Visiting the NEC in Birmingham this week for the Autumn Fair, I came across this new living wall that has been planted besides the new Arena building.
It is really stunning, a mixture of evergreens in a myriad of colours and shades. Most interesting is the 'Feather Grass', Stipa tenuissima, that flows down the wall as a mass of flowing flower heads.
www.plantforlife.info is part of the Horticultural Trades Association. This is the trade group for garden centres,nurseries and horticultural sundries suppliers.
On www.plantforlife.info you will find a wide range of interesting information about plants and gardening in general. They have produced a great booklet for 2009/10 'Colour me Colour my Garden'. Plantforlife have teamed up with TV fashion expert and celebrity stylist Mark Heyes plus gardening's hottest designer Chris Collins to advise on how to choose the right colours for your garden.
Its a new and novel way of looking at garden colour scheming and is worth worth a look.
Wondering what to do with those potato bags now you've harvested the crop? Try planting them with kale. It's tasty and robust and full of vitamins A and C.
It's harvested in late autumn and winter and as the leaves mature frost improves the flavour. Because you just pick the leaves as required, harvesting can keep going for at least six months.
Best varieties include Dwarf Green Curled, Redbar, Red Sails and the amazing black Tuscan 'Carolo Nero'.
Look out for plants in your local garden centre now and get planting.
I'm not normally mad about twee garden ornamental watering cans but this cockeral from www.sugarbowlgifts.com has something extra. Real attitude.
The cockerel is finished in a bronze coating. Pours well and acts as a superb ornament. (Height approx 47cm. Holds approx 2.5 litres.) The can is handmade in India so comes with minor blemishes and bumps that makes it unique. £29.99.
There are other birds within the range including robins, geese, ducks and a rather nice 'Fat Hen'!
Just arrived home from a few days at a wedding in Suffolks Constable Country. I was amazed just how dry the country was compared with Devon - I gather they had had next to no rain in August.
The photo shows an amazing climber, Campsis radicans, the Trumpet Vine. It was growing on the front of a wonderful old coach house enjoying the full sun.
Campsis is a vigorous, woody stemmed climber that enjoys scrambling over fences, walls, pergolas, etc. It has deciduous leaves and bears a profusion of velvety orange/red trumpets from late summer to autumn. It needs shelter so would be ok for a yard in the southern parts of Britain.
There are two interesting varieties C.r. Flava which has rich yellow flowers and C. x tagliabuana 'Madame Galen' which is very vigorous and has deep apricot flowers.
Buddlejas are a favourite with gardeners who want to attract wild life to their garden especially butterflies. But the problem with most varieties of buddleja is that they become lanky and unwieldy.
www.thompson-morgan.com have now introduced a new compact patio variety called Buddleja Buzz. It is available in two colours, Lavader and Magenta. They are taking orders now for delivery spring 2010 at a cost of £9.99 a plant.
Ground cover is the widely used term for low growing plants that cover the soil surface and help to prevent the growth of weeds. They can also be a very attractive feature in parts of the yard or small garden that are difficult to use.
In a lot of cases using single species of plants can be very effective but using a mixture of evergreen foliage plants can make the planting more exciting. The mixture shown is Asplenium scolopendrium, Pachysandra terminalis variegata and Ajuga Burgundy Glow. All these plants are suited to shady conditions and are easy to obtain and grow.
The popularity of deck chairs has grown at an amazing pace in the last few years. New designs have included the Penguin Book Cover designs, The london Parks annual designs and also the availability of having your own graphic image or photo printed onto a deck chair, all of which we have posted on.
These stylish chairs are from www.bau-outdoors.co.uk.
'A contemporary take on the iconic British deckchair, the Bau Outdoor versions come in either a solid black or off-white woven canvas.
The sleek frames are beautifully constructed from merpauh wood and treated with teak oil, are well protected against the elements and will stay looking good for years to come.
Perfect for the Urban garden where space is at a premium, the deckchairs fold flat and take very little space when not in use.'
£69.99 + £9.99 delivery
http://www.bau-outdoors.co.uk/product.aspx/132/deckchairs_contemporary.html
Mon Pot -designed by Julien Bergignat. The ideal lazy yardners pot!
'Mon Pot is a pot for flowers, plants that can help you to know when you need to water it. Some plants do not need water frequently, some plants need to “suffer”, we can easily forget to water them. When it is on the base, you just need to turn the pot towards one of the time indicators, a small mark for one day, a larger one for one week, two larger for two weeks. The pot will turn to regain its original position. This rotation also allows the plant to benefit from more light.'
Trees for very small spaces are difficult to choose. Because they will become a or the major feature in their space they have to earn their keep.
One of my favourites has always been Catalpa bignoniodes, the 'Indian Bean Tree'. It has large glaucous green leaves the size of dinner plates which are the perfect background to the lilac spires of flowers borne in late spring/early summer. These are followed by long dark purple pods of beans which stay on long after the leaves have fallen. There are some super examples of Catalpa at Disneyland Paris alongside the lake where the hotels are!
Catalpa bignoniodes as a tree is too big for most yards so look for the smaller version Catalpa bignoniodes Nana. it can be trained into an amazing lollipop shape which would be perfect planted in a large egg cup shaped container
