Combe Garden Design: Using hedges in garden design.

Combe Garden Design: Using hedges in garden design.

Where to begin when deciding on a hedge?

Hedges are used to form physical boundaries between properties or public and private ground and if maintained properly, look much prettier than fences. Hedges also play a decorative role and can be an essential part of your garden design.
Now is the best time of the year to be planting a hedge because many hedging plants are available in garden centres and nurseries as bare rootstock.
First things first, what does bare root mean?
In a nutshell, it means better value for money for you. This is because the plants are dug up now in their dormant state (i.e. they are not actively growing) and transferred from the field where they have been growing to the nursery. This saves money on transport and the cost of maintaining plants in pots.
What is the best sort of hedge for me?
Firstly decide whether you want deciduous (which loose their leaves in winter) or evergreen (which retain their leaves all year round.)
Second have a look at your neighbours’ gardens to see what sort of hedges grow best in your area. That will give you an indication of what is likely to grow in your soil. For example beech hedges like well-drained soils whereas hornbeam (which is very similar) will cope with clay soils.
Third take a look at the amount of sun the hedge will get. Some sorts of hedging plants will tolerate shade and others need sun.
Armed with this information, go to a local nursery and ask for help in trying to decide.
Having decided which sort of hedge you are going to use in your garden design, the next stage is to prepare the ground really well. More of that next week in what to do in the garden over the Christmas holidays.

Using hedges in garden design.

I keep being asked if business is slow at the moment. Not so at all. We are booked until Christmas with various planting jobs, but largely we are planting bare root trees and hedges at the moment.

I think you get much better value for money and a better hedge from bare root stock, so if it’s possible I would always recommend clients whose gardens I’ve designed do this.
A hedge is a sort of ‘wall’ composed of plants. Some hedges are purely decorative, while others serve primarily a practical function. Hedge plants used decoratively are often trimmed to precise sizes and shapes and include evergreen and deciduous shrubs. Such hedge plants may also serve the practical function of affording a property some security. Bare root hedging are field grown plants that are dug up after leaf fall in the autumn when they are dormant. Depending on the season, they can be planted from about mid-November to mid-March, provided they are kept correctly.

Hedges are a vital part of creating natural boundaries and divisions within a planting scheme. They protect the main planting areas from ravages of wind, frost and other weather extremes. A small micro climate is often created within these boundaries to accommodate more exotic planting that wouldn't otherwise survive. They also offer the added bonus of providing natural habitats for wildlife and birds. In terms of garden design, hedges are invaluable for giving a garden purpose, structure and flow.There are a bewildering variety of hedging plants available in nurseries at the moment and it can be hard to decide which is the best for your garden. My advice would be to take advice from the nursery, but do some homework first. Notice how much sunlight the hedge is likely to get and check to see what sort of soil you have. For example is it heavy clay or sandy loam? Is it acidic or alkaline? Looking at what grows in your neighbours’ gardens is a good way to decide too!

After you have made the decision on which hedge to plant, the next key ingredient is preparation of the ground and that will be covered next week.

How to make leaf mould

A client of mine emailed me with the following question about leaves in the garden:

"Do I need to remove all the leaves from my new borders? I have been looking for the answer to this in my books and asking people! Do you think it is just essential around my roses (powdery mildew prevention)? To remove all the leaves will be an enormous task but I am willing to try if I am likely to lose plants otherwise!"

I think this is a good question and my answer is as follows:

For those who don’t know what powdery mildew is here is a picture of a diseased plant, it is a disease that normally affects roses:

The white powdery mildew mould start off on the leaves and soon spreads to buds and other young rose shoots. The affected foliage curls up and eventually falls off if not treated. Flower buds may not open properly, and if they do, will be severely affected. So it is a serious problem and I understand why my client is worried. However, I have never heard that the leaves from trees can cause powdery mildew and think it unlikely because the disease usually appears first in the summer, particularly in hot conditions. One way to prevent it is to mulch under roses in the spring and an excellent mulch happens to be leaf mould! (A mulch is simply a way of covering the soil to reduce weeds and help retain moisture.)

Removing leaves for the borders is a waste of time because over the course of the winter the leaves rot down and act as an organic soil improver. Unless there are so many leaves that perennial plants (they are the ones that die down over winter) will unable to get any light in the spring to stimulate re-growth, let nature take its course.

