Hollyhocks planted in tree pits in our streets are looking glorious this year,
and they were inspired originally by Lindsey’s Hollyhocks in her front garden. Seeds were gathered and a few years on are looking great elsewhere in the neighbourhood.
Not all our tree pits are looking at their best this year though (some keen planters have moved away and the very cold start to the year did dampen gardening spirits!), so we’re planning a big push to get more planted up next spring. We’ll be sowing more Hollyhock seeds so we have plenty of small plants to give away, and we’re also thinking about other drought tolerant, tough plants such as Lavender,
Erigeron (above), Verbena bonariensis and Salvias. Any other suggestions gratefully received!
I’ve grown Chicory (Chicorium intybus) this year too,
and although the intense blue flowers are truly gorgeous, I think they’re a bit too floppy for this type of street planting, so I’ll transplant this elsewhere and make room for more Hollyhocks. According to Nicky’s seeds, this native perennial grows on waste land and field margins and is excellent food for tortoises (and sheep says Farmgirl Susan in comments below!). Always worth experimenting though to see what survives, and indeed thrives, in this tricky growing environment.
We don’t get a huge amount of vandalism, but I just popped out to take a pic of these lovely plants and was really disappointed to see the damage.
They were beautiful blooms (which I was hoping to collect seed from), but worth noting that Hollyhocks can be tempting candidates for a bit of snapping and it’s also a good idea to mix up the planting to have blooms throughout the seasons. Shame to see though!
And whilst the perennials are growing, we’ll be giving away annual wildflower seeds,
which will always help to beautify our streets. Above is Pictorial Meadow’s ‘Candy’ mix, which has two waves of flowering for double the interest and supplying colour in our neighbourhood well into the summer months.
Your posts are always so inspiring; even seeing the vandalism, which makes it real!!!! What about trying Anthemis which I have found grows in quite unpromising conditions, although maybe a bit too sprawly ;the flowers might get run over
What a wonderful project for a community to participate in. And, for the vandals, well I always wonder what satisfaction did they get out of doing that.
Hi Judy, I think a morning’s planting next spring could be great fun and will really enliven the whole street with colour for the rest of the year. I’m getting excited already!
Had another thought; Lily of the Valley and Japanese Anenomes
Hi Hilary-Fay, thanks for your planting ideas-all sound wonderful and should supply loads of interest throughout the seasons. Think I still have some Lily of the Valley in a pot somewhere, can divide some Japanese anenomes in spring and will lookout for Anthemis on my travels.
Evening primrose is doing well in dry condition in our street. I love the chicory flowers but agree you need to avoid plants that require staking. What about Ajuga reptans, Welsh poppies and aquilegias for Spring?
Hi Sue, Evening primrose sounds like a fab idea and I have aquilegia seed heads ripe for harvesting right now. Off to do a bit of scattering shortly!…..
The street planting looks great! I’m seeing more and more happening around Leeds now and always think of you. Such a shame about the vandalism 😦 There are some morons around. I would recommend Lavender any day because it flowers for such a long time and the bees love it, plus you can use it to make things and in food and drink! Keep up the good work Naomi! Hope you’re well xx
Hi Anna, good ti hear from you. Yes, Lavender seems like such a good option, it’s evergreen and bees love it. We’ve taken some cuttings-so should be a cheap option too!
Don’t forget that lavender is very brittle. I think tree pits need something that will survive or recover from being stepped on. A neighbour here had some fab. Rudbeckia s last year. Hope they’ll flower again this year too. She has sweet Williams just now and they go on a long time as well.
Hi Jo, Thanks for more really useful planting ideas. I’ve seen lots of Sweet William around and I agree, it’s looking splendid at the moment.
Gorgeous! Love the two stage wildflower mix. And I adore hollyhocks. To me they are the quintessential cottage garden flower. Thanks for the reminder that they’ve been sadly missing from my garden for years. I must remember to plant some next year. And thanks, too, for the chicory ID – we have it growing wild in our fields and I’ve been wondering what it was. I love the color of the flowers, and the sheep love to eat them. 😉
Hi Farmgirl Susan, We’ve found our Hollyhocks to be such undemanding plants which surprisingly perform wonderfully in these dry tree pits-they’re really joyous flowers to have in the street and the bees love’em too, so great all round (unless you have rabbits-see David’s comments below!).
The 2 stage wildflower mix was also a revelation and a delight!
Holly Hocks require protection on my side of the pond (yes, there’s a Yank following you! A Long Islander to be specific.) RABBITS!!! Cute little guys but the only place for them is the Hasenpfeffer pot! We have to put a cage around the young plants to protect them. Most people don’t grow them. If I could dope out a way to protect them when planted this way…
Good to hear from across the pond David, and sorry to hear it’s such a challenge to grow Hollyhocks in your neck of the woods. Am partial to a good rabbit stew myself!
What a lovely idea to plant in the tree pits! Wish I saw more of that sort of thing here too – but I know the city would have their cutters ready and would have cut these beauties down before you’d see them grow.
Hi Piia, We’re lucky to have a great local council, who encouraged residents to get planting by giving away free wildflower seeds to residents back in 2009-that’s how our street growing project got started. It’s a pity that your city authorities can’t be persuaded of the benefits to all….
Love the idea of erigeron and hollyhocks and that fab wildflower mix in our tree pits. May come scrounging …
Hopefully we’ll have loads of plants to give away for everyone next year!
Did you grow your chicory from seed? How did you do it? Thanks!
Hi Sophie, Sorry, I think I bought small plant from Herbal Haven at a plant fair in spring! Seeds seem readily available though from Nick’y Seeds.
It’s a wonderful idea, to have such colourful and cheerful planting on what is otherwise a wasted space. So much better than just being left bare, or full of weeds or litter. A great thing to do, very inspiring Naomi!
Hi Mark and Gaz,Tree pit planting does change the whole feel of the street. It reaaly brings the neighbourhood alive-that’s why it’ll be so good to up our activities next year-hopefully!
So lovely to see the normally bare tree pits full of colour, though the snapped stalks are a little depressing. Funny about hollyhocks, they look too lush to survive in such a challenging environment, but their stature works really well.
Hi Janet, Hollyhocks must have some great tap roots to survive in this most challenging of environnments and hopefully we’ll have plenty more in tree pits in the next year or so too. Think our streets can only benefit from this statuesque splash of colour.
Try the common orange day lilies. They thrive in the challenging niches under my trees – the lime trees and the flowering apple.
Thanks TM. They’d look great!
We saw chicory growing wild in Italy this year, supported with the tougher stems of wild grasses, it looked gorgeous.
Hi Julie, Sound absolutely gorgeous! Wish I had a field sized garden to plant up!
Lovely plantings! I have my long curbs planted up with a ground cover Sedum ‘Acre’, spring bulbs, perennials and a shrub in the wider area. I also spread wild carrot about this year, and it really looks lovely now against the dark ivy on our “hill”.
You might try a Sedum under your plantings to give another layer. Small crocus or anemone blanda are nice in spring with it. Also, I wonder if you cut the chicory by half in May if it would give you more color and less height? It grows everywhere in the US, even in roadsides that are mown down a few times in the summer months, so I think that it will respond well.
Hope that helps! Great work!!
Thanks for great planting ideas and I will definitely ‘Chelsea chop’ the chicory next year for a stouter plant-many thanks for that fab suggestion Julie. V.best Naomi
i really like this. The best sort of guerilla gardening
Hi Catharine, hoping to get a whole heap more planted this autumn and next spring. Should look amazing!