Ivydene Gardens: WELCOME
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Ivydene Gardens informs you how to design, construct and maintain your private garden using organic methods and companion planting.

Part of the design process for choosing plants to use in your garden, involves comparing:-

• The use of that plant in your garden
  • As an Alpine - 104 Evergreen Perennials , 91 Herbaceous Perennials or 82 Rock Garden Plants.
  • for Hay Fever sufferers - then use over 700 bee-pollinated plants (see Bee Bloom Gallery and below) instead of wind-pollinated plants.
  • as 1 of 1000 groundcover plants from Ground Cover a thousand beautiful plants for difficult places by John Cushnie (ISBN 1 85626 326 6).
  • to feed each of the 68 butterflies in the UK, which you see for only a short time and have grown up on plants for up to 11 months, before becoming a butterfly.
  • to Control your garden Pests/Diseases by Companion Planting.
• with its
  • flower colour in each month it flowers, flower shape, foliage colour, and form thumbnails on separate comparison pages with
  • their plant name, height and width, soil type, soil moisture and sun aspect in their own description box below each thumbnail.

Compare different flower colours per month for each plant type within its Plant Photo Gallery with :-

Click on Flower Colour in the Colour Wheel below to
Compare Flowers with that same Colour from the initial 1381 Cultivated Plants and 628 Wildflower Plants detailed in this Website:-

Click on number between 1-7 from 12 Colour or 1-6 from Black Sections or Wild White to see all the plant flowers (1381 cultivated - with another 115 roses in the Rose Plants Gallery, another 270 bulbs in the Bulb Gallery, and 628 native to the UK wildflower) in this website with their:-

• Common Name,
• Botanical Name and
• Months of Flowering

in one of the above 53 Flower Colour Wheel pages to create your colour coordinated flower schemes.

Each Plant Description can then be selected by clicking on the:-

• Plant Name in Plant Name Pages of Plants
• Botanical Name in Flower Colour Wheel Pages,
• Thumbnail in Flower Colour per Month Pages,
• Thumbnail in Flower Colour per Plant Type Pages
• Thumbnail in Foliage, Spring Foliage, Summer Foliage, Autumn Foliage or Winter Foliage Colour Wheels Pages or
• Plant Description Page Name from a Plant Photo Gallery Site Map.

Click on Flower Colour in the Colour Wheel below to
Compare Flowers with that same Bloom Colour in that Month from the initial 1381 Cultivated Plants and 628 Wildflower Plants detailed in this Website:-

Inner circle of Grey is 12 months of Unusual or Multi-Coloured Flower Colour.

Click the number 1 to see all the plant flowers (1446 cultivated, 235 wildflower) in this website with their:-

• Botanical Name (Common Name for Wildflowers)
• Soil Preference
• Sun Aspect
• Soil Moisture
• Height and
• in each Month of Flowering

in one of the above 144 Flower Colour Wheel pages to create Blue, Brown, Cream, Green, Mauve, Orange, Purple, Red, Pink, White, Yellow or Multicoloured (Grey circle in the middle) colour coordinated flower schemes in each month.

Click on Flower Colour in the Colour Wheel below to
Compare Flowers with the same Colour from Bee-Pollinated Flowers:-

For Hay Fever sufferers, it is better to have bee-pollinated plants than wind-pollinated plants, since the pollen spread by that wind is what causes their suffering. The plants in Bee Bloom Gallery are bee-pollinated and they should be used in preference to grasses.
 

Click on the OOO in the Bee-Pollinated Bloom Plant Index below to link to those bee-pollinated plants of that flower colour in that month or any of

