I have a new border that's 40 feet wide by about 3 feet deep. I've already planted
shrubs, and I've just finished planting bucket loads of spring bulbs and loads of
perennials.

But I was unsure about the spacing of the perennials and bulbs. The perennials are plugs,
so it was difficult to imagine how big they're going to get.

So in a space of 40' x 3' approximately how many perennials should I be planting?

Thanks

On Thu, 7 Nov 2002 00:47:42 -0000, "Tony"
wrote:

I have a new border that's 40 feet wide by about 3 feet deep.
I've already planted shrubs, and I've just finished planting
bucket loads of spring bulbs and loads of perennials.

But I was unsure about the spacing of the perennials and bulbs.
The perennials are plugs, so it was difficult to imagine how
big they're going to get.

So in a space of 40' x 3' approximately how many perennials
should I be planting?


First of all, a border that is only 3 feet deep is *very*
shallow. Many (if not all) of the shrubs will outgrow their
alloted space. Be prepared to remove overgrown shrubs as they
fill out, in order to give the remaining plants adequate room.

Perennials vary very widely in their demands for lebensraum. Some
are fairly rampant spreaders at the root, e.g. Iris ochroleuca
(syn. I. orientalis). Others don't really spread at the root, but
their above-ground growth can be surprisingly extensive. Examples
include some of the ornamental rhubarbs, but also something as
small as Geranium 'Anne Folkard'. The latter can cover, from a
single crown, an area six feet across if well grown. Note that
both of these examples are probably too big for your shallow
border.

Your best bet is to find a book on perennials (or a website) that
gives mature sizes and work from that.

Also see if you can scare up some of Gertrude Jekyll's books on
the subject of borders. They may be old books, but they are full
of good advice on perennial borders, advice that is not often
found elsewhere.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

"Tony" wrote in message
...
I have a new border that's 40 feet wide by about 3 feet deep. I've
already planted
shrubs, and I've just finished planting bucket loads of spring bulbs
and loads of
perennials.

But I was unsure about the spacing of the perennials and bulbs. The
perennials are plugs,
so it was difficult to imagine how big they're going to get.

So in a space of 40' x 3' approximately how many perennials should I
be planting?
Thanks

It all depends on which perennials you have chosen.
Not all species grow to the same size :~))

Maybe you could give us a bit more info?
Jenny