Changing face of the garden

[David Nicholson]

Very nice indeed Kevin, both look lovely.

[Paul T]

Kevin,

I thought it looked relatively new, but given you've had to replant the majority since 2010 you've done absolutely brilliantly.  It will be fascinating to see what it looks like over time as things settle in and grow.  You've done a superb job so far, that is for sure.

[Anthony Darby]

I think the garden is fantastic.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Fabulous job Kevin !! 

[Tim Ingram]

Well we haven't managed to create anything as colourful as Kevin but we are planting a lot of silver foliage and Mediterranean species suited to our dry garden, and that will provide propagating material for the nursery. We already have our sights on an old leyland hedge on the shady side of the front garden, which is a waste of space and could provide an area for a  nice cool shaded raised bed just right for those plants we can't provide the right conditions for at present. One thing leads to another...

[kindredspiritkevin]

You, I think, have Festuca Glauca there. How do you keep it blue? Mine eventually goes a boring beige colour.

I threw my first lot over the wall to the cows and bought some more. They've gone beige now as well. They're in a section with Black Mondo grass and Uncinia Rubra. It's supposed to be Blue, Black and Red there. 

More fodder for the cows? 

[kindredspiritkevin]

Here's an old pic of this section from September 2010. The Arctic weather in December a couple of month's later killed all the Uncinia Rubra. 

You can see that the first three Festuca Glaucas, that I planted, were already on the road to Beige Heaven. 

[Tim Ingram]

Yes Kevin, the Festuca I've planted is glauca 'Intense Blue', and I don't have expectations of it keeping this colour. It is in a hot dry spot so I hope it will stay quite blue - will have to update you next spring!

[Maggi Young]

Doesn't blue fescue always fade at certain times of the year, and if the sunlight is not  good?
It should "blue up"again the following year, shouldn't it? 

[Tim Ingram]

I have a great book by Richard Bird on 'Border Pinks' and can see why so many of them have such great appeal. But they do seem to go in and out of fashion. These are some late flowers on a range mostly from a local Garden Centre. None of them, except 'Badenia' (which was a gift many years ago from Allan Robinson when he was at Wisley) are mentioned in Richard's book and must be much more recent cultivars. Several though are wonderfully scented. Time they came back into fashion again?

[Lvandelft]

The Starseries of Dianthus gratianopolitanus are more recent hybrids from Whetman. They are indeed very nice but in our winter wet climate we  have problems to keep them longer than 3 years in the garden.
On the other hand the rather old cultivar Badenia which was bred by Knecht( near Karlsruhe) between 1970 -1975? is hardly to kill and makes nice rich flowering low cushions year after year.

[Tim Ingram]

Luit - very grateful for more background on the origins of these cultivars. I hadn't realised that several originated from Whetman's - they should be good plants; will be interesting to see how they do here in our relatively dry garden. Graham Rice in the latest 'The Plantsman' speaks of a cultivar raised by Whetman as an improved version of the famous old 'Mrs Sinkins'. This should be extremely popular! Having said this 'Mrs Sinkins' must hold great appeal to have been propagated continuously since 1863 so is never really likely to be superseded.

[Lvandelft]

Tim, I just want to come back on these newer hybrids of garden pinks.
They may be beautiful in flower but I am (through experiences) rater suspicious
I found this website with grower notes. Reading these notes my comment is: are we really waiting for such plants??
http://www.skagitgardens.com/_ccLib/image/plants/PDF2-200.pdf

I mean the lines: Use a fungicide drench at transplant to prevent Pythium, Alternaria and Fusarium. Good air circulation and careful watering are the best disease prevention, but use monthly sprays when conditions are optimum for disease development.

[Will Itsell]

I mean the lines: Use a fungicide drench at transplant to prevent Pythium, Alternaria and Fusarium. Good air circulation and careful watering are the best disease prevention, but use monthly sprays when conditions are optimum for disease development.

Those are grower notes - for the large scale commercial grower, probably raising plants under protection. I don't think they have any relevance to the gardener planting these plants in their garden. In my experience these Dianthus are no more disease prone than older varieties.

[Tim Ingram]

I have been reading Richard Bird's book more closely and it becomes obvious that there are a certain number of really tried and tested pinks which have retained popularity and constantly been repropagated, eg: 'Oakington' from Alan Bloom and 'Brympton Red' (named by Margery Fish). Others like 'Old Velvet' are just so extraordinary that they would be kept going come what may. I suppose time will tell with these Fire series, but I must admit some of the old laced varieties like 'Lady Wharncliffe' or 'Allspice' have such strong appeal that vigour and disease resistance in newer varieties is unlikely to take that away. Perhaps I'm in danger of becoming a collector!