How it's done

Last month my friend had a garden warming party. She's been in her new home for a year now & boy has she been busy.

The Layout

The North-facing front is paved parking so all the garden fun is out the back.

Previous owners added decking by the house to make the most of the Southern sunshine. The deck also organises the hefty level changes that come from living on the side of a hill. The staged drop to the main garden, combined with strategic boundary hedging, makes for a secluded spot, shielded from passing gusts & prying eyes.

Packed with treasure

I really struggled to get an overview photo that does the garden justice. This is a section from a Photosynth panoramic, hence the left hand bendy shed.

When my friend arrived a year ago, the main area was lawn with small edging borders and a couple of small trees, but it's all change now. The trees remain, jazzed up for the party with some beautiful glass globe tealight lanterns. But the changes are much more than a few cosmetic touches - the garden now has a series of distinct spaces, each with their own atmosphere - no mean feat in such a modest plot.

Moving left to right:

• Raised veg beds, on the deck near the house.
• Lounging seating area, also on the veg deck.
• Crafting hut terminating the veg deck (the bendy shed above). This doubled as the party's bar.
• Pond, in the back left corner - the latest addition.
• Pergola with chimenea, for evenings round the fire.
• Potting shed/glass house (right, above).
• Dining table & chairs on the right hand deck off the kitchen/conservatory.
  and finally, the star of the show
• Major central flower bed.

My friend used to work in horticulture so she's far more interested in a range of interesting plants than a monoculture. Up came the old central lawn, and in went the huge central bed. With a gravel edge and a winding bark chip path through the middle, you can get up close & personal with the planting, to weed or just to drool.

Here's some pics of my favourites - I have no idea what most of them are, so if you spot some familiar faces, please shout up!

Update

My friend has now kindly provided me with some names for the plants below. She's not 100% about them all, but hey, they'll be close enough & better than nowt!

Flowers

Thistle-type thing

Little spiky blue & silver thistle globes
Echinops ritro (globe thistle)

I've been looking longingly at thistles for a bit, but I hear they can be invasive - perhaps why this pale blue beauty is in a pot on the path.

Fiery daisy

There was a lot if buzzing in the garden but this clump of fiery daisies were particularly popular.
 

♪ Fire! (Do do do)... ♫
Helenium 'Sahin's Early Flowerer'

I love the flame coloured petals, surrounding a raised black pompom shot through with gold - just like glowing embers. Gorgeous.
 

Foliage

Freaky frenzy

The garden was packed with foliage of all shapes, all colours.

All the foliage
Sedum spectabile 'Autumn Joy'
Artemisia 'Powis Castle'
Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple' (smoke bush)
Philadephus 'Belle Etoile' (mock orange)

What fabulous contrasts here, so much texture cheek by jowl. Just blew my mind.

The gold leaf edge is brighter than this pic shows
Berberis thunbergii 'Golden Ring'

Fancy corn

In pots dotted around the garden & deck were these statuesque sweetcorn stems.
 

Fancy candy-striped corn
Zea mays (Japanese ornamental corn)

 

She picked up these as seeds on holiday in Canada. I've seen multi-coloured corn cobs before but not on the plant. Those bold stripes remind me of the seaside windbreaks of my youth!

 

Frosted fern

Lots of leaves were from the red end of things, but some aren't always the same colour. There were nice examples of leaves that change colour as they mature.

Candy-floss fern
Sorbaria sorbifolia 'Sem'

I love this kind of thing - plants with changing interest as they age & with the season; so useful in small gardens where everything needs to work harder to earn its keep.
 

Green grey shrub

Along with the reds, hints of silver were another recurring foliage theme.

A wall of silver green fluff
Euphorbia characias

This beast sits below the crafting hut and was taller than me. It's cool to have interest at eye level, especially something so bold.

An old friend

Also below the hut was something more full-on silver; something familiar:

We used to have one of these!

I know this! It's a curry plant, so named cos it gives a fenugreeky niff when you brush past it. Ours is long gone, possibly due to over-zealous pruning on my part, but at least I now know who to talk to if I want to re-introduce it.
And I think I might.