Here’s a shameless plug for my husband’s new podcast.

Visit www.newforestpodcast.co.uk

Subscribe Free To This Blog By Clicking Here

© Copyright Judy Fenyvesi

If your planting colour is looking a bit drab, how about adding a twist of lemon, some orange and a dash of lime?

Creating a well thought out colour planting scheme in a garden can really give it some pizazz and liven it up. How about a lime green planting border with vivid yellow and bright orange?  Colours like this can’t help but cheer up a drab looking garden.

Have you considered painting or staining your garden fence a dark colour to contrast it against the colours in your garden?  Would you dare to colour your garden fence black?  Now that certainly would be a very powerful backdrop to bright planting, creating a stunning effect and giving a garden a “wow” factor.

An excellent shrub to have in a bold colour schemed garden is the Sambucus racemosa ‘Plumosa Aurea’ otherwise know as the Golden Elder. This shrub has super fine-cut leaves that are golden yellow to start with, turning lime green as the leaves grow older.  This shrub prefers a semi shady position as opposed to full sun which may scorch its leaves.

A couple of other shrubs which can give a bright splash of colour include the Choisya ternata ‘Sundance’, the Mexican orange blossom, which has bright yellow aromatic evergreen leaves and the Berberis thunbergii ‘Aurea’ which is a low dense compact shrub with small rounded vivid yellow leaves. Just like the Golden Elder, both these shrubs prefer a semi shady spot.

Hostas are great for adding some foliage interest to a shady corner of a garden.  I think that varieties with leaves of lime green or yellow look stunning. Hostas such as ‘Lemon Lime’ with yellow-green to yellow leaves or ‘September Sun’ which has lime green and yellow leaves and green margins look great. With hostas like these, no garden should have a boring shady corner.

For some vivid yellow and orange colours, the Hemerocallis, Daylily will certainly add some “flower power” to your garden.  This herbaceous perennial has bold trumpet shaped flowers and is definitely worth a try.

For easy low maintenance planting, Eschscholzia California Poppies in mixed yellow and orange will put on a colourful good show and will annually self-seed as well.

If you want to go big, bold and exotic, how about Cannas?  With their large foliage and magnificent flamboyant flowers in yellow or orange, this addition will certainly add a topical feel to any garden.

For ground cover you could choose the Alchemilla mollis with its plain green lobed foliage and its cymes of tiny lime flowers.  This plants makes a wonderful planting companion next to bright yellow and orange flowers.

With any planting plan and scheme always remember to include flowering plants for all four seasons so as to spread the flowering interest and colour throughout the year.

Subscribe Free To This Blog By Clicking Here

© Copyright Judy Fenyvesi

#gduk 164

Water features in today’s domestic gardens are still very popular and nowadays there are so many fabulous designs to choose from.

If you haven’t got much spare time for gardening then you can opt for simple self-contained water feature that doesn’t need much maintenance, however, if you’re feeling more ambitious and would like to get more involved in water gardening, then consider creating your own pond.

Not only will a pond enhance a garden, creating a restful retreat, it will also help encourage wildlife into the garden.

Obviously, one of the most important factors is deciding where to position the pond. Ideally a pond should be situated away from extreme shade and extreme sunlight (four to six hours a day of daylight is sufficient). Also it’s best not to have a pond too near to trees as leaf litter will pollute the pond and it isn’t much fun having to constantly clean out a pond.

An informal pond is easier to construct and will give a more natural look and wildlife will love it.  Just remember to give them some form of easy access to the water and provide some shelter with waterside planting.

Aquatic plants not only enhance the natural beauty of your pond but also play an important role in maintaining a healthy balance of the pond’s ecosystem as well as helping to keep it clean and clear.

Water lilies floating on the surface of a pond will help reduce light levels in the water, which would otherwise promote the growth of algae, turning the water green.

Bog plants are ideal to plant around the pond edge where the pond water may overflow and as the soil remains damp a suitable bog area can quite be easily created. There are some lovely attractive bog plants available, such as the Arum Lily, Astilbes, Hostas and Irises to surround your pond.

