By Scottish
Edinburgh,
Scotland
Planting advice - What to plant next
Hi All, I am hoping to get some advice regarding planting. I have a White Camellia growing with white dicentra in front of it. Behind, growing up the fence is a Maroony/Purpley coloured Clematis. There is a fern growing just under the branches of my kilmarnock willow. I know that these Dicentra will soon die back and I will be left with a big space (3 dicentra plants have been planted) my questions are these:
1. Do I cut the Dicentra down or leave it to die back naturally?
2. I would like some suggestions as to what to plant between the Dicentra and the Camellia to give me some summer interest?
3. If I do this would this be what is called underplanting?
The area in question is west facing gets the sun until around 7pm, I'm not sure how to describe the soil but it certainly has some clay in it. Planted further along this fence is a syringa sensation, 2 Aucuba japonica 'Variegata', rambling rose (white), philadelphus and a sambucus nigra. So I think there is a kind of white/purple scheme going on.
Any suggestions please?
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20 May, 2011
Answers
Bamboo....As it happens I was made to buy a Fuchsia 3 weeks ago (mother liked it and wanted it). I had 'stuck' it in the side garden as I didn't know where to put it.
It is called 'Paula Jane' and has pink and rose pink flowers. I think the colours would go as the darker pink colour would match in well with the clematis.
Is this what you mean by 'hardy' fucshia?
Sorry to be a pest x
20 May, 2011
Sorry Bamboo, only just realised that this Fucshia only grows to 0.5m so would propbably not do the job!!! Silly me.
20 May, 2011
Paula Jane isn't a hardy fuchsia, meaning its sold as summer bedding, so good in a pot or tub or basket, specially in shadier spots. You can put it in the ground for the summer if you want, but as you say, its not really tall enough. The 3 names I gave you are hardy if planted in the ground, not in pots - you leave them alone at the end of summer, topgrowth still on, then in April you wait for signs of growth and cut right back when it starts, in your case, cut back to the ground, but not before you see signs of growth. Some more choices would be Beacon, Margaret Brown, Margaret, Mrs. Popple, Lady Thumb, all slightly different sizes and different colour flowers, all hardy - google for pics.
20 May, 2011
Bamboo...thanks for your advice and input. I will have a 'google' and see what takes my fancy!!!!
Thats me 16 quid down for a bl***y plant that I didn't want in the first place...cheers MUM!!! I will let you know what I decide.
20 May, 2011
£16!!! Good god, where on earth did you buy that - does it come in gold peppered compost? I pay £1.20 for my bedding fuchsias...
20 May, 2011
It was in Dobbies and is already 0.5m tall, so probably as big as it is going to get. I think that was why it was so expensive. Like a lot of plants in these places they are displayed to make you buy them and mum fell for it, she wouldn't listen. Mother always know best.....not!!
Yet another lesson learnt. I have learnt a few since joining this forum. I have enjoyed reading all the new questions every day and taking in bits and pieces which will help me in future. The vast majority of my plants in the garden have been bought this year (holiday budget) so it is still very immature.
20 May, 2011
Dobbies is expensive of course, but a word to the wise - its maybe time you learned to follow your own decision and say no to your mum - if she liked it that much, she should have bought it herself. Life becomes so much easier when you're able to say no...
As for learning, I've learnt more on this website in 2 years than in the previous 10, even though I've been a professional for over 25 years. And as that fuchsia was so expensive, plant it in a nice pot with other bedding, use it in the middle, and then lift it, pot up and keep indoors as a houseplant over winter, maybe you'll get some more value out of it that way, lol!
20 May, 2011
I usually do say no or tell her a little white lie but I was relying on her just in case I over spent (which I did, so technically she kinda did pay for it herself). I must sound like a silly wee teenager but I'm not and mum is a pensioner!!!
I'll put it in a pot and hopefully get a bit longer out of it. Thanks
20 May, 2011
What a shame you didn't want it! I can't imagine not wanting a fuchsia. However...
You can overwinter it quite safely if you have it in a pot - let it die back in the autumn and bring it in before the first frost. Let it almost dry out (almost but not quite!)and keep it in a very cool room (a cold spare bedroom or even a frost free garage) Round about late February or early March bring it into a warmer light place and begin to water it, but not too much. Shorten the branches, and you can help it along by occasionally spraying the branches with cool water. (They seem to do better on the current season's growth so don't be afraid to cut it back) It should begin to put out a few new leaves after a few weeks in the warm - an unheated conservatory is fine as long as its frost free. I find there's something very satisfying about overwintering a tender one. When its showing plenty of new buds but before its started to grow much, tip it out of the pot carefully and replace the compost. (This gets rid of any overwintering pests like moth larvae, cut worms or vine weevil.
20 May, 2011
Hi Steragram, thanks for the detailed tips and advice. I will take these on board and remove it from the border after flowering (would this be correct) or do I move it now?
There is a reason I didn't want this plant...I remember when I was a wee girl, one of my neighbours had this plant in the garden. I was so large and out of control, my brother and his friends threw me in the bush and I couldn't get out. My mouth was full of cobwebs and beasties. This as you can imagine is my lasting memory of Fuschia bushes!!!! However, I can appreciate a beautiful plant so will stick with it.
21 May, 2011
the one you've got won't get anywhere near big enough for anything like that, Scottish! And Steragram's instructions are for what to do at the end of the summer to get the plant through the winter, so not much point in doing it now - you'd miss the glory of its flowers this summer.
22 May, 2011
Thank you both for the advice
22 May, 2011
Hi Scottish - that reminds me of my OH's hate for lupins - there was a crabby neighbour who was horrid to the kids if their ball went into his lupin patch and he has apparently never got over it!
28 May, 2011
I'd go for a hardy fuchsia, two if there's enough room - ones like Madame Cornelissen (4 feet) Alice Holt (2.5 feet), Genii (yellow foliage, 4 feet). You could plant a fuchsia permanently in that spot between the dicentra, which should have finished flowering well before the fuchsia wants to flower (mid to late June) and is really bushy. As the fuchsia grows, the Dicentra stops flowering and starts to shrivel and bit, cut the foliage off and let the fuchsia take over.
And yes, it is underplanting - just means you plant something shorter under or just in front of something taller...
20 May, 2011