Tag: garden

Getting the garden in gear for the forthcoming year

February 2025

  • summer blooms
  • outside dining
  • relaxation zone
  • textured planting
  • evergreen shading
  • spring scents

We’ve all done it, looking endlessly at the garden during a balmy summer day and wishing it could look like the place you see in your minds eye. You may have an aspiration for your garden but it may need aligning with the possibilities of the space. Taking up a consultation with a designer will allow an assessment of your site which will pull together a brief that will ensure you end up with a functional, beautiful design, bespoke to your space, making your dream a reality. Dream the design now design that dream.

  • colour scheme
  • layout
  • textures

To get the garden to its best possible end result, during the consultation the designer will look at all the elements that need to come together to give the structure and functionality that go towards developing a lush, evergreen, usable space. Hardscaping in the right places, created with carefully chosen materials, alongside plants, that will be chosen for their suitability to the site as well as their structural form, contrast shapes as well as scent. A mix of perennials and evergreens will take the garden through the seasons giving it a vibrant, lush outlook throughout the year. Soft flowers against an evergreen backdrop creating a space to enjoy from day into night.

  • ferns
  • spring colour
  • scent
  • winter interest
  • spring colours primrose
  • skimmia
  • movement

Your garden may just need some tweaking to get it where it needs to be and February is a fantastic time to set the scene in the garden for what is to come for the rest of the year. Its the right time to move existing shrubs/plants whilst they are dormant, putting in bare root perennials for later in the season and popping in sprouting spring perennials bulbs for spring scent and colour. Its the perfect time to either start on maintenance and cleaning up your existing garden before spring bursts forth or to get the wheels in motion to get design layout plans started for early building and plant planning so the garden is ready to enjoy as soon as the warmer months arrive.

Get your garden in gear, don’t leave it for another year.

Autumn Borders

by Fen @tinybloomingplaces September 2024

A feathery autumnal touch for the borders; grasses and self seeding perennials

Time to plant

Often the garden starts to tire as September approaches but it is not the time to “give up”. With our milder weather season extending well into September and beyond there are still many moments to be enjoyed from the garden. September is the perfect time not only to move existing plants to a different location, if required, but it is also a great time to add autumn colour to the border, whilst stock is available, extending the season and enjoyment for the months ahead. It is a window of opportunity not to be missed.

Layers of textured foliage and subtle colour make for a beautiful autumn border

Perennial plants that have not fared well can be moved to a different location before they disappear into a winter slumber. This is the best time for them to establish their roots in a new location so they will perform better the following year. Plants offering autumn interest can also be added to extend the garden display late into the year. Autumn is the perfect time to alter, adjust and add to borders, whilst bearing in mind next years performance.

Deep purple hues from foliage with deep pink flowers contrast wonderfully with light green foliage and lime flowers. All set against a feathery orange tinged background

Choosing Plants

Choosing perennials that will come back year upon year will ensure the garden matures and performs annually giving remarkable displays for every season.

Choosing a small selection of plants, considering texture, colour and height will give a desired look and feel to the border. Planting en masse will ensure an eye catching and effective display. Make sure you take on board the orientation of the border before choosing plants

Planting en masse for a naturalistic feel

September is not the end of the gardening season. It is a great time for getting ahead of the game. Planning and planting borders in September and October ensures plants can be acquired that are giving a great display at that time of year and on into late autumn/winter. It also allows consideration for and inclusion (or moving/removal) of existing plants within the border to ensure an aesthetically pleasing planting scheme is achieved. It is by far the best time to plant up a garden to ensure interest and longevity across the seasons.

Window boxes are not just for summer

Having spent lots of years and endless money on plants to add seasonal window boxes, to dress the front of the house, I finally decided enough is enough and went about creating the perfect window box that would require, minimum maintenance yet give all year round seasonal interest, and give relief from the task of having to re-plant window boxes every season and every year. The tinybloomingplaces signature window box was born.

The base plant for the box consists of a winter hardy, trailing evergreen, yellow flowering sedum with wonderful glossy green leaves that grow and spill over the planter. the sedums perform all year flowering prolifically from early spring through to summer.

Sedum: Yellow flowers in spring, all year round green glossy leaves

The glossy leaf sedum forms a lovely backdrop to the next arrival, the yellow narcissi, which will pop through in February and stay through to early spring.

Narcissi: early spring colour, flowering every year

These are closely followed by the purple hyacinths for late spring.

Muscari: or grape hyacinth, spring flowering every year

Next there is the arrival of a deep red geranium coupled with purple lavender and this lets me know we are truly into summer.

Geranium and Lavender: the perfect summer couple, flowering year upon year

Once the summer flowers fade some pretty white cyclamen are ready to take their place, centre stage, and bloom from autumn right through to early spring. The Cyclamen with their white flowers and silvery green leaf make a lovely winter scene, set against the remaining silver leaf of the lavender (this remains all year after the purple scented flowers have gone) and the green glossy leaves of the sedum (that remain throughout the year). They have a long flowering period and are perfect for keeping the momentum going until the arrival of the narcissi again in Spring.

Cyclamen, flowering from autumn into winter

The combination also looks great in larger containers and planters that can be added to the front garden to give joy and keep flower and plant interest going all year round. The choice of colour can also be changed to suit individual taste. The container has been developed specifically to be tolerant to dry periods and not droop on a hot summer day, give all year round interest and repeat flower year upon year.

All of these plants and bulbs are put in together in one box or planter to give an effortless, low maintenance all year round display.