Assessing your beds in spring

Assessing your beds in spring

Mid-April is a busy time - but it's key to also take time to step back, observe, analyse your borders and plan. I'm going to share my top tips on how to do this to get the most from your borders.

How to make a border plan

To get the best out of a border, have a plan, think about how it's looking, and be critical of it - the benefit comes from considering what you could do better next year. We had our borders surveyed and put on AutoCAD so we can print plans at different scales, for overviewing the whole garden (e.g. 1:200) or for planting plans (1:25-1:50).

1. Measure your beds
2. Draw a simple outline on paper
3. Use a scale ruler or squared paper to work out the scale - 1:25 is a good scale for a planting plan. Draw a grid over the outline if not using squared paper
4. Roughly plot the plants
5. Keep the plan to refer to in the future.

Wallflowers

• Wallflowers are a key plant for April. They're biennials, so we sow them in June and plant in October to flower the following year.
• When they flower, look at whether you're happy with the distribution - have you got the right number, are the groups too dense, is the balance of colours how you want it?
• You can overlay your plan with tracing paper to make amendments, additions and notes.

Creating succession

• Think about how to create succession - we usually plant tulips with wallflowers.
• Think about what era of plants feels right for your space - because of tulip fire (Botrytis), we've planted Narcissi 'Cheerfulness' instead this year, a historic cultivar from 1923.
• Note down what's worked well and what hasn't - e.g. I'm noting that white isn't right here.
• Keep in mind relationships to nearby beds and different ways you use the same plants.

Making your border work hard for you

When you're assessing your borders, think about both short-term and longer-term improvements. Look at every plant and assess it:

• Are self-seeders in the right place? Do I need more or to make a note to propagate them?
• Do plants need lifting and dividing or moving?
• What gardening actions would improve it? E.g. pinching out the tops of Helenium to make it flower later, and what to grow around it to hide its bare stems.
• What can I interplant to replace things that are dying down?

The importance of observing your garden

Careful observation familiarises you with the full lifecycle of each plant beyond just flowering - when does it emerge, flower, and set seed? Does it die back or persist with nice seedheads?

• It's also a mindful and reflective activity - what do I feel when I'm here? What do I want visitors to feel? Would a seat be nice somewhere to make the most of that?
• I recommend doing this twice a year, in spring and autumn. The observations you make in spring can be actioned in the autumn, to improve next spring.

The greatest reward and learning is from looking at my plants and borders. You're allowing yourself to develop a close relationship with the plants and the garden space.

Assignment

Take a close, critical look at one of your beds and borders and each plant in it. What actions could you take to make it work harder and better? Make notes on the following:

• Do any plant clumps look overcrowded or have become hollow in the middle, so need to be lifted and divided?
• Do any perennials need to be moved?
• Do I have enough self-seeders, or should I sow some annuals or biennials?
• Is there anything I can interplant to take over the succession from plants that are finishing or hide bare stems?
• Are there any actions that I can take in the future, like pinching out certain perennials, to extend the flowering season?

Further reading

• RHS guide to tulip fire

Plant Directory

Buxus sempervirens

Common box

Hardy evergreen shrub or small tree

Buxaceae

Erysimum species and cultivars

Wallflowers

Hardy or sometimes half-hardy annuals, biennials or woody-based perennials

Brassicaceae

Erysimum cheiri 'Blood Red'

Wallflower 'Blood Red'

Hardy evergreen biennial or short-lived perennial

Brassicaceae

Erysimum cheiri 'Cloth of Gold'

Wallflower 'Cloth of Gold'

Hardy evergreen biennial or short-lived perennial

Brassicaceae

Erysimum cheiri 'Fire King'

Wallflower 'Fire King'

Hardy evergreen biennial or short-lived perennial

Brassicaceae

Gazania species and cultivars

Treasure flowers

Tender evergreen herbaceous perennial

Asteraceae

Helenium species and cultivars

Sneezeweed

Hardy herbaceous perennials

Asteraceae

Narcissus 'Cheerfulness'

Daffodil 'Cheerfulness'

Hardy bulbous perennial

Amaryllidaceae

Paeonia species and cultivars

Peonies

Hardy herbaceous perennials or deciduous subshrubs

Paeoniaceae

Papaver species and cultivars

Poppies

Hardy annuals, biennials or herbaceous perennials

Papaveraceae

Papaver cambricum

Welsh poppy

Hardy herbaceous perennial

Papaveraceae

Papaver orientale

Oriental poppy

Hardy herbaceous perennial

Papaveraceae

Primula vulgaris

Primrose

Hardy semi-evergreen perennial

Primulaceae

Salvia species and cultivars

Sages

Hardy, half-hardy or tender annuals, biennials, herbaceous or evergreen perennials or shrubs

Lamiaceae

Salvia confertiflora

Sabra spike sage

Tender herbaceous perennial

Lamiaceae

Salvia 'Royal Bumble'

Sage 'Royal Bumble'

Half-hardy evergreen perennial

Lamiaceae

Solidago species and cultivars

Goldenrods

Hardy herbaceous perennials

Asteraceae

Taxus baccata

Common yew, English yew

Hardy evergreen tree

Taxaceae

Tropaeolum peregrinum

Canary creeper

Tender deciduous climber

Tropaeolaceae

Tulipa species and cultivars

Tulips

Hardy bulbous perennials

Liliaceae

Glossary

Annual

A plant that completes its whole life cycle (germination, growth, flowering, going to seed) in one year or growing season.

AutoCAD

Computer-aided design software for drawing and editing digital 2D and 3D designs.

Biennial

A plant that takes two years from seedling stage to reach maturity and seed set, dying after seed set in the second year.

Botrytis

A group of fungi responsible for several plant diseases, including grey mould, tulip fire and 'chocolate spot'.

Perennial

A plant that lives for several or many years.

Tender perennial

A plant that lives for several or many years in its native climate but is not hardy enough to overwinter in the UK climate, so is either brought indoors over winter, protected e.g. with mulch in mild areas, or grown as an annual and propagated each year. Examples include dahlias, cannas and some salvias.

Tulip fire

A tulip disease caused by the fungus Botrytis tulipae, which produces brown spots and twisted, withered and distorted leaves. In severe cases, plants look as if they have been scorched with fire.