Latest Posts
-
Grasses for Dry Shade
Garden, Info, Ornament Grasses
Most people would agree (usually from experience!), that shade and especially dry shade is about the most difficult condition to plant successfully in our gardens. Of course there are many degrees of shade from the relatively minor shade cast by a north wall or fence to the deep shade cast by mature trees both broadleaf…
Read more
-
The Show Must Go On……
Garden, Info
Even though the gardens themselves are currently closed (the nursery is very much open and busy), for the next week or two while the storm damage is made safe (see last weeks blog), this doesnt stop the annual pageant of trees and shrubs from providing their welcome displays. I have always loved woody plants and…
Read more
-
The Romance has gone; the Valentines Day storms
Blog
I shall long remember Valentines Day 2014 as the night the garden experienced the most serious amount of damage that I have seen in my 20 years of being at Knoll. As we closed the nursery and gardens on Valentines Day evening we were happy enough that we had coped with all the damage the…
Read more
-
The Tender Trap
Blog
Like many people who love plants I find it so difficult to resist the fabulous, often brightly saturated colours and magnificent foliage that so many of the tender plants have to offer. I try hard not to collect too many but…….. Its easy enough in the spring and summer to happily plant them out in…
Read more
-
Favourite Miscanthus for Garden Use
Garden, Info, Ornament Grasses
Miscanthus are a great group of ornamental grasses that can do brilliantly in our gardens giving lots of pleasure and requiring very little work in return. They are many of them and, inevitably, I have some favourites; those that stand out as being especially effective or useful. Miscanthus are really known for their fabulous displays of flower…
Read more
-
Backlit, Beautiful ……and Free
Garden, How to, Ornament Grasses
A free light display is something most of us would probably love to have in our gardens if asked. Yet so often when planning and planting our border displays we make no provision for, or possibly even think about, using those plants such as the ornamental grasses that have the ability to be spectacularly lit up by…
Read more
-
Magnificent Moor Grasses
Garden, Ornament Grasses
Purple moor grasses are botanically all forms of Molinia caerulea and, as the common name might suggest, these native grasses are often found on open grassy spaces such as commons and heathlands, sometimes in patches, sometimes covering acres of ground and in association with heathers, pines, gorse and silver birch. Although when in its native habitat these…
Read more
-
The Wonders of Spindle trees
Blog
Taken only a few days ago at Knoll this image looks out across our newly extended Gravel Garden towards the Lower Lawn where in the distance a magnificent, tall native grass Molinia arundinacea can be seen showing its fabulous butter yellow autumn attire. The deep pink foliage that catches the eye immediately belongs to one…
Read more
-
When to cut back your borders
Flowering Perennials, How to, Info, Ornament Grasses
Dont do it……..at least not yet!! Not too long ago the tradition was to cut back our borders in the autumn – to ‘tidy’ them for winter. This may seem rather odd to us now, but of course when borders were based largely on flowers and not so much on shape and form and longevity…
Read more
-
Molinia Poul Petersen
Flowering Perennials, Ornament Grasses
This wonderful form of our native purple moor grass, Molinia Poul Petersen, is amongst the very best selections of one of our native grasses that work so well as an ornamental grass in our gardens. As you can see from this picture taken only a few days ago the simple use of several plants together to…
Read more