U-Gardens

Sensitive flowers, which open in the morning and close in the evening. During the 1800s, these were planted in U-shaped gardens and these were called flower clocks, because people could tell the time by them:-

PLANT

OPENS/ CLOSES

TIME OF OPENING

POSITION IN U

Yellow flower -
Dandelion

opens

5:00 am

Left point

Smooth sow thistle

opens

5:00 am

White water lily

opens

5:30 am

Yellow flower -
Spotted cat's ear

Blue Flax flower -
Linum lewisii

opens

6:00 am

Yellow blossoms from "bolting" -
Cultivated lettuce

Orange, Red flowers - African Marigold

opens

7:00 am

Mouse-ear hawkweed

Vermilion flower -
Scarlet Pimpernel

opens

8:00 am

Mallow

Yellow and Orange flower - Calendula

Catchfly

Prickly Sow

opens

9:00 am

White flower -
Common Star of Bethlehem

Mainly red or white flower -
Poppies including Corn Poppy

opens

10:00 am

Yellow blossoms from "bolting" -
Cultivated lettuce

closes

10:00 am

Smooth sow thistle

Star of Bethlehem

closes

11:00 am

Yellow goat's beard (Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon)

opens in the morning and closes at noon

12:00 am

Climber with Blue corona filaments -
Passion flower

Climber with white, red, blue, purple and yellow flowers -
Morning Glories

opens

12:00 am

Curve centre

Multi-coloured flower - Carnation

Pale Pink Flower -
Childing Pink

opens

1:00 pm

Mallow

closes

1:00 pm

Bulb with Royal blue flower - Afternoon Squill

opens

2:00 pm

Mouse-ear hawkweed

California Poppies

closes

2:00 pm

Calendula

closes

3:00 pm

Purple flower -
Purple Hawkweed

Multi-coloured flower -
Four O'Clocks

opens

4:00 pm

Cat's Ear

closes

4:00 pm

Night Flowering Catchfly

Pale Yellow flower - Coltsfoot

opens

5:00 pm

Large Evening primrose

Climber with White or Purple flowers - Moonflowers

Aquatic plant with White flower - White Water Lily

opens

6:00 pm

White flower -
White Campion

Many different flower colours -
Daylily

opens

7:00 pm

Pink flower of Silene armeria -
Catchfly

opens

8:00 pm

Dandelion

closes

8:00 pm

Right point

and further night opening flowers:-

Climber with White flowers of Dragonfruit -
Cereus

opens

Midnight

Cactus with White flowers - Cereus

closes

2:30 am

White flowers -
Amazon water lily

opens

3:00 am

Blue, Purple or White flowers -
Virginia spiderwort

opens

4:30 am

Climber with Blue to Purple or White flowers -
Purple morning glory

opens

5:00 am

Climber Rosa canina with Pale Pink Flowers -
is 1 of the Wild roses

opens

5:00 am

White or Yellow flowers - Iceland poppy

opens

5:00 am

Sky-Blue flowers -
Blue chicory

opens

5:00 am

Blue flowers -
Common blue flax

opens

5:20 am

"Night-blooming cereus is the common name referring to a large number of flowering ceroid cacti that bloom at night. The flowers are short lived, and some of these species, such as Selenicereus grandiflorus, bloom only once a year, for a single night." from Wikipedia.

"The leaves of the giant Amazon water lily grow over 2.5m (8’) across. The flowers are 30cm (12’’) wide and the leaf stalks grow with rising flood waters to exceed 6m (20’) long. This extraordinary relative of the garden-favourite lily was discovered in 1801 in a slow moving tributary of the Amazon River." from The Living Rainforest.

Colour

Use

Comments

Soft Fruit Climbers

• Thornless Blackberry,
• Kiwi (Chinese Gooseberry) and
• Grapes can be supported on 40 inch high (100cms) chainlink fencing with the top of the chainlink being 60 inches (150 cms) off the ground.

The relevant plant for that time slot is inserted into the adjacent bed. If the flower for that plant is

• open, go up to the next row
• closed, go down a row
• not in flower, stay on the same row

Due to above use of the Snakes and Ladders gathering system; you do not know when your wife asks you:-

• to get the vegetables for the breakfast, lunch or dinner meal main course each day
• to get the top fruit or soft fruit for the pudding of your lunch or dinner meal
• to pick a bunch of flowers with grass, hedge branch or climber section as its green foliage to provide the romance using cut-flowers in a vase for the dining room table

which ones you are going to give her.

