After finishing the planters by the back door, I found myself with a spare Serbian bellflower. Looking for something to plant this in, I remembered the old ceramic pot that has been sitting on the garden table holding the cover in place. At 25cm in diameter, it’s the ideal size for what I have in mind. It’s a little weathered and has a chip in the rim, but it still has plenty of character. I thought it might do nicely by the front door, which is north facing and shaded for most of the day. My hope is that the bellflower will eventually flow over the edge and help disguise the chip a bit.
Wanting something that would thrive in the conditions and give a bit of seasonal interest, I turned to ChatGPT again for a bit of inspiration. The suggestion was to go for a woodland-inspired theme, using a fern for structure and a Heuchera for contrasting colour.
I headed to the local garden centre to look for something along those lines. As ever, availability was limited, so I had a bit of a browse and checked in with ChatGPT again from my phone to talk through the options they had. In the end, I picked up two that stood out:
- Athyrium niponicum ‘Metallicum’, a Japanese painted fern with silvery fronds and dark stems
- Heuchera ‘Cherry Cola’, a compact variety with rich, warm-toned leaves that should hold its own and soften the edge of the pot
With the Serbian bellflower planted next to the chip in the rim and the fern at the back to give a canopy effect, I put the Heuchera towards the front of the pot and settled it by the front door. There was quite a bit of space in the pot, which I might place some moss in in future, to give the impression of the woodland floor, but for the moment, I have added a couple of small bits of rotting tree branch to appear like fallen trees. It is already making the entrance feel more welcoming and I’m looking forward to seeing how it fills out through the season.
There’ll be a video going up on the YouTube channel in a few weeks. I’ll also share a few photos over on Instagram as the display develops.
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