Kate Brown writes
On Thu, 14 May 2009, K wrote
Kate Brown writes

There's a well-established Kerria at the top end - and I can't get
anything else nice to grow there at all! Thistles, grasses, wild
clematis, and ivy grow with abandon.

So have you tried ornamental grasses, thistles, eryngium based on what
already grows there)?

There's a lot of grass around the garden already,so no - I was looking
for flowers, really, something a bit colourful.

Some of the grasses are quite colourful ;-)
(red, orange, steely blue)
But not point having anything that you won't enjoy in that spot.


I've tried canna, which grow like weeds elsewhere in the village, but
the snails ate all the leaves and they haven't come up at all this
year. I sow nasturtiums, which sprouted one year but not the next.
This year I divided up a choked iris bed and put in some rhizomes,
but snails like eating their leaves too, so I don't hope for much. I
also put in some spare daffodil bulbs, but we're rarely there early
enough to enjoy them.

Probably not damp enough in winter for daffs.

What about the various succulents? Livingsotne daisies, sedums
(spectabile doesn't get eaten by snails, I don't know about the others)


Livingstone daisies are annuals, so too late for this year, but I could
sow some next spring. Sedums are a good idea, though, thank you. Will
look for some in June - you don't happen to know if there are any
tricky local French words for it, do you?

No sorry.

Pelargoniums are tolerant of neglect (in this case, a soil that is well
drained to the point of drought), at least the scented leaved ones. But
they do like *some* water in the autumn. Take cuttings before the winter
and grow fresh each year.

Or you could try the aloes, agaves, haworthias - some with bright orange
flowers. Probably have to bring them in over winter.

--
Kay