Garden Ideas Archives

The 4 best magnolias

the best magnolias — One look at the Jury Magnolia Felix® in full bloom is usually enough to convince anyone to rush out and plant their own.

If you lived way down south…. really south as in the southern hemisphere, as in the southern states of Australia, you’d be enjoying some cold crisp spring weather right now. And with it you’d be blown away by all the glorious Magnolia trees in bloom. No exaggeration, they are everywhere. It’s almost as though someone in the street decided to plant one, then once the neighbours clocked it in full bloom, they all went out and bought one too. As far as blossoming spring trees go, magnolias are very hard to upstage, and among the best-of-the-best are the magnolias bred in New Zealand by master plant breeder Mark Jury. What follows is a meet and greet – a quick introduction to the 4 best magnolias. Pick any one of them and you’ll be sure of three things: your Jury magnolia will thrive; it won’t ask for anything apart from air, sun and rain; and in a very short time it will be giving you (and your neighbours) a glorious show each spring.

A Gothic Goblet: there is nothing low key about Magnolia Black Tulip® (below). The flowers it produces in late winter and early spring are a magnificent, 15cm or six inches across. Their purple colouring nudges towards black and you can easily see how this magnolia got its name because the flowers are shaped like goblets. As far as tree size goes, it’s on the smaller side (3.5 metres or 12ish feet) so if you have limited space, you’re in luck as this tree is more upright than wide and will only spread out to about four feet, and even then, only after a decade or so.

Magnolia Honey Tulip: meet Black Tulip magnolia’s blonde bombshell sibling. Just imagine the same facts and stats – a smallish, upright tree smothered with gorgeous blooms – but this time those magnificent goblets look like they’re filled with a golden summer wine. And, not that we should feel good about having something over the gardeners in the southern hemisphere, but Magnolia Honey Tulip™ is only available in the USA and Europe.

Felix is the King: and for good reason. Felix Jury did all the groundwork behind the breeding of this astonishing magnolia and so it was an obvious choice for the family to name it after him. (It takes decades to breed magnolias so it’s often a family affair: Felix’s son Mark Jury is the current Jury family plant breeder.) The hot pink flowers that Magnolia Felix® (below) carries on its branches are astonishingly large – 30cm or a foot across. Really truly. The tree itself is upright, growing to around five metres (or 16ish feet) in 10 or so years. Magnolia Felix has the biggest flowers, it’s the tallest tree and it spreads out a bit with age.

Magnolia Burgundy Star: is also one to pay attention to. It’s not the tallest tree. It doesn’t have the biggest flowers. But it has a great score card overall. The tree is quite narrow which can be very handy in tight spots, growing to 3.5 metres or 12ish feet but only a metre or three feet wide. The flowers are a delicious claret red, 13cm or five inches across and they are fragrant. Let’s say that again – they carry a fragrance. So if you currently look out onto a narrow, bleak lightwell or courtyard, start planting and be sure to open the windows when your Magnolia Burgundy Star™ comes into bloom to enjoy the softly perfumed breezes.

And one last note: these four Jury magnolias share a similar happy growth zone: USDA 5 – 9.

How to create a magical garden

Planting magical spaces — Let things grow wild to create magical pockets in the garden. This view is of Appeltern Gardens in the Netherlands but you don’t need this much space to create the same effect.

Ever wandered into a tucked-away part of a garden, somewhere a bit less tended, where the child in you whispers, ‘this is where the fairies live’? Or have you ever wondered what was missing from your lovely manicured landscape? The answer is a wilder pocket of garden. And that’s because these spaces push different buttons and they’re very good at making smaller gardens seem so much bigger. You don’t need acres to welcome a bit of fairyland into your garden, but what you do need when planting magical spaces is the ability to let things go a little. Loosen up your style and maintenance routine and let the plants take over. If you’re willing to follow their lead, the magic will follow. Here are some tips on how to create a magical garden:

Picking a secret space: start by finding a spot in the garden that you’ll be transforming. Ideally it should feel a long way from the door and out of sight of the windows. (It’s not a coincidence that the fairies always live at the bottom of the garden because they need places where they can quickly get out of sight.) If your options are limited, consider narrow garden corridors down the side of the building or tucked between the house and the garage.

