Readers’ gardens
Christine High A Norfolk garden, with shady borders, wildlife areas and a large herbaceous bed.
We’ve had a few bright, crisp days which gave us the chance to make a start on cutting back the deciduous grasses. Now that’s done, we have to tidy the border and give it a nice mulch and then it’ll take care of itself for the rest of the year.
It’s the turn of the herbaceous bed next. This needs to have everything cut back, a good tidy up and again the addition of some lovely home-made compost. But that, I think, is a job that can wait for slightly warmer weather!
We reduced the height of the shrub roses at the beginning of winter to prevent wind damage, so they now just need to be checked over and any old or damaged stems pruned out. We’ll then be well on our way with our usual early spring jobs.
The removal of the conifer hedge at the end of our garden is now well underway. What we’ve done so far has been a mammoth job!
We’ve changed our original ideas for the revamp of the area. As we’re leaving the trunks of the conifers in the ground we’ll use them as the basis for supports to train Cotoneaster lacteus, which will give us flowers and berries. At the centre point we want to plant a crab apple, malus ‘Golden Hornet’. At either end we’ll be planting Viburnum tinus, which will give evergreen punctuation. In the large area of soil in front of the trunks we still plan to plant up with Viburnum opulus and V. davidii. We feel this will give us a more balanced effect than our other plan. In common with most gardens, ours has areas that need to be either disguised, or perhaps brightened up, but with a bit of quirky thinking, we’ve managed to find solutions. We made several unsuccessful attempts to hide an unsightly drain in the front garden before settling for a miniature Oriental garden.
A mesh grill covers the drain itself, which is then hidden by a layer of gravel. Pots containing Nandina domestica ‘Obsessed’ and Carex brunnea ‘Jubilo’ are complemented by the addition of a small statue of the Buddha.
Similarly, an area in one of the borders planted with springflowering shrubs tends to lack interest for the rest of the year. Then one day, while watching an antiques programme on TV, we spotted a sunflower made from brightly painted horseshoes.
A bit of online research identified a blacksmith who made them and now, even on a dull day, my sunflower brightens this corner. Just simple things add a little something and bring a smile when passing them by. Little touches finish a garden and personalise it!