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16.01.2024 - 16:13 / theenglishgarden.co.uk / Garden Merit / Clare Foggett
Conifers may have a history reaching back 300 million years and cover wide stretches of the northern nemisphere but as garden plants they have long been out of favour. That may be changing. Innovative use at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show last year demonstrated how conifers can add structure to a garden in a relaxed way.
Their sculptural shapes come clothed in hues from old gold through bracken, bronze and rich green to steely blues, all in myriad textures. Excellent nurseries for conifers include Lime Cross Nursery, Ashwood Nurseries, and Bluebell Arboretum & Nursery. To use the dwarf forms in a contemporary way choose one or two varieties and repeat them. Mix them with grasses and other evergreen foliage plants such as hebes, corokias and pittosporums. Conifers can be cool again; here are 10 to consider.
Korean firs shine even as saplings. They bear dramatic purple-blue cones when only a metre tall. Stiff radially arranged needles are dark green above, silvery white below and demand to be stroked. The straight species is slow growing, forming a neat 2m-tall cone after 10 years. There are also some charming miniature cultivars: ‘Blauer Eskimo’ has a lovely blue tone and ‘Kohout’s Ice Breaker’ has curled needles that reveal their white undersides. Both have the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit (AGM).
As one of the few deciduous conifers, the European larch truly changes with the seasons. Its pale green needles turn straw yellow in autumn before dropping. The scaly grey bark of the trunk and knobbly branches are lovely winter features. In spring, the delicate structure is softened with green again as new needles emerge, and if you look closely you will find pinky red flowers, known as larch roses, of which
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In 2024, design is taking a turn away from pastels and towards the boldness of jewel tones.
Clipped all-green shrubs look chic, but for seasonal cheer fill them with pastel shades: think primroses, pulmonaria and wallflowers, and even potted supermarket bulbs such as hyacinths and narcissi.
No garden is complete without at least a few containers for seasonal color. I always specify locations for planters when I create a new landscape design, with the intention of keeping them filled in every season. Although many gardeners keep their containers filled with annuals in summer and cut greenery in winter, there is another option. Planting a dwarf evergreen that can remain in its pot for several seasons will provide structure and texture every month of the year.
When it comes to sculptural form in the garden, it’s hard to compete with a well-grown agave (Agave spp. and cvs., Zones 7b–11). With sizes ranging from 6-inch rosettes to hulking 12-foot giants, there really is a perfect plant for every garden or container. Most are striking enough in their natural tones of green to blue, but some have raised the bar a bit higher, adding highlights of white and gold to the palette.
Fragrance in flowers is such a desirable attribute that it’s a perennial complaint of many gardeners that modern varieties of various plants, particularly roses, lack all or most of the fragrance of the older varieties. This is demonstrably untrue of many varieties, of course, yet there is a good deal of truth in the generalization. Some varieties are certainly much less fragrant than the ‘old-fashioned’ roses and a few seem to lack detectable fragrance, but, on the whole, a good modern variety will number fragrance among its qualities. Much depends, of course, upon the individual sense of smell, coupled with the ‘scent memory’ which all of us possess to some degree. It is, in fact, usually well developed and most of us are readily and instantaneously reminded by present scents of past incidents, places, and persons, and although the actual vocabulary of scent is limited, it is usually possible for us to describe a scent fairly accurately by comparing it with another. Thus it is quite usual for us to say that a flower has a lily-like fragrance, or that it smells like new-mown hay.
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Away from the Show Gardens on Main Avenue, the Sanctuary Gardens offer plenty of inspiration and often on a more achievable scale. A garden that honours 200 years of the National Gallery, a family space that can bounce back from heavy rainfall, and a sensory haven that supports the emotional wellbeing for children undergoing cancer treatment, feature in 2024’s line up.
Lately, I have noticed that the mail-order garden supply catalogs are full of Asian-themed garden accessories such as pots, traditional bamboo fences, and stone lanterns. This seems to go along with the trend toward Asian-inspired minimalism in home décor. In California and the Pacific Northwest, traditional Asian and Asian-inspired gardens have been popular for years. Can a national vogue for Chinese and Japanese gardens be far behind?
While painting a room isn’t necessarily a difficult DIY job, it’s not always easy—how many coats does one wall need again?
Some people get their kicks from designer labels, others from rummaging through flea shops, or collecting obscure Japanese comics, vintage tractors, handbags, dolls, beer-mats, Star Wars merchandise or whatever else. Me, I get mine from ordering seeds.
Do you know how long you should keep bedding before replacing it? While it depends on the bedding type, it’s common knowledge that a mattress typically lasts a decade, and you might be shocked to learn that your bedsheets and pillows have an even shorter shelf life. Experts say that both should be replaced after about two years, and since high-quality bedding isn’t exactly cheap, you might want to stock up on bedding whenever there’s a sale. Luckily, some of the best bedding deals are happening right now.