Dutch Courtyards. Part 2. For Advanced Amateurs

2023 Author: Ashton Daniels | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 17:13

Let's go back to the design of our, or rather our Dutch patios. If you're a little outdoorsy, like to be in parks, or just occasionally stroll through shady alleys and occasionally watch special gardening shows, you probably already know that hyacinths and daffodils tend to smell good. In addition, you have probably already heard that there are a lot of tulips and lilies, and your girlfriend "in secret" with a very clever look told you that "yes, they are all pollinated anyway," although your seventh sense still tells you that this is complete nonsense. And you also know that begonias, dahlias and gladioli should be dug up for the winter, because they do not tolerate freezing temperatures, and roses and clematis should be carefully covered, because most of them belong to 5 or 6 winter hardiness zones.

In this case, your yard will have well-groomed borders, on which several different varieties of daffodils, hyacinths and muscari grow, and, as a rule, different flowering periods, where snow crocuses, scyllas and snowdrops bloom first. It will be interesting for you to know that tulips are tall and very short, late blooming and very early, that they are fringed, lily-colored, parrot, double or green-flowered. That they, too, can smell nice and have beautiful variegated foliage that does not lose its decorative effect for another couple of weeks, or even more, after the end of their flowering. And that most of the tulips must be dug up every year, and some, if you do not want to break extended nails or fitness and other makeup and hairdressing or general health procedures, take a lot of your time,you can not dig it for several years. In addition, it will be extremely interesting for you that, by choosing the right varieties of daffodils, in aggregate, they can bloom for more than a month, and tulips in Russia - up to seven weeks, i.e. under favorable conditions - about 50 days. And in Holland, since there is a more temperate climate, they bloom (from the earliest varieties to the most recent) for more than two months.

If you have come to this, relatively speaking, the third level and your husband sometimes helps you at the dacha and even, in between working on the computer and football times, he sometimes discusses some dacha problems with you, then you are definitely lucky! And in your yard, for sure, there are already several small conifers, perhaps a couple of multi-colored barberries, bearded irises and roses, and possibly several different exotic plants such as yucca, ITO-peony or meconopsis. In this case, you should undoubtedly add to your plot a few bright or "blue" hosts, or the now fashionable exotic Astilbe Color Flash with very bright maroon or lemon yellow foliage. Or, for example, pink muscari, which are still quite rare in our country. All this beauty can be supplemented with numerous badans, saxifrage, various primroses, winter-hardy hydrangeas,aquilegia or other bright decorative deciduous or beautifully flowering shrubs.

And if you have been fond of decorative floriculture for a long time, you know who Hession is, understand who Kaufman, Forster, Meyan, Delbar and Austin are, and at the same time write the word Austin without an apostrophe, you have at least a few fashionable Ruffles roses in your collection, then you and "cards in hand." I think in this case you have a beautiful rocky hill, a small rose garden for 30-40 bushes, or even more, and several diverse, but very beautiful mixed borders or, as they are now fashionably called, mixborders. Maybe you also have a large and beautiful collection of amaryllis, martagon lilies, Japanese or Chinese tree peonies, a collection of decorative bows or irises - Siberian, German, Louisiana or Japanese.

In this case, I recommend decorating your rocky hill with compact, low-growing tulips and daffodils, which can be both very early and later. Well, for example, varieties of undersized and abundantly flowering daffodils, such as: Gaudin Bells, Rip van Winkle, Penkrebar, Golden Rhine or undersized tulips: Prestanz Unicum, Violation Pallida, Border Legends, Zampa Perrot or Kiev, as well as, of course, various varieties and colors of muscari, chionodox, scillus, oxalis, anemone and other small-bulbous. All this beauty can well be supplemented with imperial, Persian or just chess fritillaria and undersized decorative bows such as Roseum onions, a mixture of multicolored “Rainbow Bouquet” bows or a bow with larger, but very low peduncles - Ivory Queen. The latter retains the beauty and decorativeness of its wide and fleshy foliage for several weeks after the end of flowering.

