Feeder doors keep closing when I walk away

[beach chick]

I'm rather pleased with myself today! I had planned a "50th birthday border" for myself for a while - had it rotavated and then I covered it in chicken poo and aubiose about 2 months ago. Today I went out and spent the accumulated garden tokens from family so I can plant it up

 

for just under 80 quid, I got 11 shrubs and 6 perennials, plus 3 huge foxgloves from the inlaws. I've just spent a happy hour watering them well, dotting them about around the border, now having a sit down before I go back to look to see if I like the arrangement, and then I can get planting.

 

there will be a few gaps, but I reckon I can chuck in some seeds and/or divide some things from elsewhere in the garden.

 

I WAS going to get mr beach chick to make me a granite plaque engraved with "beach chick's 50th birthday border" but I think it might look rather too tombstone-ish

Edited May 23, 2011 by Guest

[Cinnamon]

I have a large border to re plant too

Fun planning it,isn't it?

Just got to wait for Hubby to redo the fence first,otherwise he will be trampling over my new plants

[beach chick]

well it's kind of less planned than I thought it would be!

I was going to make careful lists of exactly which variety of what and so on... but in fact I just ended up buying stuff I knew would do well in the garden because we've got it elsewhere, plus a few new things which were on the clearance shelf... looking at it though, we could do with some new fence panels behind, but that's unlikely to happen at the moment.

[Olly]

Just bear in mind that if you're going to replace the fence panels, don't plant too close - when you do come to do the work, your plants will get trampled! My other tip is to leave enough space, it will look a little bit bare the first year but things soon expand. I replanted a border the year before last, and it's now really filled out.

[abwsco]

Oooh, pictures please beach chick when they're in We've not done anything more to ours apart from prune heavily. Will start a new thread to show the damage

[beach chick]

will do abswco when daughter returns from school with my camera...

[beach chick]

here we go...

 

looking from one way...

 

 

looking back the other way...

 

this border has mature trees in, and gets full sun all morning, then the shade moves over from the left - at about 1pm it is half in shade.

 

I hope for once that I've resisted my usual temptation to cram everything in, but I doubt it (I do like a very lush look, and the more you cram in the less weeds grow!!)

abswco, I can tell you what I've planted if you want?

[abwsco]

It looks lovely and YES PLEASE Infact, you could tell me what I should plant on my other thread

 

I also like the lush look which is why we don't prune as often as we should as it looks so bare after you've done it.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Lovely . I've had such fun planting my new garden and it's so rewarding when things start growing .

 

I had my dead acer dug out today but didn't hang around so a (very small!) lilac tree has taken up residence already .

[Cinnamon]

Yours looks very similar to mine Beachers, and seems to be in a similar situation light wise too

I will see if I can get a photo up later so we can compare progress

[beach chick]

Yours looks very similar to mine Beachers, and seems to be in a similar situation light wise too

I will see if I can get a photo up later so we can compare progress

 

look forward to that - just been out, and everything survived the night!

 

planting list:

Shrubs:

sambucus nigra black beauty - new to me, but elder family so should be ok

pittosporum irene patterson - never had one of these before, but it was half price

weigela bristol ruby - gorgeous dark red, weigela does well here

spiraea snowmound - does very well here

escallonia apple blossom - common as muck, but good by the sea!

lavatera frederique - a white version, fast growing so may only live 3-5 years

diervilla cool splash - new to me, also half price

hebes heartbreaker and pearl of paradise - heartbreaker has burgundy leaves some of the time; pearl has a rather whirly looking leaf

leptospermum - new to me but looks pretty!

 

Perennials:

foxgloves - Saltwood Summer, white; Serendipity, shell pink; Foxtrot, lilac-pink

eryngium planum - if these dont take I'm giving up on eryngium!

tellima grandiflora - new to me, reminds me of alchemilla mollis but bigger

[Cinnamon]

 

 

 

OK then,here we go!

Didn't realise how hard it is to get a good photo of something so large,that shows everything!

 

As you can see,we have a nice crab Apple tree at the top,nearest the house,just behind the big wooden half barrel.

You can't see it very well in this photo,but its a lovely big tree.

