A Eureka Moment with Garden Colour.

Hello!

I give individual gardening lessons and sometimes they can be so rewarding. This week one of my pupils had a Eureka moment.

When we first started our lessons she told me her favourite colours were pale pinks and purples she wanted to fill her garden with these colours. No problem, very nice I thought. We also talked about colours in her clothes and in her house. Again they were pale pastels of pinks, purples and blues and creams. It looked like she knew what she wanted.

Last week our lesson was on designing with colour in the garden. We talked about how society may influence us over our colour choice. For example TV and Magazines selling us a particular lifestyle. Her  homework was to go to an art a gallery and also to look at photos online of gardens online and see which colours and colour combinations really moved, excited her and drew her.

She didn't love Pinks and purples as she thought - what really thrilled and drew her in colours was shades of green, white and silver.  Now she is busy looking at plants with leaves and flowers in this colour range for her garden and her home.

Have a lovely weekend
Caroline
x






To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/

So excited about my new short wildflower lawn

Hi
This is a bit of an experiment. I've a large area of gravel surrounded by flower borders in my garden.

As a child we had a lovely lawn full of clover, daisies and buttercups and I wanted to recreate it. .

I phoned the people on wildseed.co.uk for advice. They were very helpful and they recommended mixture EL1 for my clay soil. This can be regularly mown but is still full of flowers which is good as I want it to be a bit tidier than a wildflower meadow so I can still enjoy my existing borders. So I ordered it this morning. Here are the flowers and grasses it contains. Its got Red Clover and Buttercups just as I wanted and lots more besides. I'm planning on leaving the middle of the area a bit longer and mowing a winding patch through it a bit shorter for effect.

I had asked if their mix included daisies but was told that its too difficult to collect Daisy Seed but if I steal a plant from somewhere and plant it in the lawn that it will rapidly self seed.

https://wildseed.co.uk/mixtures/view/56


I then got quotes for the topsoil I need but they were coming in at around £700! I really needed poor quality soil as this is what wildflowers need but that was even more expensive at around £850. This is too much for frugal nature I'm afraid.

So I'm trying a compromise of my own invention. I'm going to remove the membrane under the gravel, spike the underlying clay soil with a fork to loosen. Then mix the good top soil I've ordered with all the gravel that is already there. This brought the price for the top soil down to £220. Much less painful for my purse.

So its a bit of an experiment.

The mix comes with instructions for the whole process and maintenance after - no mention of using up waste gravel though!!

This weekend I'm preparing the site and the new soil arrives on Monday  - so I can sow the seed mixture in early spring.

Wish me luck - I'll let you know how I get on.

Caroline

x



To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/

The secret garden - Morroco - inspiring gardens

Hi

This has to be one of the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen. I just had to write about it.  It is the sort of garden that makes me want to recreate it for myself. 

Its in Marakesh, Morocco. Monty describes it as "breathtakingly simple". 

There are some Olive trees around the edges, Rosemary forms a low hedge around each area. The main plant used is a grass - Stipa Tenuissima - each grass plant appears to be clipped individually, and is upright. So it doesn't look like a lawn. 

There are small patches of a pale Lavender and a few patches of Cape Garlic. Both pale violet or blueish in tint which goes with the silver leaves and the tiles on the pavement. 

Why does it work - I think its because of the following. 

It has a very limited palette - Mainly green with some silver mixed in. Some pale greys and blues in the tiles (see below). There are very few types of plants so there is a lot of repeating of plants. Both of these are good design principles. The amount of green in the garden gives it such a relaxing feel. 

I came across it watching a BBC programme called Paradise Gardens presented by Monty Don. 

To see the clip from the programme - go to.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05txncq

The garden was designed by Tom Stuart-Smith who is based in the UK http://www.tomstuartsmith.co.uk/  You can see Tom's own garden - the Barn Garden through the National Gardens Scheme on the 10th June 2018. Its nr St Albans, Hertfordshire, UK

https://www.ngs.org.uk/?bf-garden=11970 Definitely a date for my diary.

