Hello! Welcome back to my blog.
Today’s post focuses on some new planting I recently put out in a corner of The Suntrap.
For newer readers, you might like to read my introductory post, which shows you how the area used to look. You can read that here: Introducing a new area of the garden: The Suntrap
Although the name of this garden harks back to how sunny it is (and also sheltered due to the staircase wall and the hedges), the right side has always offered some shade due to our garage wall.
I had planned to plant up on either side of the raised seating/lounging area, but wasn’t yet sure on what to use. The recent development really came about by my own intuitive gardening style and having a collection of the right plants to hand.
Some of this collection came from some shade loving astilbe and ferns that were in The Woodland Garden, which were dug up recently due to the work started on preparing new compost bays in that garden. The front of The Woodland Garden becomes too sunny and warm for these plants, so they sat out wrapped in bags. I was getting twitchy worrying about the cold snap impacting them, so I spent a very cold afternoon figuring out a new home for them in The Suntrap.
The planting layout I finally settled on looked like this:
The bed still needs to be mulched with bark. The cardboard is suppressing weeds for now!
The first of the plants pictured that I put out in this new border was an acer.
Acer “Little Princess”
The Mr and I picked up a little acer from our local garden center some months ago. This acer grows fresh lime green leaves, fringed with red. It is a petite acer, only growing to 1.5mx1.5m. I found its name quite sweet and liked it’s unique foliage.
When I picked it out, I knew its fresh green stems and lime green foliage would contrast well with the rust coloured wall behind it in The Suntrap. It doesn’t look like much yet, but I am hopeful that over time, it is going to establish well:
This acer sits at the back of the border and over time as it grows, it should offer an attractive backdrop to the rest of the planting:
Ferns
The ferns were then planted next; one of these is an evergreen fern I purchased last year. We had been gifted a little fern and I wanted to start developing a small patch of them in The Woodland Garden.
Both ferns have been planted out in the front of the bed:
Pink astilbe
The final cluster of plants put out were pink astilbe. These can cope with some sunshine, so I planted them to the front side of the border where it can become sunnier.
Even at this time of year, the astilbe have attractive dried flower stems, which I like the look of, layered with the fresh green foliage of the ferns.
I also have some white hostas in pots currently sat in The Honeysuckle Nook, which would fit well into this planting scheme. I am still mulling over where would be best to plant them, but in this area of near to it seems like the best idea for now. I may wait until Spring until planting those out.
That’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed reading the post today.
I am currently having a break from some of the harder work in the garden, as it has turned extremely cold and I can’t work out in it for long. It isn’t long now until Spring! Hopefully this is the last cold snap before the weather warms up.
The Charming Nook 
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