Pushing the boat out with lots of colour!
Autumn’s well and truly here, but there are still shots of colour in the garden, like the gorgeous yellow of the goldenrod. The benefit of these stunning flowers is they keep their colour after others begin to fade. In addition to the work starting around the pond next month, I had to replace the large rowing boat in the beach garden. It had been there since 2012 but was sadly falling apart. I’d mentioned this to some visitors back in the summer who very generously said they had one not being used in their own garden and would happily donate it to me. The old one was in fragments by the time I tried to get it out and the new one, while fibreglass, not wooden and much larger, fitted in well once I’d created just the right space among the existing planting. I dressed it with some marine objects and there’s room to sit in it, too. Another beautiful yellow plant looking good in the beach garden is shrubby hare’s ear, or Bupleurum fruticosum. It’s an evergreen shrub growing up to 2m tall with simple bluegreen leaves and clusters of tiny yellow flowers. Mine’s located by decking at the edge of the beach garden and has to be passed by all visitors who always comment on the beautiful flower.
At the top of the garden, the amazing yucca, which I brought with me from my previous home in North London back in 2004, has gone mad, throwing up five beautiful flower heads. I just hope their trunks can support the weight as they’re prone to snap off when too heavy.
This issue of GN marks the 10th anniversary of me winning the Garden News ‘Gardener of the Year 2012’ for small gardens. I still have my prize, carefully preserved through the intervening 10 years, of a cut glass vase engraved with the win.
It won’t be long before I need to start putting my succulent collection to bed for winter, along with smaller plants in my collection of agaves. I bought a vintage colander last autumn and planted two small agaves in it for the summer openings. It does look quite quirky and perfectly in keeping with my plot on a small table on the upper patio. A plant I’ve long loved is the alstroemeria. By far my favourite is ‘Indian Summer’. It’s looking particularly good this year. Read more at www. driftwoodbysea.co.uk.