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SHRUB FEATURES
GRASS KING
Introduction Perennial Meadows
Prairie Perennial Meadows planting schemes
Dry Steppe Perennial Meadows planting schemes
Open Perennial Meadows planting schemes
Wet Perennial Meadows planting schemes
Shady Perennial Meadows planting schemes
TULIPS
View from Federal Twist- Gardenlust by Christopher Woods – a Review“Lust?” As in passion? sex? craving? sensuality? longing? fervor? desire? Yes. The subject of Christopher Woods’ new book Gardenlust is the unquenchable impulse of humankind to create gardens, an impulse expressed in diverse and multitudinous ways. It is “the force that through the green fuse drives the flower,” but to my mind it is more […]
- Gardenlust by Christopher Woods – a Review
- Gardening Gone Wild
- Noel Kingsbury
- Hayefield – Nancy Ondra
Tag Archives: garden design
Mind Gardens – A new series of blog posts
For a garden to be more than just a comfortable place to sit in to drink a cup of coffee there needs to be some sort of idea underpinning its design. Ideas together with constraints guide the design process and … Continue reading
Posted in Mind Gardens
Tagged garden design, garden moods, grasses, naturalistic planting, Perennial Meadows, planting design
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Dutch Perennial Gardens in the Dry and Hot Summer of 2018
Beauty is to be found in the chaos of nature and this year, in the struggle for life amidst the perennials and shrubs in my gardens. A drier than average spring followed by a totally dry summer in which a … Continue reading
Posted in Garden Month By Month
Tagged garden design, Garden maintenance
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Shrubs in late spring
It is in late spring, just after the tulips have ended, that I become delighted by the many flowering shrubs and distinctive foliage colours that seem to dominate the garden. Of course there are various perennials flowering including Euphorbia, Geum, … Continue reading
Posted in Shrubs
Tagged garden design, grasses, Shrub features, theme plants
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Would you want this in your garden?
Not everyone would want their garden looking like mine does at this moment. However, what I see is a clean slate; the garden’s perennials have all been broken into small pieces and dropped on the ground where they will rot … Continue reading
Posted in Practical gardening
Tagged Amsterdam, garden design, naturalistic planting, Oudolf, Perennial Meadows, Sloterdijk
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A Green Summer Perennial Border
The border on the other side of this arch was designed to be green and restful in summer when the rest of the garden is doing its best to call for our attention. Last summer there were heleniums and rudbeckias … Continue reading
Posted in Garden moods
Tagged Dynamic plants, garden design, grasses, naturalistic planting, plant repetition
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Tulips in my garden
Now is the time to make a list of the spring flowering bulbs and especially the tulips you need to order for planting in the autumn. With the bulbs in flower in front of you – there is no better moment to … Continue reading
Posted in Tulips
Tagged complementary plants, garden design, grasses, matrix planting, Perennial Meadows, theme plants
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The Same Border July and November
By early summer this border had lost the fresh colours of spring bulbs and matured into a gentle green cavern. Now in November, the fountains of ornamental grasses have brought movement to a space that sparkles in the season’s low-angled sunlight. … Continue reading
Posted in Garden moods
Tagged garden design, grasses, naturalistic planting, theme plants
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Summer, Perennials and Thoughts on Maintenance
Designing mixed perennial meadow plantings is all about choosing plants that work together well over an extended period of time by uniting into a living community where each has a part to play. Books will tell you that such plantings are … Continue reading
Posted in Perennial Meadows series
Tagged garden design, Garden maintenance, grasses, matrix planting, naturalistic planting, planting design, Shrubs
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Time to tidy up the Mixed Perennial Garden
This was my garden ten days ago wearing its late winter clothes of dead grass “stems” and perennials with their seed heads. Normally I try and tidy the garden in late winter (February) as it catches precotious cool-season grasses and … Continue reading
Posted in Garden Month By Month, Meadows 101
Tagged garden design, Garden maintenance, grasses, Perennial Meadows, theme plants
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Looking at Garden Planting Design Mistakes
As a keen gardener I am always making mistakes and learning from them, but invariably gardening books only tell us the correct way to do things and only show perfectly composed photographs of gardens to which we must aspire. Looking at … Continue reading
Posted in Practical gardening
Tagged Dynamic plants, flower color, garden design, Gardening Books, Oudolf, Perennial Perspectives, planting design, tulips
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