#damp garden

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Saturday 2 August 2025

A species from Northern India, Anemone rivularis 'Glacier' (riverside windflower), is a clump-forming perennial for cool places in partial shade. The leaves are deeply cut into three fine lobes and the small white petals are set off by steely-blue sepals and blue anthers.

Jill Raggett

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Wednesday 10 September 2025

The poet Valerie Gillies and artist Rebecca Marr, have their exhibition ‘When The Grass Dances’ (also an excellent book) at the Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney. The exhibit concerning the wildflower Eriophorum angustifolium (bog cotton, cotton grass, downy ling, tassel cotton grass) was fascinating. This is a vigorous spreading perennial of boggy moors and heaths.

Jill Raggett

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Thursday 23 November 2023

The clump-forming, vigorous perennial Bistorta amplexicaulis 'Alba' (bistort, persicaria) quickly makes excellent groundcover in sun or partial shade. It favours damp soil and from mid-summer to early autumn produces slender spikes of tiny, white flowers which attracts pollinators.

Jill Raggett

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Friday 22 September 2023

The delicate flower spikes of Bistorta amplexicaulis 'Alba' (bistort, mountain fleece, Persicaria sp.) are covered with tiny white flowers that catch the late afternoon sunshine. This clump-forming, vigorous perennial needs a moist soil and can make dense groundcover.

Jill Raggett

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day Thursday 6 April 2017

A native to Japan Equisetum ramosissimum var. japonicum (Japanese Horsetail, Barred Horsetail) forms vertical, dense evergreen clumps. It can be invasive but here it was being used in this Japanese front garden in Kyoto to make a series of geometric, semitransparent ‘hedges’. It is suited to moisture retentive soils or as a pond marginal but is best contained.

Jill Raggett

[hiddengarden-fairhollow]

Gardd cudd

Welcome to Gardd cudd....  Rough English translation- Hidden Garden.  Gardd Cudd is about 8 miles inland from Cardigan bay, it is between 800 and 900 feet above the sea, and has views of the Cambrian mountains it has evolved through the toil of Cath my partner and I over the past 20+ years and extends to around an acre. Initially it was a damp field with clumps of soft rush, we worked it a little to create an area for our son Sam to play as a child, but as I was given cuttings and young plants by friends and family, my passion and aspiration grew. Reluctant to spend money we did not have, we never really got into chemical management, only using Miracle gro for small plants and slug pellets to protect the same, but we found the molousicide messy and unpleasant and so have just let things be, which has surprisingly not been at all detrimental, in-fact I believe the reverse to be true my Hostas are fine until Autumn and I have a self seeding colony of Ligularia. To create the numerous beds, we use cardboard and waste paper placed directly onto turf / weeds and then mulch with mowings/ chopped leaves/ wood chip/ plant waste.... well whatever is available. At Gardd cudd I have also created a some quite exciting features using recycled materials, The Creature tower was built using concrete rubble and The Bottle circle was made using empty beer bottles ( I emptied them all myself:) One day I wish to achieve a complete walk around whereby each footstep brings intrigue and ones eyes behold delight. I try to style the garden on an exotic woodland garden with spring and Autumn colour, But I also love Miscanthus and bold swathes of perennials and am inspired by the continental style championed by Piet Ouldolf. Currently Gardd cudd is not open to the public. Apart from special arrangement. If you are seeking a scarified moss free lawn, manicured hedges and regimented Begonias in double dug soil, then you will be sourly disappointed, but here at Gardd cudd we are trying to create something beautiful that I believe it contains a wealth of interest to inspire both the novice and experienced gardener.

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 13 December 2016

At Heveningham Hall, Suffolk, in the 'Capability' Brown landscape there was a beautiful group of Alnus glutinosa (alder). These mature trees can reach a height of around 20m and live for over 60 years. This deciduous tree species has a symbiotic relationship with a nitrogen-fixing bacterium called Frankia alni that is found in the root nodules. The bacterium absorbs nitrogen from the air and makes it available to the tree and the bacterium receives sugars, which the tree produces through photosynthesis. As a result of this mutually beneficial relationship, the fertility of the soil where this tree grows as a pioneer species provides additional nitrogen for the species which follow in the succession.

Jill Raggett

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Friday 27 November 2015

By the pond in Derry Watkins garden, Somerset, U.K., the Persicaria virginiana 'Filiformis' (Virginia knotweed, jumpseed, woodland knotweed) is still creating a display. This plant requires a moist soil with full sun to partial shade. This deciduous herbaceous perennial will die down to the root system when the frost comes. 

Jill Raggett