Julie Grant, My Garden (AL10)

Styles: Contemporary, Suburban, Wildlife

Soil types: Loamy

Soil drainage: Boggy damp conditions, Moist but well-drained, Well-drained

Soil pH: Neutral

Light: Full Shade, Full Sun, Partial Shade

Aspect: North, South, East

Exposure: Exposed

Julie Grant's garden plan

Plants in Julie Grant's garden

Allium vineale 'Hair' (Crow garlic 'Hair')

Acer negundo 'Flamingo' (Box elder 'Flamingo')

Acer palmatum 'Aoyagi' (Japanese maple 'Aoyagi')

Plants Julie Grant wants

Colocasia esculenta 'Black Magic' (Taro 'Black Magic')

Actaea simplex 'Hillside Black Beauty' (Bugbane 'Hillside Black Beauty')

Ajuga reptans 'Black Scallop' (Bugle 'Black Scallop')

Julie Grant

About me
I am a passionate (some would say obsessive) amateur gardener with a liking for unusual plants. I particularly love the endless variety of foliage shapes, textures + colours - throw in a few interesting flowers + happy pollinators + I'm in heaven. I find gardening the perfect foil for my day job - producing user assistance (online help, computer based training, user guides) for a software company. The job allows me to indulge my flair for communication + logical thinking but doesn't give much scope for my creative side. Which is where my garden comes in - I look upon it as a constantly-evolving work of art. There's always something new to look at, something that needs tweaking or some innovative combination of plants to try. And nowadays, with resources like Shoot Gardening available 24/7, I can work on it in a snowstorm or at 3am! And isn't it lovely when friends swoon over your garden?

Gardening expertise
Very Keen

Biggest gardening accomplishments
Turning an area that had been under decking into a vibrant lime-green and grey area with lots of yellow and purple flowers that bees and butterflies love. Yes, I know it sounds garish - but it works! It even looks good in winter. And the number of friends who have taken seeds, cuttings or ideas is extremely satisfying! Who says gardening isn't competitive?

Biggest gardening frustrations
I appear to be accumulating the national collection of slugs + snails. They eat nearly everything - even things that are usually slug-proof. I expect them to munch eryngium + salvias etc. but they gobble up leathery-leaved plants, plants on gravel - they even crossed six foot of slate chippings to decimate tulips in the spring. I've tried nemotodes, cucumber in aluminium, coffee grounds, eggshells + paper cups full of beer. I even tried slug pellets around an asarum I was particularly fond of - they clambered over dead slugs to get at it. The nemotodes work early in the season but not later, when the garden is too full to water them into the ground properly. Coffee grounds, eggshells + aluminium trays of cucumber look ugly. Buried cups of beer works best but what a ghastly job emptying them :-( Oh, and I need a bigger garden - sadly, only a lottery win is going to resolve that problem!

The gardening project I am currently working on
I'm turning the shady side of the garden into a woodland area - digging in lots of mulch etc. I'm going to plant a couple more small deciduous trees in the autumn and am going to fill it with gorgeousness - Podophyllum, Asarum, Arisaema, Epimediums, etc.

On the web
Facebook: julie.grant.1481@facebook.com