Starting to tackle the garden.

Redstar - how well do they stand upto coastal winds? People locally have had an awful lot of problems with 1/2 their conifers turning brown with the other being normal.

Well they came round yesterday to fix the problem, so just waiting till the smell has gone before thinking about doing anything to the patch. The hebes are starting to regrow on the poorly side, I'm getting small green shoots coming out so they might recover The chaps told me to turn the soil a few times to help get rid of the smell, the only problem is where the hebes are is where the worst of it probably is, lol, but they're holding back the soil from ending up on the driveway as the patch slopes, so if I do take them out I'll have to put something in at the edge of the soil to hold it back.

I also need something interesting in a pot (to put on the access cover) I'm not sure what to put in a pot though, lol. Can you get dwarf clematis or something like that? Something that doesn't grow huge, will happily live in a pot but will grow around the railings. If I leave the hebes in then the pot won't be visible and will not be in direct sunlight.

I've also been offered a 'climber' I don't know what it is, I think it's a clematis, looking at the leaves but maybe not, lol, as I'm not clued up on plants, it's currently living between some flagstones. It's obviously selfseeded as my neighbour doesn't have anything like that growing and neither does anyone else (well not in their front gardens anyway). I'll post a pic in the identification section once I've eased it out and popped it into a pot.

EDIT: I've just eased the plant out and it's a passionflower (much bigger than the one I bought that just doesn't seem to grow), not got much root on it at all, lol, anyway of rooting it from a cutting?

 

There are so many types of conifers, you'd just have to read each type, zone etc.

 

I am going to be outrageous, but I find conifers boring. Maybe there are too many of them around me.

 

I've just googled about confiers and coastal areas in the UK and the only ones nurseries seem to be recommending is a fast growing golden one - the one my neighbours got infact (its now dead because of wind scorch). So conifers are out I'm afraid. The feathery ones that are low growing aren't suitable for the salty winds we get.

 

Hi Katherna,

I personally would choose these types of plants underscored with a blue/purple slate chippings.

Just an option, I think they should be alright in a windy spot mainly because they are toughies and there is some support against big gales wioth your iron railing.













I think they are very impressive at the front of a house.

 

Those are much better and more exciting than conifers lollipop. They'd look great

 

cordalines (sp?) grow really well here, everyones got them, lol, I wanted to stand out from the crowd with the garden, I've sort of managed that with the other part of the front, with big shrubs, the grass plant, my palm tree. Whats the second one down Lollipop? That looks quite a nice one.

With regards to the wind - it managed to blow over (45 degrees) my willow thats been in the garden for 8 years, lol, so yeah we get some pretty strong winds here sometimes.

I still want some courful plants in that part of the garden though. Everything else in the front garden is overgrown, blown and battered about, or half dead looking, lol. Apart from the berberis which is flowering again. Most of the problems will be sorted out when it's time for pruning!

 

errrrrrrrrrr, I don`t know the proper name sorry-I`m sure Ivory or Dai can help. So you want a drought tolerant plant? I presume with the wind they dry out a lot? Hmmmmmm let me think about it.

 

I agree Claire I think some conifers can be boring, the Yucca you chose is beautiful. However, I am recalling her first entry where she said, " they have lived in the house for 8 years and now she will do something with the front." To me it signals someone who would not want to spend time in the garden, who wants plants that can take care of themselves fairly well and that need no pruning. I think before we throw ideas her way, she needs to ask herself questions, like how much time she wants to spend there, does she always want it looking good, money. etc. I also was wondering if a Lilac tree, they are small would be nice there, is there enough sun. Maybe near the house, so she can smell it when in bloom.

 

I've actually got time now, lol. Having finsihed a uni degree, teacher training, working and having a small baby (who's almost 3 now), I've got time to actually do more than mow the lawn

The patch is next to the path by my gate and door at the front. I can't have something too large as I need to be able to open the cloakroom window. Would love something that smells nice as I have to keep my bins in the driveway, can't get them round the corner of the house as the gap between the house and the wall is smaller than a bin and don't want them next to the house (like osme people have them). It faces to the east (well the front of the house does), I've noticed now since the 'leak' has been fixed that eventhough it's been raining a lot the ground does dry out pretty quickly. So something that doesn't want it's roots in water would be good (I've got some iris that you should grow by a pond or in boggy ground on the other side of the front garden and they do really well as it's solid clay over that part).

Can't spend too much money on plants as I've not got much to spare. I probably spend more time in the back garden but thats mainly as the kids have been non stop with the football in the street and the dog barks at them when they kick the ball into the garden and on the wall (If I was the dog I'd bite the little so and so's, they never play outside their own gardens and kill off the plants, just in mine!), plus it's not safe for my little one incase he's smaked by the ball flying into the garden. Although 2 berberis plants are growing nicely where the kids like to climb onto the wall .... mwahahahahaha just waiting for them to get larger (one has a plastic cage around it to help stop it being killed after the kids deliberately stamped on the plant! I've had to wire the cage to the railings so they don't take it away, they've killed so many plants since I moved in I'd all but given up on getting the front sorted but revenge will be mine when they prickle themselves ).

 

Little brats hope they get well prickled might teach them a lesson lol

 

On the subject of prickling kids-shame you can`t have a crucifixion tree.

 

LOL, sometimes I want a shotgun. I could understand it when everyone first moved in as we'd all been in flats with communal gardens, yards etc; but not 8 years down the line. They just look at me like I'm daft when I'm trying to tell them that it's not their garden it's actually mine.

 

Ok, Katherna, given what you said, regarding kids, money etc. I am thinking the planting cannot be fragile. They must be sturdy and maintenance free. But you have a coast line effect, I read. HUM.
Let me think on it a while. Until then, of the houses in your area what do they plant that seems to have held up, that draws your attention, what is working for them. Finding out what is working "for them", will save you the money, because they worked it out already.

 

Passion flowers, ivy, cordalines (sp?), hebes, and grass well lawns. Not many people have taken an interest in their gardens, so theres no one around in my street to ask, lol. My mum has a lot of the shrubs that I've got, and a lot of roses. I like roses but not that much. Most people locally just seem to have bedding plants, which of course die in the winter.

I live at the bottom of a cul-de-sac, my view from my garden is other peoples back gardens, blocks of flats and other houses, so it's not as if I can build on the view, mimicing it in my garden. Everyone comments on how nice my garden is and I don't know why as it's really terrible, but I've got some different shrubs growing in my front garden to everyone else being as the kids killed off the ones that were originally in my front garden on the opposite side where the big wall is. The patch I'm making a proper start on has my driveway in front of it, so the kids don't tend to kick their footballs onto it.

I quite fancy growing a wintersweet, I have a wall it can grow against as is recommended, and the soil seems to be pretty nice in the patch. The prevailing wind shouldn't do too much damage to it.