Making fairy habitat: whether you believe in magic folk or not, to successfully make part of the garden feel magical you need to create a space where you can imagine a fairy could live. You need romantic plantings. You need flowers. You need bird, bee and butterfly attracting plants. You need water. Provide all this and you have a place where fairies could be surrounded by the type of flowers that give them their names – rose, magnolia, lavender and pansy – flowers that they use to dress themselves, winged creatures to share the garden breezes with and water in a dish to reflect their lovely faces in.

Getting practical: so look at the space you have and do the following. Pull up any wide straight paths and place stepping stones along a winding route. If there are any existing plants that have been well-trimmed or hedged, let them grow out into wilder, looser more romantic versions of themselves. Then plant the following: the Fairy Magnolia® series of magnolias will form a screen from the rest of the garden and cover itself in dancing fairy flowers in spring; romantic roses like Flower Carpet® roses add a romantic sleeping-beauty-vibe to the space; lavender attracts the bees and foxgloves for the nectar eating birds; pansies will turn their whiskered faces to whoever wanders down the path. Toss in seed between the gaps to see what thrives there – poppies, bachelor’s buttons, nasturtiums, columbine – and whatever you do, think before you trim anything. The idea is you want nature to take over and work alongside you in creating this wild space where magic might just happen.

Adding magical plants like this Fairy Magnolia® Cream which covers itself in fairy-like mini magnolia flowers in spring.

Using romantic plants like lavender and roses (this is Rosa Flower Carpet® White) adds to the magical vibe, especially when you let things grow together like this.

There are three coloured Fairy Magnolias® – Cream, White and the original version pictured here, Blush.

Benefits of small hedges

From directing foot traffic to keeping paths clean, small hedges work hard in the garden. Here in the Noack Rosen display gardens, a simple box hedge helps contain the lush Flower Carpet® roses.

Let’s focus for a second on the small hedge. Why? Because it’s a landscaping super-tool that everyone needs to know about. But first, a definition: a hedge is a row of the same plants that are deliberately grown together to form a continuous living barrier. Most people notice big hedges because they are tall and often form a wall of green along a property boundary. Small hedges might be harder to spot, because they are small – knee to hip high – but the benefits of small hedges are numerous, as we’ve listed below…

Small hedges form great garden edges. A garden bed often needs an edge where it meets a lawn or path. Often this edge is sorted by building something out of brick, timber, concrete or steel, which can look good but there’s no question it’s a hard-edged look. This is where a small hedge is a great option. It does the job of defining the edge, but in a soft, living, low-key way.

The Butchart Gardens are masterfully planted but it’s that sweep of small hedge bordering the beds that provides critical structure.

Small hedges are good at directing foot traffic. Some garden paths are deliberately designed not to take you along the most direct route. The effect is lost if pedestrians then cut corners and take their own direct route through a garden bed. You could pound a few stakes into the ground, tie string between them and put up a few friendly notes, but it won’t look as pretty as planting a strategically positioned small hedge. Something knee-high is enough to deter most people.

Small hedges help keep paths and patios cleaner. It’s true, because the mulch and leaf litter on a garden bed that’s edged with a small hedge stays on the garden bed. Neither the wind, nor worm-chasing birds can flick the debris over a small hedge and onto paved areas, so there’s less sweeping.

Small hedges buy you time. Some gardeners love growing plants that have the habit of becoming garden dominators. In other words, they out-grow their spot in the garden bed and start to smother the plants all around. A small hedge can be really useful here because it can keep the bully plants corralled until you have the time to trim them back.