Marginal plants are grown in the water around the edge of the pond and are best planted in aquatic baskets.  Not only do they provide cheery colour during the growing season but they are vital in providing some shade in the water and for providing shelter for the fish.

Oxygenating plants are considered to be the most important group of plants for a pond as they release oxygen into the water and they also help to minimise the growth of unwanted algae.

Other useful pond plants are the floating plants and as their name suggests these plants float on the surface of the water providing essential shade.

On a health and safety note, it goes without saying that you should never leave young children unsupervised playing near ponds. There are decorative metal covers available that you can put over the water surface for safety.

So, if you’ve always fancied a pond in your garden, do give it a go this year.

If you have been busy working in your garden during spring, then you can now slow down a little and enjoy the results of your labour. If you haven’t got around to getting your garden sorted out, the you can still have time this month to catch up with those outstanding chores and then look forward to the summer months for some rest and relaxation in a well-kept garden.

So, lets look at some of the jobs that we can be doing in our gardens during the month of June.

This month you can plant out your summer bedding plants if you haven’t done so yet and do remember to keep them well watered as the weather warms up. This is the month also for finishing planting up hanging baskets, window boxes and tubs and once again, remember to give them regular watering and feeding with a liquid fertiliser.

Lawns will now start to require more frequent mowing and it’s a good idea to raise the blades of your mower to a higher setting during spells of dry weather to prevent it from drying out too much It might also be a good idea to dig out any weeds on your turf or treat them with a spot weed killer. You could also give your lawn a bit of a boost with some liquid feed if it’s looking a bit tired.

The foliage of spring flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips can look really untidy and messy around now, but do resist cutting off the leaves as this deprives the bulb of stores of energy and your bulb may not flower next year.

If you had a nice show of early flowering primulas, then now is the time to divide up the clumps and replant them right away into prepared soil so you will even get more colourful flowers next spring.

Regular deadheading of faded flowers will be regular task throughout the summer months, as this will extend the flowering period of your plant. By deadheading, your plant won’t be wasting its energy by producing seeds and will instead use its energy to produce new growths and flowers.

This month you can prune and train mature deciduous shrubs that have finished flowering like deutzia, forsythias, lilac, philadelphus and weigela. First remove any dead or diseased growths and then cut out the old thick wood. You’ll find that this will give you lots of new shoots next year, which in turn will produce more flowers.

How about growing some fresh herbs to use in your cooking or to throw onto the barbecue to add flavour to any summer meal? If you haven’t got the room in your garden then you can quite easily grown some herbs in pots or containers on the patio or even on a sunny facing window ledge and you’ll be able to harvest them fresh whenever you need. Go on, give it a go.

Trailing strawberries or trailing tomatoes are also fun to grow in hanging baskets or from pots that have the planting holes in, grow these in a sunny spot and then pick off fresh when ripened.

There’s plenty to do this month. If you’re a beginner and haven’t really had the courage to try some gardening before, then give it a go this month and start off with some of these ideas.

Subscribe Free To This Blog By Clicking Here

© Copyright Judy Fenyvesi

#gduk 162

If you have been busy working in your garden during spring, then you can now slow down a little and enjoy the results of your labour. If you haven’t got around to getting your garden sorted out, the you can still have time this month to catch up with those outstanding chores and then look forward to the summer months for some rest and relaxation in a well-kept garden.

So, lets look at some of the jobs that we can be doing in our gardens during the month of June.

This month you can plant out your summer bedding plants if you haven’t done so yet and do remember to keep them well watered as the weather warms up. This is the month also for finishing planting up hanging baskets, window boxes and tubs and once again, remember to give them regular watering and feeding with a liquid fertiliser.

Lawns will now start to require more frequent mowing and it’s a good idea to raise the blades of your mower to a higher setting during spells of dry weather to prevent it from drying out too much It might also be a good idea to dig out any weeds on your turf or treat them with a spot weed killer. You could also give your lawn a bit of a boost with some liquid feed if it’s looking a bit tired.

The foliage of spring flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips can look really untidy and messy around now, but do resist cutting off the leaves as this deprives the bulb of stores of energy and your bulb may not flower next year.

