new house - garden to sort out

Hi all,

New to this board. Just moved in and need to sort out the garden.
I'd like to have somce colour in our garden for most of the year including the winter. Any tips on what flowers / plants to use?
Garden is pretty shaded most of the time.
I've enclosed a few pics to show you.

I am thinking of creating a rockery on grass area that is sloping and I'd like to stick lots of flowers in the middle beds and retain the grass patch at the bottom.
I also need to reline the pond.

Those palm trees look a bit of a mess but I am not sure when to prune these. In the last pic you will notice a branch of some other plant growing in the middle of the plant!!!

I'm looking for other ideas so any advice is appreciated!!!

Thanks

 

Hi Garden learner, and welcome to the site. The palm trees are Cordylines and you don`t prune them, what you need to do though is remove the dead leaves. You will be surprised at the difference this will make. In the last photo, that is not a branch from another plant, that is the flowerstem of the Cordyline.

 

The mind boggles GL. If you want flowers that blend well with the cordys (and it would be really a shame for those to go) you should be looking at exotics like gingers, true lilies and various arums for summer. If your garden is all shady perhaps gingers will not work 'cos they like a lot of sun but you should get away with lilies and (don't confuse the two) arums, calla lilies as they are also called. You might even consider a couple of cannas if you want a summer 'tropical' look.

For winter dot a few hellebores around get a couple of dogwoods. they lose their leaves but have beautiful bark (ouch - DOGwood) red or yellow or green. Winter flowering jasmine (yellow) is my favourite winter plant but it is a case of browsing the web and seeing what you like then maybe coming back and saying 'will it work?'

Good luck in your search.

 

Good grief, John, are you developing a sense of humour? :D

 

Sorry David. I'm feeling a bit woof.

 

Thank you for the feedback.

Which are the cordys in my garden?

I'm looking to stick some jasmine on the boundary walls.

I'd also like to put loads of daffodils on the bottom grass patch.

I'm in two minds about the rockery. I am reading A Titchmarsh's book and he seems slightly critical of rockerys.

BTW, there isn't much sun there and the ground appears pretty soggy. Is this a no go for most plants / flowers?

Also when should i cut the dead leaves from my palm trees?

 

sorry, just realized what the cordys are

 

g l, if you look closely, you will see that the leaves on your cordylines are in sequence, don`t cut them off, pull them off. Start with the lowest then work your way around. Just remember, it`s YOUR garden, not Alan Titmarsh`s. So you do what you want. There is more gardening knowledge on this site than Alan Titmarsh could ever know.

 

Definately pull off the dead cordoline leaves as david sudgests.

"Those palm trees look a bit of a mess but I am not sure when to prune these. In the last pic you will notice a branch of some other plant growing in the middle of the plant!!! "

The 'branch' is an old codoline flower spike flower spikes, cut itt off!

Consider perhaps digging out the borders in the raised wall beds and planting summer and autumn bulbs.

 

thnks to all, really good advice.

Another issue with my palm trees is that the tips of the leaves are brownish. Is this due to a lack of nutrient or lack of care?


Thanks

 

Hi Garden Learner it looks like the last owner liked to potter about in their garden which is lucky for you as at least you don't have to start from scratch!

A bit of weeding to be done and maybe a rethink of whether or not you think the Hebe (at least I think it's one? the plant in the first and third picture on the left of the grass area) needs to be removed and something a little smaller planted in it's place.

The New Zealand Flax (near the pond area) might need to be kept an eye on or maybe just a little tidy back.

In the top of the walling maybe some cascading alpines will do the trick even the very humble Aubretia looks stunning running down a wall!

Just because your garden is shady doesn't mean you have to miss out on colour one of my favourite plants is the Ajuga, it's a lovely creeping plant that comes in an arrange of leaf colours and it just loves the shade!
Hel.xxx.

 

A year on here is my garden today.
Still a lot of sorting out to do, including suitably covering the horrible waterfall from the pre existing pond.

 

A big improvement, especially the Cordylines!

What horrible waterfall? Do you mean the steps? Doesn't look too bad - the pots on them look good.

 

the waterfall is visible in the old pics. I've filled up the pond but cannot pull out the waterfall as i would have to knock down the wall and rebuild. I want to get some rocks to cover it up properly and plant some ivy into the newly made rockery but rock prices so far look like 10 quid a rock....

 

Oh yes, now I see it. I agree, it does look a bit naff! Couldn't you either plant something in the bed above it, to grow down and cover it, or in front of it to grow up? I don't know what material it is, but if its stone or similar, chip holes out of it and grow small alpines in the holes - making a rockery out of it in a way!