A White Garden Border For Winter

Hello and welcome back to the garden, and after five weeks of rain, which is Hard to believe I'm finally back out in the garden. I'm starting up today in the white winter border down here in the lower quarry and hopefully just seeing These white flowers will give a glimmer to those of you still beneath the snow. of what spring will be like, hopefully, for all of you in a month or so's time. But Today I want to extend this border, which is now entering its third winter. It is predominantly planted with hellebores, and I would like to eventually Go all the way around this large, big sycamore tree, this large, mature tree. eventually take the planting all the way around. It'll take a few years but I'm going to add some more hellebores today, and I also have ornamental grasses. that I would also like to add. So let me bring you in a bit closer so you You can see what I'm doing. Now I did manage to plant a couple of hellebores. Yesterday in the drizzly rain and they are at the front and they are ice and roses white. This particular one here is another one from the gold collection which the majority of these hellebores are and this is Winter Ballet Lasagne and this That particular one starts flowering in October, and look at it still flowering. Now and it is February, and it will continue; it has more flower buds. It will probably continue until the end of March, but the planting process is the same for all of them. Plant them at the same depth as the original plant, but what I've Done with the hellebores; I've loosened the soil quite a bit at the bottom of the planting hole because they do like to root deep, they're deep-rooted plants. If you I can add some leaf mold; I have this lovely leaf mold, which I have So many trays—it's easy for me to get hold of, and I save all of this leaf mold. up for times like this, and I'm just mixing it into the soil I dug out and it's one thing hellebores like is leaf mold. I'm not adding any fertilizer or anything like that, and if you are planting hellebores, they like a lot of moisture, but they do not like to be waterlogged. The majority of hellebores A lot of hellebores, let's say, are woodland-type plants or prefer woodland settings. Under trees like this is a lovely spot for them, but these Gold Collection hellebores can tolerate significantly more sun. The growers Actually, say full sun to partial shade, although you wouldn't want them to be out in the scorching midday sun because they would just wither away during the summer months. I've slightly teased the roots because it was a little pot-bound, and then I'm Just filling it in with the soil I dug out earlier mixed with the leaves. mold. Now come around to the other side of the border and it's the same process dug out the hole, adding lots of leaf mold, and this particular hellebore is Another one from the gold collection, and it's part of the winter ballet again. series, but this one is called Winter Ballet White. The difference with the one I added previously, which was lasagne, this one doesn't start flowering until November, and it has smaller flowers, with shorter flower stems. It's pretty much a smaller variation within the winter ballet series. So just the same I'm adding it at the bottom here, the depth of the plant is the same as the depth that was in the pot and I'm just adding in with this lovely leaf It does make a difference if you can; it's not essential, but it won't stop it. a plant that fails to grow and flower, but I think in the long term it just makes for probably a larger plant, it will grow better if it has the conditions that it loves. A couple of things I wanted to add: the gold collection hellebores that I Here are all sterile hybrids; they don't produce any seeds. If you wanted to increase the number of them in your garden, you would have to split them into Late spring or in the autumn—springtime is best for me, and some of these The clumps have gotten so big now that I think I'll do it for the first time. The other The thing is, they're expensive. Are they worth it? That's something only you can decide. would have to decide for yourself. The next job that I want to do in this The border is to replace one of the ornamental grasses, and I have these all. Around the front of this border, and this is Liriope. Monroe White and as a grass, it's doing very well but it hasn't flowered yet. years that it's been here. It should produce white flower spikes in the summer months, and that would have been the only flower that I would have had this very shaded border in the summer. Obviously once the hellebores are out of bloom flower—you only have the glossy green leaves, the ferns are green, the snow The drops are gone, the daffodils are gone, the sicklemen obviously all have dissipated during the summer months, so I needed something to brighten up this area underneath this very large, thick mow tree. So I'm going to replace the Liriope with another grass, another ornamental grass, and this is a Carex Everest. I had a choice of two Carexes. One was Feather Falls, and then I chose this one because it has a brighter, whiter stripe