2016-05-10

Nicky Roeber, Online Horticultural Specialist for Wyevale Garden Centres, recommends his top 10 plants for small gardens.

If you’re looking to bring some life in to a small space this year, it’s crucial that you choose the right plants for small gardens. As a general rule of thumb, look to fill your limited space with plants that are small, have a compact and tidy form, and are easy to grow. To give you some ideas, here are 10 plants which produce long lasting, fragrant flowers for an array of attractive foliage in your garden.

Rosa ‘Bonica’

This gorgeous little rose produces perfect clusters of dainty, powder pink flowers. An RHS Award of Garden Merit winner, it’s hardy, repeat-flowering, and is incredibly resistant to disease, making it one of the perfect plants for small gardens.

As with any other rose, manure well in spring and dead-head regularly during the summer to promote flowering.

Asplenium scolopendrium

Asplenium scolopendrium, also known as hart’s tongue fern, is a beautiful fern with shiny, wavy-edged fronds that unfurl in early spring and remain all year.

Like all ferns, it thrives in shady areas, making it the perfect plant for small gardens. Plant it in soil that has been improved with plenty of leaf mould and ensure the soil doesn’t dry out while it establishing itself. Once established, it can tolerate dry soil and is very low-maintenance.

Lavandula angustifolia ‘Hidcote Blue’

This English lavender produces dense spikes of purple-blue flowers with that unmistakable frangrance in the summer above mounds of steely, grey-green foliage. It makes the perfect informal hedge, especially beside the door, where you’ll enjoy its aroma every time you enter your home.

Lavandula angustifolia thrives in sunny, well-drained sites. Cut back the stalks after the flowers have faded in late-summer, and carefully trim back in April, taking care not to cut into old wood.

Sarcococca hookeriana var. digyna

This engimatic and shade-loving shrub makes an eye-catching addition to any small garden. This evergreen plant will form a dense thicket over time, and its shoots are a curious shade of purple-pink before they fade to a dark green as they mature. In winter, it is covered in fragrant white flowers, which are followed by rounded purple fruit.

Prune this RHS Award of Garden Merit winner back in early spring, and then apply a generous 5-7cm mulch of well-rotted compost around the base of the plant.

Acer palmatum ‘Dissectum Viridis’

Keeps things interesting with the addition of this stunning acer, which has feathery leaves that turn bronze in autumn. Its elegant and compact shape makes it the perfect choice for gardeners without much space to work in.

Plant in a sheltered spot, shielded from wind and all-day sun. Keep well watered, fertilise generously in late-spring, and remove any dead branches in late-autumn.

Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’

To add a splash of vibrancy to your small garden from late-winter to summer, add this colourful and low-maintenance wallflower to your borders. It produces beautiful mauve flowers on long, elegant stems, and makes an excellent display for months in a sunny border.

‘Bowles’s Mauve’ requires little attention and grows well in poor soil, provided that it drains well — simply protect it with fleece in areas where severe frosts are common.

Penstemon ‘White Bedder’

This handsome, easy-to-grow perennial produces large, white, foxglove-like flowers from July to October. If deadheaded regularly, it will continue flowering until the first frost, making it a great choice for adding a touch of elegance to a shady and well-drained border.

In terms of care, simply remove the faded blooms regularly to prolong flowering, and then apply a dry mulch around the base of the plant to protect it from frost damage over winter.

Aster x frikartii ‘Monch’

This aster is the perfect choice for anyone without much time to dedicate to their garden, because it’s highly prized for its resistance to disease and the speed at which it grows. Planted in full sun, it will be producing its gorgeous lavender and yellow flowers, which blossom from mid-summer to mid-autumn, in no time.

Stake with canes in early spring, and water and deadhead regularly. After it has flowered, cut its stems to the ground and mulch generously with compost or well-rotted horse manure.

Trachelospermum jasminoides

One of the best plants for small gardens is this woody, evergreen climber. It is particularly eye-catching due to its rich, dark green leaves which turn a beautiful shade of bronze in winter. From mid- to late-summer, it produces clusters of fragrant white flowers — as it ages, these turn a rich cream colour.

Trachelospermum jasminoides, also known as star jasmine, is best grown against a warm, sunny wall in fertile and well-drained soil. In areas prone to severe frosts, it’s best grown in a greenhouse or conservatory.

Brunnera macrophylla ‘Hadspen’s Cream’

This cheerful perennial produces small, bright-blue flowers in spring above large, heart-shaped leaves that are bordered by a rich cream colour. This hardy and disease-resistant perennial will thrive in a shady spot with well-drained soil, and requires very little maintenance.

The post The Top 10 Plants For Small Gardens appeared first on The English Garden.

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