Off to the garden centre AGAIN. I exchanged my faulty gardening gloves; a birthday present which only lasted 5 weeks before the stitching came undone. I bought an 'Angel's fishing rod' half price having paid £10.99 for one only three weeks before (they should be planted in May at the latest hence the discount; my original one though is still in it's pot at home waiting for the ground to be prepared, sloppy!)
I also bought a Zantedeschia as the one I brought from the last garden doesn't seem to have survived and this is the first time in over twenty years that I haven't had it in my garden. Foolishly, when we moved I dug up my favourite plants which had sentimental value but I didn't label them so now have things coming up in pots that I haven't recognised yet. It's a bit of a lucky dip and will be great if things come up I'd forgotten I had. However, my poor old lily seems to have been a casualty of the harsh winter in a crammed pot. A sure case of bad gardening – I'm ashamed of myself!!
However, I have learnt from my mistake and now I am recording what I have and where it lives and this in turn has led to my blog. My loss; your gain? Ho ho, I don't imagine that for a moment but it will be handy to refer to in the future when I can't remember where I planted something and it's died off for the winter.
How do I choose what to buy?
(You'll find details in full of all the plants I have in my garden along with photographs – these are to be found under PLANT INFORMATION.)
I buy plants the same way I buy clothes, I buy what appeals to me rather than what will work well together. This doesn't always work when I have nothing to wear with the top I've bought and likewise, I can't always find a good place to plant the latest shrub I've purchased. People often remark on my quirky dress sense (which is probably the polite way of saying I'm a mess) and I know myself that how I choose where things live in the garden is not always the most obvious. I try to keep the obvious design dictum, planting taller things at the back of a border for obvious reasons HOWEVER there are schools of thought that putting tall plants at the front can make for a showy and interesting plan – just goes to show that anything really does go. Fashions come and go in all sorts of areas and gardening is one of those. So, I see no harm in planting to your own likes and dislikes. It's your garden so who is to say what's right and wrong as long as the plant is in an environment it can live happily in.
Already in just over 3 months I have changed my original garden plan. 'Proper' garden designers will almost certainly keep to their well chosen plan but I like mine to evolve. It's probably an amateur thing: if I disciplined myself to properly investigate what I want and then stick to it I would save a fortune and save myself time moving things but this is how I work and I'm fine with that.
Also, sometimes the plants themselves sabotage your plans like the blush pink Digitalis (foxglove) that I bought as an Alba (white) and sits boldly in my monochrome border! I kind of like it's cheek so it's been left there.
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