The Northern Border: Perfect for bulbs but a bit lacking in light.
This was the first border to receive any planting, and that didn't go well! Upon arrival at this, our new house I tried to plant the few annuals which had come with us from the previous house - with depressing results, they just didn't take and looked like they had died during the process of planting. So of course we wen't out and spent some more money on newer / better annuals! Prior to this I had removed what felt like twenty Coyote Bushes: Baccharis Pilularis The image to the left lauds them, when kept small and en masse, pretty they are not! I opted to plant Golden Cupresses Cypresses as their columnar habit lent then some form and dignity - it was obvious the Coyote bushes were meant to be the foundation for a perimeter hedge - it just looked scruffy. Since those halcyon days we've been invaded ... by bulbs. I won't deny my fondness for this aspect of horticulture, the whole concept of bulb-growing has long fascinated me, how they rise and fall from and to nothing is just captivating. I have planted a number of Fritillaria Meleagris and Fritillaria uva-vulpis, there are a number of Scillas - although I'm amiss to recollect what variery and it goes without saying plenty of Daffodils.
For a number of years we had no less that EIGHT Cupressus Macrocarpas, however, recently it has come to light that sooner or later, they start to get big and the same plant which was putting on ten centimetres in year one, was by now gaining at least a foot over the course of the growing season. Something had to go, with regret, this meant reducing the count by fifty percent. This was done on Saturday January 27th, 2024. It stands to reason that it time, the other four will have to go, I didn't even try to keep the smaller ones as the trees I kept did have outstanding form and I thought that the smaller ones would be more appealing to the people coming to take them away - in response to an advert in the local Facebook group three women said they would take a tree (or two in one case) and thus far only one has lightened my arborial burden how some folk struggle to keep to their word!
In place of the two uprooted Macrocarpas are now a collection of bulbs and a fine, cute pair of Skimmia Japonica Rubellas, flanked by Tulipa Yokohama and Scarlet Baby - two five cm pots of each. In addition, we now have a handful of Narcissus Topolinos and the white Fritillaria "Alba" although I suspect this is simply the white sport of Meleagris, never mind, I had wanted some of these anyway.
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