I have plated a Jasmine to climb through that & am mainly planting seeds under it this year,as when we eventually get the patio re done,I want to extend it to under the tree too.

So I am planing Poppies, California Poppies, Night scented stocks,Poached Egg Plants,Love in a Mist & the like in that area.

 

I have 2 Lavenders to go in the main bit of the border,plus 2 slightly s"Ooops, word censored!"py looking French lavenders & a pretty Buddlia.

We already have a couple of nice well established bushes (not sure what they are!),so the Lavs will go between those,I guess.

I also have some Lupins on the go,and wild strawberries for ground cover.

The border is deeper than it looks in the photo,too.

 

To give some perspective,the hen pen as seen in my signature is right next to the near end of the border (black bucket with wigwam is now in the place where the white Belfast sink was in my sig pic), & my house is at the far end.

The big barrel on the patio has spuds in it & the tree in a pot in the border is a brand new Peach,which is not there permanently (nor is the big pig!)

You see the tall slatted wooden fence at the top end? That will continue down behind the border,replacing the ivy covered half fallen over one that you can see there now!

[beach chick]

that looks lovely, I think you should keep the pig! he could peep out from behind the lavender...

yours looks much more mature than mine, those established bushes are nice to have because they give you some structure already.

and agree about the difficulty of getting a good pic!!

[abwsco]

Thnaks for the list BC I will investigate further.

 

Sarah, I love your pig

[beach chick]

cinnamon, have you got lawn edging in there? I need to do my edges with the edge-cutter-thingy...

[Cinnamon]

Its very ancient log roll - must have been down for 15 years,but it still does the job

[beach chick]

how do you mow up against it, or do you strim? that's what's always put me off edging, tho I can see so many benefits with it.

[Cinnamon]

Himself strims up to it,but its pretty high so its easy to mow up to too.

I like it because I can make the border soil higher and have the plants spilling over it,onto the lawn.

[Old Speckled Hen]

[

 

pittosporum irene patterson - never had one of these before, but it was half price

weigela bristol ruby - gorgeous dark red, weigela does well here

spiraea snowmound - does very well here

escallonia apple blossom - common as muck, but good by the sea!

lavatera frederique - a white version, fast growing so may only live 3-5 years

diervilla cool splash - new to me, also half price

hebes heartbreaker and pearl of paradise - heartbreaker has burgundy leaves some of the time; pearl has a rather whirly looking leaf

leptospermum - new to me but looks pretty!

 

Put the pittosporum nearest the house. When it's mature it has tiny little purple flowers that open at night and scent the air as nicely as any continental Jasmine.

Leptospermum is Tea Tree and bees love it.......they make Manuka honey from the nectar.

Your foxgloves will self seed nicely, leaving you to just pull out the ones in inconvenient places.

 

I'd love a fresh start in the garden.........maybe when we move.

[beach chick]

thanks OSH, I shall look forward to the bees on the leptospermum. one has pale pink flowers at the mo and one dark pink flowers - but the label on the pots showed white, pale and dark pink! so dont know if the flowers change colour over their life, or if is just 'pot luck' (boom boom, it's the way I tell 'em!) which one you get.

the whole border is at the back of the garden, so I wont get the benefit of the pittosporum scent unless I'm out there...

 

just lobbed in some fucshia Winston Churchill which I got in Aldi this morning - they could potentially be hardy, but we shall see. they'll fill some gaps this summer anyway.

[beach chick]

some pics a couple of weeks on:

 

that red thing is the weigela in flower!

 

the foxgloves are doing well

 

I've put some slabs down to make getting in and out of the bed easier in future

 

just realised complete omission of climbers! so the bamboo wigwam is ready and waiting...

[abwsco]

Wow BC, what a difference already. What are the big green plants in the last photo?

 

mine is still a work in progress ie nothing has been done

[beach chick]

foxgloves! present from the inlaws; actually have to say that the self-seeded ones I already have are further on in flower and not quite as leafy/flimsy looking - but then I guess they have reverted to the wild.

[abwsco]

Thanks BC Think I've got a couple that have appeared in the front garden.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Looks great . Your weigela looks almost identical to mine in size .