Introducing the Jelly Bean Border
Forget-Me-Nots
The Jelly Bean Border is a wee garden area lying between the Pond Paddock and the house lawn, and yes - it is shaped like a jelly bean. It's not my most manicured garden, only getting a good clean out and mulching every five years or so.
A walk-by garden...
It's a garden I walk past a lot to get over to Pond Paddock and my little cottage. I don't stop quite as much as I should. Nor do I look too closely at the interior, to see what's happening in there. Oops...
Tall deciduous trees (Elms and a Liriodendron) tower over the shrubs, and the huge forked Cordyline on the corner reaches for the sky. In spring the ground is filled with Honesty and Forget-Me-Nots, with Ferns and ground-covering Euphorbias from summer on. Over the years I've added some Azaleas and compact red striped Phormium hybrids to fill things up a bit.
Alongside the path through to the Pond Paddock Symphytum does a great ground-covering job, without being annoying. Underneath the big Cordyline is a beautiful patch of woodland Anemones.
Flowering shrubs...
On the edge of the Jelly Bean Border, visible from the house, are some larger flowering shrubs. Pride of place goes to a large white flowering Daphne, which has led a rather charmed life. It started as a standard, blew over one winter, and then (unobserved by me for several years) embedded itself in the ground for the long haul. A shrub using its initiative!
Other edge shrubs include an early flowering Species rose Canary Bird, Hypericum and Choisya, and a colourful trio of rehomed Rhododendrons.
Keeping things under control...
I've always had trouble keeping the interior of the Jelly Bean Border clear of mess, and keeping any undesirables under control. All the original Viburnums had to be dug out, because of a silver-browning of their leaves - very unsightly.
The Jelly Bean Border in Spring
The archway into the Pond Paddock used to be covered in Clematis montana, but that got itself into a terrible tangle, with very few flowers. I removed it, and the archway is due for an inspired replanting any time soon.
Edge of the Jelly Bean Border - Autumn
Large species Phormiums still grow along the fence-line by the Ram Paddock, and I have constant battles to keep them looking even half-tidy. Not the most suitable varieties for an ornamental garden - I should have known that!