Pick the right plant. Obviously when planting a small hedge it makes sense to use plants that are easy to grow and will grow to the right size; you want something that will thrive with no effort and not need to be continually cut back to size. Go online and check these options out… coprosmas (look out for the Pacific^™ Coprosmas which have two gorgeous colour options), lavender (for a classic look), hebe (very tough and easy to grow), cistus (rock roses love a hot spot), rosemary (is handy in the kitchen anytime) and fragrant daphne (be sure to plant Daphne Perfume Princess^™ which is easy to grow).

At the Chateau de Villandry, hedges are a vital part of the look of the World Heritage site. They also encourage visitors to stay on the paths and help to keep the paths clean.

Is Daphne Perfume Princess the best? (Yes!)

Question: Since 2016, what daphne is the best one to plant? (Hint: think royalty…) The answer is the Daphne Perfume Princess^™ which was released that year. And proof that she reigns supreme comes from the fact that she’s now been around long enough to prove that every compliment paid to Her Highness is based on fact. If you have Daphne Perfume Princess growing in your garden you’ll be nodding your head as you read through these absolute truths: she grows into a nice evergreen bushy shaped shrub; she’s easy to grow, thrives with no care and is a robustly healthy plant; she produces lots of flowers over a good stretch of time, and they are big; they’re also super fragrant with a citrus overtone that’s extra special. To push the point even further, she’s won these awards: 2018 Best New Ornamental Plant Variety, Horticulture Week, UK; 2018 Gold Medal, Florall Award, Belgium; 2016 Plant of the Year, Australian Nursery and Garden Industry Association. So there you have it. She’s the best. Fact. And here’s one more fact… a white Daphne Perfume Princess has been bred to join her pink flushed sister.

Daphne Perfume Princess White — Daphne Perfume Princess™ also comes in a white form.

Maybe you didn’t know about Daphne Perfume Princess until now. You’ll probably be interested to have her pointed out to you when you’re next down at the garden centre (believe it, she’ll be there). And then you’ll think – I want this daphne because I know I can grow it, and I’ve always wanted to grow one but the old ones were too fussy and not very pretty (if we’re honest). So here are a few ideas if you need inspiration on the where…

IN A CONTAINER: this is a great move if you don’t have much room or you tend to move house a bit. Daphne Perfume Princess will grow happily in a pot out on a balcony, on a patio, or beside the front door. Outdoors is the go – full sun through to part shade – you can always bring her in for the day to spice up the house. Pick a pot that’s generous and use potting mix to avoid waterlogging. Throw in a few spring bulbs and you’ll end up with a visual treat. Simple.

A LUXE HEDGE: if you’re about to plant a hedge, or what they call a foundation planting around the base of your home, think about using Daphne Perfume Princess. The way this wonderful daphne grows means you’d have a nice bushy green line of plants even when she’s not in flower. And when Daphne Perfume Princess is in flower, that fragrant bliss is yours!

BY THE BENCH: do you have a garden seat? Somewhere to stop for a break mid morning? If it’s well positioned it catches the sun in winter and enjoys dappled shade from a deciduous tree in summer. And from mid winter to late spring it needs to be enveloped by the scent of daphne. One plant will do it, tucked in nearby. Easy.

Daphne Perfume Princess flowers are very big (6cm = almost 2.5 inches).

Volcano Phlox has travelled far and wide

Plants don’t have legs, so how do they get from A to B? And why? In other words, how has something like phlox, which grew wild originally in the United States, ended up living a cosmopolitan life almost everywhere around the globe? The answer comes down to us plant lovers, the people who look for lovely things to add to our gardens, balcony pots and window boxes – anywhere we can squeeze them in. Here’s the story of how Volcano Phlox has travelled far and wide…

When the first European settlers landed in the United States and began to take a look around, they would certainly have seen phlox. It’s probably safe to guess that they planted some around their settlements, and it wouldn’t have been long before samples were being sent ‘home’ to the ‘old world’ to share with family, friends and botanists. We know from records kept that examples of wild Phlox paniculata grew in moist stream banks and wooded areas in Virginia, and specimens travelled on returning ships in the early 1800s firstly to England and then to France. From there, those glorious phlox plants would have gone anywhere and everywhere.

