"Pam Moore" wrote in message
...
I have a request for advice. My garden needs a rethink.
I have a small garden, 27feet by 15 feet. Yes, that small!

Due to macular degeneration I am losing central vision and am in the
process of being registered partially sighted. My peripheral vision
is normal but doesn't help to see fine detail.
Things are rather overgrown and I am having trouble keeping things
under control. I need to replace the invasive things.
Also I don't seem to have enough colour.

I have some reasonable shrubs and climbers, but would like advice
about things I can plant which are not invasive, will flower for
longer than a couple of weeks, and are good tempered, well behaved,
and if possible, fragrant. I suppose I am thinking of mainly
herbaceous things which clump but don't spread.

Is it sunny or shady?
One plant I'd suggest for a sunny spot is Lavatera. It's quite big (tall)
but flowers for months (large pink flowers) and is very easy to care for,
just cut it all off at the end of the year and it all comes back the next
year. Easy to propagate if you want more, just stick some of the prunings in
the ground and at least half of them will root.

Good luck.
Choccie

On Thu, 22 Jul 2004 10:21:14 +0100, "Choc-brain"
wrote:

Is it sunny or shady?
One plant I'd suggest for a sunny spot is Lavatera. It's quite big (tall)
but flowers for months (large pink flowers) and is very easy to care for,
just cut it all off at the end of the year and it all comes back the next
year. Easy to propagate if you want more, just stick some of the prunings in
the ground and at least half of them will root.

Thanks Choccie (someone after my own heart with a name like that!)
I have a sunny corner and I think lavatera would do well there. I
have been travelling by bus lately (anyone want to buy a VW Polo?)
and have been looking for ideas in gardens I pass. I have seen
lavateras and wondered about them. I didn't realise you can cut it
right back to base. Sounds like a good one for my list.
Many thanks.

Pam in Bristol

"Pam Moore" wrote
Thanks Choccie (someone after my own heart with a name like that!)
I have a sunny corner and I think lavatera would do well there. I
have been travelling by bus lately (anyone want to buy a VW Polo?)
and have been looking for ideas in gardens I pass. I have seen
lavateras and wondered about them. I didn't realise you can cut it
right back to base. Sounds like a good one for my list.
Many thanks.

Hello Pam

I'm in the process of re-doing my garden (a bit bigger than yours) and I'm
trying to choose only plants that are easy to care for and can be pruned
back hard because my husband loves pruning things, even if they don't need
it! So I've lost a few plants through them being pruned at the wrong time or
in the wrong way or just too hard so there's no plant left :-(
I'll have a look through my list of plants and see if there's anything else
that might suit you.

Choccie

Pam Moore wrote in
:

I have some reasonable shrubs and climbers, but would like advice
about things I can plant which are not invasive, will flower for
longer than a couple of weeks, and are good tempered, well behaved,
and if possible, fragrant.

I have found the bulb Triteleia "Queen Fabiola" excellent for extending
the period of interest if you have low spring-flowering perennials that
stop looking good in June.

You can underplant them under all sorts of things, and they give you a
wonderful mist of long-lasting blue flowers, pushing up through hardy
geraniums, aquilegias, small hebes or mini rhododendrons and azaleas
(you can get very tiny rhodos that need very little care, but they
aren't very interesting in summer without the Fabiola).

The leaves are undistinguished bulby things but are not at all
noticeable, and they seem to thrive in mixed beds without being invasive
or pushy.

Mine are looking fab growing through osteospermums - (Osteospermums ?
hmmm - they are really lovely longflowering low maintenance plants that
block out weeds, but they do spread, and the leaves pong when you touch
them. Maybe not.)

Dianthus 'rainbow loveliness' is a nice small scented dianthus that is
not invasive and has a gorgeous scent. I don't dead-head mine.

Another scented thing you might like is a scented-leaved pelargonium.
OK, it will need a windowsill for the winter, so it's one for a pot
rather than a border, but there are many long-flowering varieties, and
lovely scents if you just run your hand over it, even in the winter.

