The Scruffy End of my Garden || Difficult Plants

In this video we take a close look at the scummy or scruffy end of my garden and talk through the plants.
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[@mariniedermeyer7235]

Found your channel by chance and I like how honest you talk about your problem areas!😅 But I agree with other comments, these scruffy areas which are mostly left alone are usually a heaven for wildlife. My garden is much smaller but I also have a scruffy corner and hedgehogs are returning now yearly into the garden to overwinter and find food. So despite my husband wanting to really tidy it up, I always tell him: not now the hedgehog is hibernating, not now it’s having babies, not know the babies need a home, not now its hibernating….and another year goes by!😂 😊 Greetings from Switzerland 🇨🇭

[@GardeningatDouentza]

Plenty of havens for wildlife around here. I actually think now that the hedgehog didn't make it. I was reading that they should be up by March unless the starved over winter. Very sad.

[@wendychandler8304]

Thank you for giving me another garden to visit. Mine, in Cumbria, on a weather beaten hillside rejects fancy plants, houses rabbits and permits the odd deer. Spring is gorgeous with Japanese acers, flowering cherries then rhododendrons. Best of all are two flowering evergreen shrubs for year-round col colour Pieris Japonica, (lovely scent) and Robinia, its red leaves shimmer in winter sun. Clematis would transform your 'scummy' bits¬

[@GardeningatDouentza]

Sounds great!

[@benwinkel]

Yay! We're back in your garden!

[@GardeningatDouentza]

Welcome back, Ben.

[@kathleenwhite9741]

Your " messy" area looks to me to be an awesome reading nook! Just a side table for a beverage and a pillow to comfy the bench up and it seems to be a cozy private spot for reading. 😀

[@GardeningatDouentza]

I like it!

[@LAllan-ls5er]

Someone is a perfectionist ! Looks quite attractive to me . You can never have enough smoke bush…. and the wonderful Autumn foliage is incredible .

[@LAllan-ls5er]

I’d love a hedgehog in my garden .

[@GardeningatDouentza]

Yes, I am a perfectionist when it comes to the garden. I'm not as much a fan of the smoke bush as you seem to be but it does the job here.

[@FernandaNascimentoOrchids]

Do you know what? I really like your scruffy end of the garden!!! It looks like a woody wild área, great place as hide away for wild life, I guess 😅

[@GardeningatDouentza]

Oh thank you! You are very kind 🙏

[@grannyplants1764]

A couple more small Viburnums would look good there? Lots of possibilities -maybe hostas? Whatever you put in there will look as nice as the rest of your garden. I just love hedgehogs, none here in central NJ/USA, badgers either, but we do have deer and a woodchuck eating the plants. Last year the red Lillybeetle decided to move in, yikes are they destructive, so far I just pick them off starting very early…but hey it’s Spring and I’m happy! 😊🌱

[@GardeningatDouentza]

Those are great suggestions, thank you. I hate that lily beetle but, thankfully, he seems to have moved on here .

[@nannybannany]

I have some purple dead nettle and I'm glad I had put it in a raised bed and not right in the ground. Even though it was sold to me as lamium, I didn't recognize the name at the time as being obviously part of the mint family! You're not kidding, it spreads EVERYWHERE. I've considered planting some where I have an invasive weed after I dig that out in hopes the dead nettle will overtake the invasive!

[@GardeningatDouentza]

I think the dead nettle is good for overcoming weeds. I used to have scutch grass and stuff in that corner.

[@wandashaw3551]

Hello Rachel, I think your back boarder looks good, I have seen some peoples that are not fit for human eyes. :) And I cannot believe how big your grandson has gotten, it's as if you just told us he was born!!

[@GardeningatDouentza]

Yeah, Móg is really flying it now. Never stops talking and never stops moving. And it does seem like yesterday to me too when he first came into our lives. Wishing you a wonderful weekend, Wanda.

[@wandashaw3551]

He looks so cute playing in the garden.

[@liamfinch4129]

Snowdrops, blue bells and foxgloves would all do well there!

