Plants for Garden Railways

A place for discussing garden railway scenery, such as buildings, trees, etc....
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philipy
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Plants for Garden Railways

Post by philipy » Thu Aug 30, 2018 10:57 am

Following Rik's random thought on Andrew's thread, I know that there is Becky Pinniger's book, but I thought it might be an idea if folks posted info on plants that they thought were useful near their railways. I don't profess to be much of a gardener, I can almost never remember the fancy Latin names and the labels mostly seem to disappear but I'll kick it off with these:

The obvious ones of course are:
TREES:
Cypress 'Top Point' ( AKA Supermarket Christmas decorations!)
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Young Yew, but keep it clipped
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Taxus Baccata
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Chamaecyparis Thyoides 'Rubicon'
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Cryptomeria japonica 'Vilmorinia'
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Various small leafed Acers


Lonicera Nitida
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Lonicera Nitida Baggesens Gold
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GROUND COVER:
Babys Tears/Mother of Thousands/MYOB/....



Erodium
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Saxifrage -mossy types
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Creeping Veronica
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Winter Savory
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Acaena ( Don't know what this variety is)
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Acaena buchananii
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Prostrate Rosemary
Some low growing Hebe's - in this picture a Hebe and Rosemary are growing together and all tangled up!
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Creeping Thymes
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Hutchinsia
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I tend to look at local garden centres ( Not Wyvale, Hilliers, Homebase, B&Q, etc) at about this time of year when they are putting 'cripples' in a big reduced pile. If it doesn't have a label don't worry, if it has small leaves that's all that really matters, who cares about the Latin name and for 50p or a quid it doesn't really matter whether it lives or dies?
Philip

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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by tom_tom_go » Thu Aug 30, 2018 11:52 am

This shall be a sticky, good idea.

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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by Lonsdaler » Fri Aug 31, 2018 9:35 am

Excellent stuff Philip. I love the creeping Thymes - many varieties too, so doesn't look like all one type of plant.
Phil

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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by Peter Butler » Thu Sep 06, 2018 8:37 pm

Just planted 3 types of low growing, spreading plants which might be of interest...
Thymus capitatus... 10cm tall.
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Isotama Fairy Carpet ..... 5cm tall

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Raouli australis.... 2cm tall
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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by ge_rik » Fri Sep 07, 2018 6:59 am

Thanks - very interesting stuff. Quick question.

I really struggle to grow saxifrage and thyme. Tried several times and on each occasion they shrink in size and then disappear. Are they sensitive to soil type? I'm on clay which I've tried enriching with peat.

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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by philipy » Fri Sep 07, 2018 7:32 am

I'm no expert gardener and I do seem to kill saxifrage and bushy thyme, so that I've more or less given up on them. However creeping thymes seem to do well on our clay, so much so that they have actually covered the tracks in a couple of places and rooted on the other side when left alone. I pulled some up off the track about a week ago and it had rooted into the moss between the rails, so I've planted the bits in a couple of pots and watered them a bit 2 or 3 times since and they seem to still be alive. They do like sun and in general are less keen on shade, they also don't seem to like 'good' soil so enriching the clay may be the wrong thing to do. I believe their natural habit is in sunny rocky locations. They seem to be reasonably drought tolerant but definitely don't like to dry out completely. One small potted plant planted about 4 years ago now covers an area almost 12inches wide by 6ft long and I've trimmed it away from the tracks several times or it would have been bigger still by now.. This summer it seems to have done particularly well, which may emphasise its love of sun!

If anyone can add anything more definitive to my laymans experiences, please do?
Philip

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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by invicta280 » Fri Sep 07, 2018 9:04 am

I've not had much luck with Thyme either, despite my wife being a knowledgeable gardener. We know that they like 'bony' soil, dryish habitat, sunny position. They are a mediterranean type plant after all. Every time we try them they seem to sulk and then slowly shrivel up. :scratch:

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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by SimonWood » Fri Sep 07, 2018 10:47 am

I'm on clay. I've had thyme that has absolutely thrived for well over year - plant getting bigger and bigger. Then whole chunks die off until the entire thing is dead wood. I've still got a couple of the cuttings going that I took when it was thriving, but I've no idea how to stop them going the same way...

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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by philipy » Fri Sep 07, 2018 11:07 am

I can't offer any more suggestions apart from what I've already said and to reiterate that in my experience the creeping varieties seem to do much better than the bushy ones, for some unknown reason.

