Today I was putting a few plants into one of the newly dug borders that we have made this year. I was thinking about how I go about re-planting a flower bed – or a whole garden for that matter.
This is what the “Keyhole bed” looked like in 2006 when we moved into the house.
I must say that now, looking at this picture – it has a charm about it. The reality is that it had, among other things, diseased fruit trees, mombretia, St johns wort, brambles, lemon balm and lots of weeds.
At the beginning of the year – we cleared it all out – keeping only one apple tree and one ornamental crab-apple. To-day it looks like this.
So I was thinking …. I am the kind of person who has a feeling about the type of planting I would like in an area and I build on that feeling over the seasons and the years. I know that this “keyhole” is going to be a summer area. I want scent, summer flowers, nostalgia, I suppose the idealized cottage garden feel. I don’t particularly want any “winter interest” because the tracery of the apple and crab apple against the sky will be my winter interest, their blossom will be all I want in this location for the spring.
I admire plantsmen and designers who can design and plan on paper and then bring that design to life in a garden. But I wonder how I would feel if I was in a position to plan a border – and go and buy all the plants required in one fell swoop. I suspect I would be uncomfortable. I enjoy the feeling of “falling in love” with a particular plant and bringing it back to the garden. I enjoy the palimpsest. My planting, my predecessors planting, my interpretation of the keyhole bed – overlaid on theirs.
Eventually I hope that this area will have the “charm” that I found in the top picture – and be full of plants I love.
To-day I planted 8 x Hardy Geranium, 3 x Lavender ‘Walberton’s Silver Edge”, Drifts of Black Cowparsley and Angelica Gigas grown from seed. Physocarpus ‘Diabolo d’Or’ – which is my current favorite shrub for spring colour.
There is room for day-lilies and more paeonies, which are on my shopping list this Autumn – and room for more planting over the years, as the geranium are a kind of temporary ground cover while the garden evolves.
So tell me – what kind of plantswoman/plantsman are you – a planner or an evolver or a mix of each?
2007
To-day, 28th August 2008
(That is my dog “Merlin”)
Hi there Karen
Oh… well I’m a bit of both! I’m also the type of gardener that goes out to weed or prune and 1/2 a day later has revamped a whole area
I perhaps wouldn’t say my garden evolves – more like revolves with many plants returning a few years to their original planting spot!! Gardening for me is playing with planting schemes and creating moods – I just love it
I love to see new plantings in a border in other people’s gardens too – yours is looking good. I like your plant list. I also love to see the start of the process as much as the end result. Full of promise etc
Enjoy your new “Keyhole bed”
Hi Shirl – thanks for visiting and sharing how you “plan” your planting – I enjoy the “playing with moods” bit as well.
Karen
I love to plan most of my beds in my head but they do evolve over time. Some things don’t work out and are replaced and the design can change too.
I used to plan my beds in my head – but now I cannot remember the plan in my head – the old grey cells
Thanks for sharing how you work
Karen
Planning? Planning? Hmmmm — seems I’ve heard of that concept somewhere. (Un)fortunately, when it comes to the garden, impulse rules. The other day, I went to “the market” where a mind-boggling variety of annuals and perennials are available every spring to see what was left. I had a vague notion that there were some empty spaces in the garden which I wanted to fill and that any new plants had to be good either for partly shady or completely shady spots.
I ended up coming home with a random assortment of plants (http://urbanwildplants.blogspot.com/2008/08/wordless-wednesday.html) which fit the bill in terms of light requirements. I then set them out on a table and made vague guesses about where the likeliest “good spot to plant them” was. I guess we’ll find out next summer how successful I was.
I have to admit to being envious of you and of other gardeners who, like you, can be patient enough to think things through and plan what they’d like a space to look like.
/krys
HI Krys – I saw that post – and I loved the fact that you posted it on Wordless Wednesday – I have added the link to you comment. I think I speak for quite a few gardeners when I say – however much we plan – we can still go down to the garden center and come home with more than the odd plant in the boot of the car – which was never on the plan!!!
Thanks for sharing that impulse rules over in the Urban Wilderness
Karen
Very good question! Because I cannot seem to plan…I have asked for help from a garden designer/coach! It has helped but when I haven’t a list of plants that are sensible for my garden conditions, I fall for all manner of bad boy plants!