Boundary wall, fence or Hedge

The wind can cause problems against solid objects like garden walls or fencing. Alternatives are:

• Chainlink fencing
  (7 EASY STEPS TO INSTALLING CHAIN LINK FENCING from Installation Instructions for the Jacksons Fine Fencing Range page)
  with climbers
  (Use Rambler-scrambler climbers not Self-clinger climbers for the Prime Site of 3-10 feet (90-300 cms) from the 71 Clematis Climbers or 58 other Climbers to stop the foliage from climbing your house walls to your gutters and roof under their own steam!). The Flower colour or foliage colour of these climbers can assist your choice.
• Hit and Miss Fencing
  in Horizontal or Vertical Fencing Panels allows some wind to pass through - less wind resistance
  (see Panel Fence from Installation Instructions for the Jacksons Fine Fencing Range page to assist in building the fence)
   
• There are further examples of hedges and their uses in the Hedging Gallery.
  These hedges from
  Hedgenursery - who are the exclusive provider of Royal Horticultural Society Bare Root Hedging Plants with a range of over 1000 hedge plants sold direct to the trade and public - can provide details about the following:-
  • Privacy or Screening Hedges
  • Intruder Proof Hedges
  • Formal Boundary Hedging
  • Hedges for Dry Soil
  • Coastal Hedging
  • Hedges for Exposed Sites/Wind Shelters
  • Low Hedging ideas
  • Hedges for Shade
  • Flowering Hedges
• Native Hedging is one of the hedges from Hopes Grove Nurseries.
  
  Trough and Instant Hedging -
  Instant hedging is a convenient way to achieve a high degree of landscape impact within minutes. Hopes Grove Nurseries offer a variety of solutions to give varying degrees of impact to suit most budgets. All are pre-planted and are supplied in one metre lengths so no working out is required, simply pace out or measure the number of one metre lengths you require.

  • Trough hedges – are younger pre-planted hedges and represent a cost effective option, they may be cut or bent into almost any shape or design and planting time is reduced by at least half compared to individual plants. For a really dense hedge a double row can be planted. As trough hedges are container grown, they can be planted with complete confidence at any time of year. Trough hedges can easily be handled and planted by one person.

  • Hedgebags – are a larger and more mature pre-planted hedge product, perfect for a higher degree of privacy, the bag is simply cut down the seams and removed at planting time. A quick trim along the top after planting will complete the instant effect. Hedgebags will generally require two people to handle and plant them. Like trough hedges, Hedgebags can be planted all year round without a problem.

  • Hedging elements – are field grown instant hedging units that have been precisely trimmed for several years (including the roots!) to give an instant ‘Show Garden’ look and a high degree of privacy. The dense and compact root architecture ensures that transplant shock is eliminated and they are available from late September until May. Hedge elements are supplied in biodegradable cardboard troughs and are usually planted with the trough although this can of course be removed. Hedge elements typically weigh around 150kg per metre section and so assistance with handling and planting is essential!

  • Hopes Grove Nurseries recommend all Instant Hedging is watered with their Soaker Hose – which may be found in the accessories page. RootGrow is an invaluable aid to establishment and will ensure your new hedge gets off to a good start.
   

Re-inforced turf path

See East 8 Page for further details about reinforced turf.

The mowings from the path can be used to mulch the bottom of the hedge and beds. This will feed the soil and reduce the water loss from the soil due to sunlight or wind.

If the path width is 2 mower cutting widths, then you can kneel down to weed, plant and maintain the beds. The maximum length you can stretch is 22 inches (55 cms) without falling over, so either make the beds 44 inches (110 cms) square or 44 inches deep and as long as you like - providing access from a path on each of the longest sides is available.

The White Water Lily - which its flowers at 5:30 am - is an aquatic plant, which could go into a bed converted into a pond. The usual minimum area of a pond to be self-sustaining is 84 inches x 84 inches (210 x 210 cms). 3 bed sections and 3 path sections above and below those 3 beds can be converted into a pond - keep 0.5 width of each of those path sections and convert 0.5 of the first and third bed into reinforced turf path to provide access to the pond and a path round it. Make 1 side of the pond have a gentle slope for 10 inches (25 cms), so that your birds, hedgehogs and other wildlife can have a drink and bath.

House

The bottom row provides access to the house and window cleaning.

Top fruit

Ken Muir over 50 different varieties of fruit trees including apples, pears, plums and cherries together with other stoned fruits and more unusual fruits such as mulberries, medlars, figs and nuts. The following fruit trees will fit in the small garden:-

• Minarettes are slender, columnar fruit trees which bear their fruits on short spurs along the length of a vertical stem rather than on long spreading branches. They are perfect for today's smaller gardens because they can be planted as close as 60-90cm (2-3ft) apart as well as being ideal for growing in tubs on patios or balconies.  When mature, Minarettes are 1.8-2.4m (6-8ft) tall and crop prolifically.  A large range of apples, pears, plums, gages, damsons and cherries are available as Minarettes.
• Trained Fruit trees - The main advantage is that you can fit several trained trees in a limited amount of space. Ken Muir have a selection of trained fruit trees available for those gardeners who are looking to create a more instant effect, these trees are available in three main forms,
  • espalier,
  • fan and
  • stepovers. 
    They have a number of different apple and pear varieties available ready trained as espalier and stepover trees, along with various fan trained stoned fruits.

