Phase 2 of my garden - inspire me!

Hi all!

So the second phase of the garden starts today, or at least the planning.

I have attached 2 pictures to this post - one is the original photo, and one is marked up with numbers for the following questions and plans, looking for suggestions etc.

This corner gets lots of light in the morning, early afternoon, but then not so much late afternoon. As you can see it backs onto a fence.

We want this to be very very colourful because from memory the things in here did not produce much colour last year.

I can provide more zoomed in photos if you need any!

So my plan is:

1 - remove entirely
2 - not sure what this plant is but there are several around the garden, and so I might just remove in full

3, 4 and 5 - this looks like a flowering tree - can anybody identify it, and what I need to do look after it?

6 and 7 - not sure what these plants are?

The big tree at the back is staying where it is but the rest is up for discussion.

We'd like flowers and colour for as long as possible so any suggestions that help with that are welcome too...

I was thinking some lilies (see earlier post!), some lupines, a couple of flowering shrubs and then, what else? There seems to be a lot of room there.

 

So here is a close up of plant 6. What do I need to do to this one? I guess remove all the dead stuff around the floor, and then what of the upright looking stems? They look old...

Also any clue what that is to the right of it?

 

Weeds and balls aside, here is a close up of a non-numbered plant, looks almost grass like but is very contained - any clues?

 

And here is plant 7, and maybe 8 (is that thing next to it any use?)

 

Here is plant 2 in glorious close up...

 

And number 3....

 

They all look like good plants to me.
You could rip them out and plant summer bedding but that's more labour intensive.

You could leave well alone and inter plant a few bedding plants for summer effect.

 

I would leave them all in for this season, perhaps plant some Lillies to give you some more colour.

 

Here goes then;

• 1] no idea but I'd get shot of it
• 2] no idea either but I'd call it garden worthy!
• 3] looks like a Buddleja to me. See what it does and if you like it. They need regular chopping back but some are quite nice. Good for flutterbies!
• 4] need a better photo.
• 5] Hydrangea maybe?
• 6] bearded Iris. Tidy the brown foliage off and then let well be! Looks like a Hosta next to it.
• 7] Hemerocallis (day lily). They can be nice or downright invasive depending on which type or species it is. "maybe 8" looks like another Hosta.

Leave it be this summer and see what colours you're working with and how much they all fill out. Maybe add some spring bulbs in the autumn if you want to.

 

Think 8 may be a variegated periwinkle. If so, for me not a garden worthy plant....can be invasive too.
2 is a pine.....I would replace with a perennial like aster Frikartii Monch. It will give you flowers from mid summer to autumn...a glorious high impact blue flowered plant. Maybe go for a couple.
Cardinal Red, I would also get rid of 1 ...a conifer....and, again, plant something like a penstemon...an evergreen that flowers all summer in lots of different colours
Perennials will create a softer look, a more tactile look, to that area.
I would also add a couple of heucheras at the grass edge.....they are evergreen with lovely coloured foliage. They have red, almost black foliage, yellow, orange foliage with white or pink flowers in summer.
Check out rudbeckias too......from mid summer to late autumn they produce tall yellow flowers.
Check out gauras too, usually available in the garden centres from mid summer or in places like B & M. They are known as whirling butterflies, white flowers non stop and are brilliantly eye catching.
Just a few colourful perennials will transform that spot Cardinal Red

 

Correct!

I dug it out and found an ID card around the back.

 

So I started to tidy up and ended up literally digging everything up except the Irises at the back which I have got rid of some of but left the sets that looked like they were flowering and in good nick.

Everything else went, some in the bin (digging it up caused too much damage as the root systems were all intermingled) but some have been potted for future dealing with.

It now looks like this:



I've no real plan but I've been buying plants that I like the look of mainly (I know that isn't the best way to do it!)

Tomorrow I'll go back and continue taking all the rubbish out the ground. I've left that big tree where it is as it's too difficult to remove and it might help with the drainage, and also have some greenery in winter.

Then I'll add the pack of rotted manure I picked up today and leave it for a few days before starting to plant the ones I've bought:



There's a foxglove at the back there, then three lupins in a semi circle around it.

Then a mix of perennials including some asters, and others that just looked pretty.

On the side at the back against the fence is a rose root which is starting to bloom and I hope to grow up that panel, and then at the very front there is another rose root, as I'm thinking of putting a trellis there.

Then there's just a pretty plant that was in the clearance section which I'm not expecting to last long at all, and finally across the front of the bed we have the family sunflower competition, still in pots at the moment but will need to be put out soon and I thought that would be a good place for them.

In my growing tower I have a whole stack of flowers growing that I can fill in spaces with.

So thanks to everybody for the help so far, and in specific response to some people:

@Verdun - I can't find that flower anywhere, when I spoke today to a lady in the local nursery she said they get them in later in the season, which tends to match what you were saying. Do I normally have to wait?

@longk - I tidied up the iris and got rid of some sections of the plant that did not appear to be flowering. It looks better already.

@Verdun - I'm looking at your other options too I saw some Huercheras today and they looked great but the budget was running low!

 

Also - I would quite like to put a colourful tree at the back which will add some colour and interest at height.

There are some Salix Integras at my local nursery for £35 for 2, which looked nice in the picture but don't they all. Does anybody have any of these? It is currently about chest height to me, and has a lollipop look but unfortunately has not much foliage or flowering so I can't get a feel for what it would really look like.

 

I assume you refer to aster frikartii month Cardinal Red....yes, just keep your eye out for it. Worth it.
I like your plants....remember, with perennials you can later move them, divide them etc. to suit your plant associations so just enjoy your planting.
Caution!!! Plants are addictive You’ll want more and more

 

This is one of my Salix Integras....Hakuro Nishiri .....Cardinal Red. Sorry picture is bit blurry but light is fading now.
It is a glorious feature shrub/tree
I’ll post a better one tomorrow if I can