Getting some winter colour

As I find my feet in the new garden, the first job has been to get some winter colour into some new tubs. For this autumn/winter I have gone for a mix of flower and foliage which I hope will see me through and bring a touch of colour as the days become grayer - and shorter.

I picked up a lovely Forsythia bush in our local town fair and this warranted the purchase of a "Long Tom" Terracotta pot from the local garden center to set it off. This will bring a burst of colour in the spring but until then some very attractive violas have been added around the base.



In the round tubs I went for a matching display of a lively green small evergreen with cyclamen (nice variegated foliage when the flowers go) and winter pansies.




To draw the eye away from a long drain grill I have set out a row of window boxes combining violas, pansies and two variegated ivies. When the summer annuals finally die off other tubs will be replanted with bulbs underneath and something creative on top - possibly an evergreen tub and at that point I may look into some winter Spiraclimb cover.

Spiraclimb on Bonanzle

Readers in the USA can now order Spiraclimb via Bonanzle.

Visit Spiraclimb on Bonanzle

The New Garden

After nearly a month and despite quite a bit of "inside the house" stuff to sort out, the new garden is looking very nice. We managed to salvage quite a few bedding plants and transfer them into tubs where they have flourished. The Spiraclimb plants suffered terribly in the old location and so did not make the move. The Spiraclimb have been put into storage until the spring when the greenhouse will hopefully begin to produce a new range and selection of climbers which will be added to the patio tubs in due course.

Picture (above) shows some of the old garden's bedding plants which, after being transferred to a planter with reservoir seem to have flourished.

Meantime, the new garden comprises of a courtyard style garden at the front of the property, and an enclosed rear garden which is half lawn and half pebbles (the latter being termed the "Zen Garden" due to its artistically placed elements by us from day one!).



The "Zen Garden" (above) With curly Hazel tree and Chimnea.