Ruthless Planting Advice needed!

User

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

Spring is coming and I have some fresh borders ready for planting. I'm going for a woodland sort of theme.

Left border is north facing. You can see a mature hawthorn on the E border and a prunus on the N.

There will be ferns, solomons seal, climbing hydrangea etc to cover the walls ASAP.

However, I think I may already have gone wrong.

I've stuck a couple of snow queen himalayan birch trees in between the more mature ones which you can see in the pic circled red.

We also have a mahonia charity on the way which I think should take up the top left corner space, but would get in the way of the birch. By all accounts it will get quite big.

Have I made a massive mistake? Should I take those birches back out and leave the three more mature trees as they are, and stick to smaller plants in between? If not, where will the mahonia shrub go?

I'm also not sure I can bear waiting 5 years for any sort of impact from the birches.

Any guidance appreciated. I cannot make my mind up at all and need someone to tell me exactly what to do, as I'm going round in circles :-)

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Comments (14)

Jonathan
3 years ago
When you have a compact garden everything you plant will eventually get too big. Personally I like your plan and think you should fill your garden now, enjoy it and accept that in 6-8 years time you will have to have something removed.
User
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks Jonathan - after a morning of fretting I've decided you're right. I'll just let it all grow and see what happens, and fill in the gaps in spring. Mahonia is now going in the front garden. Problem solved!
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PRO
Garden Design Guru
3 years ago
I think there is some good instinct being used here. Next door I can see another Birch and down the line the two you have planted will join forces with that one next door to 'borrow' it. Especially if the fence is covered in greenery and therefore not perceived so much.

In terms of design I struggle with the fact that all the planting is pushed to the boundaries and I would ask if you really need a lawn? To put it another way, would you enjoy gardening with plants in that space more than all those times when you have to get the lawn mower out?

The birch on the right would definitely work better if it were moved significantly further into the space, to create depth.
User
Original Author
3 years ago
HI there @Garden Design Guru - that's really helpful thanks for taking the time - glad you spotted I had thought about the wider picture! I would much prefer wider borders and would reposition the birch on the right but there's a few issues I think

(a) we paid a landscaper not long ago to level and stone edge the lawn, so un-doing that after spending money is a bit unattractive! Sadly I did my research on border widths and design after rather than before the work was done.

(b) We have a small baby and a dog, so lawn might be useful in the coming years

(c) There is a young crab apple tree to the right just out of shot - you can almost make out the edge of the branches. I think the birch and that tree could get in the way of each other if I move it in?

Do you have any recommendations for share tolerant, fast growing climbers for the North/East fences you can see? I've abandoned climbing hydrangea due to fear of ruining neighbour fence and the 5 years I need to wait for impact.

I've put up wire supports throughout, so just need to decide what to cover the fences with. Going for green/white/pastel colours only. NO reds, purples etc.

ANy thoughts greatly appreciated!
Lena
3 years ago
Why get rid of the lawn? It looks lovely and gives a space for children to play at, to have a picnic on or simply to look at your own piece of greenery!

It’s not really inevitable for the plants and trees to overgrow a small space. It’s down to the choice of plants.

I have a small garden, so the majority of plants I chose were either smaller plants, or trees on a dwarf rootstock.

The only sacrifice I will have to do will be to keep cutting back my Victoria plum tree and quince. I was not able to find those with dwarf rootstock at a time.

I keep recommending Tim Newbury’s books here. They provide an invaluable source of inspiration.
PRO
Garden Design Guru
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Dwarf root stocks help to 'some' extent.

A lawn, at the end of the day, is typically a mono-culture. Nature abhors a mono-culture so they are typically very hard to maintain as such.

From a personal point of view, I have got rid of my lawn to grow more plants! But certainly any time I design a family I understand that the lawn is a must.

I was giving a plantsman answer for a plantswoman. Not a designers answer for a client with family! Hey, I'm not on commission here!
PRO
Garden Design Guru
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
To help with the Birches not getting so tall quickly one could cut them down to about 30cm or so to produce a multi-stem tree. This requires extra patience and bravery though!

For the fence covering my go to plant would be Osmanthus delavayi (definitely NOT Osmanthus burkwoodii or any other species) which is great as wall trained shrub. It is not fast though and also not very common in garden centres.
User
Original Author
3 years ago
I'd be happy to get rid of the lawn - planting is going to be geared towards wildlife, which a lawn offers little for, but it's just not going to happen yet!

Thanks all - plenty of food for thought
User
Original Author
3 years ago
The Osmanthus looks a bit like a hedging plant rather than a climber, I think? might take up too much border....
PRO
Garden Design Guru
3 years ago
Osmanthus delavayi needs wall training to be used a wall/fence shrub. It lends itself to it though and makes a very narrow dark green covering with fabulous white spring flowers, if you have the time and patience. Probably few if any images on the internet of what i'm talking about.
Lena
3 years ago
What a fabulous plant osmanthus delavayi is! I never heard of it before.

I found a choice of plants in various online shops, but nothing about how to train them against a wall or fence.

Garden design Guru, how can this plant be trained against a fence, please? How long will it take to grow to a 6 feet fence, if you know from experience?
PRO
Garden Design Guru
3 years ago
It took about 10 years to get to the top of a standard fence and then it was about 8 feet wide as well. You train it by just selecting the shoots can or will, go straight up and threading or tying them so that they do. Cut back shoots or branches which are coming forward to buds which face upwards. Keep going back a few times a year and trying first to persuade any growth there to go upwards. Once established there should be plenty to chose from. The best thing is to try to keep a mono-layer of stems so that it doesn't get too dense.
Sonia
3 years ago
When I had my first garden I planted rather randomly, not thinking about aspect or soil, but I’ve learnt a lot. Some plants died (wrong spot), some grew far too big and had to be cut down. One of the trees was a Silver Birch that grew to 50ft, causing damage to my neighbours garden path, so it was chopped down (a sad day). I now have a Himalayan Birch is an enormous pot so it is sort of controlled, I hope! They do grow to 40ft high and about 25ft wide, so I would plant far apart, not too near the others, or near buildings and paths. I think you have enough trees, so I would suggest you grown some climbers like Honeysuckle and Climbing Hydrangeas. You also grow some prettier plants nearer the house, such as perennials like Geraniums, Salvias, Anemonies and Crocosmias.

i have a smallish garden and we removed the grass as the dogs had created a slimy bog, but if your dog is small and you have children then keeping the lawn would be nice, I think.
PRO
Garden Design Guru
3 years ago
One issue with looking at plant images online @User is that they often give an image which is on a certain page but is not necessarily the plant looking for. That is because the name of what you are looking for is listed on that page and there is an image - of something else.

But a free standing Osmanthus delavayi will look pretty big.

Ruthless Planting Advice needed!

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Jonathan

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