[@GardeningatDouentza]

Yes, they all would 😊

[@Fabdanc]

Even in my small garden, I still have neglected spaces. I have a planter box that is very difficult to get too... So I just stuck some angelonia in it. I had been replacing them, but just ended up cutting them to about a half inch nub... And they decided to grow back. I don't love them because my garden is a pollinator garden. I had read that they were good for pollinators, but I don't think I have ever seen anything on them other than spider mites 😂

[@GardeningatDouentza]

Spider mites, haha. Can't imagine having those outdoors but then, I'm not in sunny Texas .

[@soniewhitten4844]

thanks for the video, i enjoyed it very much. beautiful garden!!

[@GardeningatDouentza]

Thank you

[@jaromirpriklas3070]

Dear Ms. Rachel. Thank you very much for your videos. From your videos, I feel that plants are our passion, our joy. I really liked the talk about Protea cynaroides. Where did you manage to buy it? Take care.😁 Paul.

[@GardeningatDouentza]

Yes, plants are our passion. I bought my current protea at a plant fair 14 years ago. I'm not sure this can be any help to you though.

[@helenharland6050]

Apparently you can pollard a Cordyline to any height you want and it will regrow. I have a neighbour who has a row of multi stemmed plants and they cut them back every year and they resprout their tops.

[@GardeningatDouentza]

Well, I didn't know that. Thank you.

[@helenharland6050]

@@GardeningatDouentza Having said that please research it just in case. I take no responsibility if it doesn’t work 😆

[@GardeningatDouentza]

@@helenharland6050 Haha, okay then. I do know that they would resprout when coppiced. In 2010 we had a really bad winter in Ireland and everyone lost their cordylines, or so we thought. They all regrew, including the one featured in this video.

[@paulotto2475]

The maple looks like a green Japanese, Maple

[@GardeningatDouentza]

I think it was sold as a Japanese maple but it's much faster growing than the others.

[@user-ps1fo1vb9s]

Your worst is my best😂

[@GardeningatDouentza]

☺️🤣

[@bewoodford2807]

your scruffy border looks glorious in comparison to mine, LOL. I love Romneya- always wanted a plant. What growing conditions do they need? Your hydrangeas flower buds are early compared to mine. I guess your location is warmer. I'm in N Wiltshire, England, which I believe is equivalent to Zone 8A? I had a cordyline for 10 years, in a ppot, then the cold winter of 2022 killed it 😞 I bought another one last year, but this winter, just in case, I overwintered it in the outbuilding.

[@GardeningatDouentza]

The Romneya likes sun. It does run. But the flowers are gorgeous, like fried eggs but it usually needs staking. You would need to check hardiness for your area. As for the cordyline, they can resprout from the base if knocked back by frost. This one seemed to die in 2010 with a very cold and unseasonal winter (-17). To my surprise it resprouted from the ground and started from scratch.

[@bewoodford2807]

@@GardeningatDouentza thank you 🙂

[@radharcanna]

Your ‘worst’ part of the garden looks great. Maybe add a bit more colour? I’m thinking of cutting down five cordylines because the leaves go everywhere, especially on the lawn and in the beds. The leaves look awful and are such a nuisance. I’m not particularly fond of the trees either. The problem is that they were planted by my parents about 30 years ago and I feel guilty about destroying them. Does anyone else feel guilty about changing or removing what your parents created?

[@GardeningatDouentza]

I understand your reluctance to kill trees that your parents planted. We all have to deal with these things in our own way. The cordyline will resprout if you cut it. You would have to remove new shoots for a few years .

[@radharcanna]

@@GardeningatDouentza That’s very true. Thank you.

[@ammorales1524]

I have got this area in my garden. It’s lush but I have to clear the plants that I consider thugs like the bears britches. I cannot seem to eradicate them!😥

[@GardeningatDouentza]

I feel your pain

[@bethlynch1909]

If the scruffey part of your garden is good for grandsons and wildlife I say leave it.

[@stephenthompson8506]

Instead of cleaning up the cordyline leaves, why not cover them in compost? They will not be an eyesore, it will be less work and they will eventually break down.

[@carolinesmith5297]

You can use the Cordyline leaves and fold them up and use them to light your coal fire..

[@GardeningatDouentza]

Yes but I would not put good compost on this area. I never have enough to go around

[@GardeningatDouentza]

Good to know but we don't have a fire any more