ACER (Deciduous/Evergreen Shrub/Tree) in March-April
CHAENOMELES SPECIOSA (Herbaceous Perennial) in March-May
CROCUS (Bulb) in September-April
CYDONIA OBLONGA (Deciduous Shrub) in April-June
DAFFODIL (Bulb) in December-May
DAHLIA (Bulb) in June-November
DUTCH HYACINTH (Bulb) in March-April
HEATHERS (Evergreen Shrub) in every month
HEDERA HELIX (Evergreen Climber) in September-November as last major source of nectar and pollen in the year
HELIANTHEMUM (Deciduous Shrub) in June-August - Pollen only collected when the flowers open during sunny weather
HELENIUM (Herbaceous Perennial) in June-October
HELLEBORUS (Herbaceous Perennial) in January-March
HEUCHERA (Evergreen Perennial) in May-September
HIBISCUS (Deciduous Shrub) in August-September
ILEX (Evergreen Tree) in May-June
LAVANDULA (Annual, Herbaceous Perennial or Shrub) in June-July
LAVATERA (Annual, Biennial, or Herbaceous Perennial) in May-August
LEPTOSIPHON (Annual) in June-August
MAGNOLIA GRANDIFLORA (Evergreen Tree) in August-September
MALVA SYLVESTRIS (Biennial) in June-September
MENTHA (Herb) in July-August
NEMOPHILA (Annual) in April-June
NIGELLA (Annual) in July-September
PHILADELPHUS species only with single flowers (Shrub) in June
POLEMONIUM (Herbaceous Perennial) in April-June
PRUNUS CERASIFERA (Deciduous Tree) in February-March
PRUNUS LAUROCERASUS (Evergreen Shrub) in April-June
PYRACANTHA COCCINEA (Evergreen Shrub) in May-June
ROSES (Deciduous Shrub/Climber) in June-October
RUBUS IDAEUS (Raspberry) (Soft Fruit) in May-June
SALVIA SUPERBA (Herbaceous Perennial) in June-September - no bee garden should be without this plant - for those plants.

Enumber indicates Empty Index Page.
Bottom row of Grey is Unusual or Multi-Coloured Flower Colour.

There are topics on how to design, construct and maintain your private garden using organic methods and companion planting in this website, with the following further detail:-

Garden Maintenance
When you get a private garden, you need to know about your soil so that possible remedial action can be taken. When you know whether it is acidic or alkaline then it's maintenance is easier for you.
This can be followed by organic garden maintenance to understand what are the problems and joys of your garden. The relevant sections of the glossary, tool shed and library should aid you.

Hard Landscaping Garden Design
If you decide to change a portion of your garden, then design the whole of your private garden; rather than doing bits which become unrelated to each other or to the house. If your soil is clay, then this has major design ramifications. The library with case studies will aid the hard landscaping design, especially on drives.

Soft Landscaping Garden Design
The offbeat glossary, the plants,
the plant photographic galleries - Aquatic , Bamboo , Bedding , Bulb , Climber , Conifer , Deciduous Shrub , Deciduous Tree , Evergreen Perennial , Evergreen Shrub , Evergreen Tree , Fern , Grass , Hedging , Herbaceous Perennial , Herb , Odds and Sods , Rhododendron , Rose , Soft Fruit , Top Fruit , Vegetable , Wild Flower -
and companion planting aid the soft landscaping design. To aid your flower colour selection:-

• for complementary or contrasting colour schemes; the Colour Wheel - Flower Petal has been created as shown in the first colour wheel above.
• The 12 colours per month in the Colour Wheel - Bloom in Month provide a crossection of bulb, climber, shrub etc plants with the same flower colour in the same month as shown in the second colour wheel above.
• The third Colour Wheel above can be used by HayFever sufferers to use plants that are Bee-Pollinated instead of being wind pollinated.
• The fourth Colour wheel below aids your selection of Rock Plants for your rock garden.

The Wild Flower Gallery and the Wildlife on Plant Butterfly Gallery show the relationship between the Butterfly and its plant to aid the creation of a wildlife friendly section to your garden.

You can select plants for your garden using the following hierarchy as further detailed in Plants:-

• Level 1: Specific Uses for all Plants Selected:-
  • Attracts Birds and Butterflies for viewing,
  • Bee-Pollinated Plants for people who suffer from Hay Fever,
  • Groundcover plants to reduce your maintenance time,
  • Poisonous plants to avoid having in the garden for young children to sample,
  • Rabbit-Resistant Plants so that not all your plants get eaten by the local wildlife,
  • Flower Arranging Plants so that the flowers can be picked for display in the house. These plants add to the pleasure of creating and maintaining a garden or
  • UK Native Wildflowers for viewing and use by caterpillars eating the leaves, butterflies enjoying the nectar from the flowers and birds eating the seeds.
• Level 2: You need to know what your topsoil is based on and
  either
  select only plants from each list in Level 1 that you require to grow in your topsoil
  or
  select only plants that you require from those that can either grow in your topsoil or can grow in any topsoil
  using 1 or more of the 58 different plant selection categories in 58 columns within the table in each of these Plants for Soil (A-F), (G-L), (M-R) or (S-Z) Pages:-
  
