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I am starting a bed off from scratch, i have buddleia, mallow,sedum ice plant, hemerocallis, centaurea, agapanthus, dahlia, camellia, ixia, lilies etc all in pots just now , how do i find out where to put each one to create a good looking bed? any info most welcome




Answers

 

This is not an easy question to answer, because we would need to know how big the bed is (length and depth) and what is behind it (wall, fence)? How much sun?
The plants you name flower at different times of year, and, for example, the camellia needs acid soil while others don't.
If we knew more, we could help more?

22 Mar, 2012

 

It will have a fence behind the bed , it will be 8ft wide by 3/4 ft deep and is mostly sunny.
The Camellia i am happy to leave in the pot.
I need to know planting distances too as my other bed has everything grown into each other!!.
Many thanks .

22 Mar, 2012

 

That's helpful, thanks. So, the camellia goes in a pot with ericaceous compost. The Buddliea will go at the back of the border and the Ice Plant will go at front. The others are more difficult - there's not much height variation and we do not know the colours of some of the others to be able to suggest groupings. (I'm assuming there is more than one of each).
Have you thought of evergreen colour for winter, because when all these plants die back, your border will be quite empty? There will, of course, be bulbs for underplanting for a show next spring, but meanwhile.... .?
I would have liked to be more helpful, really. I hope others can add more encouraging suggestions. Please let us know how it goes and meanwhile - happy gardening!

22 Mar, 2012

 

P.S. have a look under B at the bottom of the page, then Borders. Lots of pictures and ideas there which might help, most, but not all, of them from members here. If you can find something you really like, I think that might be helpful?

22 Mar, 2012

 

Many thanks x

22 Mar, 2012

 

Didn't realise i could look at these being new to the site ...just what i'm looking for thank you so much !! i will be back asking more questions soon...what a fantastic site i somehow stumbled across ...i love it !

22 Mar, 2012

 

New question already! my favourite is osteospermum i adore this plant but are all of them hardy? can i take cuttings ? if so when? i only have 1

22 Mar, 2012

 

No, Osteospernum are annuals. They only last a season, but flower for ages. Two or three together make a lovely show near the front of a border. Not sure about cuttings. Put that in a new question and someone will know.

Don't worry about asking a lot of questions. There's always someone ready to answer.

And yes, I love this site, too!

22 Mar, 2012

 

Oh ! i bought the one i have as hardy...it still looks ok been in since last year

22 Mar, 2012

 

It's good you have a hardy one. Some varieties are frost tender and just don't survive the winter and even hardy varieties won't survive up here (Highlands). And the good news is, it will probably spread as well. So, it might actually be possible to split the clump or layer a shoot to get more plants. That might be easier than cuttings - and quicker.
Have a look at a question by Timant in Sept 2008.

22 Mar, 2012

How do I say thanks?

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