My best one is 'Prince of Orange' which flowers for ages, good big
flowers, smells delicious, and is easily grown in a small pot.

How about a trailing rosemary such as Severn Seas ? Pretty flowers,
scented leaves, and much less robust than ordinary rosemary.

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--

On Thu, 22 Jul 2004 12:45:05 +0100, Victoria Clare
wrote:


I have found the bulb Triteleia "Queen Fabiola" excellent for extending
the period of interest if you have low spring-flowering perennials that
stop looking good in June.

Thank you Victoria for those good and helpful suggestions.
Is Tritellia another name for Brodeia (sp?)
I had a few in a pot but saw some in full bloom at Ryton last week.
They were growing in a raised bed and looked stunning. I made up my
mind there and then to buy some in quantity for next year, so thanks
for the planting idea. I would not have though of that.

Pam in Bristol

Pam Moore wrote in
:

Is Tritellia another name for Brodeia (sp?)
I had a few in a pot but saw some in full bloom at Ryton last week.

Yes that's the one - big blue pointy flowers - sorry, I could not remember
which was the current name!

They are gorgeous, and I have found them easy to grow and tolerant (they
did well on very heavy clay in cheshire, and even better on my light
gravelly soil in Cornwall!).

No scent, but you can't have everything!

Victoria

Pam Moore wrote:

I have a request for advice. My garden needs a rethink.
I have a small garden, 27feet by 15 feet. Yes, that small!

Due to macular degeneration I am losing central vision and am in the
process of being registered partially sighted. My peripheral vision
is normal but doesn't help to see fine detail.
Things are rather overgrown and I am having trouble keeping things
under control. I need to replace the invasive things.
Also I don't seem to have enough colour.

I have some reasonable shrubs and climbers, but would like advice
about things I can plant which are not invasive, will flower for
longer than a couple of weeks, and are good tempered, well behaved,
and if possible, fragrant. I suppose I am thinking of mainly
herbaceous things which clump but don't spread.
I have difficulty weeding, pinching and dead-heading.
I get a reasonable amount of sun and have alkaline soil.
I'm south of Bristol.

In your experience what fulfils such conditions in your garden?
BTW I have never grown anything thorny and certainly don't want thorns
now. Hence my only rose is Zephrine Drouhin.
Any suggestions gratefully received.

Pam in Bristol

Try a budleia they have really nice flowers that are very fragrant.
Dont buy one though if you walk around Bristol docks (hotwells end) you
can get some cuttings or wait a couple of months and collect loads of seeds

ff.

The scented pelargoniums are good as is lavender sage , many of the
sages are scented my best one being blackcurrant sage.
Pheasant berry is brilly but it does not smell and gets rather large
altho it does get cut back every year, how about Mahonia for smell

good luck

kate

On 22/7/04 12:45, in article
, "Victoria Clare"
wrote:

snip

How about a trailing rosemary such as Severn Seas ? Pretty flowers,
scented leaves, and much less robust than ordinary rosemary.

Some of our customers (and we) have found this one quite tender, Victoria
but am I right in thinking it survives with you? If so, I imagine you get
quite a few frosts and that it's hardier than people might think. What does
your winter temp. get down to usually?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds after garden to email me)

Sacha wrote in
k:

On 22/7/04 12:45, in article
, "Victoria Clare"
wrote:

snip

How about a trailing rosemary such as Severn Seas ? Pretty flowers,
scented leaves, and much less robust than ordinary rosemary.

Some of our customers (and we) have found this one quite tender,
Victoria but am I right in thinking it survives with you? If so, I
imagine you get quite a few frosts and that it's hardier than people
might think. What does your winter temp. get down to usually?

Hm. I have 2 trailing rosemaries, which I had a vague feeling were that
one, but maybe they aren't.

(goes to check)

Drat, nor they are. They are 'Blue Rain' apparently - sorry.

