Fer's World Garden Carnival: Gardening Plans for this New Year

Oh dear, this is a difficult one, Fer. I have not planned anything concrete for my new year resolution to plant more vegetables (that I vaguely formed when I posted in January for Blooming Friday, Plans for the New Year). I had used my old vegetable patch in my backyard for flowering annuals instead, and now that the annuals are dying out, I should be ready with a new plan, BUT...!


Anyway, my other resolution to have more colour in my garden is another story, I'm happy to say. I started on my West Wall Project in December 2010 actually, a modest shaded border of lilac-coloured plants. Here is how  it looked then.



I love hydrangeas. My parents should have named me Hydrangea instead of Rosie. Of course I love roses too, so Rosie was an apt name. Oh, and I adore the Passion Flower (as you would have known if you had seen my Macro Flowers post where the Passiflora photos almost occupied the whole length and breadth of your monitor screen! It would be difficult to go through life as "Passion" though, if I had been named after that flower. Anyway, my hydrangea border has grown with more varieties added. Here they are.

Two more colours are yet to be planted - one blue, and the other pink. I will need to put a bench near my hydrangea border so that I can sit there all day long and just admire the blooms.

The other plants that I have placed in my semi-shaded area by the wall are the gladioli plants. These plants  are what  I dream of  in my dreams. We can't get gladiolus corms easily here in Malaysia, so these corms which I bought  from New Zealand are more precious to me than rubies, diamonds and pearls put together!

My plan was to have them in three separate patches so that I can grow low-lying plants in between. I have one patch of giant-flowered "Her Majesty", one patch of "Tout-a-Toi", and one more of "Dark Eyes". I have finally decided to plant low bushes of multiple-petalled hibiscus in between the patches. The first plant is light purple in colour and a free-flowering variety.

I had told myself  that I would make my flower borders as colourful as possible! So the first cluster of plants in my area that gets full-sun will be red! I chose the Red Ginger plant for its fabulous red cones. They are exotic ornamental plants that tower over the other low-lying plants like the variegated ruby-red patterned coleus, another hibiscus plant, a white tropical 'snowdrop' which I have yet to discover the name, and red ixora. The last two plants that I mentioned have not bloomed, so I can't wait to see the full effect.

This needs to fill out, and the effect can be seen in a few months.

The last two sections are still in the planning stage. One is going to be predominantly orange  in colour, and the last section is toned down to a yellow-green spectrum. In the orange sector, there is an orange ixora,  orange hibiscus and for contrast, some white, dwarfed Star of Bethlehem plants that are free-flowering. Only the last mentioned are actually in bloom right now. The ground cover I have put in are not extensive enough to cover the ground! I hope to be able to display them in a month or two.Here are the coming attractions:

The flamingo is sitting down, thinking of what plants to add to this bed.

The orange ixora is not blooming yet.

      

You can read more gardening plans if you hurry on down to Fer's little garden.Click on this link: