Time for action!

It's amazing how the threat of frost concentrates the mind! Yes, our first frost is forecast for this week so the ranks of plants waiting to go in to my new and improved bottom bed suddenly looked horribly vulnerable. So on with the boots and out with the spade and voila, a cleared, prepared and planted bed appeared! Now that makes it sound really quite straight forward and quick, needless to say it was neither and my aching back can vouch for that!

Here is the bed before (Sept)…

…during (Oct)…

…and after!

Some may say it's not an improvement, but come the spring when everything is growing well and my 60 bulbs are coming up, you will see what I'm aiming for (hopefully!)

I will admit, spending the weekend planting things that appear to be dead or dying wasn't the most rewarding experience. Two of the Hostas I planted are completely invisible and the other two are looking like they should be composted. But have faith, come spring they should be glorious, particularly as they have all been fed and bedded in with my lovely garden compost! 

Although I cleared most of the bed of it's old contents, there were some things that I had no intention of getting rid of, particularly as they look so lovely at this time of year.

Mahonia                                             Arum italicum

                  Griselinia & variagated Rhododendron                          Fatsia japonica

For those of you that are interested, the initial plant list for the bed was as follows:

Kept from before clearance, but moved about:

Fatsia Japonica

Mahonia

Cordylines

Griselinia

Rhododendron

Hostas

Acanthus

Epimediums

Hellebores

Arum italicam

Geranium (blue)

Alchemilla Mollis

Hypericum

Added as new plants:

Elaeagnus variegata

Cotinus Purple Grace

Golden Sambucus

Tellima

Ligularia 'the rocket'

Rudbeckia

Veronica 

Heuchera

Sisyrinchium

Tradescantia

Pennisetum

Pachysandra 

Painted Fern

White Foxgloves

Echinops

Primroses

Bulbs:

Daffodils x60 (mixed varieties to flower Feb - May)

Anemone nemorosa x20

Triteleia x10

In the spring there will be gaps to fill and things to add. The aim is for it to be white, cream, yellow and blue and to have some interest all year round. However, I've already spotted a friend's Liriope and I would love to add one somewhere, and I had meant to put in some Crocus (not sure how that got overlooked - I spent enough time at the bulb farm!). But for now I need to let everything settle and pray for a mildish winter. Next year we can see where we are and go from there. There are bound to be some casualties, some triumphs, and plenty of the unexpected - it is a garden after all!