This one is about 5 years old. It started from the RH end of the picture and has slowly spread along to the left. The trackside gang have to regularly cut it back from the track as you can see. It doesn't get much sun, being shaded by the Honesuckle on the arch to the left. It is sgrowing in clay with added general compost and bits of topsoil. The ground keeps sinking and from time to time I top it up with whatever is available!
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This one is only a couple of years old and rarely sees the sun, being under the edge of the apple tree canopy. I cut it back from the track a few weeks ago so you can see the recent growth.
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This is the big one! It started from the top right as just a typical small garden centre 75mm pot. Its been there about 5 or 6 years and has spread to overhang the pond edge slabs, the track, and the yellow stonecrop, rooted in the track, and on the LH side of the track where it is already starting to spread across the paving slab..
It is growing in a narrow but deep lump of clay and it doesn't get much sun because it is shaded by fairly tall/dense shrubs on the LH off picture.
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Unfortunately, I can't tell you names of any of them, because the labels always get lost.
Philip

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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by Robert Hammond » Sun Jan 06, 2019 4:16 pm

Surely bonsai trees would be ideal but I never heard of anyone using bonsai in a garden railway. Does anyone have any ideas on this?

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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by philipy » Sun Jun 30, 2019 3:12 pm

Bonsai is a work in progress that never ends, afaik. They need fairly constant pruning and training of branches and, I believe more importantly, pruning roots, to keep them small. Planted in the garden that would all be difficult to say the least. Additionally of course, a decent bonsai takes many years to grow and they can then be worth many hundreds of pounds each. I don't think I'd risk one in the garden myself, but I'm no expert and I'll probably now be shot down by folk who know far better than me! :lol:
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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by andymctractor » Thu Aug 01, 2019 11:46 pm

For trees I use the ones everyone else uses with a lot of crossed fingers and see what happens. Can't stop the dog peeing on them, which is less of a problem once they are established. About 50% of my trees are box but I've not bought any more since I heard of the deadly disease that is spreading up the UK.

Ground cover is also a bit of hit and miss but one I love is Leptinella Patentilla (i think). This, I believe has origins in New Zealand. Close up it looks like 1:19 scale bracken. In winter it goes dark and looks like it has died but it come back in the summer. It can be bought from garden centres but is quite expensive. Best way is to get a handful from someone who uses it and start it off with plenty of water.
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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by DonW » Fri Aug 02, 2019 12:18 am

philipy wrote: Sun Jun 30, 2019 3:12 pm Bonsai is a work in progress that never ends, afaik. They need fairly constant pruning and training of branches and, I believe more importantly, pruning roots, to keep them small. Planted in the garden that would all be difficult to say the least. Additionally of course, a decent bonsai takes many years to grow and they can then be worth many hundreds of pounds each. I don't think I'd risk one in the garden myself, but I'm no expert and I'll probably now be shot down by folk who know far better than me! :lol:
You are right Phil Bonsai needs to have the roots restricted and are generally grown in small trays. Plant out in the Garden and they will get bigger. Incidentally when we moved into one house there was a conifer about 16ft tall quite close to the house and quite wide. I later discovered it had been planted as a minature 6 inch high some 32 years before. Slow growing at 6 ins per year but so far as I know it could have grown to 36ft by now.

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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by philipy » Sat Aug 03, 2019 1:59 pm

I did 2 years Latin and dropped it as soon as I was able to!
As for conifers, especially in pots, they dislike too much water and annoyingly they also dislike too little water :roll: :scratch: I've killed them both ways which is how I know. :cussing: Plus, they sometimes just die for no apparent reason. If that happens I just treat it as a reason to get a new small one.
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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by philipy » Sat Aug 03, 2019 2:11 pm

I've been meaning to reply to Andy ( Mctractor) but kept forgetting.
I think the Leptinella Potentilla may actually now be Leptinella Squalida, also known as 'New Zealand Brass Buttons' . There is also a variation of this called "Leptinella squalida 'Platt's Black' " which has a much darker leak. I've tried to grow both of these in the past with little success, i.e, they died!

