My year of lockdown LOVELIES (and a few losers too)

Our expert reveals his highs and lows of a tumultuous 12 months

IT’S a time-honoured tradition for gardeners to begin a brand new year by taking stock of t heir gardens, pondering the highs and lows of the past 12 months. Apart from looking back, downtime in early January also provides an opportunity to make plans that will shape our plots in the future.

I’ve certainly had my fair share of ups and downs in the garden. My highlights include creating a new bed and seeing a plant, grown from a cutting 15 years ago, flower for the first time. On the flipside, a gorgeous climber died suddenly and I went to war against a plant that sent up shoots all over the place.

It will come as no surprise to learn that the spring lockdown had a great impact on my garden last year. Other than going out for daily exercise, being confined to barracks for months on end meant I could dedicate more time than usual to my plot and by summer it was in great shape.

More than ever before, my garden had a positive effect on my physical and mental wellbeing. Weeding, mowing, planting and tending to my treasures kept me busy over spring.

The addition of solar lights, a hammock and fire pit turned it into a real refuge for my family during the long, hot summer.

During the first lockdown, I established a new bed in a shady spot. The triangular patch under a 7ft tree fern was dug out, improved with manure and then filled with a selection of low-light lovers, including Begonia ‘Wavy Green’, Persicaria runcinata ‘Purple Fantasy’ and Roscoea ‘Harvington Summer Deep Purple’. And taking pride of place in the display is Pseudopanax lessonii ‘Moa’s Toes’, an awesome architectural plant from New Zealand. Eventually growing to 6ft, this evergreen shrub has greenish-purple, three-lobed leaves with prominent red veins. It’s hardy down to minus 5C, so should thrive in my coastal location.

Of course, snapping up plants in person was impossible when garden centres were forced to close in late March, so like many others I turned to online nurseries that could deliver. Among my lockdown favourites were Farmyard Nurseries (farmyardnurseries.co.uk) and Swines Meadow (swinesmeadow farmnursery.co.uk).

Nothing gives me greater pleasure than seeing a plant flower for the first time, especially when I’ve had it for a while. So I was delighted to see buds on the Aloe striatula in my front garden – a plant raised from a cutting taken in 2005 – mature into conical yellow flower heads carried on stout stems.

Of all the new plants added to the garden, I’ve been most impressed by Salvia ‘Amistad’.

A fairly recent introduction from Argentina, this ornamental sage forms a 4ft by 3ft clump, and produces a succession of deep purple f l owers. Nurseries suggest it blooms between July and October but mine is still going strong.

Sadly, not everything turned out well. In early March I decided to transplant a Tetrapanax papyrifer ‘Rex’ to another part of the garden as it was casting unwanted shade on my lawn. It was a struggle to dig up this strapping shrub but I managed to excavate it with a good root ball attached.

Unfortunately the 6ft-tall specimen failed to re-establish. However, its original root system was deep and extensive, and parts left in the ground have responded by sending up suckers in my lawn and beds. So far, I’ve grubbed up about 40 unwanted plants.

Back in June I wrote about a magnificent white passion flower that I bought from a supermarket for £1.50. It scaled my 8ft pergola and flowered prolifically until August, when it suddenly died. Oh dear. I should never have planted anything against a post used by my dog to answer the call of nature.

Looking ahead, I still have some gaps to fill and an empty area I want to plant.

And I’d like to replace some slate chipping mulch with Solent gold gravel to be more in keeping with a seaside garden.