Snowdrops highlight this small perennial meadow planting this winter’s end in my Amsterdam trial garden. Following cold wintery nights there is much still to be enjoyed in a garden dominated by perennials. Galanthophiles are gardeners obsessed with snowdrops. I adore these spritely early bulbs but the collector’s bug has never caught me. I have trialled …
These are the steps to follow when setting out a perennial meadow planting plan. Strange as it might seem, the way I place the plants on the ground is almost the reverse of how I put a planting plan together in the first place. As you will know from earlier posts on this web site, …
Setting Out A Perennial Planting Plan – Step By Step Read More »
Two prairie grasses dominate this perennial meadow planting plan. The Panicum virgatum is a large, fine leaved, upright growing grass which is used as a feature plant in this example. Feature plants rise out of perennial meadow mixtures to serve as focus points. Used singly and sometimes repeatedly, they can bring an additional layer of …
PERENNIAL PLANTING PLANS is my new eBook about designing perennial meadows. In a new approach to presenting my ideas on the subject of naturalistic planting for the average home garden PERENNIAL PLANTING PLANS shows clearly how to go about arranging the plants on the ground to create natural looking plant communities. PRICE €9.99 The plans …
The online training courses offered by Learning With Experts feature video lectures by some of the worlds leading experts in their fields. Originally starting in 2011 as My Garden School, they offered a range of courses covering garden design, garden maintenance, planting design, the herb garden, roses, shrubs, climbers and bulbs. Later the range expanded …
For an article in the current winter number of Onze Eigen Tuin (Our Own Garden) I was asked to show the beauty in the transition from autumn to winter in the garden landscape. What might be seen as chaos and disorder to some can in fact be very beautiful when carefully observed. Dying and “dead”, …
Inspiration for any planting plan is needed and in this case it came when I “accidentally” planted a seedling of the grass Calamagrostis brachytricha next to a patch of Actea simplex (Syn. Cimicifuga simplex) in an existing grass border, their flowers complementing one another perfectly. When designing a perennial meadow I look for five appropriate …
A new perennial meadow plant border in front of the Schutterstoren in Amsterdam was planted in mid April this year. See exactly how a professional garden designer sets out a planting scheme – step by step. Now, five months later, it is beginning to show its design concept. A mixture of perennials creates a central …
A New Perennial Meadow Plant Border, Step by Step Read More »
Naturalistic style planting is a modern approach to creating pictorial perennial meadow planting schemes. These schemes combine garden plants into stable plant communities. Mixtures of herbaceous perennials, ferns and flower bulbs are put together that will grow well in existing garden conditions. Fore example, we consider shade, sun and soil type as factors that will …
Pictorial Naturalistic Perennial Meadow Planting? Read More »
Winter in Amsterdam is wet and warm. Bulbs are rising out of the ground and many grasses that should have turned to straw are still green. Clearly there is nothing to do in the garden but wait for crisp cold weather and then maybe start thinking about clearing away last year’s debris. Looking around the …