Newsletter

                               Cultivating the ‘Art of Living’  Beautifully

Tanglebank Country Gardens

Brenda’s Journal

Hello to all of our gardening friends.  As I sit here and write this I once again look out  on to a scene of winter white.  With Easter having been so early this year I feel like we should be well into Spring but apparently the weather man is somewhat confused.  However, for all you ever hardy gardeners I have to say I am truly tantalized, awed and amazed by some of the great plants strutting their stuff on the garden benches in spite of the temperatures.

 

In this letter we want to show you Winter /Spring containers that look great even after  a flattening of very wet snow  and the delicate flowers of so many spring flowering woodland ephemerals ( that’s plants that flower early and then go dormant most summers thereby proving quite drought tolerant )  that refuse to be crushed by trial under snow. We have an amazing selection of these spring beauties.  The  leafless trees of the woodland garden  provide architectural structure and loads of spring interest with interesting catkins, swelling buds and beautiful blossoms.  Corylus is a great example.

 

Not to be outdone the rockery ‘must haves’ including plants like  Alyssum ,Aubrietia, Arabis, Iberis and Saxifrage's  have started to put on amazing displays of jewel like colour on warm rock walls everywhere.   You have a hard time thinking of spring without thinking of these amazing tufts of colour in the garden combined with golden blossoms of daffodil and the stately tulip rising regally  above newly emerging foliage of summer perennials and handsome shrubs. 

 

In the Gift store we are excitedly unwrapping some great new pots by Camp d’Fiori in amazing shapes and sizes.  Check out the poppy and campanula shapes.   We have a great new line of organic soaps and lotion  “Beautea”  with delicious fragrances of ‘Green Oolong’ tea with Exotic blossom ‘Orchid’ and ‘Black Ceylon’ Pekoe Tea with ‘Imperial Rose Petals’ .  Also new this year ‘Fresh and Fun for the Patio’ with some great new patio furniture and summer entertaining floral design tapa dishes and serving pieces.  Add a Vietri   “Irresistibly Italian”  planter or one of the new and unique Camp d’Fiori pots as seen in Veranda magazine,  a gorgeous hanging lantern  and all you need is the music and good friends.  Ahhh….. We do look forward to warmer weather, beautiful gardens and good friends to enjoy it all with. Come see how we’re growing our largest collection of plants and décor  yet.                                                                    

 

  Cheers,      Brenda  

 

Trees of Note in the Spring Garden.

 Corylus avell. ‘Contorta also known as Harry Lauder’s Walking stick  with its twisted and contorted growth habit  adds great architectural interest to the spring garden both for its shape and its beautiful yellow catkins.   Try Corylus avell.  ‘Red Majestic’  for its red new growth that slowly changes to reddish-green. It too has yellow catkins.  These small trees or shrubs grow to about 3m.  in sun or part shade.  Try underplanting with some of the great woodland plants suitable for shady or part shade sites.   Pruning of this shrub also gives you some great twigs for floral design inside the home as well.   Definitely a multi seasonal tree and a must have on my list of plants.

 

Container Gardens To Cheer    By Brenda

Containers are a great way to bring seasonal colour up close or to add drama to a certain part of the garden.  Here are 3 great combo’s to add cheer to a dreary day.

As I was walking around the gardens I spotted some outstanding winter plants that looked great together then came back into the nursery where I noticed Lauren and Arnold thought the same way as they had already taken the plants and created a gorgeous container.  The plants here will look great 12 months of the year.  Evergreen grass Carex flagellifera ‘Kiwi’  adds movement to the bold foliage of Bergenia which picks up the brilliant burgundy of Euphorbia Martinii and Skimmia ‘Rubinetta’,  The jet black foliage of the black mondo grass and the red pansy complete the picture. 

Container 2 was created in our workshop on container gardens and contains at its center a jet black Hellebore.  Skimmia ‘Fragrant Cloud’ with its white blooms and Euphorbia ‘Portuguese Velvet’ as well as the conifer Cedrus deodora ‘Feeling Blue’ add structure.  Colourful accents include the brilliant pink flowers of ‘Kramers Red’ heather and  deep purple foliage of Heuchera ‘Obsidian’.  Carex comans ‘Bronze’ adds movement and viola and daffodils complete the picture.

 

Finally the third container offers dazzling bright light with Golden variegated foliage of  Ilex aquifolium ‘Gold Coast’.  Skimmia ‘Fragrant Cloud’ blends nicely while The beautiful pink blossoms of ‘Ghost Hills’ Heather adds colour along with a touch of spring in daffodils and blue purple pansy’s.

 

 

Native Woodland Jewels for the Spring Garden

The woodland garden is particularly spectacular in spring when an open canopy (no leaves on the deciduous trees) allows for light to penetrate the garden floor producing a jubilant display of colour.  These plants can be grown in any part sun to part shade site in your garden.  The Trout lily or ‘Erythronium’ is a beautiful western wildflower of which ‘Snowflake’ is particularly striking with it’s Snowy white flowers  made up of recurving petals and large anthers that are held above  bright green strappy foliage.  This plant prefers a slightly sandy, peaty soil although it will tolerate average garden soils too.  Erythronium americanum or yellow trout lily has clear yellow blooms above mottled green leaves.  Sanguinaria Canadensis or bloodroot so named because of the red dye produced from its roots produces  a flurry of pure white springtime blooms with daisy like petals and bright yellow stamens and compliments its grey green leaves that emerge shortly after the blooms.  The fully double flowered ‘Multiplex’  blooms even longer than its single petaled sibling.  These plants like it rich in moist woodland soil.    These plants combine beautifully with hostas, ferns, spring anemones, and pulmonarias.  They are known as spring ephemerals because they usually go dormant in summer time so you may want to mark where you plant them.   A Beautiful addition to the spring garden.      

Anemone ‘Green Fingers’