Tag Archives: specimen plants

Spring Specimen – Magnolia stellata

Slow growing and gorgeous the Magnolia stellata is a perfect specimen for a small garden.  The beautiful white flowers appear in early spring before the bright green leaves.  If you get close, you’ll be able to catch it’s scent.

Contrast it against a dark evergreen background either in a border or a large container.  It likes a a bit of ericaceous (acidic) compost but is not too fussy.

Cultivars are available, some of which have traces of pink in the flowers.  Magnolia stellata ‘Rubra’ actually has dark pink flowers.

 

Winter Scent – Viburnum bodnantense Dawn

viburnum bodnantense dawn specimen plant viburnum bodnantense dawn specimen plant

One of the best things about this time of the year is that plants with scent and flowers stand out because you’re just not expecting them.  Viburnum bodnantense ‘Dawn’ is one such plant.

Easy to grow and maintain it will get up to 8 -10 foot as a multi stemmed shrub or can be kept smaller if required.  The beautifully scented flowers appear sometimes as early as November and continue right through into the spring when the mid green foliage takes over.

Depending on the weather the plant can get quite nice autumn colour too before dropping it’s leaves.

‘Dawn’ works best against a dark background or as a focal point.  Position it in a spot that you walk past regularly or near a window or door to get the most of the heavenly scent.

The pictures above were taken in January and as you can see the flowers were really getting going.

New Design – Knot Garden with Holly Standards

knot-act-5

We’re finally getting around to adding some more recent designs to our gallery.  Here’s a knot garden that we put in for a client last year along the front of their contemporary house in Cardiff.  We’re pleased how it is establishing. Knot Gardens are great as they are low maintenance (trim once or twice a year) and provide evergreen structure and form to the space.  With this one we set off the box hedging with slate cube planters with topiary holly and golden flint gravel.  Other male hollies were planted elsewhere in the garden to ensure berries.  For an extra touch we added blue silver Crocus tommasinianus to the containers for early spring interest.

You can find the full detail and lots of photos and design images here

If you’d like us to design and plant something similar for your garden then please Contact Us