Planting as a learning experience.

This year we made a wildlife pond in the garden. We had lots of soil to do something with after digging it out so naturally, we created some beds around the pond. We then made them into rockeries by adding large stones. The planting is varied but some repetition has been achieved with Celmisia spectabilis, various sedums and Candelabra primroses, geums and others.

I have put one Erysimum ‘Bowles Mauve’ in each of the three beds to tie them in together and they have been phenomenal. After trimming off the spent flower stalks to prolong flowering, they are flowering even more profusely now with hardly any foliage visible. What an amazing cultivar! A must have really.

I was also nicely surprised with the Stachys bizantina which usually prefers drier conditions. It is extremely happy in bed no 2. Overall this planting was used by me to learn about how different plants respond to different conditions. A lot was learnt, especially about how slightly heavier soils can worked with.

Rockery planting.

The candelabra primulas have all tripled in size, though signs of stress are visible on their leaves. This position is clearly too sunny for them. I have suspected that so I was diligently supplying them with water to at least keep the roots moist to counterbalance the effects of too much sun.