Shade garden plan

And I’m on a roll. Here is the draft of the shade garden planting scheme. I was ruthlessly spare. Just used plants that I already possess. No great wish list. But it’s going to look busy and hopefully will knit together in time.  I have so many hellebores down on the lower terraces it seems a shame not to use them. I don’t know if they keep their form beyond spring, so that will be a learning curve.

The whole bed will have to be covered in a deep mulch of bark chips. And if I get desperate, I can always plant stipas in between if there are any glaring gaps.

But it feels like I have done my homework and that is it for the year’s research. Planting up the lilac bed plus this bed, and the three little terraces on the bank will keep me busy. And trying to control the weeds is going to be a chore for the year. I had thought about planting up the west side of the potting shed as well. But that is going to have to wait for another year. Besides, I’m still going to have to find a place to put all the little flowers I grow from seed and the plants that haven’t found a home yet in the grand scheme. I want to sow more rudbeckia (the lovely green wizard variety) plus try out plenty of plants that may become cut flower material. And generally keep it as my trial beds.

Hopefully next year there will be a lot more sunshine in this part of the garden if Michel keeps up his pruning work. And all I will have to do is try and keep it more weed-free next year. Put down weedproof fabric perhaps? We shall see.

And then there is the small matter of planting up the bank just above the pool. The very helpful team at Knoll Gardens have done their calculations for me. It is going to take at least 75 two-litre plants of pennisetum ‘Hameln’ to cover the area. So that will be fun.

And now that all that homework is done I shall put away my reference books, turn the notice boards to the blank side. Tidy away and get back into the kitchen and make mounds and piles of christmas pies and biscuits.