auntie betty

Japanese area

Meant trilliums. Duh!

Plants for edging a path

Geranium macrorrhizum is a brilliant do-er, as is ajuga (bugle). Saxifraga urbium (london pride) is another toughie. All 3 will grow just about anywhere, making them good ones to use repeatedly in various areas to create unity and rhythm between fancier or more site-specific plants. The ajuga and saxifrage are evergreen, and all 3 spread without being invasive, and have shallow roots, so you can buy one or two of each, plant em, and then split them up to create more plants every year.

Japanese area

cornus canadensis and trifoliums. Yummy ground cover for acid-neutral soil, like rhodies love. I'm on limestone (jealous).

Shady spots

The london pride I mentioned is saxifraga x urbium - fleshy rosettes with teeny pale pink flower sprays on thin 6 inch stems. I've tried brunnera and it got eaten. And galium's a bit tall - I'm thinking more flat and cushiony like path edging... Shall check out that link and see if there's anything there. I may also start the hunt for another diddy geranium. Mine's very pale pink. I've already got tonnes of it so could do with a different colour. Hmm... Thanks all x

Shady spots

Hey all, I'm in need of some low-growing plants to cover ground and perhaps even trail down at the front of some dry stone terrace walls. Its all partially or even fully shady and slugs and snails are a nightmare because of the nooks and crannies in the walls. Soil is loamy - pretty neither/nor in terms of moisture, as is pH. I already use london pride, various ajugas and a very low spready geranium but am after some new ideas. Have tried aubrieta, but this just gets eaten within days of planting, as do sedums and veronicas. I want something mat-forming really, to cover ground and do a bit against weeds. Invasiveness isn't an issue as all the areas are easily accessible and maximum foliage height would want to be less than 6 inches - the flatter the better, as my to little boys tend to stampede about. Any ideas? Bx

Help - plant advice for wet, heavy clay shade

Euonymous fortunei, pyracantha, dicentra spectabilis, fatsia japonica, choisya ternata, pleioblastus, most ivies including colchicas, darmera peltata, some ferns, aruncus... Any and all would benefit from a good thick mulch. Your problem may well have been surface water freezing as the plants you've killed shouldn't have minded the clay or shade otherwise. Dig in some composted bark if you want to improve surface drainage.

What type of Bamboo??

I find the plain green and yellow stemmed phyllostachys actually prefer shade. Nigra does better in more light. The leaves of all are less likely to do that thing where the tips go dry when used in shade...

What type of Bamboo??

I'd go with any of the phyllostachys. Can often be picked up for bargainous prices at garden sections of DIY places - I've paid as little as £25 for one with a dozen stems, to about 8ft. If you ca get one that's bursting from its pot you're virtually guaranteed a few new (much taller) shoots as soon as you plant it. And its a clumper, not a runner, so you don't get the annoying thing where all the growth eiither emerges miles away or through your patio (really!) and has to be chopped of and thus wasted. I have various varieties, that currently go to 10-12ft tall or so. I just cut old stems out (with a hacksaw) to keep it airy and fine instead of the dense thicket it wants to be. Easy. Just keep it watered for its first year, put plenty of muck in the hole and you're away. Bx

new border for boring garden

Pyracantha for clothing fences. Evergreen, grows like a hedge when tied in loosely against a fence, flowers for insects, berries for birds and dark green background for you. I grow on heavy clay in sun or shade, though flowers/berries better in sun. Red column is my personal fave. You could plant those immediately and then spend some time improving the soil in front, but at least they'd be getting going in the meantime. I can recommend COMPOSTED bark for improving clay. You could make pots out of the brown stuff in my last two gardens, but fork in some composted bark plus whatever grit, compost, leaf mould and even a wee bit of grass cuttings and you've got that lovely moist 'christmas cake' soil in no time. The worms love it and it opens the structure better than anything else I've tried. MUST be composted tho - not chipped or decorative. Its worth its weight. Bx

2 plants for large pot

I'd do for the plain green or, at a stretch, amber heuchera. In my experience, the purples and limes prefer it cooler than your agapanthus will want it. IMHO you'd preobably be better off with one of the small sun-loving hardy geraniums, or even the tough but lovely alchemilla mollis in with the agapanthus. Foliage would give a similar effect and both would flower well before the aga, lengthening your season. The geranium may even stay evergreen, given that you'll have to put the pot somewhere sheltered over winter for the aga anyway... I'd expect the heuchera to start to suffer after a season or two, so unless you want to move the plants into the garden and buy anew each year, they're really not quite right for a hot dry pot...Either of my suggestions would trail a little too, addressing Matty2's point. A different approach would be to plant the aga in a narrower pot, sinking it into the larger with soil around. This would have a double benefit of insulating the aga in the winter and allowing you to put annual bedding around it into the soil at the margin - you could cram it in as you would in a hanging basket without fear of it stealling nutrition/water etc from your aga. You could even tuck some little bulbs such as muscari in deep down in there too (under the bedding) for some spring colour, without the usua worry of it legging it off around the garden ... Just a thought. I've used this approach with smaller clematis to cool their feet and hide their ankles with great success. But if you're set on heuchera, some of the greens with red flowers are real toughies. Bx

shrubs for cut flowers

Shady spots

Soft yellow or hot pink climbing roses

new guinea impatiens

Pots of summer colour in partial shade

best annuals for shade / partial shade

Hops

Flowers for July?

Shadyish paving creepers

Associations

top 5

Plant suggestions please