Removing leaves from lawns however, as my client says, is not only good exercise but will benefit the grass. But what to do with them all? Every autumn I make leaf mould because it is an excellent soil conditioner for the plants to benefit from, and it is so simple to make. Most leaves can be turned into leaf mould, but some take longer to compost than others. Oak, alder and hornbeam will soon rot down, while sycamore, beech, horse chestnut and sweet chestnut take a little longer. Leaves from conifers and evergreen plants will take between two and three years to compost and are best added in small quantities only, shredding them first to help speed up composting. This is too much of a fiddle for me so I leave them out.

If you only have a small garden, pack the leaves tight into bin liners, or better still, recycle old compost bags. I squash them down when full by standing on them to pack more in.
Punch a few holes in the side and bottom with a garden fork. When almost full, sprinkle with water or a compost accelerator (available from garden centres ) fold over and then leave in a shady spot. The following autumn the leaves will have rotted down into a rich, crumbly mixture that can be used as a mulch around the base of plants. This is what it should look like:

Let the leaves rot down for another year if you want to use as soil conditioner.
If you have the space, and a lot of leaves to collect, buy, or make, a simple container made from plastic or wire netting with a few supporting stakes. Adjust the size to suit your requirements. Here is an example of a simple home-made container:

Leaf mould is a free gift from nature, it's easy to make, cuts out bonfires, saves using peat, is clean and easy to handle, good for the soil, cuts down on watering, can be used on any soil and finally can be used at any time of year. Do you need any more encouragement? Go out, make some and feel better as a result!

Japanese Knotweed 2

Thanks to Kate Hodson from The Woodstock Stationer for the following advice on Japanese Knotweed:

...one for your blog..think I have sorted the knotweed problem....cut it down to about 6" above ground level , the stalks are hollow, use a dropper and give a squirt of neat Roundup for treetrunks,jap knotweed etc (got it from ebay for a tenner..but maybe you sell it online?) ..did it in July ..it keeled over within a few days and hasnt sprouted back yet...have to see what it does in the spring, but so far so good!

Autumn Gardening

In 1937 the famous garden designer, Vita Sackville-West wrote ‘If only one were as good a gardener in practice as one is in theory, what a garden one would create!’

And so, as autumn days are really upon us, now is the time to take stock of the garden in theory as well as practice. Inevitably one of the first jobs to be done is to think ahead to spring. Bulbs are currently in plentiful supply in garden centres, and, I think, represent some of the best value flowers available. However, there seems to be a terrifying array - how does one begin to make a selection?

One tip is to look at the time of flowering. Aim to have a succession of flowers from the first snowdrop in January to the final autumn crocus. A second piece of advice is plant bulbs in pots to fill gaps in the borders. Lillies do particularly well, simply follow the instructions on the packet and then put them in a corner somewhere until they are required next summer. Colour theme packs seem to be a very good idea to prevent those horrible clashes. Red tulips and pink hyacinths were my mistake for last spring.

In my garden I seem to be constantly rectifying mistakes. At this time of year I end up moving plants to new positions, where I hope they will do better or look better for the following year. It’s only by trying things out that we really learn and every year I keep..... I’d like to say a diary, but a list on a scrappy bit of paper is a more accurate description, of things to do in the autumn. So, for example, earlier in the year I decided that the bright orange euphorbia griffithii did not look its best next to the delicate pink of the sambucus black lace and it will therefore be moved.... well that is in theory.
The autumn border need not be dull, as winter closes in the colours seem to put on a blaze of glory. If your garden seems past its best take a look at some of the spectacular shrubs and climbers that are singing out at the moment. Viginia creeper, euonymus alatus, acer palmatum and callicapa are just a few of the wonderful plants that are putting on their best display at the moment. And now is a good time to plant.

Does this look a familiar sight to you this autumn?

The sunshine tempted me out for a long walk yesterday but I was struck by the extent of the damage to the horse chestnut trees in the South East. Even from a distance it’s clear that many of them are dying and certainly I hadn’t taken on board just how many have been affected in this area. In fact we did not see one healthy specimen all day.
It seems that our poor horse chestnuts are being hit by a double whammy; many are infected by a bleeding canker which scientists have now identified as Pseudomonas syringae. Research has not yet revealed how the disease spreads and enters a tree, but once it does, its effects can be catastrophic for the trees, as we now see. The second culprit is the leaf miner moth, which, although not fatal to trees, it can seriously weaken them by attacking the leaves.
Apart from the obvious scarring of the countryside that the death of so many of our finest trees would cause, will future generations of children be deprived of the pleasure of playing conkers?

What to do about Japanese knotweed?

