Garden Details: Willow Edging & English Roses

Our rear garden in Ojai is somewhat English inspired, so I thought willow edging would be a nice idea around the rose hedges.   The English call this type of garden element a hurdle.

The center of the rose garden path will have a stone plinth topped with some sort of a vintage planter, which I've yet to get to...maybe next month. ?! 

The willow edging is about 12" inches high and comes in lengths of 48" inches. It is fairly easy to install and is also somewhat flexible so it worked out well around the curves of the center path.  

I purchased this from a company called Master Gardening Products. 

 They sell some really great things from sustainable Eco friendly materials, including oak barrels and birdhouses as well as bamboo trellis's and fencing.

If you're looking for an exact straight edge, this isn't the product.  But I think when the roses fill in this will be very interesting and it sets off the design of the decomposed granite pathway.

The biggest obstacle with this edging is cutting it to fit to your design.  It falls completely apart!  I ended up doing some overlapping and then secured each section with stakes and plastic electrical wire ties, on the inside of the edging

 so they are not visible.  

I would definitely recommend getting a few extra lengths just for piecing the edging together.  This took me an entire day to finish! 

  Each bed has 10 roses of the same variety.  Above is Evelyn.  I also chose Graham Thomas, The Generous Gardener and Queen of Sweden for the rest of the beds.  

Because these roses were developed for the English garden, they don't require as much sun as an American Hybrid.  I think these will thrive in this location under the filtered sunlight of the large Oaks.

 There are a variety of edging styles, some a bit more fancy than this one.  I think simple works better here.
 The little hoops at the top can be pulled out if you don't like them. 

Here are a few more shots of some things that just popped up this last week....wonderful old fashioned Bearded Iris

This beautiful plant is Kniphofia "Red Hot Poker"  It gets about 5 feet tall and is honey bee  and hummingbird heaven.  These are drought tolerant and will bloom through out the summer.

Lime green is another color element that works well and adds bright spots to the perennial beds.  This is Smoketree "golden spirit". 

 The color palette for the garden is mainly orange and purple.  I spotted this new petunia at the local nursery.  It's called "Pretty Much Picasso" and has a bright purple center with lime green edges!  It is so bright and fun.  I really love it. Great name too.

I think I wore out a pair of garden gloves last weekend and used up an entire can of mosquito repellent but seeing at the results. It was worth it!

Happy Gardening