If you still have a little free space left or you just want to create something very beautiful and unusual, then, of course, you will like Dutch courtyards, where early and late small- and large-bulbous plants coexist, preferably still correctly selected according to the color scheme and the timing of flowering. There are no unambiguous recommendations on the color scheme and cannot be. Someone likes brighter or more monochromatic colors, while others like the whole range of colors or more calm tones. Naturally, it's up to you to decide and choose. There are a lot of them on sale now.

Today in Europe, the fashion for beautiful flower mixtures prevails. This refers to a mixture of tulips and daffodils, in which varieties are combined that bloom together or, conversely, at different times and, accordingly, a longer period. Mixtures can also be from a variety of other spring-flowering bulbs, which together are in bloom for the entire long spring season, from late March to early June.

But back to your mixed borders and flower beds. You can easily decorate your mixborders with beautiful modern varieties of dicenter, aquilegia, herbaceous and tree-like peonies; multi-colored delphiniums, daylilies and bright orange swimsuits will also fit well into them. By the way, daylilies and bearded irises can also be miniature and are perfect for your rocky hills. And lilies, clematis and decorative poppies will also be good helpers in any corner of your site or garden. For shady areas of the garden, tricyrtis, tradescantia and multi-colored begonias, blooming well and almost in full shade, as well as hosts, geychera, astilbe and numerous garden and forest ferns are suitable.

The back plan of your Dutch yard or garden can be complemented with Japanese dwarf maples with decorative orange, red, yellow or peach foliage or even more maroon decorative hazel. If you are afraid that Japanese maple will freeze in winter, put it directly in a pot or tub, and put it in a cold greenhouse or cool winter garden for the winter. You can do the same with other thermophilic plants, such as ornamental bananas, pineapples or palm trees. If taller trees are to your taste, then among them there is a fairly large selection of plants with decorative weeping crowns or colorful foliage.

Having a large enough plot, in the background you can plant several tall thujas or decorative cherry or plum blossoms. With a dense planting of thuja or other tall conifers, over time they will be able to protect your smaller plantings from cold and piercing frost winds, and even save some of them from complete freezing in our harsh winters. The variegated forms of willow, decorative red-flowered currant, Japanese quince, as well as various variegated forms of euonymus, ginkgo, white turf, tall, creeping and miniature conifers will fit well into this landscape. For our climatic zone, various types of decorative elderberry and honeysuckle are well suited - bedspread, Tatar, curly, etc., cinquefoil shrub of various colors, Bumald's spirea or Japanese keria.

As ground cover plants or plants for vertical gardening, it is quite possible to use such plants as coleus-shaped plectrantus, petiolate helihrisum, loosestrife, yellow lamiastrum or cleaver. They will look very beautiful both by themselves and together with each other or paired with ampel begonias or petunias. By the way, about vertical gardening. It can be as ordinary vines or climbing plants, and all kinds of hanging pots and pots with a variety of flowers that grow well in containers, at will, up to daffodils, hyacinths, dwarf tulips, anemones and other small-bulbous.

Any ampelous and semi-ampelous plants, for example, bacopa, scovola, ivy geranium, various ampelous bells and even ampelous strawberries, will look no less beautiful. With a little imagination and choosing a beautiful and relatively symmetrical snag, you can create a whole cascade or even a waterfall from potted ampelous or ordinary begonias, Kalanchoe, etc. Many will immediately object, they say, this beautiful Dutch fairy tale is not for us. They will dig everything up, break everything, or just by chance from the top floor, or throw away a weekly portion of cigarette butts on purpose. This can happen, but it's worth trying. We are already getting used to the abundance of beautiful flower beds and flower beds in large and small cities, to flower pyramids and hanging pots in many of our settlements. And already almost no one touches them, but everyone just enjoys this beauty. And our lawns have already begun to mow regularly, almost like in good old England or Holland. But even a little over ten years ago this was practically nowhere in our country! You just need to start somewhere, and then in our country, over time, everything will become as beautiful as in Europe. I have no doubt about it, it only takes time and our desire.

Good luck creating your Dutch garden!

Author of the text and photos S. Kovalenko