The plants
Stipa Tenuissima Link to buy plant - Jacksons Nurseries
Cape Garlic - Tulbaghia Violacea available from Unwins see picture below.
Lavender - Pale Pretender available from Perry Hill Nurseries.
-


I hope you love it as much as I do.

Caroline
x


To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/

Viburnum Tinis - taming the monster - loads of free stuff!

Hi there

Beautiful flowers aren't they. This is Viburnam Tinis - perhaps its seems the perfect bush - lovely glossy evergreen leaves. Beautiful flowers from around late November well into Spring with a lovely delicate scent. What's not to like?

Well we have one in our front garden - its around 35 years old and in spite of regular pruning its about 20 foot by 15 foot. It should be pruned after flowering but that is when its full of nesting birds so we can't touch it. If we prune earlier we miss out on the lovely flowers.

I decided to "lift the crown". Cutting back the lower branches to leave the arching leaves and flowers at the top of the bush. The birds can still nest in it and we can still enjoy the flowers.

My lovely husband stepped into the cold with his electric saw and special blade for cutting green wood. Half an hour later the job was done. The cuts look raw at the moment but they will soon blacken up and not be so noticeable.

As a result of our labours we now have many free sacks of small logs which we will mature for a year or so then use on our open fire. We also a free sack or two of small twigs for kindling as well as some sacks of greenery to shred to make free mulch.

Just to complete the list of freebies we also have two vases of the flowers from the bush gently spreading scent in the house.

A good mornings work and enjoyable - We are now rewarding ourselves with cheesy chips. Well we must have burned off a few calories!

Just as I finished clearing away I  noticed Mr and Mrs Robin from a previous blog finding lots to eat around the area we had been working.

I'm a happy frugal gardener!

Take care

Caroline

xx

To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/

Pots of geraniums for your windowsill - very cheap or free and very easy to grow.

Painting by Susan Savad of Three Pots of Geranium on a Windowsill. Prints available see below.

Hi.

In a previous blog about bringing the garden into my home I showed a picture of an abstract painting of a garden by Rachel Vollerthun which I've just bought and love. Inspired by this I've been searching on the internet for other flower or garden paintings I might also love. I did find this one today.

I found this lovely painting on Fine Art America where they have many sized prints available for as little as £21. Link below.

Fine art america - link to painting of geraniums

One of the reasons I love it is that I've always had geraniums (aka Pelargoniums) on my windowsills in rows of terracotta pots.

They suit my frugal nature  - they an be bought for next to nothing, they are very difficult to kill and survive neglect. They flower most of the year. You will need to take off blooms that are dying by gently pulling off the plant.

You can also make loads more for free. In late summer (or most times of year to be honest) use a sharp knife to cut off the top 8 inches of a new stem. Gently pull off all the leaves apart from two or three small ones at the top. Then bury the stem in a pot of John Innes no 2 compost to about half its depth. No need to use rooting hormone.

I usually use a larger terracotta pot (very cheap) about 8 to 10 inches in diameter and put 3 or 4 such cuttings spaced out in the one pot. I then put in a well lit place but out of direct sunlight which is above 10 degrees C. Water one a week, there is no need to overwater as they store water in their stems.  Within a month or so they will start growing as they will have rooted. 

As they start growing every time a stem gets to about 10 inches tall - cut off the top 2 inches of each stem. This encourages branches to be made and a more well rounded plant with more flowers.

As well as filling your windowsill they make great gifts. They are also a great way to begin to learn gardening - skills learned will be watering, taking cuttings, pinching off tips to encourage branching.

There are loads and loads of varieties to buy. I like allwoods.com where I've bought some before for as little as £3.50 each. They sell traditional geraniums with all colours, ones with variegated leaves and beautifully scented geraniums. Below is a link to their website.

Allwoods Geraniums/Pelargoniums website

To learn more about me and Caroline's Cottage Gardens please visit my website. https://sites.google.com/site/carolinescottagegardens/