The flower beds were split up to have their main interest as follows:-

The Spring/Summer flowers in the top section of the planting plan below.

.

The Summer/Autumn flowers at the right hand side section of the plan below

.

The Winter flowers to the left side of the middle of the plan below

.

The Spring Flowers at the bottom section of the plan below

.

The Winter Flowers were to the left of the botom left hand side of the plan below, for viewing from the path which came from the front garden to the back door.

.

The Vegetable Garden in the bottom right hand corner of the second plan down

The first set of plants were installed in the Herb Garden, Vegetable Garden and Plants Numbered 1 to 34 in March of one year with all the Lawn. The remaining plants (numbered 32 to 85) were put in a year later.

If you start by seeing what is currently growing, then you may not need to do a soil analysis. Rhododendrons were growing by the house and by the Wooded Area quite successfully with ample flowering each year. That means the soil is acidic and therefore plants for acidic soil should then be chosen.

If you start by using Shrubs/Trees which suit the soil, climate, sun etc as the architectural plants, then fill in with the groundcover plants, then you will eventually produce a low maintenance garden. Some of the groundcover plants will be overgrown by the architectural plants and therefore act as sacrificial plants. It may take 10 years for a shrub to grow 5 feet wide if that is it's eventual width, so you need plants you like the look of rather than weeds to fill that gap.

The Ground was rotovated, manure spread and rotovated in before first the architectural and then the ground cover plants were installed and watered in. Spent Mushroom Compost was then laid on top as a 3" mulch.

Item

Draw circles on your plan for the Architectural plants to represent their eventual width and their proposed position.

Do remember not to have the same height of plant next to each other or they will look like a hedge.

Vary the leaf shape and style to provide interest besides the flower colour, since you will see more of the foliage for a longer period than you will the flower.

It is worth remembering in your selection of plants to:-

have a mixture of evergreen/deciduous as well as herbaceous perennials. This then gives you a changing foliage or lack of it during the winter to provide a changing picture to the garden as well as the possibility of different foliage colour during the winter as to the summer.

.

If a plant can not only produce a flower, but scent, fruit, and changing foliage colour in the autumn then these are added bonuses if you have a small garden.

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A tree can be 2 feet wide and 12 feet high by design from the plant nursery. I have such a holly in my garden from Hilliers' Nursery which was bought for that reason and is that size after 16 years.

 

These plant lists can then be used in your maintenance plan by putting an extra 2 columns on the end - one for the pruning required; the other for the month. When all the maintenance data has been put into these tables, then the table can be sorted into month order to provide you with what to maintain at what time.

2

40

Hypericum calycinum (Rose of Sharon)

and

Evergreen.

Dark Green.

1'x2'
 

Yellow.

June-September

RHS Page 138

use CALYRUST to control rust on Rose of Sharon

2

63

Veronica teucrium 'Crater Lake Blue'

Deciduous.

Green.

1'x1'

Ultramarine Blue.

June-September

Put this near edge of tree

RHS Page 298

Leave existing rose

3

11

Bergenia 'Evening Glow'

Evergreen.

Maroon.

9"x12"

Magenta.

March-April

RHS Page 226

Leave existing Bergenias

4

1

Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snow Queen'

Deciduous.

Dark Green with Purple/Red Autumn Foliage.

4'x5'

White.

August-September

Hydrangeas Page 143

Cone shaped flower

5

1

Rhododendron 'Sappho'

Evergreen.

Bright Green.

6'x6'

White.

May

Rhododendron Hybrids Plate 316

6

1

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Altona'

Deciduous.

Mid Green with Brown Autumn Foliage

5'x6'

Dark Blue

July-September

Hydrangeas Page 97

Mophead Flower

7

5

Rhododendron 'Princess Anne'

Evergreen.

Green with Bronze Autumn Foliage.

2'x2'

Yellow

April-May

Rhododendron Hybrids Plate 447

8

7

Rosa 'Harvest Fayre'

Deciduous.

Mid Green

3'x2'6"

Orange-Apricot

June-September

Roses Page 270

9

1

Hydrangea macrophylla 'White Wave'

Deciduous.

mid Green

4'x5'

White

July-September

Hydrangeas Page 82

Lacecap Flower

10

1

Rhododendron luteum

Deciduous.

Mid Green with Red Autumn foliage.

5'x5'

Orange-Yellow

May-June

RHS Page 102

11

25

Alchemilla mollis

and

Perennial

Pale Green.

18"x18"

Greeny-Yellow

June-July

RHS Page 245

Back of bed.

11

30

Aster 'Lady in Blue'

Perennial

Dark Green

10"x6"

Blue

September-October

Front of bed.

12

7

Phormium cookianum 'Cream Delight'

and

Evergreen.

Cream-striped

6'x1'

Yellowish-Green

July-September

RHS Page 538

Back of bed

12

9

Solidago 'Goldenmosa'

and

Perennial.

