librarian2003 (librarian2003) wrote in weagardening, @ 2013-01-25 18:00:00 |
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Week 2 - Garden Design
Week 2 has been a bit hit and miss. Everything was fine on Tuesday, but on Friday, my car sulked and refused to start, so we cancelled the session. Sorry, folks.
So, here's what we talked about on Tuesday, and will be talking about on Friday.
Our Plants of the Week this term will be long-flowering plants, plants that give us a lot of petal power over a long period.
Judy introduced us to Veltheimia, a bulb growing as a house or conservatory plant in this country, with lovely waved and crimped leaves, and a red hot poker-type flower. Veltheimia is from South Africa, and flowers at this time of the year, Christmas/January. Mine have been kept cooler and are just now starting to open. They'll be in flower for a month or more.
Here are the images:
Veltheimia
Here are our Sites of the Week:
GARDENING FOR PLEASURE
Spring Term 2012/13
Sites of the week : Week 2
1 Information from the South Africa National Institute for Biodiversity. There is a link at the bottom of the page to get to the main site, and explore from there for more plants.
Plantzafrica
http://www.plantzafrica.com/planttuv/ve
2 More information on Veltheimia – and other bulbs – from a bulb nursery and collector
The Bulb Maven
http://thebulbmaven.typepad.com/the_bul
3 Some design ideas from the BBC
BBC Gardening page
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/design/
4 Some design ideas from the Royal Horticultural Society
RHS advice page
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Help-ad
5 A range of garden styles.
Dave’s Garden
http://davesgarden.com/guides/artic
Jo Hanslip
January 2013
Our main topic was Garden Design, and we had a chat about issues facing members. Here's the handout:
GARDENING FOR PLEASURE
GARDEN STYLES
Gardens are frequently referred to as having a particular "style", Cottage, Tropical, Formal etc. But what does it mean?
Here is a brief description of the plants and principal features of a number of common garden styles. Most gardens are a bit of everything (or none of anything depending on how you look at it), and if you want to have a particular theme to your garden, it requires a certain amount of discipline.
What does often work rather well is to have just a part of the garden follow a particular theme, instead of the whole garden. That way you can indulge your less disciplined side elsewhere.
Cottage - Informal garden style
Probably one of the most commonly referred to styles. A cottage garden is fairly labour intensive due to sowing and clearing up after the annuals and tending to the herbaceous perennials after they have flowered.
A cottage garden is a good style for an enthusiast who wants to shoe-horn lots of different plants into the space. Use a mixture of traditional perennials, old-fashioned hardy annuals or roses and wild flowers, with fruit and vegetables, and native species of trees and shrubs.
You can help the garden help itself, by allowing annuals to self-seed and planting the tall plants fairly close to each other with a hidden network of support amongst them. In this way the supports soon become hidden and the tall plants help to support each other and crowd out weeds. Flower colours are usually mixed, plants often scented, and there are seldom lawns.
The cottage garden needs to be packed with plants for maximum effect, little is required in the way of hard landscaping, containers etc.
Some of the flowering plants most often featured in cottage gardens are: roses (especially old-fashioned shrub and species), pinks, delphiniums, lupins, campanulas, geraniums, anemone, jasmine, peonies, primroses, phlox, lilies, sweet peas, lavender and other flowering herbs, foxglove, lilac, columbine, nasturtium, poppies (annual and perennial), daylilies, hydrangea, wisteria, hollyhock, pansies, alliums, honeysuckle, clematis, deciduous trees, fruit trees and bushes, vegetables.
Features include rustic arches as supports, and brick paths.
Mediterranean garden style
Many Mediterranean plants are sun lovers and are drought tolerant almost to the point of requiring it. They can usually stand the cold of winter, but don't like the wet and cold. Incorporate lots of sand and gravel into the soil with these plants to help them through the damp English winter.
Needs an input of tender plants in the summer for authenticity. Otherwise fairly low maintenance.
Representative plants might be the tall thin Italian cypresses, palms, fruit trees, clematis and other climbers, aromatic herbs (rosemary, lavender, oregano, basil, etc) roses, iris, succulents, santolina, alliums, pelargoniums, grape vines, and a variety of bulbs. Many Mediterranean plants are drought-tolerant and somewhat tender.
Features include terracotta pots, gravel mulches, statuary and potted olive trees, low evergreen hedges
Tropical garden style
Not the easiest effect to achieve, requires tender plants for best effect (with associated maintenance). Mainly green with large leaves. Most traditional flowers are not suitable as they don't give the right effect. Needs to be in a sheltered area (so the large leaves aren't damaged) and needs appropriate hard structures to set the look off. Can require a lot of watering.
Rhus, stags-horn sumach, bamboo plants, cannas, verbena, New Guinea Impatiens (busy lizzies), bananas, gunnera, yuccas, palms, rheum, fatsia, ferns, Melianthus major, agapanthus, Felicia amalloides, Chusan Palm (Trachycarpus fortune), single dahlias, acidanthera, eucomis, trachelospermum.
Features include wooden decking and bamboo features, planted pools,
Formal garden style
Slow to establish due to the types of plants. Need to be very disciplined to maintain the formality of the look. Usually low maintenance once established however.
