Just a view in my garden

Thanks Peter. I have made notes and will start shopping for seeds. I think I have a few things in the garden I can start from and will be doing some serious moving around this autumn. It really is beautiful.I think with you philosophy, you should manage the England team too!:thumb:

 

Wonderful pictures and great planning. I try the same principles but suffer from heavy shading causing plants to 'head for the sun. so to speak. Am not a great fan of hardy geraniums but the ones you have could be the answer to afew of my problems for the front of the borders.
My favourite is still the Aster frikartii 'Monch' which works really well in my sandy soil.

Thanks for the pictures Peter.

 

Many, many thanks to you all, for so many nice things that you have said. I am quite overwhelmed.

Victoria P. I put great weight on the two Geraniums I mentioned, along with 'Ann Folkard'. But my favorite has to be 'Patricia'. Technically speaking ( I've got my nerd hat on again :wink your 'Patricia' can't be going to seed as all these three are sterile and cannot produce seed. This is probably why they keep flowering for so long. They flower in an effort to produce seed - but they can't so they have to just keep trying.

But I know what you mean - they can go off. There are a couple of things that I do. The first is to support them. I put very short canes around the plant and tie some string round. This pulls the sides up, they then flow over the support and hide it. If I didn't do that, after a while the plant would flop over outwards and leave a bare patch in the centre. The other thing is to remember that Geraniums are really woodland plants that like a bit of dappled shade and moist roots. Mine are in full sun and do suffer a bit, but every day I empty the washing up water over the centre to keep them moist. They will go off flowering later in the year, but if you wait there will be new growth and yet more flowers after a while.

 

Thanks Peter, I will try what you suggest.

I think I have Rozanne, the purple/blue one, but maybe I don't

 

Victoria

If you don't have it, 'Rozanne' is well worth having. I have followed Bob Brown's advice http://www.cgf.net/plants.php?genus=GERANIUM with respect to Geraniums, and have been very pleased with the results. There are many plants on his list, but if you just pull out those with a high score and long flowering period you come down to only a few.

Bob's score..........score........flowering........my comment

Ann Folkard ........ 8.5 ........Jun - Nov .........lovely - low and weaving rather than mound forming
Blue Sunrise ....... 8.5 .........Jun - Oct ..........don't know it
Dusky Krug ..........9.0 .........May - Dec .........small and lovely but not a very robust plant with me
Jolly Bee .............10.0 .......May - Nov .........court in America has ruled this is identical to Rozanne
Patricia ...............9.0 .........May- Nov .......... brilliant
Rozanne ............10.0 ........ May - Nov ........ brilliant - but not quite as robust as Patricia
Russell pritchard . 9.5 .........May - Nov ........ excellent, smaller plant and smaller flower so doesn't have quite as much impact as Patricia
Tanya Rendall ..... 8.0 ........ May - Dec ........don't know it - looks like a small flower

So I wouldn't change my choice of geraniums - though I would like to see Blue Sunrise, which I don't know.

 

Wonderful garden Peter...thats the kind of garden I'd love to end up having jam packed with flowers,thanks for sharing

 

Stunning garden Peter, just one thing grrrrrrrrrrrrrr no not them log roll border edgings.
Sorry lol a pet hate of mine, my mother has them everywhere lol

 

Thanks Karl.

Actually I don't mind log roll - I am not a fan, but its neutralish. The only time it is seen is early in the year as in the April picture. I can't see it anywhere now, all the edges are grown over and blurred, which is how I like it.

 

Inspirational pics and advice, thanks Peter, I have made notes and saved the link you gave to my favourites for further study.

 

Well done Pete, it truely looks amazing, and so peaceful.

 

Just an update. As time has passed new plants are in flower.


This is the same view as the sixth picture at the start, with Eupatorium at the back, Helenium 'Moorheim Beauty' in front, and spikes of Francoa sonchilfolia in the foreground. There is a very battered pink Sidalcea on the right, and blue Erigeron and Lychnis coronaria on the left.


Hemerocallis, pink Astilbe and Astilbe 'Purple Lance' - not yet fully out.


A pink Filipendula rubra 'Venusta' against blue Clematis


Hollyhocks


Veronica longifolia and Campanula trachelium

 

Beautiful as ever Peter - you really have the garden worked out so well. Your Eupatorium are further on than mine, surprising as I'm further south. Loving that Filipendula rubra Venusta - even prettier than the plain white one I have. Is it similar in it's preference for damp/shade?

That Campanula trachelium seems to be on sale everywhere this year - how hardy do you find it.

Sorry, you can post pictures of your garden, but be prepared for lots of questions on it (from me anyway!)

 

Everything looks beautiful, Peter.

 

Your garden is just gorgeous. Huge amount of planning and work but worth it all to get those wonderful results. Clever you. :gnthb:

 

Gorgeous garden! It must have taken a HUGE amount of work to get to this stage but wow, was it worth it! Congratulations! And thank you so much for the tips.... v useful!