My angelica, Angelica archangelica, was planted last spring as a small plant in a 9cm pot costing £2.29. It grew last year producing a mound of foliage. This years it's reached nearly two metres with large globular umbels of flower. A true architectual wonder and a perfect feature for the small garden.
Libertia peregrinans
Libertia is an evergreen clump forming perennial that has amazing coloured foliage with the added bonus of white flowers in the summer - so all the advantages of grasses but with a bonus! They are also drought tolerant. Plant in groups or in containers with a contrasting background to get the best effect.
www.hardybamboo.com £3.50 9cm Pot.
Sweet Pea Cupani - the 'original' sweet pea from www.suttons.co.uk. Introduced to Britain in 1699 by a monk - Brother Cupani. Wonderful bicoloured flowers with a beautiful deep scent. Easy to grow, sow the seeds where you want them to grow. Great modern colours with maroon upper petals and violet 'wings'.
If you haven't got time to wait until climbing plants will cover your walls or fences - why not try this 'a nasturtium waterfall'.
Fix a 800mm long window box to the top of your wall ( bright coloured or galvanised would be great) and sow a packet of nasturtiums into multipurpose compost in the window box. Try to use a compost that has water retention gel in it to save watering in hot weather.
These will soon grow and instead of growing upwards will by the force of gravity cascade down in a curtain of bright green foliage and lots of red, orange and yellow flowers. These will last well into late autumn when the first frosts occur.
SIMPLE EASY & CHEAP
Nasturtium Trailing Mixed www.mr-fothergills.co.uk Nasturtium Climbing Mixed www.thompson-morgan.com Nasturtium Tropical Mixed www.suttons.co.uk
The Pet Plant lives in its own little greenhouse and needs nothing more than a bit of love and attention! Only £4.99
My Hostas White Feather have been under protection in the wall greenhouse overwinter and are now looking amazing. They are a real mixture of almost white and the palest of greens and are waiting to be planted in the shade under my large cantilevered deck.
http://yardz.typepad.co.uk/yardz/2007/11/worth-waiting-f.html
EUPHORBIA BLACKBIRD
An amazing spring plant that looks great with spring bulbs and bedding. Compact in growth with deep maroon foliage. Flowers are lime green and held on blood red stems. A real dream of a plant. Contrast it with spiky Festuca Intense Blue in low rounded containers.
www.livingsalads.co.uk produce trays of baby salad leaves ready to be freshly harvested at home. You pick the leaves as and when you need them, so they are as fresh as they could possibly be.They are available from main supermarkets including Asda, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose.
You could though easily grow your own baby leaf salad in small trays on a windowsill using a salad leaves seed mixture sown in a multipurpose compost. They should only take two to three weeks before harvesting. Try the Easy Salad Leaves seed collection from www.mr-fothergills.co.uk , these contain a mix of leaves including Mizuna, Mustard, Rocket and Salad Bowl Lettuce.
Phormium tenax, the New Zealand Flax, is a great 'architectual plant' planted a lot these days in public spaces. It is hardy and dramatic, growing with large spears of foliage reaching up to 1.5 metres high. It does tend to form a rather tight clump of fans of these leaves which do tend to detract from the shape of the individual spears.
An article in Saturdays' Times gardening section, sugested that by choosing the best 'fan' of foliage and cutting out the rest at the base, you will end up with all the plants energy being pumped into the remaining foliage. The result will be a stunning fan of leaves up to 3-4 metres high.
Handmade steel windowboxes with copper coating. Weather resistant. From £24.95 www.gardenboutique.co.uk