Have you got Japanese knotweed in your garden? Kate Hodson (the Woodstock stationer) www.thewoodstockstationer.co.uk inspired me to do my next blog on this. She cannot find a solution to the problem in her garden and she is not alone.

The chances are if you have Japanese knotweed in your garden you will know about it because it is very, very invasive and almost impossible to eradicate. Glyphosate is the best weedkiller on the market as it is ‘systemic.’ This means it penetrates through the whole plant and travels to the roots. You will need a very strong solution and are likely only to ‘keep it under control’ using this method. There’s a great deal of information on the web about Japanese knotweed, but the Japanese knotweed alliance organisation has a particularly informative one:

www.cabi.org/japaneseknotweedalliance

Recently there has been news coverage of a new herbicide that may help:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/06/wildlife-travelandtransport

And there is a possibliity that a plant-eating predators from Japan may be introduced:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7531221.stm
Only time will tell if these are the solutions to a problem that has become entrenched in the British countryside.

Lighting in garden design

A garden is not just for daytime and there is more to lighting your garden than putting up a floodlight to deter intruders. Garden designers see (or rather should see) the gardens they are designing as a ‘picture’ and that idea is often reserved for daylight hours. But if we ignore the outside after dark we often pass up an opportunity for a more dramatic ‘picture.’
The point is illustrated by this garden that we have recently designed using new energy efficient LED lighting:

It should make no difference if your garden is large or small, modern or traditional - adding lighting can make an enormous difference. To create an extra 'room outside,' that popular expression in garden designing these days, a good lighting scheme can transform the daylight scene to something practical without compromising beauty.
All this assumes, of course that there is something worth emphasising in your out door room. The before picture of this same garden will illustrate the point:

Like so many people, the owners put the shed at the bottom of the garden (see previous blog on this subject) and would probably not want to have their shed subtly lit! Must better the elegant silver birch as a focal point.

But where is the shed now?

Hidden behind the bamboo!

For more information on cost saving low energy lighting contact Adrian@haysham.co.uk

Grow lilies for summer scent

Lilies are in glorious bloom at the moment and if you place a pot or two next to your front door now, you can look forward to the scent being carried into your house for a few weeks this summer.

You can either buy ready planted bulbs, or think ahead to next year. Buy the bulbs from a reputable nursery in the autumn, look for ones that are scented e.g. the Oriental lilies. As with all bulbs, always buy fresh, smooth bulbs and plant as soon as possible. Dried and shrivelled subjects should be avoided

· Plant in groups of 3 or 5 in a pot of well draining compost, equal parts ericaceous and john innes no.1 compost is the ideal mix
· Partly fill the container with compost to a depth which allows the bulbs to be buried two and a half times their height. Tap the container to settle the compost. Place the bulbs on the surface of the compost, spaced about twice their width apart. The growing tips should face upwards.
· plant bulbs towards the edge as this promotes upright growth. We recommend three bulbs to a 10 inch pot.
· Cover the bulbs with compost and finish about 2.5 cm below the rim of the pot.
· Tilt pots on their sides over winter to prevent them from becoming waterlogged or store under cover, but do not let them dry out completely.
· When in flower always try to water lilies from the base of the plant, if lily blooms get too wet and don’t have time to dry out before nightfall then fungal diseases can occur.
· Dead heading fading blooms is encouraged, but leave all remaining stem and foliage, as this will continue to put energy back into the bulb.
· Feed occasionally with a phosphorus rich fertilizer. Slow release fertilizers work well.
· These lilies should last for several years before they become pot-bound.

Wet weather problem: Slugs and snails

Do you have any plants in your garden that look like this? One of the most likely causes of ragged holes like this are slugs or snails:

Slugs and snails are probably among the most destructive pests that you can have in the garden and they are a particular problem in wet, warm weather, just like we have in Oxfordshire at the moment. We planted a garden up this morning and counted at least ten large, fat ones hiding in different places looking for a juicy young plant to eat. So warfare began.
Gardeners have several types of ammunition available, but if I could invent a total solution to the slug problem I would be a very rich woman and be blogging from my yacht.
Before resorting to chemical warfare here are some tried and tested ideas:

1. Direct assault. This consists of finding the whereabouts of the enemy (not always easy) and eliminating on sight. This was the tactic we used this morning. Our chosen method of killing was drowning in the conveniently newly built wildlife pond (but a bucket will do.)
2. Squashing them underfoot, or with a spade, or any other hand assault weapon, for the birds to eat.
3. Pouring salt on them will dehydrate slugs and snails and is a slow lingering death if you really hate them.
   