Vegetables

Besides vegetable seeds to grow the relevant vegetable during every month of the year, Marshalls also sell vegetable plants, which are expertly grown under ideal nursery conditions, in individual cells that ensure well developed, healthy root systems. Marshall also provide Growing Guides.

There are further details in the Vegetable Gallery.

If you want a longer row of runner beans or other climbers than the depth of 1 vegetable bed, then erect the bamboo supports on each vegetable bed either side of a row and then link those 2 structures across the path.

Grasses, Wildflower Lawn

Beds can be composed of the

• Wildflower Grasses in the Grasses123 Gallery and Soft Bromes in the G Brome Gallery
• Cultivated Grasses in the Grass Plant Gallery .
  Knoll Gardens grows and sells Ornamental Grasses, which you can also see throughout their 4 acre Dorset garden.
• Wildflower Meadow Lawn with details in the East Border Part 11 Page

Flowers

Beds can be composed of

• Cereus - which opens at midnight and closes at 2:30 am - is a cactus. If you fill that flower bed with Sedum matting (details in East Border Part 12 Page), then you could insert the Cereus into the same bed.
• Cultivated Plants when you use a system to select them by flower colour as further detailed in East Border Part 5 Page.
• Wildflowers can also be selected using Marjorie Blamey's Wild Flowers by Colour by Marjorie Blamey (ISBN 0-7136-7237-4. Published by A & C Black Publishers Ltd in 2005), which book has illustrations of each wild flower of Britain and Northern Europe split into the following 13 colours:-
  • White
  • Cream
  • Yellow
  • Orange
  • Red
  • Pink
  • Mauve
  • Purple
  • Blue
  • Green
  • Brown
  • Multi-Coloured
  • Shrub and Small Tree
• and the wildflowers can also be selected from the respective Habitat Table Page for
  • Flowers on Acid soil,
  • Flowers on Calcareous Soil,
  • Flowers on Marine Soil,
  • Flowers on Neutral Soil,
  • Ferns,
  • Grasses,
  • Rushes or
  • Sedges
     

Soft Fruit Bushes

• Aronia,
• Blueberries,
• Pinkberries,
• Early Summer fruiting,
  Mid Summer fruiting,
  Late Summer fruiting and Perpetual Strawberries with
• Bilberries and
• Lingonberry can also be grown in pots as well as in the ground.

• Blackcurrants,
• Jostaberry,
• Gooseberries,
• Goji Berries,
• Pink Currants,
• Redcurrants,
• White Currants and
• Rhubarb are usually planted in the ground.

Early Summer,
Mid Summer,
Late Summer and
Autumn fruiting crop of Raspberries are planted in rows in the ground.

Cranberries grow naturally in peat bogs, and it is possible to imitate these conditions using the information in Ken Muir's Guide.

Garden Design Comments on RHS Garden at Wisley in the 71 pages of the EAST and WEST Borders in the MIXED BORDERS

Flower Colours in each of the 71 Parts of the Mixed Borders - with area indicating that the respective colour has not been used in this part .
 

More (See un-labelled bedding) than 102 plants (This is 29%, which is almost a third) were missing their identity when in flower in 2013 out of 348 in 768 square metres of Mixed Borders garden beds - These herbaceous borders are 6 metres (20 feet) deep and 128 metres (427 feet) long.

Part Number of East and West Mixed Borders

Each page provides details and photos of every plant used in that part

Unu-sual Col-our

Number of either invisible or missing identity when in Flower

Each page may also detail a
Design Concept

Perm-anent Herb-ace-ous Pere-nnial

Other Perm-anent Plants

Bed-ding

49 mis-sing out of 176

19 mis-sing out of 73

34 mis-sing out of 99

East 1

Formal style required in moving people from Entrance to outlying areas

East 2

1

Position plants with tiny flowers close to the lawn or path

Provide plant support structures

East 3

3

Make plant labels visible to aid plant sales and

No plant labels on Pansy / Viola Display

East 4

5

Create History of each garden bed, so that planting errors can be corrected

East 5

4

1

1

Use a system to select your plants from their flower colour

East 6

2

1

1

Use the colours of the buds, flowers and seedheads with different foliage colours in Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn of each heather for your groundcover and background

East 7

5

1

Use

• number of flower petals,
• Flower Shape and
• Flower Natural Arrangement

to choose from

• 25 Bedding Plants and 74 Bedding Plants from the Mixed Borders in the RHS garden at Wisley,
• 94 Evergreen Perennials and
• 91 Herbaceous Perennials

