Gravel Garden

Garden view July 2023 where you can see the difference that the removal of the Kilmarnock Willow tree has made to the view out over the pastureland beyond.

This area of my garden used to be all lawn, but over the years the lawn has been reduced to provide planting areas and also pebbled pathways. In the middle of this area is a large flat granite slab (a) which is impossible to move and so became the focal point for a gravel style garden. The walled border (b) faces south and most of this area is in full sun except for the winter months when the sun remains low and the barn creates a lot of shade. There is a raised bed (c) which is 1m x 2m and used to grow plants which attract bees and butterflies. And the latest area to be created is the Triangle bed (d)

*refers to plants inherited

Gravel garden – August 2017

(A)THE GRAVEL AREA (around the flat rock)

Agapanthus ‘Silver Moon’ with variegated leaves (rarely flowers)
Calamagrostis brachytricha (glossy green leaves turning yellow in autumn, fluffy purple-tinged plume-like sprays in late summer
Calamagrostis Overdam (striped green leaves, feathery purple plumes in late summer)
Carex evergreen grasses Evergold and Everest (around the flat stone)
~~Chaenorhinum origanifolium ‘Blue Dream (trailing blue flowers late spring/early summer)~~
~~Erodium ‘Bishop’s Form (reddish-pink flowers)~~
Hardy geranium ‘Orion’
Fuchsia shrub possibly magellanica ‘Riccartonii’
~~Gaura lindheimeri ‘Whirling butterflies’~~ I have come to realise my soil is too rich and wet for this plant.
Geranium ‘renardii’ (white)
Geranium sanguineum ‘Max Frei’
Geum ‘Karlskaer’ (orange)
Geum ‘Red Wings’ (rich red)
Geum ‘Emory Quinn’ (golden yellow)
Geum ‘Totally Tangerine’

July 2021 – from the patio

Gravel garden 2020

June 2022

July 2022

- Hylotelephium telephium ‘Xenox Yellow’
- Imperata cylindrica ‘Rubra’ (Japanese Blood Grass) very slow growing
- Kniphofia ‘Drunmore Apricot’
- Kniphofia ‘Alcazar’
- ‘Olearia Haastii’ shrub / New Zealand Daisy Bush
- Penstemon (Hidcote Pink)
- Penstemon ‘Garnet’
- Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Golden Ball’
- Rosemary
- Santolina chamaecyparissus
- Sedum or Stonecrop ‘Ruby Glow’
- Thalictrum ‘Black Stockings’
- Thalictrum ‘Elin’
- ~~Uncinia Rubra~~
- Weeping Buddliea alternifolia (this was cut to the ground, but has since sprouted again and I am trying to grow it in its cascading shape).

Grasses, Kniphofia and New Zealand Daisy Bush with Pittosporum ‘Golden Ball’ and Penstemon ‘Hidcote Pink’ on the right.

(b) Sunny border:

*Anthemis punctata cupanian / Sicilian chamomile
Aubrieta
Campanula portenschlagiana
Erigeron glaucus ‘Sea Breeze’ / fleabane
Erigeron karvinskianus / Mexican Fleabane (also a bit of a thug once it takes hold)
Osteospermum jucundum var. compactum (pink)
Osteospermum ‘Snow Pixie’ (white)
Sedum or Stonecrop ‘Ruby Glow’
*Wild Yarrow / Achillea

Sunny Wall

Erigeron

Agapanthus ‘Silver Moon’

Erigeron

New gravel area

Climber Celastrus orbiculatus – or bittersweet vine
Whistling Jacks (Gladiolius communis byzantinus) now nicely bulking up.

(c) RAISED BED¹:

August 2023 (with potted agapanthus along the edge)

Alliums – various types
Cosmos atrosanguineus / Chocolate Cosmos
Geranium ‘Rozanne’ – (this takes up most of a square metre so will be removed and put into a large container which I will place on the flat rock. She can spread to her heart’s delight there)
Hemerocallis / Day Lily
Hemerocallis ‘Silent Sentry’
Lobelia × speciosa ‘Hadspen Purple’

Bee and Butterfly bed 08/2022

Daylily

Verbena

Geranium ‘Rozanne’

Bee and Butterfly bed 08/2023

Phlox paniculata ‘Twinkle Purple’

Lobelia × speciosa ‘Hadspen Purple’

Lobelia cardinalis ‘ Queen Victoria’
Lythrum salicaria ‘Blush’
~~Penstemon ‘Sour Grapes’~~
Phlox paniculata ‘Twinkle Purple’
Persicaria Darjeeling Red
Phygelius x rectus African Queen (a bit of a thug – sends runners throughout the bed so has been consigned to a container now)
Restio Chondropetalum tectorum
Salvia nemorosa ‘Sensation’ – pink, blue and ~~white~~
Verbena bonariensis ‘Lollipop’