A year of blooming triumph
...and I can’t wait to get going again (just don’t mention my Peruvian daffodil disaster!)
ABOUT 12 months ago, I spott ed s ome buds perched above the 9ft-tall stems of my honey bush. I can honestly say they caught me completely by surprise. In the decade or so since snapping it up from a nursery, this shrub had never once shown the slightest attempt to set flowers.
Over the next few weeks the buds inflated until greenish flowers appeared in March. By April, these had turned red and started to extend rapidly on pinkish stems until one-and-a-half feet in length. They looked wonderfully exotic displayed against a mass of deeply cut, glaucous leaves.
Originating from South Africa, Melianthus major is half-hardy, meaning it will be cut down by frost. As a result, it’s generally treated as a perennial, allowing the foliage to regrow from the ground in spring. However, during mild winters, the shrub remains evergreen and blooms.
It seems appropriate to be casting my mind back to this significant event in the life of my garden. The start of a new year is traditionally a time for gardeners to reflect on the highs and lows of the previous one, and to start making plans that will shape our plots in the months ahead.
What made the biggest impact on my garden last year was getting rid of the old trellis panels that ran down both sides of the garden. In late February, I hired a local contractor to replace it with some contemporary slatted panels. The sparkling new fences made an instant impact, providing more privacy, making the perfect backdrop to beds and setting the entire garden off perfectly.
Some people like bare wood, but I decided to give mine a splash of paint, as it would help to brighten up the garden in winter. The fence also enabled me to indulge in my passion for climbing plants, with Japanese hydrangea vine, Pileostegia viburnoides and a campsis happily clambering upwards.
Patience is a virtue well known to gardeners as some plants take many years to reach their peak. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait that long for a bed of day lilies to hit their stride, as it was only a couple of years ago that I planted three different types under a Chusan palm to provide a succession of colour. Early-flowering ‘Pterodactyl Eye’, mid-flowering ‘Slapstick’ and late-blooming ‘Tylwyth Teg’ put on a dazzling display last summer. The first flower appeared on June 13 and the last bloom withered in early August, with the combined display of all three hitting a glorious peak in mid-July. Midsummer also saw me give in to my daughter’s hectoring and introduce fish to our raised pond. I’d initially avoided the idea, given that we already have a dog, cat, lizard and hamster, but I’m clearly a soft touch, as one day after school we headed off to a nearby aquatics centre and returned with two goldfish, two shibunkins and a tub of flaked food. What a good decision it turned out to be. The fish have injected some movement and excitement into what was a pretty static pool. Of course, there were a few hiccups last year. Every one of my Peruvian daffodils (Hymenocallis festalis) was razed to the ground by slugs before having a chance to flower, and a pomegranate tree that I’ve had in a pot for almost 15 years succumbed to disease that led to leaves turning yellow and shoot tips dying back.
IT WOULDN’T be a new year without resolutions, so I’ve decided to make three that should be easy to keep. Firstly, I want to avoid buying plants on a whim to reduce the number knocking around my patio in pots. Every time I open my shed I’m confronted by a heap of gardening tools, DIY kit, kids’ plastic toys and other stuff that I have to take out to get to an item that I want. I shall clear the space, declutter and put everything I decide to retain back carefully.
Going forwards, my aim will be to keep the shed in an orderly fashion.
Finally, I want to lessen the damage caused by slugs and snails. Last year, they played havoc with my bulbs, perennials and even some shrubs. I’ll begin by hunting down hibernating snails in nooks and crannies, and scattering organic pellets around vulnerable plants from late winter.