As soon as I have time, I can't wait to see the back of the following plants:
1. Spirea douglasii. Utterly horrid huge thing with muddy pink dusters of "flowers". Graham Stuart Thomas on it: "This shrub is one that nurserymen delight in including in cheap collections of shrubs" - I can well imagine, it suckers like nobody's business.
2. A hypericum, planted less than 2 feet from a holly and a lovely spirea arguta. I ask you!
3. A common viburnam. I planted this, I didn't realise it wouldn't flower and fruit like a garden variety. I don't hate it, it grew fast and hid the fence just as I wanted it to, but it'd done it's job.
So, what to replace with? 3 will be a red chaenomeles that I have already in a pot. 2 - now we're getting exciting, this will be a blue hibiscus. And... [drum roll] the hypericum will provide space for my favourite rose, Ophelia, and some euphorbias which I adore but they find the rest of the garden too damp. O's roots will go down far enough to find the water (which is never far here) but they will like the driest surface we have.
PS I will also sadly get rid of our broom. Nearly all of it is dead and the part that isn't gets massacred by snails. It won't be replaced because the hebe next to it has already squeezed it out.
What is it with snails and broom? You'd think there wouldn't be much in the way of sustenance on those thin stems, let alone a comfortable place to snooze. My broom is always full of them. Still, at least it's a good place to collect them up and get rid of them. (A quick squish suffices, I find.)
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to lose plants, I lost two roses over winter and I hate it. I there are some plants every year that I grow to dislike either because they do not live up to my expectations of what I thought they should look like, preform badly or out grow their spots. It gives us a chance or in my case an excuse for change in the garden :-)
ReplyDeleteEmily You are so lucky my get rid of problems are far worse Bindweed and ground elder which have really got a hold in the abscence of my gardening ability over the last few years but they won't have it all their own way this year.
ReplyDeleteI love mock orange.... and witch hazel - the rich brown-flowered one. Will they grow in Horley?
ReplyDeleteMy parents have a hedge made out of the Spirea that you want to throw out, it actually make a thick hedge and good for a wind break if needed. Bob.
ReplyDeletetest
ReplyDeleteWe have no snails to speak of in my dry area--too bad, because we have far too much flammable Broom.
ReplyDeleteWill you be re-homing any of these or just saying "thanks" and giving them the chop?
Victoria - we both loved the broom we had; we'll definitely plant another when we get a suitable spot but I fear it might not be in this garden, too much of it is either spoken for or very damp.
ReplyDeleteHocking Hills - I agree very much! I love learning and changing things in the garden.
Joanne - aha, we have bindweed too! At the moment I'm relaxed about it, just pulling it up when I see it. Sometimes it bothers me a lot though. It grows a lot in one season, I know.
Katherine - we have a mock orange but it's smaller now than when we bought it. It's not happy for some reason. I may try moving it. Witch hazel I've not tried, I'll look for it.
Bob - yes, I can see it would make a good plant in a different place. My mistake was creating the flowerbed around it - the suckering would matter far less if it had lawn up near it. But if I'd known it did this, I'd just have got rid of it sooner - the garden was going to be planned this way, I can be a right little Napoleon over things!
Daffodil - good idea, I'll ask around. I don't want them elsewhere myself.
I rejoice with you, Hypericum is a truly horrible plant: in any place. Let it and the muddy Spirea be cast into the burning fiery furnace.
ReplyDelete