Gail
clay and limestone
Hi Gail – I think planting lists are really useful – even if you stray from them – they do give a structure. The odd bad boy can be fun …. for a while!
Thanks for joining in
Karen
My borders and garden are just a plant collection no planning at all. When I create community garden or work for a client, it is all on paper and planned. Love that keyhole. I think I may swipe the design for a handicaped accecible garden.
Deb.
Hi Deb – good to know that that your own garden isn’t planned out on paper
The keyhole bed also can work really well as a raised bed for folk who do not have much mobility.
Thanks for dropping by
Karen
At home I just buy stuff and ruthlessly chuck out other things to make room. For clients it varies a bit: sometimes I draw extensive and beautifully balanced planting plans (I then change my mind once it is finished) other times I just make a ‘back of a fag packet’ list and wing it when the plants arrive. I prefer the latter.
Hi “Blackpittsgarden” Ha! – I read your blog and your “just buy stuff” looks wonderful. I suspect if designing gardens is anything like designing textiles – the fag packet wins every time.
Thanks for visiting and taking the time to leave a comment.
Karen
evolution every time. I change my mind a lot. And then see a garden, read about one, see a must have plant (or several)…….linda love the slate edging
Hi Linda – Thanks for the comment about the slate – we will have more slate edging here by the end of the year – the new roof starts at the end of September (fingers crossed). Thanks for joining in
Karen
I tend to just bung them in as and when. I am trying to be more planned about it – we dug up some lawn a couple of weeks ago & I’ve sort of planned the planting, but there’s room left for ‘bungings’.
Hi HappyM. Bunging is good –
That is what I tend to do with seedlings as I always grow to many – currently I am bunging in the angelica gigas all over the garden – because it all germinated!
Thanks for popping in
Karen
I must say you’ve done a great job! The new borders will undoubtedly become very beautiful!
I’m not a planner. I don’t think I would enjoy gardening if I were to plan, buy all plants, plant everything and then – period! I like to fall in love with plants, search seed catalogues for interesting varieties and maybe get a plant or two from my friends as memories and then try to make the best of what I’ve got. That’s me.
/Katarina
Hi Katarina – thanks for the nice comment about the borders.
Thanks also for sharing how you go about planting your garden.
Karen
I’m back. BT have finally fixed the fault, so I can now see all the piccies. (Still coming round at the weekend though).
I always think I have a plan, but it does evolve as I find plants that I didn’t know I had, find that my garden is so wet my plants also need swimming lessons, find bind weed heaven or whatever. Also of course, my plan evolves when I come round to visit and you very generously donate a new specimen!
I’m very lucky that I have some stunning plants in my new garden, just need to get them all in the right place now. Help!
Ps – can I borrow Shedman to make some raised borders?
Hi Dobby
NO
This is such a good question. I love to plan, spend hours reading and thinking and thinking some more, but like the sense of a garden evolving, one thing leading to another. I am much less of an impulse buyer than I used to be, partly because gardening on more challenging soil means that there is no point in going for delphiniums because they are beautiful, they would just die here. I think gardening here has made me a better gardener but I am still feeling my way.
Hi Elizabethm – and thanks for taking time to let us know how you go about planning your borders. I know what you mean about the challenging soil – and I think yours may be even more challenging than here!
Karen
I can plan the shape of a new border and create it but that’s as far as it goes. Planning then goes out of the window. I go to a nursery, buy plants I can’t resist and try to fit them all in. I’ve even gone with plant ideas in mind and bought something completely different so I came to the conclusion that there was no point wasting time on too much planning if I was going to ignore myself.
Hi Easygardener – well I have to agree – there is absolutly no point in ignoring yourself!! Thanks for letting us know how you work out your planting.
Karen
I’m an overplanner and a regretter! I will have a perfect planting scheme but the minute I’ve cleared the area, I regret the loss of mature plants instantly! I then binge buy plants to fill the gaps.
I have managed not to do that this year!
Bravo Michelle – for managing not to do it this year. It is always difficult when mature plants go – I have got rid of a lot of mature planting – and I do wonder if I made a mistake – until other plants grow up and take their place.