  Plants - Any Soil (description of soil)
  Plant Description Rows for Any Soil A-F
  Plant Description Rows for Any Soil G-L
  Plant Description Rows for Any Soil M-R
  Plant Description Rows for Any Soil S-Z
  
  Plants - Chalky Soil (description of soil)
  Plant Description Rows for Chalky Soil A-F
  Plant Description Rows for Chalky Soil G-L
  Plant Description Rows for Chalky Soil M-R
  Plant Description Rows for Chalky Soil S-Z
  
  Plants - Clay Soil (description of soil)
  Plant Description Rows for Clay Soil A-F
  Plant Description Rows for Clay Soil G-L
  Plant Description Rows for Clay Soil M-R
  Plant Description Rows for Clay Soil S-Z
  
  Plants - Lime-Free Soil (description of soil)
  Plant Description Rows for Lime-Free Soil A-F
  Plant Description Rows for Lime-Free Soil G-L
  Plant Description Rows for Lime-Free Soil M-R
  Plant Description Rows for Lime-Free Soil S-Z
  
  Plants - Light Sandy Soil (description of soil)
  Plant Description Rows for Light Sandy Soil A-F
  Plant Description Rows for Light Sandy Soil G-L
  Plant Description Rows for Light Sandy Soil M-R
  Plant Description Rows for Light Sandy Soil S-Z
  
  Plants - Peaty Soils (description of soil)
  Plant Description Rows for Peaty Soil A-F
  Plant Description Rows for Peaty Soil G-L
  Plant Description Rows for Peaty Soil M-R
  Plant Description Rows for Peaty Soil S-Z
   
• Level 3: Refine your plants already selected or select the plants you wish to use only using 1 or more of the following Level 3 plant selection categories:-
  
  Level 3a: Refine your plant selection by
  Flower Colour (Many plants have cultivars giving different colour flowers with the same form and leaf shape):-
  Blue Flowers
  Orange Flowers
  Other Colour Flowers
  Red Flowers
  White Flowers
  Yellow Flowers
  Choose flowers whose shade of colour will suit your planting scheme.
  
  Level 3b: Refine your plant selection by
  Flower Shape:-
  Bedding
  Evergreen Perennial
  Herbaceous Perennial
  
  Level 3c: Refine your plant selection by
  Foliage Colour and Shape:-
  Aromatic Foliage
  Finely Cut Leaves
  Large Leaves
  Other
  Non-Green Foliage 1
  Non-Green Foliage 2
  If variegated foliage is required use green/yellow, green/white or green/other colour in garden but not 2 or all 3 of them. Addition of other single foliage colours is okay but please do not create an Xmas Tree Decoration
  Sword-shaped Leaves
  Some heathers besides having flowers have foliage colours that change from 1 season to the next season -
  • Spring (March, April, May),
  • Summer (June, July, August),
  • Autumn (September, October, November) and
  • Winter (December, January, February).
     
• Level 4: Refine your plant selection by reviewing what maintenance requirements are needed for each plant and then you might remove that plant from the selected list:-
  Pruning Plants
   
• Level 5: Refine your plants already selected to be ground cover plants only, or
  select from the following ground cover plants in Ground Cover a thousand beautiful plants for difficult places by John Cushnie (ISBN 1 85626 326 6):-
  Plant Name - A
  Plant Name - B
  Plant Name - C
  Plant Name - D
  Plant Name - E
  Plant Name - F
  Plant Name - G
  Plant Name - H
  Plant Name - I
  Plant Name - J
  Plant Name - K
  Plant Name - L
  Plant Name - M
  Plant Name - N
  Plant Name - O
  Plant Name - P
  Plant Name - Q
  Plant Name - R
  Plant Name - S
  Plant Name - T
  Plant Name - U
  Plant Name - V
  Plant Name - W
  Plant Name - XYZ
  Using these groundcover plants in your planting scheme (either between your trees/shrubs in the border or for the whole border) will - with mulching your beds to a 4 inch depth and an irrigation system - provide you with a planted garden with far less time required for border maintainance.
   
• Level 6: Then,
  finally use
  COMPANION PLANTING to
  aid your plant selected or to
  deter Pests
   

Garden Construction
Having done the structural and detailed design process, garden construction can then take place in stages with the aid of getting materials using useful data, before returning once more to organic garden maintenance.

