Kiss My Grass!
As winter approaches we are always thinking of ways of ensuring our garden to continues to look fabulous, even if the show stopping herbaceous flowers may have lost their bloom. One of our favourite plants to include in our garden designs are grasses which look wonderful all year round but look almost magical in winter when gloved in frost. If you want to include some new grasses in your garden read on to find out some of our favourites…
1. Carex buchananii
One of our favourite grasses, we have lots of it in our garden as it looks great all year round and provides graceful clumps of warm, bronzed leaves. It likes to self seed to keep on top of the seedlings if you don’t want it to spread (although they are easy to pot on and pass to friends.)
2. Stipa tenuissima
We just love the wispy, fluffiness of stipa tenuissima. We have it planted in our troughs mixed with lavenders, hostas and heucheras adding a wonderful softness to the planting. They look amazing mass planted too.
3. Pennisetum alopecuroides
You can’t beat Pennisetum for their fluffly flower heads which you can’t resist touching as you wander past. A real tactile addition to the garden. Be careful what variety you choose, especially if you are up in Scotland like us as some are not fully hardy. ‘Hameln’ is a good one which will suit most gardens.
Pennisetum add amazing form and structure
4. Molinia ‘Edith Dudszus’
Another great grass, we have mounds of this in our own front garden. It provides a wonder graceful, green mounds for large parts of the year but we love the bronzed colour as it goes into winter. A quick haircut after winter and she is ready for another year ahead.
5. Hakenochloa macra ‘Aurea’
This grass creates wonderful dense mounds of golden leaves which turn buff in autumn and is great mass planted as an edge to a border for full effect. Although this is a deciduous grass it looks fabulous 10 months of the year so it is a worthy addition.
The graceful arching leaves of the hakenochloa
6. Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’
A wonderful grass that doesn’t get too big and works well in containers too. It’s wispy flowers are a wonderful addition to the border. The textured leaf blades are edged in white and creates a feel of inner light.
7. Deschampsia despitosa ‘Goldtau’
Another great compact grass for the border which has blonde flower heads which erupt over a compact base of evergreen foliage. The seed heads turn bronze and are a great addition to the winter border, especially covered in frost.
8. Briza media
We love the tiny hanging flowers which look a bit like tiny bugs or lockets hanging from the leaves. Very delicate. The evergreen leaves are dark green and tinged with purple. Be warned though, this grass does self seed like crazy so you need to be sure you like it before you add it to your garden!
For advice on introducing more grasses to your garden that suit your climate and garden style please get in touch.
Best wishes
All at Vialii
Vialii’s Top 10 Plants For A Winter Border
Winter is definitely here but as we explained in our recent blog “Winter Wonderland” it doesn’t mean that your garden should look any less attractive. Different plants look great in winter for different reasons, whether it be their foliage, berries, stems or flowers. In this blog we have listed our top ten plants for a winter border…
Gardens can still be interesting in winter
Mahonia × media ‘Charity’
The spiny leaves of this shrub are attractive but it’s the yellow, beautifully scented flowers that make this shrub a must for winter.
Helleborus niger (Christmas Rose)
We love hellebores and the white flowers of the niger are particularly attractive, nodding above the attractive foliage.
Hamamelis × intermedia (Witch Hazel)
The witch hazel provides wonderful colours through Autumn but it’s winter when you will get the beautiful yellowy orange, fragrant flowers.
Cornus alba ‘Elegantissima’ (Red Barked Dogwood)
The red stems of the dogwood make a wonderfully eye-catching feature in a winter border. Mass plant for full effect.
Skimmia x confusa ‘Kew Green’
The shiny green leaves and gently scented flowers are a great addition to a winter garden. Plant alongside a female plant and she will reward you with berries too.
Viburnum x bodnantense ‘Dawn’
“Bod Dawn” as she is known to us is a lovely addition to the garden. A vigorous shrub with lovely pink flowers over winter.
Daphne bholua ‘Jacqueline Postill’
Another fragrant joy for the garden over winter, the daphne also has pretty flowers and foliage.
