Willows on the move!
After replacing the lawn with stone paving, this suburban London garden is accessible all year and has even more room for plants!
We took the plunge and cut the Clematis
montana back by about 80 per cent above the pergola and the light is flooding onto the patio as a result.
The last of the spring pruning has been completed with the fuchsias, salvias and abutilon. It’s now time to rearrange some of the long-standing displays: the contorted willows either side of
the front door didn’t work so they’re going to become the focal point of the fernery instead. The huge, darkleaved cannas, liberated from the shed and in active regrowth, will take their place later in the season.
Returning to the allotment hasn’t been too traumatic. We’ve been sorting out the fruit trees, sheds and compost heap for communal use. I’ve been picking bunches of daffs for the vase, and have planted more lilies and irises in the cutting patch. My first row of peas have been sown and autumn-sown broad beans are well up. Potatoes ‘Red Duke of York’ and ‘ Pentland Javelin’ are chitted and ready for planting. I’ve managed to
prick out tomato, broad bean and courgette seedlings in the greenhouse. Sage and rosemary cuttings from discarded plants have taken and need potting on.
Coronilla glauca ‘Citrina’ is the star of the show right now, pulmonarias and brunneras are carpeting the borders as they come into flower and dainty little epimediums brighten up the shadiest corner. Erysimums ‘ Bowles’s Mauve’ and ‘Red Jep’ are bursting with buds and I’ve bought some new additions of these prolific flowerers. There has been a constant succession of daffodils throughout March, alongside scillas, muscari and chionodoxa. Spiraea
japonica ‘Goldflame’ is covered in bright coppery leaves, in contrast to S. vanhouttei ‘Pink Ice’ with its soft variegated foliage and pastel florets. Salix integra ‘Hakuro-nishiki’, Berberis thunbergii ‘Pink Queen’
and Pittosporum tenuifolium ‘Tom Thumb’ make wonderful partners at the start of the season. Miniature Prunus incisa ‘Kojo-no-mai’ is covered in blossom and Magnolia stellata looks stunning. But my favourite view is first thing in the morning, when the rising sun highlights the russet shoots of rose ‘Climbing Étoile de Hollande’ over the rustic arch.