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Category: Garden Design

Design, landscaping construction and layouts. Special types of garden and notable design features

Colour Temperature in the Garden

Colour Temperature in the Garden

The quality of light can have a strange impact on the way flowers and plants look in both the garden and photographs. Light levels may change with the seasons, weather or surroundings and a cloudy sky will produce a different effect to a clear blue, early morning sky. The greatest single effect is caused by colour temperature as the photographs reveal.

Colour Temperature
Light’s colour depends on the temperature, if you heat an iron bar, it will eventually start to glow dark red . Continue to heat it and it turns yellow and eventually blue-white. We say that red is a “warmer” colour than blue! Colour temperature is measured only on the relative intensity of blue to red. Early morning light has more blue whilst early evening has more red. (see below for a small graphic, measuring temperature of light in degrees kelvin, from Ephotozine)

Tips
Oranges and red-yellow flowers look even better in early evening. Blue purple and some green looks best in the morning.
Quality of colour is in the eye of the beholder so experiment.

Light temperature

Formal Garden Design

Formal Garden Design

Not everyone has the space or finances to design and stock a formal garden on this scale but a bit of design thought can go a fairway to achieving your objectives. Gardening is primarily about plants but the setting, presentation and juxta-positioning combine to make your unique garden design. The best tip I can give is ‘design to suit and please yourself’ as you are the one who will be spending most time in the garden.

Stages of Garden Design

Make a wish list of your priorities and the features you would like to incorporate or remove. You may not like all features equally so grade priorities or mark them into order eg Essential Flowerbed, Lawn, Garden seat, Vegetable patch – Desirable Compost heap, Shrubs, Greenhouse, Fruit trees – Optional Pond, Patio, Rock garden, Wildlife area, Sculpture etc.

Measure and sketch the garden taking into account the fall or slope of the land. Mark the sun, prevailing wind and rain shadows on the plan. Make your first mistakes on paper it will be easier and cheaper to correct.

Put the plan on to gridded paper so you can do the plan to scale. Cutouts may help. Start with permanent features like the house, boundaries and fixtures that you know will not move. Do several sketches to explore ideas and  do not worry about individual plants at this stage they can change.  Look at garden books and photographs for inspiration if you are struggling.

When you get the bones of a design that you like, fill it out with textures like paths and focal points but still resist planting schemes. Peg out the design on the ground, using rope for curves, so you can get a better feel.

Prepare a planting plan to give shape and character starting with tall and feature plants. Keep an eye on planting distance, height and spread of chosen plants. Check compatability, colour shape and form so you plant to achieve a harmonious design. Finally fill in with low growing plants and ground covers.

Drafting  your formal garden design on paper gives you opportunity to test ideas and visualise what might be possible. It can and should be a happy and interesting prelude to your garden implementation phase.

Check out the BBC for design ideas

Carpet Bedding Tribute to Girl Guides

Carpet Bedding Tribute to Girl Guides

100 years of Girl Guiding is being celebrated in September 2009 by Girl Guides around the country with a range of appropriate events.

This floral tribute is in the grounds of Carlisle Cathedral and has been created from just 4 types of carefully chosen ‘carpet bedding plants’. Contrasting shades of leaf and low, slow growing, uniform habit are more important than flowers. In fact flowers can distort such a display.

Carpet Bedding Plants

  • For leaf colour and regular form Alternanthera lehmannii varieties take some beating like ‘Dark Purple Black’ Alternanthera lehmannii ‘Rosy Glow’ and Alternanthera lehmannii ‘Yellow Green Betty’
  • For grey foliage Lavender or Cerastium species with compact silver foliage and a white flower in summer.
  • Sempervivum arach’ ‘Rubin’ or Sedum spathulifolium ‘Purpureum’ for reds
  • Echeveria elegans for grey or the Glauca for a blue tinge
  • Sedums are probably the easiest for your first efforts with the wide selection available

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Soft Garden Colours

Soft Garden Colours

Planning colour schemes can be an interesting exercise for summer when the garden needs less attention. You can sit and admire your current efforts and plan from the new catalogues that are arriving.  Observe what has worked well in your local gardens this year and do not be afraid to copy or improve on someones idea. I have been take by soft colour schemes that forswear reds oranges and purples in favour of a more pastle approach.

