond Design

‘Islandscapes’ and Floating Planters

‘The Next Big Wave In Ponds’ (Oh please) ‘enhance the beauty and biological health of ponds, providing innovative filtration and a lush growing environment for terrestrial plants. lslandscapes offer food and fun for fish, frogs and other wildlife’ according to the blurb on Freedomponds.com
Velda do several floating planters made in covered styrofoam.

Ecopond Tadpole Food

I have to admit to never thinking of feeding tadpoles but if I did here is the answer. Ecopond Tadpole Food provides the nutrition that tadpoles need up to the point where they develop back legs (4-6 weeks after free swimming begins). See also frogspawn tips on Gardeners Tips

Preformed Ponds

Rubberised or rigid plastic ponds are one of the easiest methods of creating a new pond. I bought one in a kidney shape with 3 different depths created by shelves. It saved a lot of hard work once I had dug an appropriate hole!
In one garden I saw such a preformed pond raised up rather than buried and think that is a creative idea if you can support the weight of water.

Pond Liners

Now you can cover black PVC liners with a stone coating. This makes the black edge of a pond look natural with a pebble or stone finish. Sold in various widths it could be used to finish off a butyl lined pond or as a run off into your garden proper. The brand I have seen is Oase Stone Liner.

All these products are available from the links above or a specialist like Bradshaws of York. Amazon supply the preformed ponds.

Pond Renovation

1. As winter approaches all ponds need a bit of tlc to see them through the winter.
2. If removing dead leaves and waste from the bottom of the pond leave the sludge on the edge so any small creatures can crawl back into the water.
3. Repair leaks to prevent having to regularly top up the water. Evaporation is unavoidable so you may want to think of easy top-up methods.
4. Create ways of stopping leaves dropping into the pond. Nets are unsightly unless semi submerged. Barrier hedges of box to stop prevailing winds may help.
5. Make edges safe and secure. Reinforce and renew if necessary any childproof measures.

Read more on Preformed Pond Shapes including installation tips.