Click on Flower Colour in the Colour Wheel below to
Compare Flowers with that same Colour of Rock Garden Plants:-

The Rock Garden Plant Index pages provide all the required information in a condensed form to aid your selection of (82) small rock garden plants for small areas - with the flower colour linking to the Rock Garden Plant Colour Wheel Page (click on number in colour of Rock Garden Colour Wheel Map below to transfer) to see which other rock garden plants are in that same colour.

This is a sad story about our native Monkey Orchid....

It is so sad, that she has to lie down, and...

Irrelevant material, with logo/Ivydene Horticultural Services Email Link and copyright is added at bottom of each page.

Currently (August 2016), I can receive but not send emails, so please provide phone number/country or full postal address if reply required.

...to prevent cows from eating our native orchid plants, we must put the orchids in chicken-wire cages:-

"The Green Tree of Love's Mystery"
by
Madeleine F. Williamson Pires

"As well as producing oxygen for us to breathe, trees are for humans a place of refuge, source of building material and for me, a living testament to the bounteous beauties inherent in nature. In our fast-moving contemporary city life, I believe it is important to at least have pictures of trees around us to enrich our lives, since they are designed to make our environment healthier." from
Madeleine F. Williamson Pires.

Explanation of Gallery Structure and its expansion capability of this educational non-income-generating-for-me website hobby :-

Each Plant Description Page may have the following photos in 150 x 150 pixel or larger pass-through graphics:-

• a Flower
• Flowers to show flower distribution
• Leaf
• Foliage to show how the leaves are arranged
• Shape to show overall natural shape
• Fruit/Seeds to show juvenile, mature and old fruit/ seeds

then in each Comparison Page in 50 x 50 pixel pass-through graphics there will be:-

• Flower,
• Foliage,
• Form,
• Shape,
• Fruit/Seeds or
• The plants in Flower Beds

Comparison Pages:-
The comparison pages (see Website Design History Page) in all the other photo galleries including the Cultivated Plant Galleries (See for example the Bulb Gallery) show thumbnail photos / butterflies on the same page for selection purposes. Clicking on the thumbnail photo adds another page (which you can move elsewhere on the monitor screen) giving the detailed text description of the plant / butterfly with more and larger photos. From October 2014, it changes the Comparison Page to the Plant Description Page - currently this is being done for new and previously created Rose and Heather Plant Description Pages (October 2014).

then in the Flower Colour per Month and the Colour Wheel Pages in 50 x 50 pixel pass-through graphics there will be:

• Flower

This adds up to a fair number of photos.

It is worth reading and using the Comparison Menu like the following above the compared images to understand the image and the information in its text box below that image:-

Each Site Map Page is limited by the length of a displayed Page to about 400 web filenames, so with the Comparison Pages this limits the number of Plant Description Pages to about 330.

Because of this for example; the Site Map Page that you link to from the Main Menu on the top left for Bulb is the Gallery that contains all the Bulbs from the other Galleries in 1 of 6 Flower Colours in each of the Months that Bulb flowers in:-

• Autumn Bulb
• Colchicum/Crocus Bulb
• Late Summer Bulb
• Lily and Woodland Bulb
• Spring Bulb

These bulb names are in the Bulb Index Table on the right hand side in every page of that Gallery. This Bulb Index then links to the relevant Bulb Description Page in the relevant Gallery. As more plants are added to a Plant Type like Bulbs, then perhaps another new Gallery will be added to the expanded list and prefixed by ... in the Menu list.

Each expanded list will only then appear in the relevant galleries. This system is repeated for the Wildflowers, Roses, Climbers, Perennials, Shrubs and Trees.

..........

For the Alpine Plants, there is only the following:-

• Alpine List page in Plants Topic,
• in the Evergreen and Herbaceous Perennial Galleries have a blue background to their plant names in the relevant INDEX link to Plant Description Page table in those Galleries. Those galleries also provide the Plant Description Pages and Comparison Pages of those Alpines,
• Rock Garden Plants suitable for small gardens in Colour Wheel Gallery and
• the following pages from Infill Plants Index Gallery:-
  • Alpine Shrubs,
  • Alpine Conifers,
  • The Alpine Meadow Pages 1, 2, 3
  • The Alpine Border
  • The Alpines that Dislike Lime
  • Alpines and Walls
  • Alpines and Paving
  • Sink and Trough Gardens