Does anyone know anything about gardening?

Taking that label literally, I see.

☺️

Chiming in with our hellebores - moved them from a shady raised bed to an even shadier corner in the autumn and they're very unbothered.

1 Attachment

I just dropped a further £80 on grasses and ferns, and a few perennials to stick in gaps that I was trying to recall lying on the sofa at 11.30pm. I can’t remember the last time I spent a penny on bike stuff. Is this for the middle aged thread?

Which grasses?

I'm about to do a similar purchase.

Anemanthele lessoniana x 3
Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Eldorado' x 3

To add to the Calamagrostis and Stipa that are already in. I basically just go on Beth Chatto, filter what’s available right now, and take my pick without much research.

Also some ferns including one called Doodia media just for the name. There’s a patch under a conifer, where over the fence the neighbours have a small pond, so trying out a ferny patch for the first time.

Anemanthele lessoniana or Pheasants tail gets pretty big, I planted three a few years ago and they’re serious space fillers!

nice, I was looking for some grass suggestions, sounds perfect for what I want and evergreen. Is it worth getting a larger plant or do they grow pretty quick?

Is it too early to put some grass seed down? Will some cold temperature stuff work

On ferns I think I have a Dryopteris lepidopoda, which I'd thoroughly recommend. Evergreen and changes colour.

Visited a venue for our staff summer party yesterday, they've reseeded their lawn

More Hellebores. The larger variety that I have are all flowering now, maybe encouraged by the cold snap that we had a month or so ago. The smaller variety are on the way out, after flowering back in December.

2 Attachments

My rabbits ate all my Hellebores, they really don't give a shit if they're poisonous! :(

sums up rabbits tbh

Bought three hellebore, one bargain bin special and two fancy ones.

Here is the fancy one, seems happy in the clay here.

More planting to do where it is, but the spindle tree and plants from last year behind it have grown well.

1 Attachment

Can anyone help me?

I'm thinking about planting dogwood in my front garden along side some white forsythia. I'd cut back the dogwood hard to give me the red shoots in winter.

My question is, what will a the dogwood plant look like in summer when they're cut hard back in March?

Cheers

Part of the context is that I have a lovely well established peony in the corner that the dogwood might obscure.

Another consideration is root system/invasion as we've had the rest of the front paved.

I cut back an elder hard every year and it's huge by summer. Hard pruning generally leads to bigger leaves.

If you're not sure you could dig a hole and plant it still in its pot. Then in summer you can either remove the pot to let it settle in, or change your mind and move it

That's a really good idea, as I could easily house it in the back garden if it doesn't work out.

When you say huge - what are we talking about?L height and spread wise?

There are loads of different dogwood, there was a gardeners world bit on the telly last year, might be on I player?

https://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/best-flowering-dogwood-trees-for-your-garden/

Our dogwood gives a good display of red stems when cut back but doesn't seem to do much in the way of flowers....

I guess another question is whether anyone has an alternate suggestion of something that gives that winter effect, but won't be crazy by summer.

Only other thing I could think of is a corkscrew hazel, not bright colour but interesting shape

This is the area we're talking about.

I've found a cool bush magnolia combo on Jparker plus a white forsythia. So they will cover the neighbour's bins from the left. And the green and white is where the peony is.

1 Attachment

3m tall, 2m wide probably by July. But obviously it's a completely different species so not sure how useful the comparison is - but just to show a deciduous tree, hard pruned, can really grow fast. Dogwoods are probably smaller than elders for most varieties?

something that gives that winter effect, but won't be crazy by summer

Grasses, again? Generally not massive and quite innocuous in summer, flower heads tending to come after your peony will be finished flowering

https://www.richardjacksonsgarden.co.uk/five-great-winter-grasses/