One of the reasons I love having branches in the windows is the way they seem to blur the difference between indoors and outdoors.
They become a continuation of the view inside the apartment, and at the same times help extend the sense of space of the room by repeating the patterns and structures of the trees in the old cemetery across the street.And of course they bring some spring to a view that still bears the hall-mark of winter, except for the patterns of yellow aconites and white snowdrops against the green lawns.
-And in the half light around sunset they become a black lattice-work, silhouetted against the blues, reds and oranges of the setting sun!
In other windows-related news, my lupin seeds have germinated and the sweet peas can’t be far behind. They’re still not visible, but there seems to be a shift in the soil surface, indicating that something is pushing up here and there beneath.
I had an accident last week. I swear, I didn’t mean for it to happen, but… Oops.. The result is now displayed on my dining room table; another pile of seed packets, and I really don’t know where to sow them. Well, I DO, of course, but I didn’t mean to expand the Ambitious Border this season. Now, though, it seems I shall have to, since I will otherwise be short of space for sowing these annuals and perennials.
For now, though, my focus will remain on the Sunny Border. My husband is coming to Denmark on Sunday evening, so I will go up to the garden tomorrow after work and spend Saturday finishing the Sunny Border (should it be renamed the Sunny Semi-Circle, purely for alliterative reasons?) so it will be ready for planting.
I will need to measure the Sunny Border so I can do a more detailed planting plan for it. Right now my ideas are mainly in my head, and that means they constantly change… I do know the honeysuckle and the clematis against the wall will remain in place – and that I’ll do my best to eradicate the hops! – and that my husband’s roses will be planted there when they arrive, but everything else seems to change all the time. Some times I think mixed border with staple perennials that will compliment the roses, some times I think of a raucous drift of annuals, massed in colour blocks.
Drawing up a plan would force me to be more concrete and to commit to the plan I develop. It would also make it easier to start considering textures, heights and seasons of interest. This is going to be a major focal point in the garden, so I think it deserves a less gong-ho approach than I often take to the beds, plopping in plants wherever there’s room for them. I have plenty of plants to fill the Sunny Border, so I have the luxury of being able to choose my selection a bit carefully from the different plants available to me.
Thoughts right now:
- Blue iris might look nice with the red L.D. Braithwaite roses – and would echo the blue-purple of the clematis against the wall
- Peonies in whites, pinks and purples could give some bloom in early summer, before the roses really get going and take over the show
- Tulips and other spring bulbs could get a warmer – thus earlier – start here than anywhere else in the garden, and their dying-down foliage would then be masked by the perennials in early summer
- I need to think of something semi-low for the front of the border. Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ could be an option, since it has such a constricted growing pattern and will be fairly easy to weed around
- This first year I will definitely be bulking up this new border with my attempt at growing dahlias from seed. They have the advantage of being plants that almost invite a gardener to move them around the garden from year to year, since they’re lifted every autumn. Later on they might be clustered around the garden in various beds.
- I have a lovely purple asters that would give add some interest in the very late autumn, right up to the first frost – and even a bit after that.
- And now I’m running out of space, aren’t I? See, this is why I need to draw a plan, since otherwise I will inevitable plan to have 80,000,000 plants per square meter, and that’s probably not realistic…
When we moved into our house I went a bit crazy buying plants and not making plans. My excuse was that after 8 years of living in 7 different places, all rented and not having our own garden the excitement was all a bit too much for me. Of course very few of the plants I planted in the first 2 or 3 years are still in the same places. Borders have been redesigned several times and plants moved all over the place. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this approach. I’ve probably learnt more this way. I find it very difficult to visualise borders and planting on pieces of paper.
I’m loving your ideas, especially the rose/iris combination. I’ve just planted some purple asters in my front garden. The bees and butterflies love them so much and they are such a welcome sight in autumn. There is an amazing garden near us that is famous for it’s aster collection, it’s called Picton Garden. I did a post on it back in September/October, if you’re interested in asters.
You must be looking forward to seeing your husband again. Have a great weekend.
Oh, I’m going crazy all right!!! My perennials are all crammed together and really need more space. And then of course I go purchase more seeds…
I do find that putting things down on paper helps me visualise, but perhaps this is because I once thought I should be an architect so I spent two years studying at a School of Architecture and got to feel comfortable with plans and elevations and somehow turning them into 3D images in my head.
My mother used to have some small bedding roses around her irises (the same I got a great clump of for my garden), and I liked that look a lot. The colours go great together, and the difference in texture is quite striking as well.
And I do love myself some good asters… The first year I had the garden I got some nice purple asters from my mother, and last year before my parents sold their garden I got a very tall (5ft) blue asters from them.
Oh I did the same thing when I first moved in…no plan and 80 million plants…love the flower choices!
I think a new gardener with his/her first plot of land will invariably be like the proverbial kid in a candy store… And I’m still in that candy store and loving every moment of it, but trying to restrain myself a bit so I don’t end up creating more work for myself.
I’m a plopper, but I wish you luck on planning. Sounds like you have some great ideas, and I bet once you put them on paper, it will all come together. Good luck with your dahlias. I have never tried to grow them, but think they are such fun and beautiful flowers.
The flowers are lovely, the foliage is great – I think – with the serrated edges, and they have a nice stature to them. And they grow quite large, which is one of my wishes in plants. (That is, if they will grow at all, of course… Mind you, I do have some tubers that were bought and grew in the garden last year, so even if all fails I shan’t be dahlia-less!)
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