East 8

6

Use turf protected paths instead of slabbed paths for small gardens

East 9

2

Make your flowers all the same colour like White to harmonise as your flower colour in the simplest flower colour scheme

East 10

1

Bulbs can provide flowers from January through to May in the bare ground round the permanent shrubs and perennials

East 11

1

Replace bedding and perennials with wildflower lawn edged with normal lawn to reduce gardening time to 1 hour a week

East 12

1

With limited garden space, put a wildflower lawn on the roof of your shed / garage / leanto or concreted area on ground to provide flowers

East 13

1

1

Create fun version of Snakes and Ladders game using clock flowers

East 14

2

1

Further reasons to create garden bed Histories

East 15

1

1

Create track and use the Square Foot Gardening system for:-

• wheelchair-bound disabled to use for radio-controlled models on the ground-level of the garden
• wheelchair-bound children/adults to maintain and replant the raised beds, whilst sitting with their knees under each raised bed
• school pupils to learn to grow plants
• wheelchair supported children/adults recovering in hospital, rest or care home to go outside, view them and/or maintain those beds themselves
• transport the raised bed into the patient's room, so that the patient can admire close-up what they normally see outside from their bed; and then for them to maintain or simply view for a while before that raised bed is returned outside that same day
• infirm children, adults or pensioners to maintain and replant the raised beds, when they do not need to kneel down, bend their knees or reach above their shoulders

East 16

1

2

Climber not seen due to plants in front growing higher than it.

East 17

3

2

Create game using Slider Signs that alternate turning left or turning right at each Path Row Junction for you to pick your fruit, flowers, grasses or vegetables.

East 18

2

1

Turf protection from wear by people walking or standing on it

East 19

2

Balance Income with Expenditure in Garden

East 20

2

2

Safety - If a visitor reports a safety concern, then do not ignore it

East 21

3

2

East 22

2

1

1

East 23

1

1

1

East 24

2

East 25

1

3

Hide unwanted views of buildings or other areas of garden

East 26

1

2

East 27

1

1

East 28

2

East 29

3

1

East 30

1

2

East 31

3

2

East 32

4

East 33

3

1

Select tender plants and then provide Plant Protection from Frost

East 34

2

2

Control human movement through areas

Part Number

Unu-sual Col-our

Either invisible or missing identity when in Flower

Unlabelled Bedding plants

Plant Labelling - A suggestion for plant labelling to help visitors

Further Plant Label and Path Foundation Comments

WISLEY WISLEY Rose Classification System

Perm-anent Herb-ace-ous Pere-nnial

Other Perm-anent Plants

Bed-ding

West 35

3

West 36

4

West 37

1

3

West 38

3

1

West 39

5

West 40

5

West 41

3

West 42

2

West 43

2

1

West 44

1

1

West 45

1

1

West 46

2

1

Build soil fertility and structure with legumes and mulches

West 47

1

1

West 48

1

West 49

2

West 50

3

1

West 51

2

2

West 52

1

Split garden area into separate shapes

even when a public path goes through the garden

West 53

1

Use Companion planting with Green Manure to deter Pests / Diseases and

Another Climber not seen due to plants in front growing higher than it.

West 54

1

Use long-flowering Speciman Roses as a backdrop

West 55

West 56

West 57

2

2

West 58

2

2

West 59

2

1

West 60

1

1

West 61

2

West 62

2

West 63

2

Reduce time for garden maintenance by avoiding mixing plants together

West 64

2

1

West 65

1

2

West 66

4

West 67

3

1

West 68

2

2

West 69

1

2

West 70

1

West 71

1

Provide irrigation facilities to water plants and clean paths

Part Number

Unu-sual Col-our

Either invisible or missing identity when in Flower

Confidential email replies from the Royal Horticultural Society to emails from Chris Garnons-Williams with their following instructions for everybody else:-
The contents of this email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, proprietary and may be legally privileged. They are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender. If you are not the intended recipient you may not use, disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on this email. The sender is not responsible for any changes made to any part of this email after transmission. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the Society.

Perm-anent Herb-ace-ous Pere-nnial

Other Perm-anent Plants

Bed-ding

This yellow

section is the

bound-ary

wall, fence

or hedge

with gated

exit from

any of the

reinf-orced

turf paths

14

15

13

16

Top row

12

17

Sun-day row

11

18

Satur-day row

10

19

Fri-day row

9

20

Thurs-day row

8

0

Wed-nesday row

7

2

The number refers

Tues-day row

This green

section is the

rein-forced

turf path

as further

detail-ed in

East 8 Page

6

3

to the 24 hour

Mon-day row

5

4

clock time

Bottom row

House Wall