TIDYING THE GARDEN ROOM!
Notes from a small Reordering the borders is needed to get the plot in great shape for 2021
WFollow Naomi’s progress as she gets to grips with her tiny urban garden on heavy Bristol clay hen it comes to form, a ractiveness and ease of use, there are many similarities between interior design and garden design. But there’s one key difference – unlike plants, furniture doesn’t grow.
And while an established garden will have its bones and structure in place whatever the season, a young garden is a flibbertigibbet: things grow madly or not at all. It can look wonderful one moment then collapse the next. And, for the gardener, the challenge is to manage the component elements while building core interest, editing and refining, until it finally comes right.
Here, the garden is lower than the house – from the kitchen doors, you look out across the deck then, visually, you’re hanging in mid-air. The land also slopes downhill, so the further away you look, the taller things need to be to catch your eye. This creates a situation where height is a really significant part of the design, while the compact space demands a small footprint.
On the plus side, it’s very easy, with tall and slender plants, to create a wonderful sense of immersion and privacy and frame or screen key garden elements as the design develops. But, unlike a show garden, my plants were all quite small when they were first put in. Which brings me back to the relative simplicity of interiors. When buying a sofa, you measure your space and get something that will fit. You don’t get a small sofa in a nice fabric and wait. In a couple of years, it won’t have grown into a large, luxury version of itself and you won’t need to worry about it crowding the bookshelf and knocking over the coffee table – unlike plants.
Indeed, gardening is a surprisingly fast-moving activity; some things do fabulously well, others die, despite being lavished with care, so regular review is needed.
Helenium ‘Can Can’ has grown ginormous and needs moving and dividing, while nearby salvia ‘Amistad’ still has some way to grow. My lovely symphyotrichum (aster) ‘Lady in Black’ has sprawled and will be relocated, shifting the smaller, newer Sanguisorba officinalis to accommodate this and bouncing the leggy hylotelephium (sedum) ‘Herbstfreude’ into a sunnier spot. The peonies will stay put for a moment, but they may have to move next time if they don’t have enough elbow room.
The year has just begun and when it comes to bones, the trees, shrubs and evergreens are really starting to hold their own, which is great, while reordering the borders now will put the garden in great shape going forward!