If you had a nice show of early flowering primulas, then now is the time to divide up the clumps and replant them right away into prepared soil so you will even get more colourful flowers next spring.

Regular deadheading of faded flowers will be regular task throughout the summer months, as this will extend the flowering period of your plant. By deadheading, your plant won’t be wasting its energy by producing seeds and will instead use its energy to produce new growths and flowers.

This month you can prune and train mature deciduous shrubs that have finished flowering like deutzia, forsythias, lilac, philadelphus and weigela. First remove any dead or diseased growths and then cut out the old thick wood. You’ll find that this will give you lots of new shoots next year, which in turn will produce more flowers.

How about growing some fresh herbs to use in your cooking or to throw onto the barbecue to add flavour to any summer meal? If you haven’t got the room in your garden then you can quite easily grown some herbs in pots or containers on the patio or even on a sunny facing window ledge and you’ll be able to harvest them fresh whenever you need. Go on, give it a go.

Trailing strawberries or trailing tomatoes are also fun to grow in hanging baskets or from pots that have the planting holes in, grow these in a sunny spot and then pick off fresh when ripened.

There’s plenty to do this month. If you’re a beginner and haven’t really had the courage to try some gardening before, then give it a go this month and start off with some of these ideas.

************************************************************

Subscribe Free To This Blog By Clicking Here

© Copyright Judy Fenyvesi

#gduk 161

Well, what a spectacular week we had with the Chelsea Flower Show this year!

My favourite garden was the “Ishihara Kazuyuki Design Laboratory“… absolutely wonderful.

As for BBC’s Gardener’s World… I’d love to see Carol Klein present it… what do you think?

Anyway, on with this week’s posting.

******************************************************

I think that a well-designed garden should have good green foliage, as this is where the eye can take a rest from all the other colours going on in the garden. Foliage also adds shape, form and texture to the garden and complements flowers.

One super plant that provides excellent elegant large foliage interest is the Hosta, Plantain lily. This perennial produces long stems with bell-shaped flowers, but this plant is mainly grown for its architectural foliage, which on some varieties can be up to fourteen inches long, and the whole plant can grow to a height of three feet tall.

The bold Hosta leaf comes in four main shapes: ovate, lance, round and heart-shaped and many Hostas also have lovely attractive variegated markings of white or yellow. Hostas come in a wide range of different lush shades of greens, from lime greens through to glaucous grey-blue leaves.

Most Hostas are clump forming perennials and like to grow in moisture-retentive fertile but well drained soil with a bit of shelter from cold drying winds. Hostas also prefer a full or partial shady site and don’t like the soil to dry out, so remember to give them a good mulching each spring to conserve moisture. A regular feed of nitrogen will also keep Hostas in tiptop condition.

The only down side to Hostas are that they are one the favourite foods to slugs and snails (see last week’s article) and after these pests have fed on them they can end up looking very much like lace curtains. Professional growers are now trying to produce Hostas with tougher leaves so that they’re not so tasty to slugs and snails. I personally grow my Hostas in containers to minimise slug and snail damage and use a John Innes No 2 compost with some grit to help drainage.

Hostas are so versatile as they can be used in many ways and in different styles of gardens. They can also be grown as individual specimen plants or ground cover and I think they really look super around ponds or water features.

My favourite Hosta is the Hosta sieboldiana var. elegans as it has rounded heart-shaped, heavily deeply puckered glaucous grey-blue leaves and this specimen makes a wonderful planting combination with my contrasting red Acer and the lovely deeply cut fronds of ferns.

So, for super irresistible foliage plants for a garden, Hostas certainly get my vote.

It’s so satisfying seeing one’s hard work paying off in the garden with healthy plants blooming making a garden look great… however lurking in the undergrowth are some unwelcome garden visitors that are just waiting to munch away and destroy your hard labour.

Number one on the garden pest hit list are slugs and snails. These invaders will quite happily eat through soft young growth on herbaceous plants and vegetables. Nature’s way of controlling these pests is to encourage birds, hedgehogs, frogs and toads into the garden to help eat them up.

