Bunny Guinness sings a hymn of praise to the humble sprout
Bunny Guinness: My month in the garden Growing rhubarb for a festive trifle, a fond farewell, a school lawn that’s free of grass and seasonal show-stoppers in flower
RHUBARB, RHUBARB
My ‘Poulton’s Pride’ rhubarb (from DT Brown) is still in fine fettle in December, untouched so far by frosts. This variety you can pick whenever, no need to stop in late June.
Extraordinarily, once cooked it needs little or no sugar. I think that Christmas is the perfect time for rhubarb as it combines brilliantly with ginger and orange. I am going to chuck some fleece over it and hopefully it will manage to stay plump until December 24. If it obliges, I will do a rhubarb, ginger and orange trifle for Christmas Eve.
A GRASS-FREE LAWN
When I was asked to design a garden at Oakham School in Rutland, I wanted to create an area where the students could congregate outside, so I devised a series of circular, acid-etched metal arches, making each circle wide enough to accommodate a young hornbeam. The idea was that all the hornbeams would meet up and look like green quadripartite vaulting. Surrounding it, we planted a grass-free lawn as pioneered by Lionel Smith. I went back to see the progress.
The hornbeam had grown well and nearly all the framework was well covered, but the grass-free lawn had a few pernicious weeds, such as nettles, and the odd bald area, although otherwise had fared moderately well.
Grass-free lawns need mowing about eight times a year and will flower year round – both huge plus points. The downside is that pernicious weeds do need to be removed and any bald areas replanting. Originally we planted about 32 different plants and obviously some have thrived and others disappeared. However, I am still a fan of grass-free lawns and I plan to try one at home.
See Tapestry Lawns: Freed from Grass and Full of Flowers, by Lionel Smith (CRC Press, £18.99).