Thanks for letting us know how you tackle your planting.
Karen
Your keyhole border is looking great, Karen. It’s a lovely idea. Personally, I’m a bodger and a ditherer. I’m always bodging things together because I’m too much of a control freak to get someone in to do it properly, and even though I make sensible lists of what to plant, they go straight out of my head when I hit the nursery. My worst habit is to buy a plant SPECIFICALLY for one place, then get home and decide it looks much better somewhere else. (Then create havoc in the ’somewhere else’ so I can plant it.) The idea of having to do a border in one go makes me want to go and lie down in a darkened room. I think I’d ‘borrow’ a design from someone else.
Thanks Victoria.
I have to confess that I may have the same habit of buying a plant specifically for a place and then liking it better elsewhere. I also know what you mean about the darkened room.
Karen
What a lovely shaped bed – so original.
Me I think I’m an evolver. I generally start off with an idea and one year on decide that didnt work and start to amend it. I dont have the confidence to design and buy a border plus like you I love to discover plants and then incorporate them into my garden and then there are all the plants I grow from seed which need a home.
Hi PG – and thanks for sharing how you go about planning and planting your garden. Yes – you are right – there is always the seeds to find homes for.
The keyhole bed was here when we moved in – we just expanded it and cleaned it up. I think it is a lovely idea – and I have repeated it sort of in another area of the garden – but that is another post…..
Karen
Poor Dobby, You dont beat about the bush do you!
No
Karen
Sometimes I sketch out plans on paper, but I’ve never followed them, it’s just an experiment. More often, my most specific plans and lists have things like “something evergreen and narrow” on them. It would take all the fun out of gardening if I were to put everything in it’s place and leave it alone. My favorite part about gardening is finding something new to fall in love with at some plant sale, and bringing it home and setting the pot around the garden trying to find a suitable home.
I’ve been helping a friend plan a garden, who just wants a list and to be done with it, and I realized just how difficult it is for me to commit to an exact plant on a plan.
Hi Megan – thanks for visiting and letting us know how you go about your plans – I love that “something evergreen and narrow” – I think that is a good thing to have on your list when visiting a nursery
Karen
I hope that was no to borrowing Shedman and not to helping me to find the best places for my plants!!
Yes
I mean No,
Oh I mean – Yes I will help you find the best place for your plants – OH, OK then you may borrow shedman!
Karen
PS: talking of borrowing ideas, this post has given me some inspiration for what I might do when I finally get rid of the trampoline. It’s the perfect site for a keyhole bed. Thanks, Karen!
Your welcome
Karen
Hi Karen,
I’m a robin that used to live in your garden and I really like the keyhole bed as it is now and wish I’d been around to eat the worms you would have ‘up-heaved’ whilst recreating it. The previous owner was a messy devil largely because I never gave her any peace to get on with the gardening. She was my slave, and you would have been too if I hadn’t moved on. Some of my children may still be around to plague you though, so throw them the odd worm, speak to them kindly, and before you know, you will be under their spell. Carry on the good work.
Love,
Bottom Robin
Hi Bottom Robin, great to hear from you. Yes your children are still around, we have “kitchen garden robin”, Studio robin, middle garden robin – to name but a few. Kitchen Garden robin is probably the most demanding – but then that is where I spend most of my time.
Glad you like the keyhole bed
Karen
I like the way you cleared it and made it work better than the charming tangle. It is a wonderful example of a keyhole garden I only recently learned about from Stuart.
Hi Donna thanks for visiting and taking time to leave a lovely comment.
Karen
Can’t wait to see a photo progression of this garden it looks like it will be stunning!
Karrita
Thanks Karrita – I am looking forward to watching this space develop too.
Karen
Hi Karen – what a question!
I plan and I plonk! This is the first garden where I actually put pen to paper and planned where everything would go. The previous garden looked so awful (I’d just plonked) and this needed so much work doing on it before we got to the planting stage that I was terrified I wouldn’t do it justice.
However, I’ve returned to my plonking ways, but may do a plan after I’ve ripped out a load of plants this Autumn.
As for JAS’ reply – that sounds like the answer from someone who’s an extremely confident gardener!
PS Forgot to say – the Keyhole Garden’s looking splendid already. So different from June…