Spotting an old steel dustbin that had been discarded behind a hydrangea-clad wall, I set myself the task of cheering up this ugly duckling of a container, using the caramels, toffees and sticky apples of November’s Bonfire Night as inspiration. By picking up a few of the tones within the leaves of a Hydrangea petiolaris growing on the brick wall behind the bin, I was able to bring this container out from its hiding place to centre stage and transform it into a beautiful autumnal feature.
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How to achieve the look
Container and composition
Scale is everything when you have a container of this size; the planting’s main components need to have some presence about them. The bin itself inspired the choice of hellebore, the pewter-green leaves and pink flowers of which tone so well with the container’s metallic grey shades. It’s the perfect plant for this destination: its colours sit so well against grey, while the solidity of both its flowers and leaves provide the bulk needed here.
The saxifrage’s flowers last throughout autumn and have good matching shades of pink and cream, making this mounded plant a perfect partner to the hellebore. Both have stems with hints of pinky-brown, creating a good link to the orange-streaked leaves of Anemanthele lessoniana ‘Sirocco’, which turn orange-brown over winter, and to the brick wall and hydrangea leaves in the background.
These mouth-watering toffees and caramels need green to balance them – the variegated Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald Gaiety’ and Hedera helix ‘Little Silver’ do this perfectly, bringing light as well as colour to the mix.
Cultivation and care
This arrangement is perfectly happy in a container for a few years, as long as the compost is replaced and the euonymus is kept trimmed. Ensure that the drainage is good as the saxifrage does not like
sitting in wet soil.
Plants
Anemanthele lessoniana ‘Sirocco’ A useful semi-evergreen perennial grass. 90cm x 75cm. RHS H4, USDA 8b-10b.
Hedera helix ‘Little Silver’ An evergreen trailing plant with cream-edged leaves.
30cm x 30cm. RHS H5, USDA 4a-9b.
Saxifraga Dancing Pixies Tini (= ‘Sh 1914’) A dwarf, mound-forming perennial with masses of star-shaped, pink-edged white flowers with yellow centres. 25cm x 60cm. RHS H4.
Euonymus fortunei ‘Emerald Gaiety’ A small, bushy, evergreen shrub that will happily climb. Emerald-green leaves with creamy-white margins, which can become tinged pink in the winter. 1m x 1.5m. AGM. RHS H5, USDA 5a-9b.
Helleborus x ballardiae HGC Maestro (= ‘Coseh 890’) Creamy-pink saucers of flowers become darker as they age. The leathery foliage is dark green with pewter-grey tones. 45cm x 60cm. RHS H7, USDA 4a-9b.
Plants: How Green Nursery Tel 01732 700382, howgreennursery.co.uk Wholesale only.
Location: Water Lane Walled Garden waterlane.net
