Rebuilding a nursery - Copton Ash

[astragalus]

Thanks, Tim.  With a couple dozen troughs scattered throughout the garden, I'm always interested to see how people display large collections without their being overwhelming.  I've gotten several wonderful ideas through the Forum already.

[Tim Ingram]

Yes, the same way of thinking goes through my mind too Anne because we open the garden regularly and we want to show off alpines more, especially in ways that encourage people to get excited by them. The garden is a collection of plants that we grow for our interest and for propagation material for the nursery, but there is a strong aesthetic element to it as well (and a practical one!).

[Tim Ingram]

Just put these 'Variations on a Cornus' on Facebook, and they seem appropriate here too because with all this major weeding and clearing it is good to look to parts of the garden that have achieved some sort of aesthetic balance. This is such a beautiful tree - Cornus controversa 'Variegata' - in all seasons, and behind it is another - Acer griseum. Rock plants and alpines are very very beautiful but a garden without trees would be no garden at all.

[Maggi Young]

Rock plants and alpines are very very beautiful but a garden without trees would be no garden at all.

Well, that is very much the case, Tim! Ian and I couldn't agree more!

The 'Variations on a Cornus' photos through the seasons makes a super illustration of  its many benefits.

[David Nicholson]

Not easy in the average suburban garden these days to have trees. I've got one and funnily enough it is Cornus controversa 'Variegata', the Wedding Cake tree. I have a picture of our daughter, aged 11, on the day we moved to this house and she was taller than the tree. Now it's over 20' high and, although you should never disclose a lady's age, she will be 40 at Christmas and still the apple of her Daddy's eye!

Not a very good picture but taken from our bedroom window, the only place where I could get most of it in. More or less impossible to plant under the tree as there are more roots than soil. The bluebells currently under it were originally planted the year after we had moved. A couple of years ago, after some savage work with the mattock, I managed to get a few Cyclamen hederifolium and coum under there and swore never to try again. This year it will benefit from being used as the depository for all my spent bulb compost after repotting and a layer of composted bark.

The next approximation to a tree I have is Daphne bholua 'Jacqueline Postill' (yes, that one!) which grows like Topsy. She is now around 8' high by 4' wide and will surely take over the garden unless she gets a severe haircut when she has finished flowering next year.

[Tim Ingram]

Yes I have to say we are lucky to have space to plant trees David (we've probably planted too many!). There is a lovely smaller 'version' of the Cornus - alternifolia 'Variegata' - which would fit even in smallish gardens. We haven't got much planted underneath it but I aim to try Anemone nemorosa and cyclamen would be good, and your idea of compost and bark sounds a good one, should help in getting things established.

[Tim Ingram]

Bit by bit this part of the garden is being cleared of nettles and brambles. This is one of those situations where having reached a certain point the drive to continue becomes stronger and stronger - but the energy stays the same! None the less concerted effort does pay off. The skill will be to plant and mulch these areas sufficiently to control any regrowth of nettles in particular (our soil is almost too fertile) and these piles of prunings go through the shredder relatively quickly allowing planted parts to be mulched step by step. We want to make a mixed and open planting of shrubs and perennials rather than too much groundcover and may start by planting a wildflower mix for colour next year (after hoeing off weed regrowth) and to act as a green manure, before putting in too many other plants.

[Hoy]

I have a big Cornus alternifolia in my garden also - it is not variegated though. I like it but the down side is that it throw too much shade on my little rockery

I have spring bulbs under it but an awful weed (Circaea lutetiana) has infested the lot. I think brambles and nettles are easier to remove

[Tim Ingram]

These are a couple of unadulterated pictures of primrose and cowslip after strimming the long grass in the picture from a couple of entries back. The cowslip self-seeds under the cornus and magnolias and can cope with a good bit of competition from the grasses (and the trees) through the summer after it flowers. In the lightly shaded areas I am also trying primroses and they too can be amazingly tolerant of drought in a grassy sward in summer. (We have them seeding by the thousand in another more cultivated part of the garden so have plenty of material to play with). What they need most is a rich and fertile soil which we have. Here as well are erythroniums, snakeshead fritillary, Fritillaria pallidiflora and pontica, colchicums, and some snowdrops and narcissi. I would like to add a lot more and work on this area to develop more of a flowery meadow into summer.

The second two pictures show the 'False oxlip' (primrose x cowslip) and the woodland anemone and primrose naturalised under trees in a nearby garden, which is what particularly tempts me to try something similar on a smaller scale. These all flower well before the trees leaf out and there is plenty of moisture in the ground. The trees weaken the grass sufficiently that it is not too dense a sward and the grasses left to grow and flower dry the soil out less in summer than when it is continuously mown. This is a sort of ecological gardening which appeals to me more and more as I discover what does succeed and where.

[David Lyttle]

Hi Tim,

Did your 'False Oxlip' originate as a natural hybrid between P. veris and P. vulgaris in situ or is it a cultivated plant ?

[Tim Ingram]

David - it is in a garden near to us with masses of primroses and cowslips so I suspect it is a natural hybrid, not planted, although I didn't see any more. The true oxlip (P. elatior) has drooping flowers in a one-sided cluster - there is a good dsecription of all of these in 'Flora Britannica' by Richard Mabey. In cultivation all of these can hybridise with each other and with garden forms of the primrose to give all sorts of mixed hybrids! (some of which are really striking).

[Tim Ingram]

After a very hot and dry summer the weather has completely changed and we have had well over 100mm of rain through the latter half of August. Good planting conditions (and good conditions for weeds to proliferate!). Cyclamen hederifolium is just beginning to flower, and in places forms carpets of flowers a little later into autumn. Can never tire of this wonderful plant.

This is a small patch in dryish shade which has been heavily mulched with well-rotted leafmould - a good spot to plant species like Hacquetia epipactis, Anemone nemorosa, erythroniums, maybe hepaticas, Trillium rivale?... and a few other choice woodlanders which have become over-run in other parts of the garden. The narrow 'path' next to the hedge is regularly used by our Jack Russell in his daily perambulation around the perimeter of the garden - one of these days he might be useful and catch a rabbit...

[johnralphcarpenter]

Around 2 inches of rain here in the last three days too, but a lot of it just ran off.

[Tim Ingram]

I've just put this series of pictures on my Facebook page for those who look on there and use FB - but will show them again here to illustrate how this raised alpine bed has developed over the couple of years since first planted. These are Mediterranean and dryland species - mostly reasonably strong growing - planted as stock for seed and cuttings and for display. The soil is sandy over gritty loam. A few plants are overly vigorous and out competed others but generally it has established well.

[astragalus]

So nice to see the progression.  Hard to believe it's only a couple of years away from planting.