As you can see, it was in a rather sorry state once the building work had been completed. The gravel that had been laid mingled in with the border, without any edging to define it. The Berberis in the corner is very hardy and still going strong, but we decided to replace it, as the site is quite heavily loaded with bindweed, which grows up through the spiky Berberis, making it very difficult to remove.
First of all, we began the project by digging out large chunks of concrete that had been left in the ground and were poking up through the top. We dug up the grasses, saving a few for another border at the hotel, and disposing of the others that had seen better days.
We used a hedgecutter to chop the Berberis down to the ground. This was raked up to be recycled with the green waste at the tip. We then began the hard process of removing the Berberis roots with mattocks, this was tough work during the hot, midday sun.
We brought in a rotavator to help churn up the soil, which had a hard, sun baked, compacted top layer. Below, the soil is good quality, but we were very pleased to have the rotavator which did a great job turning over the soil.
Once the soil had been rotavated and then raked, we brought in our selection of plants for the new design. We laid out Euonymus ‘Harlequin’ around the two front edges, with Skimmia ‘Kew Green’ further in, and a few Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’ in the middle-front. On the back wall we planted Sarcococca confusa, with a Viburnum tinus and two Weigela ‘Victoria’.
This border gets morning sun during late spring into summer, but as the sun becomes lower during the autumn and winter this border can be shady for long periods of time. We are hoping that this new planting scheme will take the shade and sun in it’s stride, and will develop well.
Once the plants were in place we dug a trench for the new concrete edging. We added a stonedust/cement mix and tapped the edging into place. We chipped away old concrete next to the original edging, to ensure the new piece lined up perfectly with it.
Once the concrete edging was in it looked so much better, plus the gravel will no longer spill into the border, making the maintenance of the area much easier and nicer for hotel customers to walk past.
For the last stage of this redesign, we brought in a load of good quality mulch from a nearby farm. It is a fantastic product, lovely and dark and rich. Which looks nutritious for the soil and creatures inhabiting it.
These plants will all grow to fill this space, with the Euonymus, Skimmia and Sarcococca being evergreen, the Hydrangea producing flowers in the summer, Viburnum flowering late winter into early spring and the Weigela flowering between spring and summer, we should have lots of interest throughout the year. We will look forward to our future visits to the hotel, to see how this new border is going.
