Comments for Landscape And Garden Design Blog

Comment on Hedge Trimming Time by Wendy

Wendy — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:40:22 +0000

I had to laugh – just goodled ‘pruning prunus spinosa hedge’ and this web page was second from top – 4 above RHS which is use on an almost daily rate!

Comment on SLANT Garden Design Competition 2011 by Hugh Ryan

Hugh Ryan — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 15:38:13 +0000

Very nice, well done. Good to see

Best wishes ,

Hugh Ryan

Comment on Oxford College of Garden Design 2011 Student Exhibition by svendrumbold

svendrumbold — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:47:17 +0000

I can now report that Sophie Dixon won the SGD Student Design Competition 2011 (see http://www.sgd.org.uk/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleUid=202D0F57-57EB-4085-8552-7DF555239EB4). Congratulations Sophie!

Comment on Is it too late to plant herbaceous perennials? by svendrumbold

svendrumbold — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:48:10 +0000

Thanks Rosalind – some interesting points here and in the linked articles. It was heartbreaking to see hundreds of dead, apparently hardy, container-grown plants when I visited T&S Plants in Dorset last spring – they had lost a large part of their stock. I guess plant hardiness is not particularly well understood from either a practical or scientific perspective.

Comment on Is it too late to plant herbaceous perennials? by Rosewarne Gardens Designs

Rosewarne Gardens Designs — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:20:02 +0000

Acclimatisation should only take a couple of week really and although they might have arrived from Northern Italy rather late!
Did you know the RHS, in response to our last two very harsh winters, are reclassifying many of our existing H4 plants with new H5 and H6 to take account of the -20 ( experienced in many northern parts of the UK). It should be complete by about 2012…
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/RHS-Publications/Journals/The-Plantsman/2010-issues/June/Evaluating-plant-hardiness
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/Plant-features/Hardiness-survey/Hardiness—winners-and-losers

I would suggest protecting very new plantings in extreme cold, some fleece or a mulch of straw would be helpful and oddly clearing snow. Snow melt seeps into the ground and soaks and if a harsh frost occurs post thaw this can do more damage than a prolonged frost where there is little water present.
And dont forget how contrary plants can be, friends lost a beautiful ceanothus in the last winter but in contrast a strawberry tree (Arbutus) survived, in a pot. Sometimes plants just dont know they are not supposed to be hardy

Comment on Is it too late to plant herbaceous perennials? by Judy Rumbold

Judy Rumbold — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:13:00 +0000

It was such a shame to see that so many of their new plants had died. The borders would have been delightful had they not been so dead looking! Such a waste of money too which in this financial climate is hard to lose. The moral of the story is perhaps plan ahead and get the plants early ready to plant, acclimatize them and give them a fighting chance with this unreliable weather we are experiencing now. Being buried in 4 feet of snow for weeks would make anything looked frost bitten but still wearing their ‘summer clothes’ as these plants obviously were, they were doomed!

Comment on Oxford College of Garden Design 2011 Student Exhibition by Judy Rumbold

Judy Rumbold — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 14:05:35 +0000

It was interesting to see, for the third year in a row, the work done by the students of the OCGD and it always amazes me that all as long as the rules are followed the same garden can be designed many different ways and still be “right”.
Your photo of Duncan is of him leaning on the wall looking relaxed, next to the examiner who’s smiling whilst filling in some marking. He puts in a great deal of work into making the show the success it is and I am sure was feeling anything but!

Comment on A Bee in my Bonnet by What are you feeding your bees this year? | Rosewarne Gardens, Designs

What are you feeding your bees this year? | Rosewarne Gardens, Designs — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 13:02:29 +0000

[...] by my OCGD peer Svend Rumbold of Rumbold Ayers it’s blog posting about Bees. I am often asked to wildlife friendly, bee friendly, butterfly friendly plantings and gardens and [...]

Comment on A Bee in my Bonnet by svendrumbold

svendrumbold — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:26:00 +0000

They only came and spoiled your picnics ‘coz they knew what you were thinking

Comment on A Bee in my Bonnet by The Good Greatsby

The Good Greatsby — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 01:03:25 +0000

Bees have been stinging us for years! Ruining picnics! Forcing us to wear shoes when skipping through flower patches!
Now the first time bees hit a rough patch they want to call a truce?
I say, no! We’ve got ‘em on the ropes, let’s keep on punching!