West Drive Bed
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This bed lies between the driveway and the house, running from the garage to the main entrance. It is 19 m2 in area :
Like its sister bed on the east of the drive, it too enjoys full sun in the morning but not long after solar noon it starts to lose that to the shadow of the house. The topsoil here is good with some depth although it still sits on the clay below. This bed was also existing when we took over in 2015 and was equally heavily infested with weeds, albeit with plants worth saving.
In 2016, having spent 2015 observing, everything was dug out and the roots almost washed to remove weeds while the bed was dug over and disinfested. The retained material was then divided and replanted, including a yellow leaved fuchsia, agapanthus, some hemerocallis, some camassias, a lot of geraniums, some hellebores and some peonies. We have added a pittosporum 'Tom Thumb', a lovely yellow crocosmia ['Paul's Best Yellow'] and a Magnolia stellata to create another very eclectic mix which provides interest much of the year. Still in 2019 we are getting weed seedlings and suckers from buried roots of brambles [but we will persevere!].
Full details of the plants can be found in the West Drive Bed plant list and the context of this area within the garden can be found on the Plan and Areas page.
