blooming My triumphs (foul-ups)of and fatal 2019
The start of a new year is the traditional time for gardeners to take stock of the garden, reflecting on the ups and downs of the past 12 months. Yet it’s not just a chance to mull over days gone by. It’s an excellent opportunity to start making plans that will shape our plots in the months ahead.
I’m no different from anyone else and have had my fair share of highs and lows. I’ve grown some fantastic plants and have given parts of my garden a much needed overhaul. On the other hand, I’ve lost a much loved bamboo and witnessed a new lawn turn into an eyesore.
My greatest achievement last year was to give my front garden a facelift. The small, rectangular patch was a cottage-garden-style display that I’d inherited from the previous owners of my property. Last July I spent a day hoiking out standard roses, sarcococcas and other flowering shrubs, along with foxgloves, verbascums and perennial wallflowers. Once the space was empty, I prepared the soil for planting by digging and working in garden compost.
Today, the same bed is home to a row of standard olive trees under-planted with Astelia banksii. Nearby is an area planted with hardy succulents and another small bed that’s home to agapanthus and ground-hugging daisy, Erigeron karvinskianus. The fresh look is striking and perfect for my coastal garden.
As a garden writer, I’m always on the lookout for new plants to try and I came up trumps last spring when I discovered a collection of different-coloured Gerbera ‘Garvinea Sweet’. Until recently, gerberas were something that had to be grown indoors but this revolutionary form can tolerate temperatures down to -8C.
The pink, red and orange varieties were displayed in large pots on my patio, providing a display from early summer into autumn, with the last bloom opening in November. I was so impressed by their long flowering season and floriferous nature that I’m thinking of planting a swathe of them in the ground.
Not everything went to plan. Last spring I lifted the grass from my small lawn as it was looking tatty, largely due to the heatwave the previous summer and damage caused by my dogs. After laying new turf, I watered regularly in the hope that I would soon have an emerald gem that would set off my garden perfectly.
The lawn was great to begin with but as the summer progressed, a huge bare patch developed down one side, a result of shade being cast by the massive leaves of Tetrapanax papyrifer ‘Rex’. Alas, I will have to re-lay some turf in the spring and will move the architectural giant to prevent further problems.
However, the biggest blow to my garden was the loss of a 15ft-high, 6ft-wide clump of bamboo (Phyllostachys bambusoides ‘Castillonii’) that had been planted many years before to provide some privacy. I was crestfallen when I spotted flowers on its branches in March, a telltale sign that it was in the process of dying. A black elder now grows in its place, but the shrub lacks the presence of the bamboo and doesn’t keep prying eyes away.
Looking ahead, I want to refresh parts of my plot. I’m planning on giving a sunny bed a tropical makeover with cannas and other strident species.