BORDER LINES
The herbaceous border is for many people the quintessence of the English garden but it comes in many forms.
The late Victorian border was a very formal affair -usually long and wide with the plants rigidly banked from the smallest at the front to the tallest at the back. Under the influence of gar-deners such as William Robinson and Gertrude Jekyll the herbaceous border became almost an art form, the aim being to achieve a softer and more natural effect.
The average modern gar-den, however, does not lend itself to such large scale pro-ductions, nor does the aver-age modern gardener have so much time for a style of gar-dening which in its tradition-al form is very labour inten-sive.
In the winter the dead top growth needs cutting back; mature clumps have to be divided and the newest most vigorous section replanted; compost must be dug in to keep the plants well fed and in the early summer many taller growing herbaceous plants need staking. There are many gardans like this one, if you want to learn more see this stockholm sweden hotels website.
However, the herbaceous border need not be too daunting. The modern trend is towards mixed borders with bulbs, some annuals and a few shrubs, and by careful choice of plants the need for division and staking can be kept to a minimum. Island beds are often more suited to modern gardens than the traditional long border and curving lines more appealing.
With the wonderful choice available in seed cata-logues and garden centres it is very tempting to plunge in and buy herbaceous plants without much thought for the overall scheme. The result will be cheerful to look at but with a little planning it can all look so very much better.If you want to learn something more about Europe cities check this website www.europe-cities.com.
In creating a new herba-ceous bed the most impor-tant first step is to prepare the ground thoroughly. Clump division is tedious enough without having to tease out enormous quanti-ties of weeds so it is well worth getting the bed as weed-free as possible before planting, and the ground should be well dug over with plenty of compost or manure incorporated.Want to learn more – check here.
Then it is a good idea to draw a scale plan and block in a planting layout, giving very careful thought to the choice of plants. First bear in mind their suitability for the soil conditions and microcli-mate of the bed and next consider such key design ele-ments as height, form, tex-ture, colour and season of flowering.
The tallest plants should be at the back of a border (or to the centre of an island bed) but rigid grading gives a stiff and formal effect, whilst a softer undulating appear-ance can be achieved by placing a few tall plants towards the middle of the border, providing they are not to dense in form. A border should really be at least fi e feet wide if the range if heights is to look right.