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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
My Online Courses
Join me on one of these online courses at My Garden School
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Grounded Design- View from Federal Twist
- June 17 – Garden Conservancy Open Day at Federal TwistFederal Twist will open for the Garden Conservancy Open Days on June 17 this year–earlier than ever before–and you are welcome to come. For information and driving directions, click on this link. It’s been a rainy spring and I’m just back from almost a month in Spain and France. Over the next two weeks I’ll be […]
- June 17 – Garden Conservancy Open Day at Federal Twist
- Gardening Gone Wild
- Noel Kingsbury
- Hayefield – Nancy Ondra
Tag Archives: garden design
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
1 Comment
Gardening with Shrubs
Books For Christmas 2014 There are not many books around that will actually teach you to use shrubs effectively in your garden. Too many shrub books are written by experts and focus on the plants at the expense of design; … Continue reading
Posted in eBooks
Tagged garden design, Gardening Books, Landscape Architecture, Shrubs
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Autumnal Textures over Perennial Colour
My trial gardens in Amsterdam have teetered on the edge of chaos this year as a result of moving house. Weeds are under control and wayward growth ruthlessly chopped down, but I long for a clean sweep and the fresh growing … Continue reading
Posted in Garden moods
Tagged garden design, Perennial Meadows, Perennial Perspectives, perennials, plant textures, planting design
3 Comments
Grasses – the current state of play
The introduction of ornamental grasses into planting plans was one of the most significant changes to occur within garden design in the past twenty years. Through their inclusion amidst an evolving planting pallet of perennials, contemporary gardens took on a … Continue reading
Chelsea Show Gardens – teach us nothing
I have just finished watching the BBC’s daily reports on the Chelsea Flower Show 2014 and I must say that the new presenter, Monty Don, has significantly improved the standard of debate and analysis of the various plants and gardens … Continue reading
Combining Perennial Meadows and Shrub Feature Borders
I have been telling everyone about Pachyphragma macrophyllum over many years, but still it is a little known ground cover perennial. Shrub feature borders combine special shrubs with other plants to create bold units of planting that play a role … Continue reading