Pastel Pink Colours

  • Soft pink rather than shocking pink is restful and ‘the very essence of the traditional garden’ (Lance Hattatt Gardening with Colour)
  • The combination of this low growing Dahlia ‘Rosea’ has worked well with the continuous flowers of the hardy Geranium Anna Folkard. The strappy leaves of a pink Schizostylis will come in to flower in autumn hopefully before the dahlia has finished.
  • An off white or cream flower can also be used with pink to lighten up the general effect.
  • Phlox paniculata ‘Fairy’s Petticoat’ is a personal favourite with a pink eye and a lighter outer to the petals.
  • Pink can vary from the white with a pale blush through warm and cool shades to orangey pinks or blue tinged pink. This is seen in a range of single Roses   including    ‘Pink Bassino’ with a prominent white eye, the magenta ‘Pink Meidiland’ or the distinctive apricot pink of ‘Irish Elegance’.

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Skunk Cabbage for the Waterside Lysichiton americanus

Skunk Cabbage for the Waterside Lysichiton americanus

skunk-cabbage

American Skunk Cabbage Lysichiton americanus is planted in groups along the streamside at the Valley Garden Harrogate. Over the years the plants have seeded themselves freely and now make a fantastic display covering the full length of the stream and beyond. The yellow flame-shaped flowers really called spathes, are 18 inches high and look magnificent reflected in the water in April and May. Then the flowers are followed by enormous paddle-shaped, leathery green leaves which remain until dieing back in autumn.
Lysichiton camschatcensis has a hypnotic white spathe and lime green flowering head and a cross between the two species produces a cream spathe (I like to call a spathe a spathe). This spathe surrounds a cigar shaped stem called the spadix which bears many small, bisexual green flowers.
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Garden with a Bird Bath

Garden with a Bird Bath

bird-bathsource

A bird bath can be popular with our feathered friends and be a focal point in the garden. If creating a new bed, for plantings, that will have a bird bath as a centre piece locate the bath just off centre. Work into the soil suitable compost  about 4 inches of garden compost will give the bed a good start.

Plant suggestions

  • Use plants of varied heights and colours and bear in mind you are trying to attract native bird species.
  • For the back of the bed try a Persian lilac growing upto 10 feet. Syringia Persica has fragrant mauve flowers.
  • If there is a wall or sturdy fence try Virginia creeper Parthenocissus tricuspidata with it’s red autumn leaves and hiding place for the birds.
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Combinations of Plants

Combinations of Plants

plant-combinations

Some plants look right together because the gardener planned it that way. In my case happy accidents are often the cause of plant combinations that work well. In yet other gardens it is the growing conditions that are the over riding factor that create the overall effect.

The Flag Iris above are in the process of being colonised by the small Euphorbia which spreads rapidly by creeping roots. In spring I am happy that the red shoots contrast with the lime-green, sword shaped leaves of the Iris so I plan to leave them until the Iris flower. By then the dark blue flowers will not need a red leaved under planting so they may have to come out. These Iris also need to be split as the rhizomes are old and each piece only produces one stem. I will do this splitting a few weeks after flowering and plant pieces of root and throw away the old woody center.

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Gardening For Climate Change

Gardening For Climate Change

After this wet summer what has happened to Global Warming? Are there any advantages of Global Warming and how should gardeners design for such changes.

What is Global Warming

‘Climate change’ is used as a catch-all phrase to encompass the effects of global warming, the increase in temperature caused by greenhouse gases and the Northerly drift of hotter climates. …

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Plan Autumn Flower Colours

Plan Autumn Flower Colours

Harrogate-penhill-autumn-shades

Decorative Dahlias provide colour through to the first frost. This dahlia was snapped in the rain at Harrogate Valley Gardens which has a great show of Dahlias in their own raised bed. That may account for the six foot specimens that were on display.

I was taken with the two tone effect of this flower. Many of the other flowers at this time of year are the brash purples, striking pinks or strong yellows. Check now in parks and public place to see what colour schemes work. Then plan your own scheme for next year.

Begonia and Sweet Alysum