Hey everybody, could I get some advice on what I need to do to improve the border at the bottom of our garden next year?
I need to stress that I'm pretty awful when it comes to gardening. My memory is terrible, and "out of sight, out of mind" could have been written for how my brain works. Same when it comes to weeding, I have no visual memory (or ability to visualise) so until things start flowering I have no idea what's a weed or what's a plant, and pretty much the only weeds I can recognise are nettles, dandelions, brambles and thistles.
I dug out a small border last year and spread a wildflower mix that's meant to be good for wildlife (bees, butterflies, etc), and this year doubled the space and sewed a new batch which are just starting to sprout.
Many of the plants from last year have come back, but they're very patchy. Last year we had the orange flowers lasting forever, but this year it seems they've only come back in one corner.
The white flowers in the pictures came up first, and we have a few blue and pink little ones behind (forget me nots?) which are very pretty. And that's literally all I know.
Oh, apart from the fact lots of the leaves are being eaten, which I hope means they're doing their job and feeding this year's caterpillars. 🙂
Could anybody help with some simple guidance on what I could do to improve the border next year? I'm awful at gardening, so the easier the maintenance the better. If I can get some tips on what needs doing when I want to add it to my diary now and hopefully improve things a little each year.
For next year:
– I'd love to have a few flowers in early spring.
– The white, blue and pink ones all seem to bloom around April / May, and they've survived a year of me so more of those sounds good.
– The orange ones lasted well into Autumn/Winter last year, I'd love to have those coming back everywhere and not just in one small patch.
– So far I've been sewing wildflower, bee and butterfly friendly plants, the more wildlife I can encourage the better. 🙂
Thanks all,
Ross
by RossCooperSmith
2 Comments
Grow shrubs in the border, if you plant annuals those borders will be bare in winter as they all die back.
Mix it up with deciduous and evergreen shrubs, plant and almost forget, just need a little printing to keep to size
If you want them by colour to flower this time of year here’s a short list but there’s loads
Ceanothus -blue
Weigela, Deutzia -pink
Mexican orange blossom -white
Azaleas -red orange white pink purple
Rhododendrons – white pink red yellow
You can get your May garden colour without the work, plant and forget (almost 😉)
Hardy geraniums are great for low maintenance early flowers and butterflies and bees love them.
Not pelargoniums that are sold as geraniums by nearly every garden centre, but proper hardy geraniums could fill all the spaces of that bed and give colour right through the season and come in pink, white, purple, and blue.