I'm going to order some Gazon Japonais seeds, does anyone have a good online source please?
Thanks Colin, I have access to horse manure, should I use that?
Will post some as it takes shape :)
Hi James,
you've had some interesting suggestions but I thought I would throw in a couple myself.
Firstly, you want to plant the bank, but heavy clay, especially sub-soil which will have little goodness in it, will need the topsoil you have been talking about, together with as much organic matter as you can lay your hands on.
You talked about it needing to look after itself. It will, in time, but you will have to give it plenty of attention for the first year or so, keeping it weed free and watering it.
If you want an easy life use plants in quantity. I liked the garrique planting someone suggested but dont use one Rosemary, use twenty, and forty Lavender, Sage, Santolina, etc. Actually, there is a huge range of shrubs that would do the job provided you use loads of them.
Ground cover plants like low growing Pleioblastus humilis, Vinca minor (as soemone said), Cotoneaster horizontalis, even the dreaded Hypericum calycinum and many more will all cover huge areas fairly cheaply.
Pampas is good....(return to popularity) anyway...grasses in general are another delight....am looking forward to pics of your new garden soon...!
Your wife sounds like a very sensible lady!
Thanks Heather, I shall get myself some football boots along with a few of the plants you suggest. Catharine is out now looking, I'll let her know what to keep an eye out for (that's cheap!)
- Hi there we have several of these high banks around our property as it was built on a terrace cut into a hill. The previous owners planted some up with junipers of different colours...they've now spread and interlinked which is very attractive. The bank behind us was planted with various plants... low growing shrubs...and ground cover roses. Rosemary...and lavenders do well on these clay banks...as do laurels...hypericum spreads well...sedums spread...nepita comes back year after year...and even survives the cold.
- I also throw wild flower seeds around when it's raining...this helps to bed them in.
- When gardening on these crumbly slopes in summer I wear football boots...not very elegant for a 71 year old lady...but they stop me falling.
- Effie
We had a 12 metre long bank covered in brambles, nettles and bindweed. I spent a couple of days chopping everything down to soil level and then covered the whole lot with horticultural material (bought from Leclerc). After that I planted a load of cotoneaster horizontalis which my father-in-law had grown from cuttings for me. I also planted angel's hair grass and some sedums, both of which I had acquired seeds from a local garden.
It is now around 4 years later and the cotoneaster has covered great swathes of the bank. The bees love it and its beautiful in the autumn when it turns red and is covered in berries. The grasses sway in the breeze. The cover material is starting to wear away but it doesnt matter as the plants are well established now and the weeds are mostly well and truly dead.
I have added odd plants since - normally Noz finds like 10 hypericum plants for 5 euros ! The best bit is - it was cheap, I don't need to spend hours on it and it looks good all year round.
If Bamboos were your choice though, you could always bury a big pot / old dustbin/ anything really and plant the bamboo in that, it will curtail the spreading of them.
How about some Gardenias, summersweeet and Camelias for variations in height.
Thanks Carol, I love the look and sound of those tall lightweight plants too. I bought a dozen pampas grasses for that reason. A bit 70's I know!
It's NE facing, and our pool is so small that a large kettle of hot water would increase the temperature to unbearable levels! I found a guy in Dax who is selling topsoil for 6€ a ton! Maybe I'll get some for the lawn area.
Another good idea, I have some limestone that came from a demolished wall, I could use that.
Good suggestion, I have some suitable containers already.
One solution for invasive bamboo would be to plant it in a container to stop it going too far. Those 20 litre paraffin hard plastic bidons with their tops cut off might do the job, a row of them buried in the ground with a drip drip watering system would make a good backdrop- would hold any soil in though as you have trapped all the roots
Thanks everyone for your excellent suggestions! I forgot to mention that we already have a load of plants that could go into the bank now. And I wonder if I can dig up that banana palm shoot and plant that in there too?
Hi James,.....sempervivum will hold the soil fantastically....they are a succulent plant...and have weird rosette type flowers...and spread like billy-o....so would hold your soil...then I agree....you are in a hot area...so go for the rosemary, lavender, sage, thyme and mint herbs...if you go to google and put in....mediterranean rockery....you will have a million choices and pictures to go with it. To edge the back with bamboo is great...but do be careful with it...its a thug...we looked at one property that had a bamboo forest that would have cost an arm and leg to get rid of....there is a lovely black bamboo...bamboo Nigra that is stunning to look at and a little less rampant...the joy of bamboo is its lovely sound in the wind....as well as its good hedging ability without casting a deep shadow....
I thought that Vinca is meant to be shade loving. Growing medium yes OK compost but mix it with other stuff to make it go further. Like the idea of forming rockery "pods" with horizontal tops which could be conveniently watered and better at retaining some humidity in dry periods. If south facing why not rig up some solar panels to heat the pool or sell back to EDF? Could even be a very simple system of water heating for the pool? I realize the pool may not need much heating at the height of the summer.
Vinca is lovely Allison, mine took sometime to take off but now it's unstopable