Yellow

3'x2'

Yellow

August-September

RHS Page 215

Middle of bed

12

15

Iris pallida 'Variegata'

and

Evergreen.

Striped yellow

2'x1'

Mauve

May-June

RHS Page 196

Front of bed

12

25

Cornus canadensis

Deciduous

Bright Green with wine-red Autumn foliage

5"x6"

White.

May-June

RHS Page 314

Groundcover

Keep existing ferns, reduce existing rose and buddlea

13

5

Pyracantha rogersiana 'Flava'

Evergreen.

Bright Green.

10'x2'

White.

Yellow berries.

June

Shrubs Page 262

14

13

Rosa

'Grandpa Dickson'

and

Deciduous.

Mid Green

2'6"x2'

Yellow

June-September

Roses Page 386

14

30

Nepeta nervosa

Evergreen.

Green

6"x14"

Blue/White

June-August

RHS Page 242

15

1

Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple'

Deciduous

Reddish-Purple

6'x5'

Purple

July

RHS Page 89

16

1

Camellia x williamsii 'Inspiration'

Evergreen

Green

15'x8'

Pink

January-April

Camellias Page 47

17

27

Rubus

'Betty Ashburner'

Evergreen

Green

1'x3'

White

Edible raspberry-like fruits

July

Shrubs Page 173

18

2

Pyracantha

'Alexander Pendula'

Evergreen

Green

2'x7'

White

Yellow then Red berries

June

19

2

Hydrangea serrata 'Preziosa'

Deciduous

Green with Red/Bronze Autumn foliage

4'x3'

Pink

July-September

Hydrangeas Page 132

20

1

Rhododendron yakushimanum 'Surrey Heath'

Evergreen

Green

3'x4'

Pink

May-June

Rhododendron Hybrids Plate 528

21

2

Rhododendron yakushimanum

'Titian Beauty'

Evergreen

Green

3'x4'

Red

May-June

Rhododendron Hyrbrids Plate 545

22

1

Ben Conan Blackcurrant

August-

23a

1

Loch Ness Blackberry

and

August-September

Tie to East Fence

23b

1

Waldo Blackberry

July

Tie to East Fence

24a

1

Whinham's Industry Gooseberry

and

Red-Purple Desert fruit

June

Cordon next to North Fence

24b

2

Careless Gooseberry

and

Green-White

Culinary fruit

June

Cordon next to North Fence

24c

1

Rovada Red Currant

and

August

Cordon next to East Fence

24d

1

White Versailles White Currants

July

Bush

25a

1

Strawberry Rhubarb and

Red stalks

April-September

On bank

25b

1

Timperley Early

Rhubarb

March-August

On bank

26

9

Euonymous

'Darts Blanket'

Evergreen

Green with Reddish-Purple Autumn foliage.

1'x5'

---

27

1

Weigelia 'Variegata'

Deciduous

Creamy-Yellow

5'x4'

Pink

June

28

1

Viburnum tinus

'Eve Price'

Evergreen

Green

8'x5'

Pink/White

December-March

RHS Page 117

29

1

Viburnum tinus

'Gwenllian'

Evergreen

Green

9'x5'

Pink

December-March

RHS Page 117

30

21

Hedera 'Hibernica'

Evergreen

Dark Green

1'x15'

Yellowish-Green

October

RHS Page 179

31

5

Eucrphia x nymansensis

Evergreen

Dark Green

10'x3'

White

July-August

RHS Page 54

32

7

Rhododendron

'Vida Brown'

Evergreen

Green

4'x4'

Pink

May

Next to lawn between Hypericum 'Hidcote' and Arbutus unedo

33

2

Parthenocissus tricuspidata 'Veitchii'

Deciduous

Green with Crimson Autumn foliage

22'x20'

---

RHS Page 176

Along fence opposite new storage shed.

34

16

Primula vulgaris

Primrose

Herb Garden

35

3

Helichrysum angustifolium

Curry-Plant

Herb Garden

36

16

Chrsanthemum cinerariifolium

Pyrethrum
Herb Garden

37

1

Monarda didyma 'Croftway Pink'

Bergamot

Herb Garden

38

2

Senecio cineraria

Herb Garden

39

30

Galanthus nivalis

Common Snowdrop

Herb Garden

40

3

Ruta graveolens

Rue

Herb Garden

41

5

Aster thomsonii 'Nanus'

Dwarf Michaelmas Daisy

Herb Garden

42

1

Salvia argentea

Herb Garden

43

15

Dianthus 'Doris'

Clove Pinks

Herb Garden

44

12

Thymus serpyllum albus

Thyme

Herb Garden

45

5

Armeria maritima

Thrift

Herb Garden

46

5

Dianthus caryophyllus

Clove Pink

Herb Garden

The Raised Herb Garden plant list (plants numbered 34 to 46 in above table and their positions shown in the plan below) aimed to provide fresh herbs throughout the summer/autumn, and flowers to look at as well.