Plants include box and yew topiary, roses, trained fruit trees
Features include a symmetrical layout, low hedges, usually box, statuary, urns, formal pots and containers
Wild garden style
They are often the most successful when they become increasingly wild with less of a cultivated look as you move away from the house. For a decorative rather than completely wild look, use a mix of cultivated and wild plants, and cultivated varieties of native plants. Low maintenance, but can look a bit tatty and unkempt if no maintenance.
Plants include cultivated grasses, native trees and shrubs such as viburnum, crab apple and hawthorn, lilac, honeysuckles, buddleia, hazel, echinops, echinacea, foxglove, ferns, geraniums, roses, ox-eye daisies, and small daffodils.
Features include bark chip or gravel paths, informal pond with marginal plants, climbers, rustic timber arbour, arches, seats etc.
Developing a wild-style garden into a wildlife habitat within an urban setting can be a gift to many creatures, including humans. Elements of the garden should include water (ponds, birdbaths, etc.), food (berries, fruit, bird feeders), cover or places to hide (dense shrubs, evergreens, bird houses, etc.), and flowers for butterflies and bees. Organic gardening practices are important to maintaining the garden.
Oriental garden style
You need to be very disciplined to maintain this look and plantings are restrained and of very few varieties of plant. Oriental gardens are almost entirely green. Low maintenance.
Plants include bamboos, Japanese maples, clipped box and yew, pines, hostas, ferns, garden-sized bonsai, ornamental cherry.
Features include large boulders in a "sea" of patterned, raked gravel, mossy rocks, pools and pebbles with a traditional Japanese water feature, stone lantern ornamentation
English Garden
English gardens can be varied (including both formal and informal layout) but lawn, surrounded by perennial borders, hedges and gates (often with arbours), and benches are some of the mainstays of the style. Planting is lush, flowers abound, and maintenance is often significant.
The traditional mixed border incorporates various types of trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, bulbs, ornamental grass, and climbers. Choose a wide variety of plants to keep the border visually interesting year round. Trees, shrubs, and ornamental grasses will provide the garden with background structure and winter interest. A mixture of annuals, perennials, and bulbs will dominate the garden during the growing season.
Romantic Garden
Above all, a romantic garden should take one away from the everyday worries of the world. Planning for privacy with walls, hedges, trellises, arbours, and pergolas is paramount. Interesting views might be framed with one of the aforementioned elements. Exciting the senses with fragrance, planting with sound in mind (running water, rustling leaves, etc.), and inspiring fantasy with unusual plantings all contribute to the romance. Thought should be given to creating small, private seating areas from which to experience the garden. Well-placed garden ornaments should also be featured. Plantings are full and lush, and colours often muted and restful.
Children's Garden
The children's garden should be a place to explore. Avoid boundaries that limit them from areas of the garden, and toxic chemicals or plants that might poison them. Involve the children in the planning and planting of the garden; use both edible plants such as climbing beans, pumpkins, and tomatoes, and flowering plants, and shrubs/flowers that attract wildlife. Provide meandering trails, pools or other water features, play scapes, wild areas, and small semi-enclosed areas to be used for hiding/secret places.
Moonlight Garden or Night-Scented Garden
Plan for light/white coloured flowers (which show up more readily in the dark) and plants that bloom and/or release their fragrance after dark (Ipomoea alba or moonflower, some waterlilies, Nicotiana or night-blooming tobacco, Cestrum nocturnum or night blooming jasmine, and many others). Plan a suitable lighting system. Include plantings that attract nocturnal animals and insects such as moths, bats, and owls.
Prairie gardens
Ideal for large areas with full sun, consisting of dramatic sweeps of one species followed by another. Plants chosen for this style are based on their strong structural elements, multi-season interest, and heat and drought tolerance. Ornamental grasses play a key role with coneflowers, rudbeckias, sedums, and euphorbias. Slopes accentuate the large expanses of plants.
Woodland gardens depend on random plantings of shade loving plants. Many woodland gardens rely on native perennials and shrubs. Annuals, groundcovers, and trees may also be used. Winding paths through the garden encourage exploration and discovery.
Contemporary gardens tend to be minimalist, so you don’t need a lot of plants. Strong shapes and textures are essential. Grasses are great. This style suits 'un-fussy' modern houses, roof gardens and trendy bachelor pads.
Plants include black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra), Lily turf (Ophiopogon planiscapis ‘Nigrescens’), Blue fescue grass (Festuca glauca), Phormium, Artemisia
OTHER CONCEPTS:
low-maintenance
drought tolerant
fine art/sculpture
oasis/paradise
secret
healing
flower arranger/cutting garden
grey leaved or white (or other featured colour) garden
herb
water
scented
Specialty or theme gardens can be fun and interesting. These gardens are limited only by the gardener’s imagination. More unusual themes might be built around literature, history, or cooking. A Shakespearean garden would incorporate plants mentioned in William Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets. Likewise, a Biblical garden has plants from the Bible. Young children might like an alphabet garden with plants starting with the letters from A to Z.
Jo Hanslip
January 2013
Got any comment? Leave them below.
Next week, we'll be looking at the Garden in February
Jo