The big show
Posted by Fitzroy Nursery on
Tucked in behind a historic bluestone home built in the 1840s lay a garden brimming with potential for a perennial makeover. The long straight garden bed ran the length of the courtyard and was a mass of weeds and overgrown Salvias which were far too big for the garden.
The first assignment was to clear it all out and bring in fresh compost. We excavated to a depth of 100mm to ensure we had removed all the roots and weeds. There were definitely a few surprises buried beneath the weeds including a couple of tree stumps that needed to be dug out. While the garden was clear we installed drip irrigation and ran a corten steel edge the length of the garden to give it some definition and stop soil running onto the pavers.
Once the grunt work was finished we were ready to plant. We brought in a selection of hardy, long flowering perennials and the old world rose varieties such as Compre de Champagne and Souvenir de la Malmaison. Perennials included Salvia, Achillea, Lychnis, Scabiosa and Echinacea to name but a few. We also planted 3 rose climbing frames with pink Pierre de Ronsards to add a little height without bringing in any trees or large shrubs. As you can see below, the garden has been heavily planted.
There's always a bit of guesswork when planting so heavily and special attention needs to be paid to heights and eventual sizes of everything being planted as it is easy to get carried away and over plant as well as accidentally plant in the wrong spot. We'll let the results below do the talking on that.
These photos have been taken in early December. There is still plenty more to flower heading through summer. The aim is to cut everything back in February to encourage another flush of flowering right into late Autumn. We'll update this page as the garden progresses.
