Cormaic's Garden - Layout

Garden Layout - The Western Trellis
This is another area of my garden that has recently been expanded, as the lawn on this side is heavily shaded, and although it was planted with shade-tolerant grasses, it still struggled for its place against the ever-encroaching moss. The bed has been widened from its original 450mm up to a much more generous 1200mm, and edged against the lawn with a simple clay brick paver 100mm wide mowing strip.
This part of the garden receives some sun for most of the day, although the parts nearer to the pond are the shadiest. The fence here separates the garden from the compound, home to the shed and Millennium Greenhouse, and so, the plan was to screen off the compound, without using a 1.8m high panel fence giving that 'closed-in' feeling. The fence panels are 900mm high, including the 300mm concrete base panel, and then the final 900mm is formed from 150mm square trellis, tanalised and treated with a dark oak stain prior to fixing.
The ivies were chosen for their different looks and tones, and scramble over the trellis quite happily, giving a perfect backdrop to the canary creeper, Tropaeolus peregrinum, which grow freely and self-seeds all along the rear of this bed. The bright canary flowers stand out against the very dark green of the Irish Ivy, Hedera hibernica, and mix in well with the paler tones of the Paddy's Pride and Goldheart varieties. The nasturtiums can get out of hand, if not checked, but I tend to encourage them also to climb and ramble amongst the ivies.
	The bush fuchsias bring a splash of gaudy colour to an otherwise sombre looking spot, and the standard fuchsia does get moved around quite a lot, depending on where its colour and form are needed most. The addition of the Curcubitas in 1998, was a wonderful success, not for the pale yellow, short lived tissue-like flowers, but for the gourds that grow from the fertilised flowers, and bring a real taste of the exotic to a corner of north Cheshire.
The soil here has been prepared, like most of the rest of the garden, by digging out to 400mm depth and adding compost and grit sand to the soil. The semi-circular kerb around each ivy are a relic from when all this area was lawn, and are due to be removed in the coming season, to give a bit more room for some Spring-flowering bulbs. Now the bed has been expanded, it will allow me to grow some larger hardy perennials, and sneak in a few more showy bedding plants, possibly dahlias, possibly tuberous begonias, but I'm open to suggestions.

This is a scale diagram of the layout of the lawn and the Ivy planters against the western trellis. Passing your mouse over each plant will result in the name of the plant being displayed on your status bar. Clicking on any of these hotspots will take you to the page dedicated to that plant.

Planting Schedule for Trellis Bed
*Perennials* Fuchsia - bush types raised from seed Hedera colchica 'Paddys Pride' Hedera hibernica Hedera helix 'Goldheart' Rose	Bedding see bedding page Tropaeolus majus - mixed Tropaeolus peregrinum Gazania 'Daybreak' Chrysanthemum - F1 Autumn Glory
*Bulbs* Anemone coronaria 'De Caen' Anemone coronaria 'St Brigid' Gladioli muscari	Pots and Baskets see baskets page Pot - Fuchsia Magellanica - as a standard Pot - Curcubita fructifolia Hanging Basket - Begonia, Impatiens, Felicia

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