Autumn 2019

The locals admire the freshly sprouted mushrooms on this October afternoon.

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Cupressus macrocarpa - Goldcrest Wilma

This is a nice looking cypress which warm yellow/green color seems to add a bit of sunlight even on cloudy days. The branches are fine and look beautiful in scale with the railway.
I planted 2 of these in September 2018 near the little mansion. The flowerbed strongly slanted downwards at this spot so some rocks were placed to prevent soil from sinking away.
 

Planted September 2018

Seems like a strong plant

September 2018

May 2019

Only one of the 2 survived the winter. The second turned dry and did not recover.  I actually don't know what happened. Perhaps the spot was too difficult or water ran off too quickly.
The survivor seems doing alright. Some more of these would make a nice little forest.

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Buxus

Buxus, also known as Boxwood, make very fine model trees. I really like the look of these evergreen bushes which can be trimmed easily to represent beautiful miniature trees. I have seen very convincing examples, some even holding miniature swings or tree-houses.They are somewhat ' Bonzai' like.
The plant is very strong. I brought several of Buxus from my old garden when I moved to my current location without any problem.

Unfortunately I don't own much of them anymore because of its nemesis: the feared Buxus Moth.
This little bugger was very active in my neighborhood during the summer of 2018, causing the loss of some beautiful hedges and artistic shaped plants in multiple gardens in the area. The caterpillar settles itself in the plant causing it to turn brown and eventually die. The caterpillar does not have any natural enemies beside some birds. Before I realized it almost al my Buxus were gone. Only three little ones survived as they were hardly big enough for a caterpillar to hide!

March 2018. This could have been a nice miniature forest by now...

March 2018

 June 2019

A moth survivor. June 2019. But it will take a while to become a 'tree' again...

Depending on how things develop with the Buxus moth I perhaps buy some of these lovely plants again (I assume when there are almost no Buxus left in the neighborhood, the population of the moth must have been reduced also...). Otherwise I must find a nice alternative for it, like Ilex Crenata. 

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Eunonymus Fortunei ' Minimus'

This plant was purchased (eightpack) and planted early May on different parts of the layout. It is mentioned as a low, evergreen ground covering creeper with small green leaves.

According to several websites this plant will grow even in difficult situations like steeps banks and that is perfect as I noticed my garden is not an easy one. The multi-stemmed plant will have quit a large spread and it will have some very small yellow flowers in June and July.

I was not sure about the height of the plant as the package from the garden center mentioned that it will become 20-30 cm in height as the information I got from various websites mentioned the "Minimus" would become only 10 cm high (which I would prefer).
Just see how it grows and see what it will become.

May 2019

July 2019

For this moment I noticed that the plant really needs a well drained soil as most of the eight planted has a dry brown look after a period of warm and sunny weather in June. To be honest, I could only find 5 of the 8 plants back...
I removed the dried out stamps and added new fresh soil. Hopefully they will recover. Some of the plants are planted in spots between 2 concrete roadbeds (15 cm wide at minimum) so I have to give these special attention during sunny weather. I also placed 5 mm thin strips of foam underfloor sheets as borders to prevent water flowing of from the flowerbeds between the stones. These borders help significantly to keep the soil less dry. Unfortunately they don't look very nice so I have to find ways to camouflage them.

July 2019 Same spot as picture from May, but now taken from straight above. Sedum at the left.

July 2019 Two plants looking dangerously dry...

July 2019 This one looks a bit better. Gray foam border visible between the rocks.

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Rhododendron - Impedtum

I bought this plant hoping to form it more into a tree during the years. When I bought it is was full in volume with nice purple/red flowers. During the (hot) summer of 2018 the plant lost its flowers and leaves significant.It looks dried out.  Hopefully it will bloom again beautiful soon.

September 2018, bare and brown after a dry summer

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Hebe Celina

This strong little plant is perfect for scale bushes but I am planing to try if they make nice modeltrees when you cut of the lower twigs while it grows in height. Hopefully I can show the progress on that during the years to come.
It stays green in winter. The leaves have a little white edge. Height 15-25 cm. Bonus are the little white/yellow flowers from March until May.

