by Brian Denison

The garden has satisfied my needs during lockdown both mentally and physically. I completed a number of projects, the first of which was to build a Hosta display on the trunk of a chopped down.

The second was to rejuvenate a very shady bed.  The Sasa bamboo is well established but the area now features a new plant arrangement including Campanula glomerata, Kirengeshoma, Pleioblastus viridistriatus, Pulmonaria ‘Diana Clare’, Saxafraga ‘Rubrifolia’, Persicaria virginiana ‘Painter’s Palette’, Dryopteris wallichiana and Hostas. I am particularly pleased with the Hosta ‘Elvis Lives’ and Hakonechloa combo in the hanging bowl to the right.

My next project was to make use of some large rocks recently excavated from the soil. I used small plants so that the rocks were not obscured, primarily Hosta ‘Blue Mouse Ears’, Hosta ‘Cracker Crumbs’, Bugle and Lamium.

The bed is East-facing, so also somewhat shady. The rocks form part of the border shown in the picture below.

To the right of the rocks is a combination of Ligularia ‘Britt Marie Crawford’ and newly acquired Peucedanum ostruthium ‘Daphnis’.

Just behind the rocks is the new to me plant, Filipendula purpurea on the right.

The picture below is taken from the rock display looking west and features Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’ in full bloom in early August.

The small bed to the right is nearer the house and features a newly acquired Crocosmia ‘Severn Sunrise’ with Solidago ‘Golden Dwarf’ and Astilbe.

Rocks were also used in the front garden as shown in the next picture which features a Rudbeckia hirta ‘Rustic Dwarfs’ plant grown from seed. A free packet of the half hardy annual came with Gardeners’ World Magazine.      

The rocks are sited in the corner of the wider view shown here, and you may have noticed the Cornus controversa ‘Variegata’ in the large pot.

This is the main border in the front garden in July, but it is soon to be decimated because some plants are in desperate need of division and a couple are smothering more choice plants.

5 October – Work has just begun:

Sadly summer is all too short but I am still hanging on to one or two displays, such as a pot of Euphorbia characias ‘Tasmanian Tiger’ with Aeonium ‘Zwartkop’, Bush rose ‘Darcey Bussell’, Dahlia ‘Orange Turmoil’ and another Rudbeckia hirta ‘Rustic Dwarf’ with Phormium cookianum subsp. hookeri Cream Delight.

Hope to see you all next year, Brian