Clay banks, Ericaceous plants

[kGarden]

Not finished ... bit disappointing as my aim was to finish the Hard Landscaping this year. That said, I think 90% or os of the area that can be planted (with things that "take a while") will be ready for the Autumn planting season.



Gabions / bricks (above) separating my alkaline clay from some beautiful black, ericaceous, Fenland topsoil (below)



Top soil at entrance end (farthest point in this photo) and the left side all done. (below) the Hose marks the outline of the planned pond.



which leaves some more Gabions for the front-right corner, and along the edge where the photo was taken (need some sort of water fall there, my book says that the Japanese way is to make it look like its flowing naturally down a hillside ... flat as a pancake here in Suffolk, so that will take some fakery to achieve!

We put some Flow / Return pipes in to a triangle of unused, useless, land which I think might do for a Reed Bed to clean up the pond water.

[charlie]

You are the only person I know who's to do list is bigger than mine :D
Looks good though

[kGarden]

You are the only person I know who's to do list is bigger than mine

Met up with some avid gardening friends over the weekend. The conversation turned to "expansion" - I don't think they have any adjoining land available, we are surrounded by farmland, but nothing particularly suitable. Our respective spouses were making long faces, and I got a resounding "NO!" when I floated that Lawrence Johnston had expanded in Italy when Hidcote was "done" ...

[kGarden]

Work has resumed ...

This is where I had got to last Autumn - work abandoned in Nov 2016



we did manage to get some blocks installed in March



and had a trial-run with a path, and layout of some Azaleas (in their pots)



but then Proper Gardening took over and by July it was looking like this:



but its looking better now. Steps are in, and the path through the Ericaceous soil, and some ideas about the shape and location of the pond

[kGarden]

Finished playing Boy's Toys for the year (I think?!!) and have scattered the remaining Granite blocks roughly where I think they will be needed - hopefully we'll be able to move them from there! - and dug the pond.



Not entirely sure how the bridges (one at each end) will happen. I've left a promontory so that a significant part of the bridge can be on main-land, but I'm still going to have to figure out some sort of support in the middle - current thinking is that one bridge will be stepping-stones and the other (bigger one) a zig-zag bridge. I'm thinking of "flat bridges" rather than "Up-and-over" ones, as the latter will block the view when looking from one end to the other.

This is my thinking for what a Zig-Zag bridge would be like (except in stone rather than wood)



They had both types at Compton Acres:





although I would prefer more "overlap" on the Zip-Zag

The other thought I'm turning my mind to is plants - recommendations / suggestions for some of the pivotal-plants. A key element of a Japanese Stroll garden is the "Hide / Reveal" where part of the view is hidden, and then revealed, either by walking around a bush, which was doing the hiding, or by having, say, awkward stepping stones in the path - meaning you have to watch your feet for a few steps and then, when you look up, there is a view that "wasn't there before"

[kGarden]

Weeping Conifer 1







Weeping Conifer 2 (might be the same, but suggestions for anything like this would be welcome)





Pine1







I've got half a dozen Blank Pines which were grown from seed, and I am planning to "bend" to Niwaki shape. I fancy something train to flow down the slope of the bank, and then a cross the water a bit. Perhaps not quite as long as this one!!



Conifer3

[Chad]

Weeping conifers are not my strong point.

I thought one was a Tsuga and was edging towards an Abies for the other.

I've talked with John Jerrard and he thinks they are both Tsuga.

Probably different weeping clones of Tsuga canadensis.

The names that go with the various clones are not well regulated and there are a lot of them that have been named.

'Pendular', 'Sargentii', 'Bennett', ‘White Gentsch', and so on.

I had wondered about Abies nordmanniana 'Pendula'.

Chad.

[charlie]

My back is hurting just looking at those granite blocks! looking forward to seeing it come together so no slacking this winter :)

[kGarden]

so no slacking this winter :)

Plenty of spare beds here, let me know when you are coming to help :)

[kGarden]

Work has resumed :)

The pond looked like this in September:



Decided the first thing to do was to fill it back in ...



because building a concrete ring-beam around the end of the pond would, otherwise, be a nightmare to shutter and support sufficient to stop the concrete bulging out.

Needed to gain access to move the blocks, and bring some more topsoil in too:



Shuttered:



and concreted :)