Todays little planting project ....

I decided after looking at a lot of photos on the forum that my borders where just too empty looking and because the borders are not very wide, I had originally planted everything in straight rows until it was suggested to plant diagonially to squeeze more in (thanks Aaron!). Also at the time I planted what I could buy at the local garden centre so hardly anything very wonderful or colourful !!

After a trip to a privately run garden centre on Sunday, I decided today was the day to get planting!! Good garden centre though - everything was priced up at £3.00, 3.50 or £4.00 so thought it was fairly cheap to be honest


Before .....






Placing to get positions .....






After ........






Still waiting for more weed control fabric to go down (need to go buy some more as old stuff has too many holes in now!) but think I am pretty happy with the results.



I have planted (in order from left to right) .....

Erysimum Bowles Mauve (mauve .... obviously!)

Helenium Double Trouble (yellow)

Achillea Ptarmica The Pearl (white)

Salvia (purple)

Erigeron Strahlenmeer (violet)

Phlox Monica Lynden Bell (Pink)

Achillea Moonshine (yellow)

Dahlia Clair De Lune (cream)

Dahlia Bishop of Aukland (red)

Dahlia Roxy (pink) ....... this is still waiting to go in though because realised today its covered in white fly :( Have treated it with some spray stuff and left it up the top end of the garden away from any other plants as havent a clue if it spreads or not but dont want to risk it!!


Have moved the old shrubs into different places in the garden to fill those out a bit more. Sadly I snapped the 'bleeding heart' plant :( The whole plant snapped off the root ball so I somehow think I have killed that one Have potted it up and stuck the broken part down firmly in the soil too - does anyone know if this will survive ?

Anyway - hopefully I have planted things in the right place. Have done a bit of reading up and put all the taller stuff at the back and the lower stuff at the front. Hopefully when everything grows/flowers I will have a nice colourfull border now instead of empty looking and all green

 

It's a case of wait and see on the dicentra front, but it is easy done, accidents happen, you may get a better chance of survival if you use the snapped part for cuttings-ezpescially is there are any roots attached to the plant still.


I bet it all cost you a pretty penny, GCs are raking it in at this time of the year. It all looks very nice, and I am sure it will thicken out and provide you with lots of pleasure.

 

No roots at all. It was a plant i brought at about Easter time so hadnt been in that long, so not very big! The whole plant completely snapped off ..... hard to explain but I was left with the plant in one hand and a wood looking thing with roots attached. Does that make sense ?

Spent £30 and a few pennies - I thought this very cheap esp compared to places like Wyevale and Blooms where you might get a couple of plants for £30 if your lucky!

 

this might help

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(attached via here so you can click on them to make bigger)

 

Ouch! some of those can be cluttings and would root quite easily-the green fleshy shoots coming of the side of the plant I mean.

 

So if I cut off the green shoots, dip them in rooting hormone stuff and then plant in compost and see if they grow ?

I saw some of the rooting stuff (cant remember what the correct name is now) in the pound shop the other day. Am at work today so might pop in and get some at lunch. Hey for a quid if it doesnt work I havent lost anything have I ?

 

Pound shops are my fave places-picked 10 boxes of sequestrine for a fiver the other week-saved me about 40 quid.

 

Some of the things are very good value arent they ... esp when you then pop in another shop and see the same stuff for 2/3 times more!

Thanks for the help Claire - you always seem to reply to my posts

 

My local GC sells small perennials for between £3 and £4 each - I stock up the herbaceous border with them and they come on a treat. A bargain considering larger pots are priced between £6 and £10 each.

Try and root the dicentra but keep the original "stump". It might surprise you.

 

Make the most of it Sam, because when you start the more difficult threads you may well see neither hide nor hair of me lol.

 

I thought these were a fair size for the price to be honest. B & Q sell smaller ones for twice as much!

Will try rooting it - what am I supposed to be with the stump though ? I am pressuming you mean the wood bit ? Just leave it in the pot and keep it watered ???

 

Thats a few years away then !!! :hehe:

 

You will surprise yourself Sam. Gardening is only an enigma until you "get it". Understanding "why" is more important than "when".

You are far better at this than you think I promise. It is not easy to learn how to be an excellent gardener-and you never stop learning-that's why I find it so rewarding, it never bores me.

 

Well with all the rest of the drama going on yesterday ..... my dicentra has gone all floppy and limp. Almost like dried up :(

Im guessing its too late to try doing anything with this now ? I watered the pot again last night it was in, but think I am probably too late now to do anything with it.

So thats another plant the kids have cost me !!