Adding Oriental Touches to a Pool's Environment - Page 3

alanskoi · 11-09-2011, 09:56 AM

hi im only 5min away in leigh i to find their prices a bit ott

Marlene&Boycie · 11-09-2011, 11:26 PM

Hi doghouse Riley.

Your garden is beautiful, I especially like your teahouse, although I'm sure that was a beer in there and not a brew! ;0)

At the moment our garden is quite English country but we have plans to expand the koi theme, we've a new pergola to put up and we're desperate for some wisteria, all plans for summer 2012.

Doghouse Riley · 12-09-2011, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marlene&Boycie

Hi doghouse Riley.

Your garden is beautiful, I especially like your teahouse, although I'm sure that was a beer in there and not a brew! ;0)

At the moment our garden is quite English country but we have plans to expand the koi theme, we've a new pergola to put up and we're desperate for some wisteria, all plans for summer 2012.

Thanks for that, I've just filled up with two cases of Budweiser, on special offer at the Coop at £7.50.

If you are getting a wisteria, buy one in bloom in the spring.
Some garden centres sell wisterias that never bloom, so it's the only way to ensure you get a good one.

To get them to flower the following year, the side shoots need to be pruned back to two or four buds in January.

We've five and I now prune ours between Christmas and New Year, (there's global warming for you).
If you leave the pruning until the spring, it won't flower.

This is how hard the pruning has to be, so the flowers come before any foliage. This was taken 14th April this year, the blooms are just coming out, but no sign of any foliage yet. This one's about fifteen years old

On 20th of May it was like this.

This is the one on the pergola next to the pool, it was taken twenty years ago, (before we changed the patio doors back to French windows again, (don't ask!).
But I like this photo. It's much the same every year.

Daran · 12-09-2011, 08:15 AM

You need to be careful with wisteria around the the pond as all parts of it are poisonous.

I will see if i can find the list of dangerour plants I had .

Marlene&Boycie · 12-09-2011, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doghouse Riley

Thanks for that, I've just filled up with two cases of Budweiser, on special offer at the Coop at £7.50.

If you are getting a wisteria, buy one in bloom in the spring.
Some garden centres sell wisterias that never bloom, so it's the only way to ensure you get a good one.

To get them to flower the following year, the side shoots need to be pruned back to two or four buds in January.

We've five and I now prune ours between Christmas and New Year, (there's global warming for you).
If you leave the pruning until the spring, it won't flower.

This is how hard the pruning has to be, so the flowers come before any foliage. This was taken 14th April this year, the blooms are just coming out, but no sign of any foliage yet. This one's about fifteen years old

On 20th of May it was like this.

This is the one on the pergola next to the pool, it was taken twenty years ago, (before we changed the patio doors back to French windows again, (don't ask!).
But I like this photo. It's much the same every year.

Wow, they are looking lovely. Your garden is so neat and tidy! Thanks for the tip on buying them in bloom, that's a great idea. We were at a local garden centre 2 weeks ago and were tempted, a wisteria there was about 6' tall and £30 which seemed quite reasonable, although not so if we didn't get a single flower next summer! I'm glad we waited. The pergola needs to go up first anyway and unfortunately the leaky pond has put pay to all the other nice jobs that needed to be done...

Doghouse Riley · 07-10-2011, 07:13 PM

As someone earlier in this tome mentioned the acer, it might be interesting to know how to achieve the "dome shape" that makes these Acer Palmatums so attractive....and there again it might not!

If you want to "have a go" the variety you need is the one with the fine leaves, there a few varieties of these, some like mine start off green and then go red as they flesh out in the sun. Any leaves sheltered by the top layer stay green until exposed to the sun. Some varieties stay green all the time, so you have to get the right ones.
Don't get the broad leaf variety, they tend to scorch in the sun and don't look so attractive. Ideally, you need to select a "suitable case for treatment." One with a nice straight trunk and several branches which can form a "head." But they can be hard to find.

They won't be perfect from a garden centre but they'll be OK.
Here's our "biggy" on the right, about twenty years ago which looks in this old photo quite "unsuitable." The one on the left was moved shortly after and re-planted in front of the tea-house, but popped its clogs about five years ago and had to be replaced, (so I don't get everything right).

Incidentally, how to make one of these 4 foot high "antique Japanese lanterns" and an authentic looking pagoda, I've covered in this confusingly similarly named topic.

Adding Oriental Touches to a Pool's Environment

Now it's been this shape for about ten years I actually keep it in shape with garden shears.

The method is to surround the tree with bamboo canes connected to each other by wire. From these you attach other wires to selected branches of the tree. You may need to pull them sideways as well as down. Don't pull too hard, just enough to get them to bend a bit. Leave it for a a month and then pull them down a bit more, then another month and so on. Prune off any untrainable branches.
This was about four years ago, in its second year with us, it's already shaping up nicely.

This is the same one early this year, you can see that the only branches I've allowed to grow are at the top. The trees are quite hollow under the canopy.

It's just about there now. One or two branches needed a bit more attention to keep them in the right place.

You need to plant them in ericacious compost and in warm weather water 'em a couple of times a day, as they are shallow rooted.

Fish "poo" from your filters is an excellent fertilizer for these, rhododendrons and azaleas.

I'd previously made this "Willow Pattern" screen for the rear of the garden. At one time there was just a mesh wire fence I put between the two gardens, so the visual effect was of a very long garden. But it rotted a bit after many years and I eventually binned it when we had the post and panel fence erected.

Doghouse Riley · 18-02-2012, 01:09 PM

I've added a few more photos to the first page of this tome.

chagoi2 · 06-03-2012, 11:45 PM

Looking good

I must add some pics of my Garden on the forum at some stage , it was very mature but i ripped it all apart when i re did the pond 3-4 years ago .

I still have a Acer Palmatum i,ve moved several times in the last 18 years and it is looking very nice are rather large !