My woodland garden

[Jacek]

As I have some time now and lots of pictures that are both new and old - I decided I can share some of them.

I moved into this house and garden in 2006 with my family. In the past this property belonged to my grandparents and I as a child I was learning gardening here. The garden is not big, below 1000 m2, partly woodland type, with several mature trees. As most of the garden is lawn - there is not so much space for gardening. I do not have anything special there, mostly commercial plants, but still the collection has grown considerably over the years and I enjoy regular visits of friends or neighbours who are doing guided sightseeing tours as compared to neighbourhood - my garden is really colorful, especially in the spring.

We concentrated on early spring flowers, rhododendrons and to some extent - roses. We do not have a rock garden but we have a slope (scarp??) round the house. I took a lot of inspiration from SRGC forum, which I have read regularly for years, from Ian's Bulb Log (probably I have read them all), but also other English language sources, like paghat.com (sadly inactive for many years now).

I will post past and current photos from time to time. Unfortunately, I am not good in photography.

[Jacek]

As we are having cold spell now, I will show a few pics from March 25th, 2009 - the spring. As we are in February now - we should not complain about the weather.



And the crocuses trying to look at us.

[Jacek]

At the very beginning we were still happy planting some garden centre annuals. Now it is no longer possible as all spots are overgrown by bulbs and perenials, including self-seeders.



Also at the beginning I planted all easily available crocuses, mixed or in groups and was happy with the result. Time and weather verified the idea - many have not survived longer or lost the competition with better growing plants.

[Robert]

 

Jacek,

Your photography looks fine! 

If your photography is poor then mine is terrible. 

I look forward to your garden diary.

It is botany/work day for me, so off I go.

[Maggi Young]

Lovely photos of your garden, Jacek. I  guess your little garden helper is much bigger  now!

We find it hard to keep Crocus long term in the garden - because of hungry mice!

[Jacek]

Your photography looks fine! 

Well, short distance/macro photos are much worse.

I  guess your little garden helper is much bigger  now!

We find it hard to keep Crocus long term in the garden - because of hungry mice!

True, Maggi - my youngest son is 12 years old now.

As to mice issue. The main problem here is winter frost, more than anything else. Sometimes also insufficient summer drought/heat. Mice and voles are certainly present here, I can see relatively big holes in the ground leading to underground corridors. No moles though, I managed to trap them all. While I am not sure what is living there inside, if it is herbivorous - I try to bait it/them. I use pieces of narrow (5 cm) tubes to make the bait invisible and put the tubes along fence, walls, etc - where the paths of mice may be present. I put some test toxic bait periodically all over the year. When I see it is eaten - I add more as long as it is untouched. I hope it prevents large scale damage. I only rarely find dead animals.

[Ian Y]

I like your terraces with Crocus and other plants and I look forward to seeing more from your garden Jacek.

[Jacek]

I am driven by the current cold weather and found old "cold" pictures

"I'm well hidden" says The Blue of Iceland glaciers


"I'm truly a Yellow Mammoth"


"Snow is so heavy, but Etruscan boys can stand it"





"My situation is really sad" said the Purple Boy
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[Jacek]

"Do I look well in this white cap?"


"I want to fly and can not"


"We, the Tommies, always ready to stand the weather"

[Jacek]

I  guess your little garden helper is much bigger  now!

My youngest "seedling" last summer.




In the background you can see how my terraces and the rest of my garden evolved. No monochromatic groups any more. Lots of self-seeding plants. During vacation in Poland I found Campanula persicifolia growing wild in the forest. It was a dry, infertile pine forest. I thought it might be a good plant for me and brought one with me. And, oh yes, it is growing well, seeding everywhere, also outside the garden. Here you can see some.

[Jacek]

Just a few more pictures form the initial phase of the garden.

The bulb bed below a larch. The larch is as old as I am.


A smaller bed below Hydrangea panniculata which was over 40 years old then.  It has never been pruned and now looks like a large bonsai.


At the very beginning we fell in love with crocuses. Initially we did what color newspapers say - planted them in the lawn. Next spring we understood it was a mistake - we need lawn for walking not for careful watching for crocuses. Soon they were all taken away.


Tommies were completely new for me, but I read in some sources (including paghat.com - despite climate difference, they were my primary source of knowledge then), that they are called "wood crocuses" and tolerate woodland conditions.  I bought all the clones commercially available for me. With time they proved to be the only really successful crocuses here. They propagate so fast that any loss for any reason is regenerated. Very small corms produce flower. They are the only crocuses that set seeds reliably every year, although not too many.

[Jacek]

Crocus tommasinianus is a true success story. I do not even remember cultivar names - they all are good. And quite colorful, even if all are purple (I do not have the white ones, I do not really like white colour). It is able to grow so dense, so the flowers cover the ground completely.


I also like its leaves: they are low growing, much below the flowers, and forming an elegant "fountain". It is also reasonably hardy. During the disastrous 2012 winter (down to -30 C without snow) Tommies were thinned, but needed only 1 year to regenerate.


This is probably the wild type. The flowers are not big, but I like the pastel shade of purple it provides. I also like the drumstick slender buds. Look how dense it is able to grow! And the proliferation power - this clump probably was formed from one tuber within a few years only. I know this clump is too dense. But I have so many Tommies that I don't bother.


This is not a white Tommie! Again don't know the name, but this is the tallest and has the biggest flowers. Once I measured it - max 20 cm to the top of closed flower.


The above Tommie is bicolour. The process of flower opening in the morning is like revealing of a mystery.

[kris]

beautiful Jacek!!
I wish I have a warmer zone like yours to grow these gems
Kris

[Jacek]

Kris, all is relative. For European standards we are regarded being a cold place on the map. What about C. vernus cvs, do they survive? Do you have reliable snow cover? - we don't.

I'm glad you like my garden. Yet I have ordinary plants only.

[Leena]

Thank you for showing your garden and plants. Also I like tommies very much, mostly because they are one of earliest crocus for me (flowering in April), and they do well here, although I have never gotten seeds from them. Maybe it is still too cold when they flower and there are no-one to pollinate them or for some other reason.