Blue Daisy Blog

A few jobs for this month:

• Clear up and keep all fallen leaves for mulch
• Get your tulip bulbs in the ground as soon as possible
• Mow the lawn probably for the last time this year
• Check trees and shrubs for damaged branches and remove them so they don’t get whipped off in high winds and cause damage to property or plants
• Plant fruit trees
• Lift and divide Rhubarb

Quite often I am asked the question ‘how can I make my garden more interesting’ and movement is one element of good garden design that often gets overlooked.  It is just as important as all the other elements, not only does it create a feel, an ambience, but also added interest.   Movement doesn’t have to be dramatic or exciting it can be soft, understated and subtle and each person can have their own take on what movement in the garden means.

It can be incorporating moving water, for instance, which shimmers and sparkles in the light but also adding that refreshing trickling sound as it moves, creating a mood.  The sound of movement often adds that extra layer that works and plays on the senses too - not only trickling water but rustling leaves, swishing grasses and other 'movement sounds' all play their part.

Navigating around a garden can also be what some people define movement to be, how to create journeys so you interact and move through the garden.  Paths are great elements for this but care must be taken with the dimensions of them and their exact purpose, adding a path as an afterthought can often look out of place.  

Incorporating plants that move gently in the breeze and give that extra vertical lift can really make them stand out from their more static counterparts.  Ornamental grasses are great for adding movement as their habits are quite different and there are some that offer good all year round interest of both foliage and seed heads which last right into winter.

I sat looking out of my window at the snow falling last Saturday afternoon with mixed feelings: excitement that our gardens would change if only for a few days and lift the drab days of winter with beautiful snowy scenes; concern that it would effect our business - snow covered gardens, while beautiful, means we just can't work or earn and every bit of work in the winter for the horticultural trade is very precious.

I remember as a child walking (or trying to) waist deep in snow, having snow drifts against the front door and when you opened the door you ended up with a hall full of snow!  Also, digging out my Mum's car so she could get to work and I could get to school I loved everything that the snow brought.  These days we hardly ever get snow and when we do it seems to melt so fast and we're left with dirty sludge and our gardens and parklands lose that magical feel.  Some people seem to worry about the effects of snow whether that be driving or just getting about.  Not being born in Coventry and coming from a rural village in Cheshire where 10 inches of snow or more were the norm I struggle to comprehend people's fear and how a whole city can literally come to a stand still in 2012 with just a few inches. 

A garden is not just for summer it’s for 12 months of the year!

Some people often think that as soon as the leaves fall and the dark nights come everything stops in the garden.  Well, they couldn’t be more wrong – while, for most of the year your garden is an entertaining space,  a playground for children or a showcase for your favourite plants – it’s also there for 12 months of the year and since I’m sure you’ll be able to see it from more than one window of your home, it's also a winter vista, so why not make the most of it?

Personal style
We all have a preferred way we like our home and gardens to look and that identity is very personal, it isn’t right or wrong, it is our choice.  Some people like to have their garden pristine with lawn edges sharp, any sign of dead or decaying plants quickly removed;perennials that are beginning to die down and over winter underground are swiftly cut back.  This results in a very neat and tidy garden for winter which more often than not just leaves the evergreen plants or shrubs and any deciduous trees or shrubs as the only structure in the garden.