Another way is to collect slugs and snails after dark by torchlight on mild evenings, as this is when you’ll more likely to find them feeding. What you then do with the slugs and snails is up to you, but I always prefer a biological approach to eradicating these pests from my garden.

Vine weevil is another pest you need to look out for. The adult vine weevil beetle emerges at night and damages plants by eating around the edges of leaves leaving tell-tale irregular notches. It then lays its eggs mainly in flowerpots and the larvae (which look like maggots) will feed on the roots of the plant and will cause the plant to wilt and quite possibly die. To try and get rid of them you could search for them by torchlight and remove the feeding beetle from the plant.

You can also use a biological control method whereby you water the soil with nematodes, which then in turn will eat into the vine weevil grubs. Remember to use this watering method by watering your flowerpots in late summer while the soil is warm and moist.

You may recall that last year we have a mini-invasion of ants. Although ants cause little direct damage to plants they’re more of a nuisance than a pest. They make nests by heaping small mounds of fine soil on lawns, flowerbeds and pathways. Ants also collect the sugary honeydew that is excreted by sap-feeding aphids and in the process the ants drive off the useful aphid predators. Although we can’t totally eliminate ants from our gardens, we can reduce their numbers by hunting out their nest site and then dealing with the source of the ants.

One rather troublesome sap-feeding aphid is the Woolly aphid, so called because of the fluffy white waxy substance it develops on the bark of trunks and branches of trees and shrubs during the middle to late spring. There are various sprays that can be used but a heavy infestation is difficult to control. If you have the patience, then you can use a soft bush with which you could brush away the fluffy white substance.

Another method I have heard of, but not tried myself, is to paint menthylated spirit onto the affected area. You could also try some companion planting of Nasturtiums around under the infected tree or shrub.

So, if you think that your garden looks nice and that all is well… beware… as there may be hidden dangers lurking… just waiting to eat away at your favourite plants and shrubs.

The month of May brings such an abundance of colour for our gardens, as there are such a variety of flowers around now to really liven up the garden.

If you’re buying flowering plants for your garden borders, then try planting in blocks or sways to get a better effect than just planting single plants. For example a block planting of the same colour of tulip bulbs under planted with a mass of blue forget-me-nots will create a sunning border.

This month is the main flowering period for the wonderfully brash Rhododendrons and Azaleas. Visit public garden to see the amazing spectrum of colours they come in. If you do want Rhododendrons, then remember that they’re best grown in large containers with acid soil, as our London soil is mainly neutral.

A star specimen tree for this month is the Laburnum x watereri ‘Vossii’ with its long hanging racemes of golden yellow flowers. This lovely tree can be grown as a single specimen or can be trained over a pergola to create a stunning archway.

A very pretty shrub with masses of lilac-blue flowers flowering around this time of year is the Ceanothus, the common name of California lilac. There are many varieties of this shrub ranging from low-growing ground cover ones, to wall shrubs to beautiful small trees.

The clematis for the month of May is the Clematis montana, which comes in a white or a pale pink. This Clematis is a vigorous, deciduous climber and is great for covering walls, fences or it can be grown up a tree to give it additional the tree flower interest.

You can’t have a garden without some spring scented flowers, and one particular scented favourite is the Lilac -Syringa vulgaris. This is a vigorous deciduous shrub or small tree has a dense conical cluster of flowers that come in a range of pretty pastel shades to a dark lilac colour.

A lovely May flowering bulb to look out for this month is the Allium, which is an ornamental onion and it produces dense round heads of star-shaped tiny purple flowers. This flower is super in any sunny border and it has such an attractive seed head in autumn that can be dried and used for flower arrangements.

Enjoy the month of May with the colours and scents care of Mother Nature!

As if one trip to a garden I’ve been wanting to visit for a long time wasn’t enough, as well as taking a visit to Furzey Gardens, we braved the Bank Holiday Monday weather, waited for the obligatory rain to subside in the morning and made our way to Spinners Garden.

I knew I was in for a treat, but little did I know what a special treat awaited me.

For a start, before you get to the nursery part of Spinners Garden, you’re lead by a meandering path through the actual gardens. This nicely whets your appetite for some plant buying when you get to the actual nursery part, but more of that later.