4. Throwing into the neighbours’ garden is a very last resort and not to be recommended if you want to remain on friendly terms (with your neighbour that is.)
5. Look for the enemy in places they like to hide, e.g. old pots and containers, dry stone walls (a particular problem for us in the Cotswolds,) under decking or bags of compost.
   
6. Fill a small bowl with stale beer. Put it in the areas where the slugs are active. Stale beer attracts the slugs and they drown.
   Old grapefruit skins will entice the enemy into an overnight shelter and in the morning they can be picked off and destroyed as above.
7. Put a layer of grit, coffee, oats, salt, eggs shells, cedar bark, or lime (not on acidic soil) around particularly vulnerable plants. If you’re new to gardening you’ll soon get to know what these are, but delphiniums, hostas, and lupins are particularly vulnerable.
   
   When using plants in a design for clients I tend to steer clear of plants that are vulnerable to slugs and use plants that are less susceptible. If you have a garden that is full of slugs, this is probably your best option.
   

Garden Design tip for dealing with sheds

It's not a difficult decision to place a shed when designing your garden is it? Or is it?

What the owner of this garden has done is make the shed a focal point. Along with the washing line and blue fences. It's a very, very common mistake.

The solution to the shed problem, in this case was obvious. There was a space round the side of the house which allowed it to be tucked away out of sight. The rotary washing line was replaced with a retractable one and the fences were painted green.

Painting fences, pergolas, sheds etc in the garden, not only gives the wood an extra preservative layer, but will make it ‘disappear’ into the background. So if you have a shed as a focal point at the bottom of the garden, and if it really can’t be moved to a less dominant position try this trick:

The shed has almost disappeared simply by painting it green. We also gave the garden a makeover so that it was more accessible for the elderly owner who was finding it more and more difficult to bend down. Raised beds are the answer to that problem. Simple!

Hot weather gardening

This is a plant that I'm 'looking after' for a client till we plant the whole garden next week. I think my cat's expression of disgust says it all. I'm ashamed to say that I made an error of judgement. Even though this plant was being 'looked after' in a shady position, I assumed that watering it and the other plants once a day would be enough. Not so in exceptionally hot conditions!

So learn from my mistakes. There is no hose pipe ban this year, so if you have a newly planted garden, the lesson is water, water, water. Newly laid turf is particularly thirsty. Ray, who works as my plants man, says that you can NEVER over water newly laid turf. He's been a gardener for 40 years; I trust his opinion and would agree....water, water water. Don't feel guilty about the waste, think of the lovely garden that you are leaving for posterity. An established garden, on the other hand, especially grass, which recovers from a drought well, should need no extra water yet, unless you are growing vegetables and that is the subject for another blog.

Garden makeover

This time last year I started to design a front garden. The owners had just had a lot of overgrown Lelandii trees removed and asked me in to advise about suitable replacement (we decided on hornbeam) and for a complete re-design. We felt that a more formal garden with an integral water feature would be more in keeping with the character of the property

We finished planting the garden on a cold, wet miserable day in December. But having visited again yesterday, consider it every bit worth all the effort:

See full details of this project at http://www.combegardendesign.co.uk/

Wisteria Sinensis: the perfect plant for a pergola?

The view from my kitchen window looks like this at the moment with the Wisteria Sinensis hanging down from the pergola, which is, I think, the best way to grow Wisteria. The flowers are exactly where I want them to be i.e. at eye level. Gardeners (and particularly gardeners who are garden designers) should learn from their triumphs as well as mistakes and whilst the Wisteria looks really good here, the Rosa 'Golden Showers' above it is a problem. And that is the problem, it's ABOVE the pergola, about to put on a spectacular show for the birds. I just hope they appreciate all the effort that went into pruning it. So, what can I learn from this mistake? Simply that climbing roses are better trained against walls or fences and Wiseria is the perfect plant for a pergola.

The dos and don't of a little home work

Saturday's Daily Telegraph had an article that will be of interest to home owners who are trying to decide which DIY projects will add most value to their property.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/5296466/Do-home-improvements-boost-the-value-of-your-property.html

In the world of garden design we are seeing more and more clients these days who have decided to improve not move, so it was interesting to read that spending £900.00 on landscape gardening could give an overall benefit of £6,000.00. Check out our web site for many ideas on how you could improve your garden and add value to your property, as well as creating something of lasting beauty.