Tender flowers
Exotic plants weave through these lush borders, creating a bold and colourful look in summer. Owners Judith and Jeff Coombes reveal the garden’s highlights
Some gardens can start to look tired once August arrives, but this handsome suburban plot keeps going to the frosts. “It’s jam-packed with colour at this time of year,” says Judith Coombes, who lives here with her husband Jeff. “We have a penchant for tropical and tender plants that reach their peak when the summer weather is at its warmest.
“It all started with the bananas,” says Judith. “We have several Japanese bananas (Musa basjoo) that have survived for years. We leave them in the ground and sometimes they get cut back by winter, but they shoot up from the base again when the warmer weather arrives.”
These large-leaved, exotic-looking foliage plants provide a lavish backdrop
in the hot border. “We grow the bananas as well as Chusan palms (Trachycarpus fortunei), which also come through winter unscathed,” says Judith. “There’s even a tree fern, Dicksonia antarctica, thriving in the garden, but this has to be fleeced during winter to protect it from frost.
“At the front of the hot border we’ve planted a row of hot red and yellow gazanias and begonias, plus a swathe of green-leaved pineapple lily (Eucomis bicolor) and a patch of deep red E. comosa ‘Sparkling Burgundy’, which thrive from year to year without lifting them. However, we do bring in the slightly more tender E. vandermerwei every year.”
Large-leaved, exotic-looking bananas provide a lavish backdrop in the hot border
“Being only five miles east of Nottingham means the temperatures are milder,” explains Jeff. “We’re close to the River Trent too, so warm air congregates around the river and helps us avoid the worst wintry weather. The light, freedraining soil is alluvial so it doesn’t get waterlogged in winter or dry out in summer. We get less rainfall on this side of the Pennines and the easterly winds are quite kind by the time they get here.”
These balmy conditions have encouraged the couple to become more adventurous in their plantings over the last 40 years. “Some years we wait until January to see how cold the winter is before deciding whether or not to lift them,” says Judith. “The only thing that stops us propagating more is the size of our heated greenhouse – we could never overwinter them all!
“With a garden like this, it’s crucial to have enough space to store tender plants. A frost-free greenhouse is ideal; ours is controlled by a thermostat to ward off the freezing temperatures.”
Jeff and Judith came late to gardening, so for many years the garden consisted simply of a large lawn bordered by a conifer hedge. “Before 2000 the garden relied mainly on annuals, until a gardening friend explained the value of using perennials instead,” says Judith. “I can’t resist a good f lower, so we soon acquired a backbone of long-flowering perennials.
“Initially we created mixed borders containing a wide assortment of plants, but seven years ago I began to group them together in colour-themed swathes and drifts for more impact,” says Judith. “It’s best not to plant annuals and perennials singly. I like to use blocks of the same plant to create a wave of colour. It’s particularly effective with grasses, penstemons and phlox.”
Judith’s phloxes look their best in midsummer when the garden opens for the National Garden Scheme. “I have at least 30 or 40 phloxes,” she says. “I started off by buying a ‘lock, stock and barrel’ collection, so I don’t know all the names. They’ve become garden stalwarts though, and the colours – pinks, whites and lavender-blues – all blend so well together.”
Judith is happy to propagate her plants from
cuttings and pots up favourites for her plant stall on garden open days. “The stall is highly popular, as are my home-made cakes!” she laughs. “One favourite with visitors is pale pink Phlox paniculata ‘Bright Eyes’, which has a darker eye than others and is very fragrant.”
All Judith’s plants are meticulously labelled and added to a database on her computer. “I’m afraid the magpies have a habit of walking off with my labels, and my crocosmia collection has suffered somewhat too,” she says. “They’re so hard to tell apart!”
This plantaholic couple are very keen members of their local gardening club. “We’ve been on lots of trips all over the country and many of our plants remind us of places we’ve visited. We’ve also travelled further afield, visiting the Cape Town Flower Show in South Africa.” ✿