Seasonal Planting in Garden Design by Catherine Heatherington

Author:Catherine Heatherington
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crowood Press

Sprays of lilac-blue Campanula trail through Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’.

The flowers of Darmera peltata rise up through Persicaria bistorta ‘Superba’ by the water in Beth Chatto’s Garden.

Spring

Spring is a time of new beginnings in the garden, when little green shoots start to pop up through the soil and delicate buds unfurl. Bulbs (see Chapter 4) provide colour in what is sometimes a drab, grey time of the year and these can be chosen to give waves of interest: snowdrops and crocuses from January onwards, narcissus, then tulips, alliums and more as the season progresses and turns towards summer.

In late February and early March (perhaps this is more correctly still winter) there are the delicate varieties of Iris reticulata, which can be planted near the front of the border where their beautiful purple and blue markings can be seen in close up, but they are also a good choice for planting in pots. Try combining them with the Japanese painted fern, Athyrium niponicum var. pictum. This has soft, bipinnate fronds of greenish grey with hints of silver and dark red (there are also different cultivars, A. niponicum var. pictum ‘Metallicum’ and ‘Ursula’s Red’ that have more defined silver and red colouring respectively). The dead leaves of these deciduous ferns can be left to protect the crown in winter and only removed as the irises start to emerge. Soon after the flowers fade tiny fern fronds appear.

The low-growing wood anemone, Anemone nemorosa, has deeply cut leaves and pretty white flowers and, as its name suggests, is happy in the shade. After flowering in the spring, it enters a dormant period and disappears before reappearing in the winter. In spring the white variety can bring light to shady areas beneath shrubs and trees, or alternatively there are some with lavender-blue flowers, for example A. nemorosa ‘Robinsoniana’. Both could be planted with deciduous ferns and grasses that bring interest later in the year. Viola riviniana, the dog violet, is also a useful addition to the woodland garden with its purple flowers in late spring. Lloyd (2021) suggests planting it into the crowns of larger perennials, such as Eupatorium purpureum ‘Atropurpureum’, where it will be shaded later in the year when the perennial takes over. Anemones and primroses can also be planted amongst soft fruit, such as blackcurrants and raspberries, to bring spring interest to the more functional areas of the garden.

Blue-flowering bulbs look especially lovely when combined with lime-green flowers. One suggestion is to plant scillas or grape hyacinth or the violet, Viola labradorica, with Euphorbia palustris. Although the foliage of the Euphorbia is not evergreen it does turn yellow and orange in the autumn. A much larger blue-flowering bulb is Camassia leichtlinii ‘Caerulea’ with its dramatic spires of star-shaped flowers and long linear leaves. The bright blue accents repeated around the garden are a delight and they cope well with heavy clay soils, and with sun and semi-shade. They also look wonderful with lime-green – a ground cover of Heuchera ‘Lime Marmalade’ maybe. The leaves

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