Garden plants to provide colour all year round.

Planting

Garden Plants will add colour to your garden now that you have finished all the hard landscaping.

Aim for a permanent backbone of plants that both shapes the garden and compliments garden plants that will provide seasonal interest. Backbone planting provides the main structure of the garden, and a lot of thought should be given to this part of the process.

Using a plan of the garden, draw in the plants that you would like to grow taking into account their eventual height and how they will look against their neighbour. Will the colours clash? are they all evergreen / deciduous?, are they the same height?, do they flower at the same time?

Trees and shrubs are useful because of their height, shape and permanence.

Climbers trained up fences and walls are also good garden plants and can add to the backbone of the garden.

Evergreen shrubs provide year round colour and interest, but do not over plant as this could lead to a rather static effect. One evergreen shrub to three deciduous shrubs should be fine.

Hedges provide a good backdrop to borders; though can take time to establish. Conifers especially leylandii grow quickly, but have to be trimmed regularly, (at least once a year), to keep them under control.

Clothing boundary walls and buildings with garden plants such as climbers is an excellent way to disguise these features. Some climbers will cling to the wall, whilst others require some help with trellis or wires to support their stems.

Trees can be added to all but the smallest garden, being careful to choose which one is compatible with your site. flowering cherries, mountain ash, crab apples and small Acers are but a few that will suit a small garden, providing flowers, berries and leaf colour in the autumn.

Specimen garden plants should be used as focal points, such as Magnolia stellata, Yucca filamentosa, and Phormium tenax etc.

Shrubs such as Forsythia and Ribes sanguinium add spring colour, whilst Buddleia and Cytisus flower in summer. Many more plants are just as good.

Seasonal interest can be added to by under planting shrubs with bulbs, especially for a spring display. Any gaps in the garden can be filled with the use of annuals, both winter and summer.

This is the fun part of gardening. You choose the garden what you want and not some designer.

Lawns

The ideal soil for growing a lawn is a sandy one with a slightly acid p.H.

Mostly lawns are a mixture of different grasses ranging from fine to course with the ratio of the mix affecting the look and the durability of the lawn. The finer the lawn the more regular cutting it needs to keep it that way.

An old lawn can be renovated by the use of weed killers, feeding and regular cutting. Moss in any quantity is an indication of poor drainage, poor fertility and poor light, (shaded by trees or buildings).

Start renovation of the lawn in spring. Mow first with the blades of a cylinder mower set high and gradually lower the blades in the coming weeks, collect all mowings and dispose of, if weed killer has been used. Any bare patches should be reseeded.

The lawn should be fed with fertilizer containing a weed killer 2 -3 times per season, but do not apply if the ground is dry, the best time being just before a prolonged rain shower.

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