However, to pick up on Dave's point about naming, the Leptinella family comprises 33 species and have suffered various name changes and reclassifications! Do a search for Leptinella and the Wikipedia entry has more info.
Philip

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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by andymctractor » Wed Sep 11, 2019 1:45 pm

andymctractor wrote: Thu Aug 01, 2019 11:46 pm About 50% of my trees are box but I've not bought any more since I heard of the deadly disease that is spreading up the UK.
Page 19 of the i newspaper Tues 10th Sept had an article looking at the Ham Estate owned by the National Trust which has almost two thirds of a mile of Box. They've noticed that a group of jackdaws have developed a taste for the 'box tree moth'. When the moths emerge the jackdaws appear. Gardeners at the estate are exploring ways to encourage the jackdaws as some badly damaged areas of box have begun to rejuvenate.
I'm going to suggest that if you see a jackdaw or similar pecking at any sad looking box bushes, rather than blame them for the damage you might encourage them to stay and eat their fill.

Good luck.
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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by DonW » Wed Sep 11, 2019 11:53 pm

We have quite a lot of box hedging but we also get visits from the local Jackdaws which sounds like it might help.

Thanks for the info.

Don

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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by Andrew » Tue Sep 17, 2019 1:50 pm

I was tweaking a fishplate on the lift-out bridge next to the back gate the other day and wondered what all the strange yellow detritus all over the track was - looking up, I noticed that the box tree above it was a complete mess, which seems to be the work of the box tree moth. I'll find an alternative, but I'm rather sad about it - box trees have been part of my garden railway world for the 15 years we've lived at the current address. They've survived being transplanted twice while the garden was completely trashed by building work, but it looks like they may be on their way out. Unless I can find me some jackdaws, of course, or persuade the local robins, sparrows, tits and blackbirds that the box tree moth is a tasty delicacy...

Cheers,

Andrew.

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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by philipy » Tue Sep 24, 2019 10:10 am

I've copied here the gist of a discussion from Invicta's Cobtree Line thread which was getting hi-jacked.
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Re: The Cobtree Line

Post by Andrew » Mon, 23 Sep 2019 9:13 pm
Nice picture! Might have to try some of those plants...

Does your MYOB have any adverse impact on your SBR'd ballast Philip? I recently weeded mine where it had grown over some track which I ballasted earlier in the year, and it appeared to pull up some of the ballast, but I think it might just have been where I didn't apply enough glue...

Cheers,

Andrew
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Re: The Cobtree Line


Andrew wrote: ↑
Mon, 23 Sep 2019 9:13 pm

Does your MYOB have any adverse impact on your SBR'd ballast Philip? I recently weeded mine where it had grown over some track which I ballasted earlier in the year, and it appeared to pull up some of the ballast, but I think it might just have been where I didn't apply enough glue...

A quick squirt of "24hr weedkiller" solves that problem without the need for physical force! You can never get it all out anyway by pulling.
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Re: The Cobtree Line


Maybe you are right, but I've also got dirty brown rather than green fingers, so I dunno.

This picture shows my Aubretia, Thyme and MYOB.
The Aubretia at low level to the left is where the original high level plant rooted itself this year after cascading itself down.
The MYOB is just doing it's own thing and covering everything it can.
The Thyme to the left, growing across the track, has done that in the last week or two, and I noticed only yesterday that it has crept along the outer edge of the MYOB on the paving slab!! It started life a small rooted piece that got pulled off the main plant a couple of yards away and I just pushed in the gap about this time last year.

The fungi just appear, we get many different varieties, dunno what they are, but I guess it shows how damp things are generally.

The rockery is facing slightly west of south and spends much of the day in the shadow of the house.
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I'm not at home at the moment so can't reciprocate with pictures of my attempts but can I ask how much of a soil pocket the aubretia has? If any, of course. The few areas where my myob does well look similar to your patch, and other parts of the line have patches of moss taking root, whilst others remain starkly barren.

And apologies for the thread hijack

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Re: Plants for Garden Railways

Post by philipy » Tue Sep 24, 2019 10:26 am

In answer to your question - 'Not a lot'.
At the top there are pockets between the rockery stones which may go down a few inches of soil, but the rocks themselves go maybe a foot or even less.

This picture shows the rockery when it was fairly new back in 2013. Most of the plants in this pic have long since gone the way of all things ( my non-green fingers at work!) but the rocks haven't changed. As you can see there isn't a lot of distance between the bottom of the rocks and top of the tunnel lining, but the aubretia was eventually planted roughly where the purplish flowers are in the top centre of the pic, and there is a wee bit more depth there, between the tunnel and side of the waterfall.
Rockery new.jpg
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