I am in Bristol as well and you are welcome to call here for a look at our small jungly garden, which is about the size of your selected plot. It may help you to decide what not to plant
Cathy. (send me a PM if you like)
Looking for inspiration
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Cathy
Re: Looking for inspiration
Hi Freddy,
I am in Bristol as well and you are welcome to call here for a look at our small jungly garden, which is about the size of your selected plot. It may help you to decide what not to plant
Cathy. (send me a PM if you like)
I am in Bristol as well and you are welcome to call here for a look at our small jungly garden, which is about the size of your selected plot. It may help you to decide what not to plant
Cathy. (send me a PM if you like)
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ChrisG
Re: Looking for inspiration
If you don't need the space for lawns etc you have so much more scope. On the recent visit to AndyCs we saw one part of his garden where he has an oval path that goes through a jungly bit with bamboos, gingers etc. For me it was great as while there was a little seating in there the main impact was the plants.
If it was me, I would design a walk through it maybe based on the same idea of two curved paths. Then put a small area with table and chairs, or maybe even a bench hidden somewhere in the middle and then cram lots of lots in the beds so you have to fight your way through to get the most of the jungle effect. You could make it hardy using a few ever green large plants bamboos, palms etc and then use gingers and a few other large leaved plants to fill in gaps in summer with lots of interesting underplanting. If you get a few larger specimens for the everygreens so you don't have to wait for them to get too big, and use a few cheap nanas to fill the gaps until everything else gets going, you should look good even in the first year. Then as everything fill in the gaps it will take on a life of it's own. You should be able to make it very low maintenance and not have to lift or store much over winter.
If it was me, I would design a walk through it maybe based on the same idea of two curved paths. Then put a small area with table and chairs, or maybe even a bench hidden somewhere in the middle and then cram lots of lots in the beds so you have to fight your way through to get the most of the jungle effect. You could make it hardy using a few ever green large plants bamboos, palms etc and then use gingers and a few other large leaved plants to fill in gaps in summer with lots of interesting underplanting. If you get a few larger specimens for the everygreens so you don't have to wait for them to get too big, and use a few cheap nanas to fill the gaps until everything else gets going, you should look good even in the first year. Then as everything fill in the gaps it will take on a life of it's own. You should be able to make it very low maintenance and not have to lift or store much over winter.
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freddy
Re: Looking for inspiration
Hi folks. I popped in to Nigel's place (Hardy Palms) and picked up some plants. Butia Eriospatha, Chamaerops Humilis, Trachycarpus Fortunei, Butia Capitata and one other that I don't know the name of (no tag). I reckon it was pretty good value, all 5 for £115. Thinking about it though, these things get quite big so they might look a bit overpowering in 10 years or so. Ah well, I'll see how it goes. Cheers...freddy.
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MarkD
Re: Looking for inspiration
Blimey, blank canvass ! 
Well with those palms you're off to a good start already!
Well with those palms you're off to a good start already!
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paul h
Re: Looking for inspiration
Looks like you have been busy already 
the palms should look great 
the palms should look great -
freddy
Re: Looking for inspiration
Hi again folks. I've drawn a sketch of the layout I reckon will be ok. I wanted your input regarding the borders (2ft ones). I thought about maybe putting in some Bamboo or something ? The path would be around 2' 6" to 3' wide. Do you think that the 2' borders will be wide enough ? The seating area would be bigger than it looks, nothing is to scale ! Cheers...freddy. BTW Cathy, thanks for the offer, I may take you up on that.
Cheers...freddy. BTW Cathy, thanks for the offer, I may take you up on that.-
Gaz
Re: Looking for inspiration
Hi Freddy,
If you fill the 2 foot bits with plants that will totally hide the fences then it will make the garden feel wider. Bamboo would be a good suggestion, but think about putting in a rhizome barrier to stop it going into your neighbours.
It looks like a good layout, as its reasonably simple but with the bend you cant see everything at once.!
It looks like you have some old tree stumps, with clever arranging of ferns etc they could make a really fantastic feature.
Good luck!!
If you fill the 2 foot bits with plants that will totally hide the fences then it will make the garden feel wider. Bamboo would be a good suggestion, but think about putting in a rhizome barrier to stop it going into your neighbours.
It looks like a good layout, as its reasonably simple but with the bend you cant see everything at once.!
It looks like you have some old tree stumps, with clever arranging of ferns etc they could make a really fantastic feature.
Good luck!!
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Don
Re: Looking for inspiration
2 foot borders could be a bit on the thin side. Could you shift the whole thing to the right and have a 4 foot border and a slightly larger sitting area. ie you sacrifice the middle bit of 2 foot border.
