The colour of this young Knapweed is dark almost purple. As it opens fully it will become blue and then fade as the flower ages. The colour helps Centaurea montana earn its nickname of Mountain Cornflower or perennial cornflower.
01.08.2023 - 14:49 / gardenerstips.co.uk / hortoris
Your own rock garden does not have to be as large as that at Kew. You do not need to demonstrate every regional zone on the planet. Nor do you need specimen plants that grow in all the range of soil conditions and climates. Better to concentrate on doing one or two things well.
On the same theme growing small plants can be an absorbing hobby. As with Kew gardens you will be very fortunate if you can replicate the alpine house at Harlow Carr shown above. However these two national gardens can give you inspiration for your own feature Rock Garden.
As it says in ‘The Rock Garden Plant Primer: Easy, Small Plants for Containers, Patios, and the Open Garden’ by C Grey-Wilson ‘It’s not necessary to have a traditional rock garden to enjoy rock garden plants. In fact, these colorful, small plants are perfect for the pots, containers, window boxes, and raised beds that are the mainstays of modern gardens.’ he ‘recommends easy-to-grow plants for a variety of garden situations including shade, mixed borders, and patios.’
Read gardeners tips on Rockery and Making a Rockery
The colour of this young Knapweed is dark almost purple. As it opens fully it will become blue and then fade as the flower ages. The colour helps Centaurea montana earn its nickname of Mountain Cornflower or perennial cornflower.
In Yorkshire we are lucky to have several gardens designed using the theme of a Himalayan Garden. The Hut near Ripon at Grewlthorpe is  ‘The Himalayan Garden’ with all the plants you would expect in such a setting including
A call this a rock box as it is one way of displaying rockery plants above ground level.
Now part of this garden is down to crazy paving the Qualcast grass box is needed less and can be put to a different use. It looks like a ‘unibarrow’ has got in on the act to make a feature planter for these pansies.
Ants can be an unsightly nuisance and inspire concern. However they do not directly damage plants but are more a sign that you have another pest problem.
A rock garden is a grand place to display your alpine plants. You can shade them with rocks, provide deep root runs and provide rain cover with perspex roofs
Lily themed week shows some more waterlilies and tips for a happy pond.
White is the second most useful colour in the garden after green. I am progressively increasing the number and variety of white and grey plants that I grow.
Britain has some of the best gardens in the world. The choice of which to visit is far larger than this selective list but at least it gives you somewhere to start planning this years outings.
In the cold wet winter it is a good time to plan where to visit as the year improves. The South West is the obvious place to start your visiting tour of gardens containing exotic plants.
‘The Garden of Reading: An Anthology of Twentieth-century Short Fiction About Gardens and Gardeners’ edited by Michele Slung.
First read the authoritative book ‘The Himalayan Garden: Growing Plants from the Roof of the World ‘ by Jim Jermyn