Troughs

[gervandenbeuken]

Nice trough, Ger.  Which soil-mix do you use in your troughs?

Usually i fill it up with a mix of 80 % coarse sand, 10 % peat and 10 % loam, trying wit some additional lime if necessary, to get a neutral PH 6.
Plants are doing very well in this mixure. Every spring I fertilise the plants with a very low nitrogen content.

[alpinelover]

just an example of one of my 18 years old throughs, planted with a mix of species from N. America, Himalaya and Turkey.
Everything is designed with travertin rock. Plants are doing well without any protection in winter.
 

Very beautiful trough, Ger, it could not be better, the hand of the master.

[astragalus]

A very beautiful trough, Ger.  Nice balance of stone and plants.  Can you tell us the plants in the trough?

[hadacekf]

Here are a couple of pictures from my  troughs.

Linaria-alpina
Oxalis-lacinata
Erigeron-Canary-Bird
Townsendia-formosa
Veronica-kotschyana
Veronica-prostata-Nana
Veronica-oltensis

[mark smyth]

Franz, you have very good looking plants

[Ragged Robin]

A super collection, Franz, all looking so happy in your trough - Linaria alpina is a favourite of mine but I have not yet seen it in the wild.

[ranunculus]

Beautiful plants Franz ... many thanks for posting.

[hadacekf]

Thanks,  I am doing my best.

[ChrisB]

Some lovely veronicas there Franz

[Maggi Young]

Some lovely veronicas there Franz

Yes, making me sorry I don't grow more of these pretty plants.

[ChrisB]

They are certainly doing well just now Maggi, but I don't grow the ones Franz has shown.  Shall have to watch for seed....

[astragalus]

Beautiful plants, Ger and Franz.
My troughs are just starting to bloom now.
1. Daphne arbuscula 'Muran Castle' growing in trough.  The roots have gone into the tufa.

[Ragged Robin]

Absolutely lovely - how big will it grow? 

[astragalus]

I don't really know. It's been in the trough at least 6 years and it seems to have become part of the large hunk of tufa in the trough.  It seems to be much slower-growing than the straight Daphne arbuscula. 

[Graham Catlow]

When I bought the troughs off Anthony last October I wasn't too sure what I was going to do with them. I eventually decided the small one should be a Hosta trough and here is the result. They are not new but taken from elsewhere in the garden.

They are -
Larger leaf on the left - 'Silver Shadow
Larger leaf on the right - 'Pretty Flamingo'
Running across the centre - 'Teaspoon'
Varigated on the left - 'Pandoras Box'
Varigated on the right - 'Hope'

The ivy is Hedera helix 'Minima'

There is also a Roscoe tibetica but has only just surfaced.