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Petefree
Re: Looking for inspiration
A few nice climbers would also help the fences to blend into the jungle. I think you said it was south-facing so you'd have plenty of scope - maybe some nice glossy evergreens like Trachelospermum, Holboellia, Kiwi Fruit (try 'Jenny' as it's a self fertile one so you'd get tasty fruit with no need for a second plant as a pollinator) and X Fatshedera lizei...
Pete
Pete
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freddy
Re: Looking for inspiration
Hi Gaz. Could you suggest some Bamboo? I'm thinking of something that wouldn't 'get away' and take over but would encroach onto the path so you have to brush past it. Hi Don. Like I said, it's not to scale, so the sitting area is a LOT bigger than it looks. If I can, I would like to try to keep the borders at 2', otherwise it wont leave much to create the feeling of width. Bear in mind, the garden is only 14' wide. Hi Pete. Nice idea about the climbers. Although the garden is south facing, any plant against the fence wouldn't get the early morning or late afternoon sun (depending on which side it was planted) because of that fence. Would a Kiwi still do ok ? Cheers...freddy.
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Petefree
Re: Looking for inspiration
Hi Freddy
Kiwi fruit likes a warm, sheltered spot. But I think as long as it gets some sun (when there is some!) for part of the day it should do okay. Not having the early morning sun may be an advantage as the young shoots if they get frosted and then warm up too quickly tend to get damaged.
It grows quite quickly and has good big leaves - although not evergreen.
Pete
Kiwi fruit likes a warm, sheltered spot. But I think as long as it gets some sun (when there is some!) for part of the day it should do okay. Not having the early morning sun may be an advantage as the young shoots if they get frosted and then warm up too quickly tend to get damaged.
It grows quite quickly and has good big leaves - although not evergreen.
Pete
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Gaz
Re: Looking for inspiration
Im sure others will chip in here on the bamboo, but
The most readily available and probably cheapest are Phyllostachys aurea or nigra (golden bamboo, and black bamboo) and then variouos Fargesia varieties. These can be found in most garden centres and B&Q the aurea and nigra are usually £30 for a decent sized pot but as B&Q often do 20 or 25% off plants you can get them for less. Aurea is a useful backbone plant, and we have some as screening, but its not the prettiest and the bamboo boys would probably rather poke their eyes out than recommend it.
Both nigra and aurea will behave at first but might start to run for freedom - as a few members on here have discovered. However putting in a rhizome barrier to start off with will stop this.
If you want to be more adventureous then there are some much more attractive, but also more expensive bamboos. The new(ish) borinda types are generally more clumping but will cost more for a similar sized plant.
If you want to do a bit more reseach there are plenty of books out there on bamboo such as Hardy Bamboos - Taming the Dragon by Paul Whittaker, with loads of pictures and descriptions.
Some of the nurseries have pictures as well eg http://www.hardybamboo.com/ or http://www.junglegiants.co.uk/
I would be tempted to stick a post up with bamboo in the title to get the bamboo boys to suggest some more as they will know the characteristics better than I.
Of the bamboos we have I think my favourites are 'Kew Beauty', any of the Borindas (I'd have to check which we have) or Chusquea (not sure on the variety we have but can check)
Hope this helps a bit!
The most readily available and probably cheapest are Phyllostachys aurea or nigra (golden bamboo, and black bamboo) and then variouos Fargesia varieties. These can be found in most garden centres and B&Q the aurea and nigra are usually £30 for a decent sized pot but as B&Q often do 20 or 25% off plants you can get them for less. Aurea is a useful backbone plant, and we have some as screening, but its not the prettiest and the bamboo boys would probably rather poke their eyes out than recommend it.
Both nigra and aurea will behave at first but might start to run for freedom - as a few members on here have discovered. However putting in a rhizome barrier to start off with will stop this.
If you want to be more adventureous then there are some much more attractive, but also more expensive bamboos. The new(ish) borinda types are generally more clumping but will cost more for a similar sized plant.
If you want to do a bit more reseach there are plenty of books out there on bamboo such as Hardy Bamboos - Taming the Dragon by Paul Whittaker, with loads of pictures and descriptions.
Some of the nurseries have pictures as well eg http://www.hardybamboo.com/ or http://www.junglegiants.co.uk/
I would be tempted to stick a post up with bamboo in the title to get the bamboo boys to suggest some more as they will know the characteristics better than I.
Of the bamboos we have I think my favourites are 'Kew Beauty', any of the Borindas (I'd have to check which we have) or Chusquea (not sure on the variety we have but can check)
Hope this helps a bit!
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freddy
Re: Looking for inspiration
Hi Gaz, thanks for that. I saw some 'Nigra' the other day, and found it quite appealing. I reckon it would contrast well against the fence. How many plants do you reckon I'd need for say, a 6ft run ? Cheers...freddy.