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Any tips for appropriate vegetation to plant around a garden railway?


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I'm in the process of redeveloping my garden railway into a large O gauge line. I want to plant low slow growing evergreen plants to complement the models and wonder what people might recomend for this? I want low maintenance and visually complimentary to the trains. So far I have some heather plants and quite a few low growing juniper type bushes. I wondered whether anyone might have some recommendations on other plants?

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I'm in the process of redeveloping my garden railway into a large O gauge line. I want to plant low slow growing evergreen plants to complement the models and wonder what people might recomend for this? I want low maintenance and visually complimentary to the trains. So far I have some heather plants and quite a few low growing juniper type bushes. I wondered whether anyone might have some recommendations on other plants?

 

Amongst others, Rhododendron, dwarf varieties such as Impeditum, general rule if it is a very small leafed variety it'll be pretty dwarf in habit, Euonymus fortune Emerald n' Gold, Emerald Gaiety, Blondy are smallish shrubs that'll withstand a good clipping. Japanese Azaleas (again Rhododendron family) will get to around 3ft height and spread but slowly. You may get away with some of the smaller growing Hebes such as Green Globe and James Stirling, again with Hebe general rule, biggish leaf, biggish grower. Gaultheria procumbens is a reddish foliage low growing evergreen groundcover. Some grasses and sedges might work such as Carex Evergold and Ophiopogon Nigerescens. Pieris Little Heath and Little Heath variegate are both small compact growers with white flowers and coloured new leaf growth. Berberis Buxifolia Nana is a small evergreen shub with orange/yellow flowers April/May and along the same lines Berberis Thunbergii Atropupurea Nana and Bagatelle are both deciduous forms but with a deep wine red foliage for contrast, they'd work well near something with a yellow or variegated foliage, plenty more if you need them!  

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Creeping Thyme is an excellent plant for ground cover, and the tiny leaves of some varieties

are almost compatible with 4mm. In the Summer Thyme produces tiny mauve flowers which

could be imagined as moorland covered in Heather.

The RHS at Wisley, Surrey, have a good selection for sale in late Spring, Maybe the other RHS

gardens stock varieties of Thyme.

I have included a couple of images of the plants on my garden railway.

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There's an excellent book by Becky Pinniger. Probably out of print now, but still available second hand. https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=22488048285&searchurl=sortby%3D20%26an%3Dbecky%2Bpinniger&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title10

What works very much depends on your garden's exposure etc.

 

Good luck

 

Phil

I bought a copy of this on Amazon a couple of weeks ago and it’s excellent. It’s full of pictures, advice on planting, plants and photos.

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Thanks for those suggestions. Tracklaying of the mainline has finally been completed today so I'll be investigating garden centres over the coming weeks for all your suggestions. The rest of the soil will be getting a covering of chipped bark to keep the weeds away. I found it worked really well around the previous garden railway.

 

I have also acquired a few bits of railway detritus such as a variety of rail chairs and other ironwork so will be adding them to the rockery once they are cleaned up and painted with Hammerite. All of them were dug out of fields where railways had long since ceased to be; amazing what lingers long after the demolition crews have supposedly picked a line clean.

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  • 8 months later...

I know this topic seems to be moribund, but I can't think where else to post. For those looking for small shrubs suitable for ground-level gardens, Lidl had a selection of Hebes of varying types at £1.65 per plant. I found them in the Hawkinge shop, on the 'end of season' shelves by the entrance. They looked healthy, something that cannot always be said of plants in such locations.

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All of the above are good.  I've found Mind-your-own-business or baby’s tears, Soleirolia soleirolii (syn. Helxine soleirolii) to work well.  It is a creeping perennial with tiny rounded leaves. Despite looking pretty in cracks in paving, it re-grows from the smallest stem sections and can apparently get out of control - although that hasn't been a problem yet on the Dorking Garden Railway.  But I could do with getting rid of all that ivy.

 

 

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  • 1 year later...

I second the comments on Becky Pinniger's book. Mine just arrived yesterday (supposedly second hand, but as-new) and looks really helpful.

Another tip I saw recently was that you can plant shrubs in plant pots: apparently the restricted root system then helps keep the growth small. And then easy to dig up and move later if necessary/desired.

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Not evergreen, but I've found surprisingly good as a good backdrop: the smaller-growing varieties of gooseberry bush, which have a relatively small leaf-size, and remain nice and tight and compact overall.

 

As a "scenic break", to make my small-ish circuit look bigger by putting something taller in the centre, I have used Lad's Love (southern wormwood). This is a seriously quick grower, and spreads like a weed (it is a weed!), but management is dead simple: cut it back hard, then it makes nice, fresh, dense, new growth.

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