Perfectly hardy in pots in a moderately exposed situation, and would fit
the bill as decorative, scented and not too huge.

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--

In article , Kate Morgan
writes
The scented pelargoniums are good as is lavender sage , many of the
sages are scented my best one being blackcurrant sage.
Pheasant berry is brilly but it does not smell and gets rather large
altho it does get cut back every year, how about Mahonia for smell

But the scented pelargoniums aren't hardy, surely?
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

The scented pelargoniums are good as is lavender sage , many of the
sages are scented my best one being blackcurrant sage.
Pheasant berry is brilly but it does not smell and gets rather large
altho it does get cut back every year, how about Mahonia for smell

But the scented pelargoniums aren't hardy, surely?

Perhaps I have been lucky so far, they are in a very sheltered position.

On 22/7/04 17:51, in article
, "Victoria Clare"
wrote:

Sacha wrote in
k:

On 22/7/04 12:45, in article
, "Victoria Clare"
wrote:

snip

How about a trailing rosemary such as Severn Seas ? Pretty flowers,
scented leaves, and much less robust than ordinary rosemary.

Some of our customers (and we) have found this one quite tender,
Victoria but am I right in thinking it survives with you? If so, I
imagine you get quite a few frosts and that it's hardier than people
might think. What does your winter temp. get down to usually?

Hm. I have 2 trailing rosemaries, which I had a vague feeling were that
one, but maybe they aren't.

(goes to check)

Drat, nor they are. They are 'Blue Rain' apparently - sorry.

Perfectly hardy in pots in a moderately exposed situation, and would fit
the bill as decorative, scented and not too huge.

We'll recommend it - thanks for that. We have customers in e.g. Salcombe
who can grow Severn Seas quite happily but we wouldn't sell it as 'reliable'
in cold areas.

--

Sacha
(remove the weeds after garden to email me)

"Kate Morgan" wrote
how about Mahonia for smell

Mahonia has prickly leaves though.
My suggestions for easy-care plants

Perennials:
Japanese anemone pink flowers August-Oct
Bergenia (elephant ears) pink flowers March-April
Echinacea (purple coneflower) pink flowers July-Oct
Hardy Geranium shades of pink/blue/lilac May-August
Hemerocallis (day lily) shades of red/yellow/orange June-August
Oenothera (evening primrose) yellow flowers July-Sept
Phlox scented shades of pink/red/lilac July-Oct
Rudbeckia yellow flowers July-Sept
Sedum (ice plant) pink flowers August-Oct

Shrubs
Buddelia white/pink/lilac/purple shades July-Sept
Ceanothus pink/lilac/purple shades May-June
Choisya (Mexican Orange Blossom) fragrant white flowers May and sometimes
autumn too
Clematis
Escallonia white/pink/red flowers (small but plenty of them) June onwards
Forsythia
Hebe
Hydrangea
Hypericum (the shrub, not the invasive ground-cover type)
Jasmine (both winter-flowering and white fragrant summer-flowering if you
have a sheltered spot)
Lavender
Lavatera
Lonicera frangrantissima (shrubby honeysuckle) fragrant cream flowers
wintertime
Pieris (if you have acid soil) white flowers March-May, red new growth
Potentilla white/yellow/pink/red flowers May-Sept
Ribes (flowering currant) pink flowers March-May
Viburnum various, esp. Bodnantense "Dawn" fragrant pink flowers wintertime
Weigela pink/white/red flowers May-June

Herbs
Sage
Rosemary
Thyme
Mint in a pot
etc

Sorry not very many fragrant ones. HTH.

Choccie

In article , Choc-
brain writes
"Kate Morgan" wrote
how about Mahonia for smell

Herbs
Sage
Rosemary
Thyme
Mint in a pot
etc

Rosemary, thyme, oregano, lavender, winter savory give a good succession
of flowers and have fragrant leaves in between. Also calamint, sage,
agastache
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"