running through it. It. The Feather Falls, which does tend to grow as a larger grass, was a little bit More creamy, so I've stuck with the Everest. So I need to dig up the Liriope. Pot them up, they'll go somewhere else in this garden and replace them all. The way around the front with this Carex Everest grass. A couple of things—these are young starters. plants, and I've kept them outside all winter. I bought them last year with the intended to add them here in the spring, and I've waited until now, so I I could see where all the snowdrops came through because I didn't want to disturb all the bulbs I had planted in the ground. If these had been larger specimens I would have split them, but they're too small, so I will have to invest in a few more to take me all the way around the front of this border. And If you're adding these grasses, ornamental grasses, to the garden, it's a A little early to do it now. As I said, I've had these outside all winter, so it's It's pretty safe to do it for me, and I have a bit of a microclimate down here. It's always a bit warmer down here than it is all the way at the top of the quarry. The last The job for today is to mulch this border, and I'm using this bark—landscape bark, composted. Shreddings are really good, and it's very lightweight, and I like to use this. around all the plants I've added, just making sure you don't go right up to the crown of the plant because I don't want the crown of any of the plants to rot away, particularly in our wet weather. Two benefits from adding This prevents weeds from coming back, and secondly, it highlights the plants. It gives the border a finished appearance. Running all the way through this border. Around all of the hellebores is our common snowdrop, which is the Galanthus. Novalis and not quite in bloom, a small patch had opened up there, but in the next A few days with this mild weather and this will be just a froth of white flowers. So This gold collection Hellebore is Jess; the ones in the front are Ice and Roses White and the reason why I love these gold collection hellebores, well Several reasons: they are incredibly disease resistant, lovely green glossy leaves that are evident all year round, the flower spikes, and we have several flower spikes emerging from each clump, they are tall, rising above the leaf canopy, no need to cut back the leaves so you can see the hellebores; they're so tall and They are sterile flowers; they do not produce seeds, so you won't get many seedlings. therefore the flowers remain true to color; obviously these are white, but they remain True to form every year. And at the front you have the grasses I've just added, This is the Carex Everest grass, very small at the moment but they'll fill out and bulk up in the spring. Next year, lovely white-striped grass, so that should add something to this border. in the summer months. And then running through the border, there's lots of deciduous ferns as well. And then this lovely double at the back, I have Several doubles in the back, one is double Ellen, but this one is Amelia. It's particularly pretty, lovely large double flowers, and this isn't part of The Gold Collection—that's a different grower. And then you can see the leaves. of the sickleman, lovely marbled effect leaves they would have produced white flowers in the autumn. I don't think I'll be adding anything more to this border than possibly a few white begonias in the summer months, but let's take a wander down this path and I'll show you what The next project is for the next video. So this border is very much in its infancy, there are indeed shrubs along the very front section here, but that's all I've Actually done except for this section down here where the blue bucket is all The way down there. Got the stumpery on this side, which is not looking its best. At this time of year, everything has died back, but let's head down toward where I added snowdrops and some shrubs last year. So the next project is to continue in this Bankside which I started last year. I did the snowdrops, they're all doing really well, daffodils just starting to peek through the soil and I added shrubs, these okuba shrubs which the deer have just destroyed, and every time there's a young shoot, you can bet your bottom dollar they'll be gone by Tomorrow, so I need to dig them out and actually put them somewhere else. Likewise, I had hydrangeas here, and every time, there's a new shoot again. Coming through, the deer just ate them, and it's pretty much half dead this particular one, there are several of those that may need to come out as well. One success is The Oriental poppies, sorry, Oriental hellebores. These are the orientalis. hellebores that I planted last year—these are the ones I grow from seed and from cuttings, and they have loved this woodland spot, so the intention is to Add more of those. That's it for today. In the next video, I'll be back in the lower quarry operation along this riverside boundary, adding a few shrubs which are hopefully deer-resistant, lifting and dividing the snowdrops and Adding more hellebores. So thanks for watching, and I'll see you soon.