for beautiful gardens
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Garden Borders: NOW YOU have done all the practical work, start thinking in more detail. Do you want grass or paving? How much border space do you want? More to the point, how much time do you have to keep your borders looking good?
• On the whole, paving is easier to maintain than grass, which needs regular mowing. However, borders also need a certain amount of work to ,
Once you have roughly divided your backyard into areas of paving, grass and borders, or a combination of any two, make a list of features you want.
• Go out into your backyard and just look around you. Scribble down any ideas that may come to you. Then go inside and imagine what your new garden borders will look like from both downstairs and upstairs windows.No garden borders would be complete without herbaceous plants, for they act as fillers around the framework trees and shrubs. In most garden borderss the two types of plant are intermingled in mixed borders, the best solution where year-round interest is required. They can also be planted on their own in island beds, used as ground cover or grown in containers; indeed, their diversity makes them suitable for every garden borders. Perennials are valued for both flowers and foliage. Not only are they a major source of color, but they also add shape and texture, sometimes even scent, to the garden borders. See Also English Country Garden:Practical Gardening is Britain's number 1 garden monthly and absolutely fun to have. Much of the information is as useful here as in England, and is a bit more realistic than that found in the expensive english country garden garden books now flooding the market. The cost is about $18 a year but changes slightly with the exchange rates.The english country garden meadow garden (itself first discussed in the late 1800s by William Robinson who suggested planting hardy bulbs in meadow grass and naturalizing wildflowers under trees on great lawns) is one such garden fashion. The idea has hit the "arts and leisure" sections of the major newspapers. At the same time "meadows-in-a-can* and "Monet's garden' have been featured by camping and hiking equipment companies, in upscale mail order catalogs. Their colorful ads suggest to readers that vast sweeps of garden color can be theirs with a minimum of work over a short period of time. On The Other Hand See House And Garden:Looking back to the house and garden from the garden, the house and garden should be an integral part of the design rather than stand out. A conservatory or sun room can be designed to open on to a patio so that in summer, when the doors are open, the garden feels as though it is extending into the house and garden and vice versa. Climbers and Wall plants help soften the harsh outline of a building and act as a Vvnk between tVve house and garden and the garden.Steep slopes can be used for streams or waterfalls but to maximize on planting space you can terrace the slope using either retaining walls or sloped sod. Groups of Mediterranean-type plants like lavender and santolina will thrive on sunny slopes, where drainage will be quick and efficient. These are also the exact conditions for a scree garden (see Glossary), which will be more interesting to look at than a single planting. Cold, shady slopes make good woodland gardens, but will equally make an ideal site for a terraced alpine garden because they are naturally well drained, fully exposed to light, but without the drying heat found on a sunny slope. What you decide on also depends on the relationship of the slope to the house and garden. A garden that slopes up from the house and garden is far more dominant than one that slopes away. Sites that slope away from the house and garden are less. |