Walking along the snaking path, you’re present with such a natural looking habitat for the plants, trees and shrubs that reside at Spinners Garden that it easy to forget that this in fact a planted up garden for the public. You get a sense of the love for gardening that has gone into creating the tapestry of the garden itself.

Much of the garden is of the light woodland type and among other plants you’ll find acers, hostas, hydrangeas, ferns and rodgersias.

Other less common plants you’ll come across include Trilliums and Erythroniums which are a delight at Spinners Garden. With many less common plants, trees and shrubs, if you’re what I call a “plants person”, you’ll definitely find something that grabs your attention while meandering through garden in the dappled light from the trees which include wonderful Magnolias and Camellias.

After taking our time wandering through the garden with me like a child in a sweet shop, we finally came to the nursery part of the gardens. Having walked leisurely through the garden before getting to the nursery part is such good planning I think because once you’re interest has been piqued in the gardens, you’re bound to want to treat yourself to a goodie or two from the nursery… which is exactly what I did.

For long I’ve admired the cercidiphyllum jap with it’s unmistakeable smell of burnt brown sugar or candy floss (cotton candy). It’s such an elegant tree and like I say, I’ve had my eye on treating myself to one for quite a while.

So, two lovely gardens visited on a lovely Bank Holiday as well as a treat for myself, all in all a great time…

…. and yes… my cercidiphyllum is already enjoying it’s new home, in a new pot in a new garden.

Spinners Garden:
Address School Lane,
Boldre,
nr Lymington,
Hampshire,
England,
SO41 5QE

************************************************************
Join Me Every Weekend For My Garden Designing
And Horticultural Styling Tips
And During The Week For My Home & Garden Ideas
************************************************************

Subscribe Free To This Blog By Clicking Here

© Copyright Judy Fenyvesi

Last weekend hubby and I visited 2 gardens that I’ve wanted to see for a very long time; Furzey Gardens and Spinners Garden.

I’ll post about our trip to Spinners Garden in my next post and tell you about a little treat I picked up there, however, for this posting I’ll write about Furzey Gardens.

Furzey Gardens is situated in Minstead, a short picturesque drive from Lyndhurst along the A337 and a perfect prelude for what awaits visitors at Furzey Gardens.

We arrived nice and early on Saturday. Luckily the weather was sunny and just the right temperature for a good walk around gardens.

The first thing you notice when arriving at Furzey Gardens is the peaceful, tranquil atmosphere. It’s the perfect setting for the Christian Retreat House which is situated in the beautiful grounds where individuals or small groups may visit and enjoy quiet and tranquility.

As well as the retreat, Furzey gardens also works together with the Minstead Training Project to provide horticultural training and care for young people with learning difficulties and when you see the setting you’ll understand how Furzey Gardens can provide such a worthwhile service.

When you get your entrance ticket to Furzey Gardens in the shop, do remember to pick up a leaflet with a map of all the things to look out for during your walk around the gardens, because if you don’t, you’re bound to be so spellbound by the banks and banks Azaleas and Rhododendrons that you’ll easily miss out on some of the “hidden gems” around the grounds.

I won’t spoil the surprises that await you, but needless to say, Furzey Gardens has a whole host of “hidden gems” for you to hunt ensuring that you’re bound to take in the whole grounds and not miss anything if you follow the trail on the map.

In Furzey Gardens you’ll eventually get to the tree houses and play area, a perfect spot for children of all ages where you’ll find African style round houses, the tree house, swings, a boat and a lovely picnic area.

With a play area, the picnic area, the abundance of plants, the lake, the gift shop and the gallery, Furzey Gardens provides the perfect day out for all the family whether you’re into gardening or not.

To find out more about Furzey Gardens, do visit their website at
www.furzey-gardens.org

Furzey Gardens
School Lane
Minstead
Lyndhurst
Hampshire
SO43 7GL
Tel: 02380 812464

************************************************************
Join Me Every Weekend For My Garden Designing
And Horticultural Styling Tips
And During The Week For My Home & Garden Ideas
************************************************************

Subscribe Free To This Blog By Clicking Here

© Copyright Judy Fenyvesi