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Category: Flowers and Plants

Annual, perennial and interesting flowers with advice on culture, information, tips and recommended varieties

Garden Sculpture from Found Materials

Garden Sculpture from Found Materials

council-flower-bed

This council maintained flower bed claims a wooden sculpture which looks to me like 4 poles stuck in the ground at angles. It meets the specification of a sculpture in that it acts as a focal point, creates a new dimension with the extra height and becomes a topic of discussion.

Found materials can be any surplus matierial discovered in the wider garden or on your travels. If you have an artistic eye they can arranged in the garden to create a special feature. Old roots can be used to form a stumpery and old sea washed tree trunks can become a seat or decorative piece. I like natural wood as it harmonises in the garden without effort. Other wooden features include bird houses and tables, so much more pleasing than the rusty metal efforts.

Tips for Choosing Garden Sculpture

  • Select items that are in proportion to the space and surroundings. Too small and the sculpture will be lost. Too large and it may dominate a natural setting to the exclusion of the natural garden environment.
  • Plan why you want a sculpture and how it will integrate into your garden and the chosen site. Do not leave these items to chance or serendipity. Consider maintenance from the outset some items will tire rapidly.
  • Unless you have a particular reason do not copy similar sculptures in neighboring gardens. If everyone bought the same stone sculpture from the same garden centre there would be no frisson of interest. Why not try to find a unique item that achiever the same end.
  • Repeat a theme or stick to standard. It can be untidy having a glass,stone and wood sculpture in close proximity. Aim for harmony in the items you choose.
  • Even well selected rocks can be sculptural features and I have many rocks in the garden that I have collected as small sculptures.
Water Features and Planting Schemes

Water Features and Planting Schemes

Tulips Fountain
Tulips Fountain

Water features offer one of the most effective ways to create a new dynamic in a garden. They add movement and dynamism and subconsciously help create a feeling of relaxation and lushness.
For the photographer or garden enthusiast, a water feature can provide a key focal point, which enables the plants to be effectively displayed. This particular water fountain (in Oxford Botanic Gardens) has been planted with tulips around the edge.

The tulips provide an interesting contrast. Here the tulips are neat, ordered and erect. – A perfect foil to the cascading nature of the waterfall.

Framed Archways in the Garden

Framed Archways in the Garden

the Garden of light

When designing gardens, don’t forget the power of architecture to frame inspiring shots. These two brick columns create the impression of a ‘window into the garden’. Windows such as this lead the eye to a certain aspect of the garden creating an additional sense of drama and interest in the garden.

One thing about his photo is that you want to instinctively go through the archway in order to see the whole garden.

It is a powerful technique to break up a garden into different rooms – keep creating different sections and layers of interest.

The other interesting thing about this photo is the contrast between light and darkness. The top of the archway is very dark and this serves as a contrast to the beautiful pink light of the apple blossome

Peace the Top Rose

Peace the Top Rose

Named ‘Peace’ after the second world war this ‘Peace Rose’ could have been named not for the absence of war but for the tranquility of a peaceful garden.

History

In 1935, Francis Meilland cross-pollinated a french  rose with Margaret McGredy, from which was born a seedling of unknown qualities. Some eyes were budded in 1936, and by fall one of the plants had developed into an especially fine specimen with lush dark green, glossy foliage, and it had magnificent blooms of the most delicate ivory-yellow brushed with pink at the edges. From Kitty Belendes.

Purple Cabbage

Purple Cabbage

This ornamental cabbage is grown for winter colour. For a Red Cabbage with heart try Kalibos, Red Drumhead or Red Jewel varieties grown from seed.

Cabbage Tips

  • Red cabbage usually stands well in the ground from summer to early winter.
  • Solid hearts with fewer wasted leaves are also normal with Red cabbage.
  • Pickled or ‘shredded raw’ are two favourite ways of eating these Red cabbages.
  • If you grow 2 rows in your veg garden is it a dual cabbageway?

cabbage

Growing Biennial Papaver nudicale & Eschscholzia

Growing Biennial Papaver nudicale & Eschscholzia

poppy

This is an easy to grow biennial. Plant seeds now, either where they are to flower, or under cover for planting out 9 inches apart later. Germination can be erratic but they also dislike being transplanted so you are caught between a rockery and hard-landscaping.

The reason I say they are easy, is because they self sow all over my garden and despite the delicate petals I think of them as weeds. So much so that I forgot to photograph any earlier this year.

Other Seeds to sow for next year

  • Cerinthe major ‘Purpurascens’ grey leaves with purple bell flowers
  • Eschscholzia – Californian Poppy
  • Calendula officinalis – Indian Prince mixed coloured pot marigolds

See also Tips for growing Iceland Poppies

Floral Clock Bradford

Floral Clock Bradford

For many years I have seen floral clocks at Cartwright Hall, Bradford but just realised they are seldom floral. The plants used are low growing, coloured leaf plants like short Lavender, Sedums, Golden Moss, Blue Festuca grass and Sage. Each year the clock celebrates an event, charity or organisation – perhaps I will have a theme for my garden next year.

This year the numerals were picked out with Echeveria see earlier post.

Debt clocks are the current fashion, they have little to do with gardening because I hope most gardeners tend to steer clear of debt problems.

Uses for Echevaria

Uses for Echevaria

Succulents often have neat attractive leaf forms. The range of rosettes available in the Echevaria group include red tipped points to the leaves and tight groups of offsets as they multiply. This leads to a common name of ‘Hens and Chickens’.

Where to Grow Echeveria

  • This specimen was part of a row at the front of a formal border.
  • They can be grown with success in old sinks or pots, both indoors and outdoors. Ensure it is well drained and never stands in water.
  • In rockeries or alpine gardens surrounded by gravel these plants can colonise neat areas and suppress weeds.
  • As greenhouse or indoor pot plants they flower with interesting spikes. Again keep them quite dry.
  • They make an interesting collection with enough variety to a maintain interest.