Native English Grasses, Trees & Compost Screen for Hardy-Style Cottage Garden

Question: SW England garden, Thomas Hardy cottage style. Need native grasses, native trees, clay brick/lime mortar (protect soil pH), grass screen for compost (not bamboo).

Answer: Native Grasses, Trees, Large Shrubs & Compost Screens

Grasses

• English Rye Grass (Lolium perenne) – hardy, evergreen, erosion control
• Smooth Meadow Grass (Poa pratensis) – Kentucky bluegrass
• Blue Sheep Fescue (Festuca ovina) – drought-tolerant groundcover
• Rough Meadow Grass (Poa trivialis) – pasture type
• Sweet Vernal Grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum) – vanilla scent, medicinal
• Sedges/rushes – grasslike, some need damp soil

Compost Screen

• Common Reed (Phragmites australis) – 2m
• Miscanthus – ornamental, 2m

Lime Mortar

Lime on wall won't leach enough to harm neutral soil after hardening. Only harmful if mixed into soil.

Native Trees (partial list)

• Alder, Crab Apple, Ash, Birch, Box (S. England), Cherry, Plum, Elm (S. Britain), Hawthorn (S. Britain), Hazel, Hornbeam (S. Britain), Small/Large-leaved Linden (S. Britain), Field Maple (S. Britain), Pedunculate & Sessile Oak, Scots Pine, Poplars (Aspen, Black Poplar S. Britain), Rowans/Whitebeams, Willows (Bay, Crack, White, Almond-leaved)

Native Large Shrubs (occasionally tree-size)

Alder Buckthorn, Purging Buckthorn, Elder, Dogwood, Sea-buckthorn, Spindle, Sallow/Goat Willow, Grey Willow.

Naturalised species (Europe, Asia, N. America) also listed.

—Mark Harshman | mahdrafting.com