
If you’ve been following me on social media for any length of time you’ll be well aware that my current obsession is PLANTS. I have always loved plants and growing things but at the moment with the ‘Extreme Garden Makeover’ in full swing and it being the perfect weather to get out in the garden I am in full on crazy plant lady mode. Luckily for me the lovely team over at The Secret Gardening Club fully support my crazy plant lady status and gifted me some plants to help fill out my planters and feed my dirty habit (dirty…muddy, get it?)
I’ve already professed my love for The Secret Gardening Club and their business model and the fact that their plants are so well priced but the first thing I want to tell you about this delivery is how well packed these plants arrived! My bug bear with online plant retailers is packaging and making sure that plants arrive in good condition, and so far this has been my only delivery of plants from any retailer that has arrived alive and safe.
They come in black plastic blister packs to hold the pots in place and then there is a strap that goes across them and through the box to make sure that they cant get jiggled about or tipped over if the box gets knocked in transit or the multiple ‘this way up’ arrows get ignored! They were all really well watered too, not so much that the box was soggy but I’m confident that I could have probably left them in the box for a day an not have worried about them wilting.
So, let me show you what I got! All the plants were picked out by the team at The Secret Gardening Club after we had had a chat about my design for the garden, the did really well with the selection especially since I pretty much said to them ‘well its kind of Japanese inspired but also really with a leafy jungle vibe…’ (can we also note how good the black fences are as a background for taking plant photos on?)
L-R Carex Comans Bronze, Molina Caerulea ‘Karl Foerster’, Koeleria ColorGrass Coolio
First up is some grasses, I do like a good grass! The help to give some structure to a border like a shrub would do but also some nice movement to help create interest and stop stuff being too ‘blocky’. I’ve got a selection of colours here that really help to compliment some of my larger plants and I’ll use them to help section and transition parts of the planting.
L-R Sempervivum fauconnettii, Hebe Pimeleoides Quicksilver, Sempervivum Erette
Next we have what I like to think of as the ‘surprise’ plants, they aren’t big enough to catch you eye when you’re just glancing at the planter but they are the little surprises you see when you walk around and notice them next to a rock or under a bigger plant that help to break up the space.
L-R Heucheras – Melting Fire, ‘Lime Marmalade’, Americana Marvellous Marble Silver, Chocolate Ruffles
Heuchera are one of my favourite plants at the moment, they bush out and form great leafy mounds, have interesting flower spikes,come in any almost any colour you could wish for, plus they all have great names! I’m going to be using them in the planters for middle and front planting, if they grow too big over the next few years I may look at dividing or moving them but for now they are going to be what I use to break up the shapes a bit but to also tie in the Japanese and ‘jungely’ colours and planting. It’ll make sense when you see it, trust me.
L-R Sedums – Floriferum Golden Yellow, Xenon, Spurium Dragons Blood
Ahh Sedums! Sedums, succulents and alpines are like the gateway drug for budding new gardeners. They are easy to plant, easy to care for and come in such a variety of shapes, sizes and colours that you are spoilt for choice. I could not be more please with the selection I received – The Floriferum is going to go in front of the water feature to give some ground cover but also low growing interest so as not to distract from that waterfall. The Dragons Blood is going to go under my feature Acer at the end of the planter and hopefully will spill over the side of it and give stunning autumn colour. I’m not too sure where the Xenon will go yet but I think probably near one of the seating areas as I love to look at the silvery purple leaves.
L-R Hostas – Wide Brim, Francee
In my mind Hostas are the best plant to give a tropical/jungle feel in a British garden, they do great in our climate and as long as you can keep the slugs and snails away from them look lush and leafy for ages. I’ll be using these mainly in my ‘jungley’ area and will try and strategically place them so that they have enough room to bush out more each year but not take over too much and distract from the other planting.