Sarcococca confusa (Sweet Box)
The sarcococca is a beautiful evergreen shrub but make sure you plant it somewhere you can take full advantage of its lovely scent. Lovely black fruit follows on from the flowers.
Carex buchananii
Grasses are wonderful additions to the winter garden, especially when they are covered in frost. We love the bronzed colour of the buchananii and its graceful clumped shape. Mass plant for effect. We love them planted around the base of Betula jacquemontii (silver birch) trees.
Corylus contorta (Contorted Hazel)
The contorted hazel looks wonderful all year round with its catkins in Spring and lovely crinkly foliage over Summer. But for us it looks best in winter when you can truly appreciate its magical contorted structure.
Corylus contorta comes to life in winter
So with all these pretty flowers, interesting stems and beautiful scents you will be tempted back out into the garden over winter. Just make sure you have winter woollies on your Christmas list!
We are signing off now for the festive period but thank you for reading our posts in 2013 and we will be back in 2014 with lots of interesting articles on gardens. In the meantime we would like to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
Warmest wishes,
All at Vialii
Going Native (Hedge)…
Hey, Lulu here again! Have you met my parents? M&D are very clever garden designers and they can suggest all sorts of suitable boundaries in your garden – many clients opt for stone walls or one of the many different types of fencing available. But one of my favourite kinds of boundary is a native hedge. Now is the perfect time to plant a new hedge. In this blog I will explain to you why they are so special and how to plant one…
1. Wildlife will love it
There are two main reasons to opt for a native hedge:
Straight away you will see all sort of lovely wildlife visiting your hedge, from small mammals and invertebrates to insects and all sorts of birds making a home there and eating the berries. Butterflies and moths will also come visiting your new boundary.
2. Year round interest
You will have year round interest from foliage, blossom, flowers and berries. Planting a mixed hedge will provide a wide array of foliage which change through the seasons and some shrubs will provide berries and/or flowers to add additional interest throughout the year.
Hedging can provide year round interest
Ilex aquifolium (Holly) – who can forget the wonderful holly, especially at this time of year. We all know its lovely foliage and hungry birds love its berries.Choose a nice mixture of native shrubs and trees such as birch, beech, oak, hazel (for the lovely nuts if you can get there before the squirrel!), dogwoods (for their wonderful red stems in winter) and hawthorn (berrylicious!). Look at adding in some other wonderful species such as:
- Euonymus europaeus (Spindle) A favourite in our own garden, in autumn the leaves turn bright red and are followed by shocking pink and orange fruit.
- Viburnum opulus (Guelder rose) – this shrub will reward you with masses of white flowers in May and June and red berries in autumn.
- Acer campestre (Field maple) Beautiful yellow autumn colour.
- Rhamnus cathartica (Buckthorn) The Buckthorn providesred autumn fruits that turn to black.
- Lonicera periclymenum (Honeysuckle) This will add scent as well as fruit to the mix.
Mixed hedging is wonderful for wildlife
The cheapest way to plant your native hedge is to get “whips” which are available now. Winter is the best time to plant a new hedge. The whips will look teeny and not very impressive when you get them (a bit like sticks) but as soon as Spring arrives they will burst into life and will soon grow quickly. Try and source your hedge locally if possible.
Next, the planting…
Prepare your area and remove any weeds, large stones or debris. Your hedge will be there for many years to come so you need to give it a good start. Dig a trench and add some compost to the bottom then plant your whips in staggered double rows, half a metre apart. You can always fill any gaps later if required. Back fill the trench with the native soil and water well and mulch. Feed your hedge once a year and be aware of dry spells when you may need to water your new hedge over the first couple of years. The best time to prune your hedge is late Autumn when you won’t disturb any nesting birds. If necessary, cut back hard as this will help thicken up your hedge.
Hedging can be anywhere in your garden, not just the boundary
And remember hedges don’t just need to be used to create boundaries. You can use them within your garden to create “rooms”, add privacy, create journeys and add interest to the garden. Long live the common garden hedge!
If you need any more information on planting a native hedge or any form of boundary in your garden then please don’t hesitate to get in touch for a chat.
Lulu