Tips on choosing and combining perennial plants for your garden from top gardeners Steve Edney and Lou Dowle of the No Name Nursery. Don’t miss their argument at 14:50 on whether the persicaria should stay or go – I learned so much from it! Expert tips on choosing and placing garden plants for herbaceous borders. And how to add drama to your flower border.
To contact the No Name Nursery (website coming later) email lou.dowle@hotmail.co.uk or Steven.edney@live.com
Follow Steven Edney on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/steven.edney4/ and Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevenedney4
Follow Louise Dowle on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LouDowle
00:00 Welcome
01:00 Growing dahlias – everything you need to know: https://youtu.be/ExwzinP-teU
01:04 The dahlia on the left is ‘Lovely Eyes Loulou’. Verbena bonariensis in the background
02:06 The grass in the background is Pennisetum. Centre: unknown echinacea seedling. Front: Eryngium agavefolium
02:16 Dahlia on left is ‘Wishes & Dreams’. Centre edge of bed: Allium senescens ‘Lisa Blue’
02:29 Echinacea and persicaria
02:48 Dahlia ‘Lovely Eyes Loulou’
03:09 Think about the proportions of your perennial border, not just the size
03:40 Purple plant on left is Verbena officinalis ‘Bampton’
04:16 Give your border a smart edge
04:40 How to choose plants
04:59 Plants clockwise from bottom left: Eryngium yuccifolium, Stipa ‘Kleinfontain’, Hylotelephium (formerly known as sedum) Matrona, with Verbena officinalis ‘Bampton’ on right
05:05 Start with your soil and climate – not just your gardening ‘zone’
05:49 Eryngium yuccifolium
07:04 Potentilla ‘Miss Wilmott’
07:27 Choose long flowering plants for the front edges
08:01 The big grass is Stipa giganteum ‘Kleinfontain’
08:16 Hylotelephium (formerly known as sedum) ‘Matrona’
08:54 Geranium ‘Dilys’
09:05 Fill borders with plants to avoid bare earth – that helps keep weeds down
09:33 Edit your borders during the season, cutting back plants that are getting too dominant
10:26 When you buy plants think about what season they flower, how long they flower, their attraction to wildlife and winter interest as well as suitable for soil and climate
10:38 Verbena officinalis ‘Bampton’
11:08 Contrast low rounded plants with upright shapes
11:42 Seedheads of Eryngium agavefolium
11:58 Use plants of different heights to create drama in your perennial border
12:26 Don’t focus solely on flower colour, but on every aspect of the plant especially its foliage
13:15 Rule of thirds – plants look good around a third bigger than the plant near it
13:24 But grasses can be much bigger because they’re transparent
13:50 Rule of thirds – don’t plant more than one third of your plants as grasses in a border
14:50 Plants don’t work well in a monoculture, fill a border with many different types
14:22 Plant shrubs, roses and long-lived evergreen perennials in the border first, then weave the annuals and short-lived perennials through them
14:34 How two expert gardeners disagree on a plant – I learned lots about placing plants from this!
14:50 Persicaria ‘Indian Summer’
18:11 If a plant doesn’t look right, it may look better with different plants next to it
18:38 Most perennials don’t reach their full height and flowering potential until their third year
18:58 Ricinus ‘New Zealand Purple’
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29 Comments
excellent video, a lots of good tip and name of flowers for my boarder thank you
my q how i can avoid from the bees to come to the b.b.q. area which is on the other side of my garden
Properties in the UK are so lucky! I absolutely ADORE the tall hedges. I've even seen them on the front of a yard! Such privacy and only a garden to see rather than the neighbor's houses. In the US, it's pretty much universal that anywhere I've lived can only have in the front a 3' solid fence OR a see-through 4' fence (like a picket). Maximum height on a back fence is 6'. Hmm, I wonder if I could plant a super high hedge "in front of" the fence? 🤔. The code is for fencing not plantings. Wouldn't THAT be sneaky and wonderful? I just might have a plan. And it was your fabulous videos that inspired me! 👍💕
Speaking of hedges, what are the hedges people plant and shape around the borders of UK yards? Are they fast growing? They're just so gorgeous.
I'm SO old-fashioned. Men in short pants makes me laugh. The only time I saw my dad in anything other than slacks (and yes, he even wore slacks when we were camping) was when we'd go to the hot springs or the ocean once a year when he'd put on swimming trunks. And the WHITE legs would make me wish he'd SWIM in slacks. 😆
Even women in pants throws me off a bit. But I know it's "just me". Born in the wrong era, I guess.
A combination I thought was really pretty on one of your videos was, I think the gal who had roses, roses, roses. It didn't look like an entire baby's breath bush but looked like a small white flower that made the rose bush look like a rose bouquet with baby's breath. I'd be interested to know what those small white flowers were so I could shamelessly steal the idea.
I’ve only just discovered Alexandra and the middle sized garden. I would love to order some plants from the noname nursery. Is this possible? How?
I love your presentation Alexandra,and your factual, but non bossy delivery. Liz E
Great video but “me and my wife Louise” – terrible English!
I loved the Persicara debacle and the conclusion they came to about it needs planting with extra height around it. Fab video yet again, I’ve learnt so much. And thank you for doing the timeline and naming all of the plants that were discussed ❤️👍🏼
I wish there was more plants and less chatter. I wanted to see the border! Could you walk the whole border!?
Loved this. The poetry of the discussion here was great. 😀
I love the red in there. 😍
She's right. Keep the persicaria there and add something else with it. Please don't remove it
The persicaria looks so gorgeous with the coneflower next to it.
A hundred thumbs up! That's how many good tips I got from this video!!!
Great video but I have to disagree with nature not having bare earth – here in the states most native bees are geound-dwelling and do require small patches of bare earth in which to nest.
What a gorgeous border!
I totally agree with the man regarding the Persicaria. It doesn't look right in this border.
Is this garden ever open to the public?
NGS perhaps?
The border combinations are lovely.
Thanks so much 👨🏼🌾
Nice people and overall nice border. The plantation while attractive is displaying some deficiencies . Notably the lack of lemon yellow and whites to separate and enhance the overall pastel pink, carmine -blue theme ( he does admit this at one point) The border will probably not look attractive and coherent in mid winter due to the low density of grasses and other perennials holding up well in winter as a dried bouquet arrangement. Foliage texture positioning could be improved. Bringing out the border 2-3 m from the hedge line with a grass or hogging path would add more viewing interest while keeping the plants more compact and away from the thirsty hedge roots.
Steve is delightful to listen to.
Stay!
I like how the plants bump up against one another but how do you get access to the plants in the back so you can pull weeds and prune?
Excellent channel
Love the persicaria, definitely one to keep!
I think the Persicaria looks good there with either the large leaved purple plant on the left or with the cosmos. I personally think the 3 are not in harmony…it's a different mood…the cosmos is cheerful and the other too are more serious.
What an absolutely delightful couple! Lovely to see them discussing their beautiful border. Thank you Alexandra for this beautiful video.
Thank you so much for this amazing video
I loved this video as I found it particularly helpful and I loved their enthusiasm. I’d like to see more on plant combinations and recommendations if possible. Regarding the Persicaria I agree that the leaf is lovely as a backdrop to the Cosmos but if the form is scrawling and unattractive whilst growing I might look for another similar leafed plant.