HI there, re-designing my garden.
The garden is on very chalky soil ( generous abouts of small flint ).
Any advice on chalk-soil loving plants which would add colour and life
to the garden. I am looking for the wild, natural, sprawling effects
with nice colours for the flowers / blossom. Area - South Bucks /
Chiltern Hills. Notorious for chalky and alkaline soil. The roses in
my garden are doing remarkably well ! And I also have a Yew tree which
is in excellent condition. But the main problem is the the garden is
uneven and has a steep bank which needs covering
Any advice would be most useful. I am looking to plant from now till
late Autumn and looking for results next spring/summer. Thanks for any
help !

Uncle Charlie

(Uncle Charlie) wrote in
om:

HI there, re-designing my garden.
The garden is on very chalky soil ( generous abouts of small flint ).
Any advice on chalk-soil loving plants which would add colour and life
to the garden. I am looking for the wild, natural, sprawling effects
with nice colours for the flowers / blossom. Area - South Bucks /
Chiltern Hills. Notorious for chalky and alkaline soil. The roses in
my garden are doing remarkably well ! And I also have a Yew tree which
is in excellent condition. But the main problem is the the garden is
uneven and has a steep bank which needs covering
Any advice would be most useful. I am looking to plant from now till
late Autumn and looking for results next spring/summer. Thanks for any
help !

Uncle Charlie


Uncle Charlie,

I live in the same area, on the hills of High Wycombe, and there are number
of things that do particularly well in our garden. Photinia (Red Robin)
just won't stop growing, and you can grow it as a hedge. A number of other
shrubs do well - Cotinus (Smoke Bush), Cornus (Dogwood), Honeysuckle,
Buddleia. I'm not sure whether you'd call any of those ground cover, but
they all have the capability of growing quite fast and covering a lot of
space!

Geoff

In article ,
Uncle Charlie wrote:
HI there, re-designing my garden.
The garden is on very chalky soil ( generous abouts of small flint ).
Any advice on chalk-soil loving plants which would add colour and life
to the garden. I am looking for the wild, natural, sprawling effects
with nice colours for the flowers / blossom. Area - South Bucks /
Chiltern Hills. Notorious for chalky and alkaline soil. The roses in
my garden are doing remarkably well ! And I also have a Yew tree which
is in excellent condition. But the main problem is the the garden is
uneven and has a steep bank which needs covering
Any advice would be most useful. I am looking to plant from now till
late Autumn and looking for results next spring/summer. Thanks for any
help !

Bright colours are relatively tricky, but wild, natural, sprawling effects
aren't. Chalk lovers par excellence include prostrate junipers, thymes,
marjorams and so on. I would expect sage and rosemary to be happy, too,
as well as marjoram - and notice that all of them are useful, too! Many
clematis like those conditions, passion flowers are happy, and I suspect
that Helianthemum and Potentilla will be. Note that most of those I
have mentioned are also good ground cover for banks.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

I forgot to mention hyssop - it has very attractive blue flowers,
but is less of a ground cover than most thymes. Winter savory
is also attractive, but not more so than thyme.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.