And that’s because phlox were very good looking. Yes the original forms were probably a bit lanky and prone to powdery mildew but they were astonishingly lovely and, to plant collectors and gardeners, they were new and exotic. Fast forward to the 19^th and 20^th centuries and those wild-caught phlox had been selectively played with over the years by plant breeders in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States to create the modern phlox options that we enjoy today. Case in point, Volcano^™Phlox are strong and sturdy and very good at holding their many flowering heads up high. They’re also much better able to dodge the dreaded mildew, especially if you water them at ground level with a soaker hose. Plant breeders also had a lot of fun producing colour options – to the point where there are almost too many options to choose from – Volcano phlox has nine!

Different locations to plant roses

Here’s a fact: a single long-stemmed red rose is a romantic gesture, but if you’re planning to declare life-long love, find a garden seat nestled beneath glorious sprays of roses. Yup – sprays of roses take romance to a totally different level. Roses that produce many blooms on each branching stem are glorious, lovely and should be in every garden. They give so many more blooms, and the way they grow in loose arcs of flowers is fairy-like and magical. To put some rose romance in our lives, we all should grow them, and here’s all the different locations to plant roses…

1. On a balcony? Yes you can grow a rose on your balcony. First, choose a large container so your rose will have enough soil nutrients and water to thrive. Then pick a robust rose that looks after itself like one of the Flower Carpet® roses. Since it will bloom from spring through to late autumn, choose the colour carefully to blend with your indoor décor. If you can’t decide between a scarlet red or lipstick pink, plant a Flower Carpet White rose which will look good anywhere as well as glow under lights at night. Plant and water as you would any plant, then as it grows, tie the flowering sprays where you want them. Over the months of flowering, trim back spent sprays of flowers to encourage more, maybe scatter some slow release fertiliser around, and when the show is finally over, give the plant a once-over hair cut to get it ready for the next spring and some more rose romance.

Rose romance — Roses and lavender are an instant way to add romance to a low maintenance garden: Flower Carpet® Pink is at the front with Appleblossom behind.

2. Up the garden path: if you have a garden then you probably have the space to create a garden path. And by a garden path, think of the type of paths we found so interesting as children. These were usually a little loose and wild, and you couldn’t see the end from the start. To make yours is simple. Pick the start and finish points, or better still, make it a loop. Mark it out so that it wends – wiggles – gently and naturally so that it’s fun to walk but not irritating. Then plant it with loose romantic plants like foxgloves, salvias and roses. Again, if you want an easy rose to grow (one that won’t demand the-big-pruning-moment or spraying to keep it healthy), then plant Flower Carpet roses. To work out what goes where you could scribble a plan, but sometimes you get the best result just by grabbing what you like at the garden centre then bringing them home and plonking them in where you think seems right. Add mulch, water and stand back knowing it will be a success because those sprays of roses will pull it all together.

3. A massed garden seat moment: this is such a fun project and all you need is a boring lawn and a bench that never gets sat on. Pick a spot on the lawn in full sun, then set your bench there. Then with stakes and string – or just a good eye – cut out a garden bed so that it forms a border around the bench. Make sure you leave the lawn under the bench, and also leave a gap in the garden bed so you can walk from the lawn to the bench. Looking at the end result, the garden bed should look like a rectangular border of turned earth sitting around the bench. Now fill the bed with romantic roses, and add in some bulbs for added fun. Because you probably want impact with low maintenance, again plant Flower Carpet roses. Mix it up and use all eleven colours or make a statement with just one. And if you want to keep things a little lower, take a look at the latest addition to the Flower Carpet rose gang – Flower Carpet Mini Cherry. Imagine sprays of cherry red roses combined with bulbs for a gorgeous display. That once lonely bench will now get a lot of use.