by GillianPolley | Feb 18, 2020 | 2020, Amelanchier, April, autumn, autumn colour, autumn colour in the garden, back gardens, bees, bees and insects, blue, bulb planting for insects, bulbs, Colour, Colour 365 days a year in your garden, containers, Cornus, Cornus 'Midwinter Fire', Crocus, Design, designing your own garden, Edinburgh, February, front garden, Galanthus, garden inspiration, habitat for wildlife, insects, Iris reticulata, long flowering period, low maintenance plants, March, Mixed bulb planting, Narciccus 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation', Narcissus, Planting colour for Dreich February Days, Plants, Polley Garden Design, Ribes sanguineum 'Elkington's White', Ribes sanguineum 'White Icicle', Snowdrops, Spring, spring blossom, spring colour, windy conditions, winter, winter colour, Winter colour and cheer in the garden, winter scent in the garden, winter structure
As the year moves through February and March you can have another layer of colour and interest to your winter planting with additional shrubs and early flowering spring bulbs. Ribes sanguineum is a really tough early flowering shrub (March/April) usually seen with...
by GillianPolley | Jan 27, 2019 | 1930's house, 2019, Acers, autumn, autumn colour, autumn colour in the garden, back gardens, box balls, bulbs, Colour, Colour 365 days a year in your garden, colour in the garden, container growing, containers, Copper Mango Ltd, Copper Mango Photography, cyclamen, December, Design, design balance, designing your own garden, driveway, Edinburgh, Euonymous alatus 'Compactus', evergreen plants, February, Festive plant container, focal points in the garden, front garden, front garden/driveways, garden inspiration, garden transformation, garden views, Grasses, gravel, Hellebores, herbaceous perennials, Iris reticulata, January, Japanese gardens, long flowering period, low maintenance plants, March, Mixed bulb planting, O-Karikomi, O-Karikomi gardening technique, October, outdoor furniture, Polley Garden Design, Sarcococca, seats in the garden, shapes, shrubs, Spring, spring blossom, spring colour, summer flowering plants, winter, winter colour, winter scent in the garden, winter structure
How many plants do you have in bloom in your garden in January? You will be astounded to know Tresco Abbey Gardens in the Scilly Isles had 289 on the 7th January. Aah – to have their climate. But even as winter is upon us, in Scotland it is possible to have...
by GillianPolley | Mar 7, 2016 | 2016, blue, bulbs, Design, designing your own garden, Edinburgh, February, focal points in the garden, front garden, hedgehogs, Iris reticulata, January, long flowering period, low maintenance plants, March, spring colour, winter colour, winter structure
Last autumn I visited RHS Hyde Hall in Essex and brought some early spring-flowering bulbs. I was looking for a bulb with a splash of colour to plant along a path leading to my house front door. I have not been disappointed. I choose several different types of Iris...
by GillianPolley | Feb 28, 2015 | 'Home Ground: Sanctuary in the City", 2015, Acer, Dan Pearson, Design, designing your own garden, driveway, Edinburgh, February, front garden, garden transformation, March, Polley Garden Design
After spending 12 years designing client’s gardens, I am finally designing my own front garden and driveway and I get to please myself. Now this is a great feeling, but it is also slightly scary. Garden designers find it notoriously difficult to design their...
by GillianPolley | Mar 26, 2014 | colour in the garden, Edinburgh, front garden, March, Plants, Polley Garden Design, Rhododendron 'Praecox', RHS, RHS Award of Garden Merit, shrubs, Spring
For a really early blaze of spring colour, consider Rhododendron ‘Praecox’. These Rhododendrons has been flowering their cotton socks off in the established gardens in my local area. But you don’t seem to see them often in new gardens, which is a...
by GillianPolley | Apr 8, 2013 | April, Bailey, Chaenomeles, dogs, Edinburgh, Forsythia, heathers, herbaceous perennials, Jobs to do in the garden, Lawns, March, Plants, Polley Garden Design, Vegetable growing, winter
In my March summary of jobs in the garden I said “…winter can still have the last word…”. Unfortunately, I was proved right. It feels the garden is still in hibernation and just waiting for some warm weather to burst into spring. So many of...