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Sagina Subulata - Heath Pearlwort

Sagina Subulata or Heath Pearlwort is a low-growing, bit of a grass like, green staying perennial plant that makes a 5 cm. thick, dense mat with little white flowers (4–5 mm diameter). Its flowering from May to August. It can make a lawn or it can be used on smaller spots to fill up. It can handle dry sandy or gravelly soils. Because of the small flowers and leaves it never looks out of scale and can be used in foreground landscape details.

 

Flowering Heath Pearlwort, May 2019

May 2019

Heath Pearlwort looks nicely in scale between Thyme (top) and Soleirolia. May 2019

It easily covered the side track. May 2019

A bed of Heath Pearlwort, just before bloom early May 2019

Phlox Subulata "Atropurpurea"

Phlox Subulata or Atropurpurea is an evergreen perennial I like very much. It is strong and withstand winter cold easy. When flowering from April to June the plant gives a sea of purple flowers. A second bloom is not unlikely; the picture below was taken in (a rather warm and sunny) October 2018!
When not in bloom it looks with its small needle like leaves and 10-20 cm. height, great as miniature bushes. I planted it on a small pile of soil (hill) and it gives a kind of  bush/forest idea.

The plant tends to spread itself and taking over it surroundings. I have to cut it back along the tracks to make way for the trains as can be seen in this post.
You can also try to divide a part of the plant with some roots and plant these somewhere else in the garden.

Phlox Subulata October 2018

Phlox Subulata October 2018

September 2018 (just before the 2nd bloom!). This is how it looks like without the flowers.

Keeping the tracks free! April 2019

May 2019

Soleirolia - Corisican Curse

Soleirolia (soleirolii) is often known under a scale of commons names like Baby Tears, Mind-Your-Own-Business, Friendship Plant and over here in The Netherlands it is often called Bedroom Bliss (but I have no clue why it was called this way). It is also common known as the Corsican Curse or  more friendly; Corsican Creeper.

It grows close to the ground in mats and has nice small (5 mm) leaves and little white flowers during flowering. Over here it is mostly sold as an indoor houseplant as the plant originally loved a warmer climate (Corsica I assume) where grow can be overwhelming (hence the name Corsican Curse). However now-days you come across it here in gardens and in south-western regions even in the wild. It seems to adapt to colder regions of Europe where it dies in the winter and you could think that was the end of it. But it is miraculous starting to recover in spring and flourish again in summer and autumn.

I planted it in my garden two years back (spring 2017). It survived 2 winters. The first winter it looked like it died completely (see examples in pictures below) and the second winter it did not completely died but it got some severe brown to black spots after snow has covered it for a few days. During March, April and early May you can see the plant recovering again.

It prefers shade and moderate moisture and can be grown in several shades from green to yellow.
As I planted it on a half-shady part I choose a more yellow shade that brings a more sunny  atmosphere even on a clouded day. It makes a great looking model meadow and I also like the way it creeps close to the tracks.

As mentioned: growth can be overwhelming during the years so keep a strict regime. But for now I am happy to see it show up on different spots as well ;-)

More info about this great little creeper can be found on Wikepedia.

May 2019

April 2019

April 2019

May 2019

October 2018

New life!

On these three pictures you can see the black, depressing look after winter 2017/2018. According to the picture file information it is from late April 2018. What a difference with the April 2019 pictures above, but spring was very early in 2019, with even hot sunny periods in February.  Nevertheless, the pictures shows how it looks like after winter. You think it is the end of it but when you look closer, you can see bright green leaves popping up. Be patient and during the next few months it will recover!

A dead look... April 2018.

Can you see the bright green little leaves popping up already? April 2018

Here is a closer look; new life is starting! April 2018

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October 2018 - video and some pictures

October 2018

A little video and some pictures of how the railway looked like in October 2018.