Old-Fashioned Garden Plants for an Overgrown Garden
by writecorner on Jun 06, 2009 with 0 Comments
The old-fashioned illustrations of English “weedy” gardens can come alive in your own backyard with a little time and encouragement. Cultivate the feel of an old garden grown wild using several flowering garden favorites.
The “overgrown” garden look created by years of thick foliage and carefully sowed plants is easy to create in your own yard or garden. Choose a sections where you can lay out a bordered pathway to navigate your garden beds and map out a piece of ground perfect for sewing heavily with a variety of old-fashioned garden favorites.
Tall plants are a must in creating the old-fashioned garden. Choose a section close to a fence line, the traditional point for planting those high-stemmed varieties. Consider staking bamboo rods along the rows so you can secure their delicate stems for support if the blossoms are too heavy. The most popular varieties include the hollyhock, whose colorful blossoms and long stems tower over the small plants.
Other tall, flowering plants include the snapdragon and foxglove, whose thick blossoms and stems range in size and color. These look beautiful mixed in with hollyhock seeds to create a range of tall blossoming plants rising above the foliage.
Carpet the ground beneath with a variety of small ground cover plants and plants whose bloom time assures your bed will have a touch of beauty all season. Crocuses are a good choices for early spring. Small wildflower mixes give you variety of blossoms and colors all summer long, hiding the base of your long-stemmed plants from sight.
Roses are a must in an old-fashioned garden. Climbing roses clinging to the fences are among the best traditional pieces. The range of colors and varieties is stunning, as well as the creative means of display, such as letting them twine up into trees or wind their way around shrubs or garden ornaments.
An overgrown garden doesn’t mean the garden is never tended — just be careful when working in the midst of thick foliage, where snakes and stinging insects are potentially concealed. An occasional weeding, trimming, or support adjustment should do, but the rest of the season will be spent enjoying the beautiful, thick bed of colors created by time, imagination, and a few seed packets.
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Published in: Gardening
