NOTES FROM garden MY
Alexandra Campbell plans ahead for the unpredictable weather this summer.
LOTS of new shoots are coming through, although I think there have been some significant losses in the border this year. I planted salvias and Agastache, both of which are usually hardy in our winters here in the south of England.
There are many salvia varieties, and some are very tender, but others will withstand a normal UK winter.
I planted Salvia Amistad, a beautiful purple salvia that flowers from May to September and isn’t fussy about what kind of soil it’s in.
It’s an easy-grow, very obliging plant. But it’s only hardy down to a maximum of minus 5 degrees Celsius.
And although we only had a few days of real cold this winter, there are no new shoots emerging.
The problem isn’t just the cold – it’s the wet.
We had an exceptionally wet autumn followed by an early, hard, cold spell. That’s a fatal combination for plants that like well-drained soil and are usually pleasantly drought resistant. I think I will have to consider it an annual and replant it every year. The other salvia I planted was Pink Pong, which is supposed to be hardy down to minus 10 degrees Celsius.
It, too, looks like a withered stalk, demonstrating once again that it’s the rain rather than the cold that causes some plants to die in winter. Or, more accurately, it’s the combination of very wet soil and even moderate cold that is so lethal to our borders. Similarly, I chose Agastache because of our frequent hot, dry hosepipe-ban summers.
This is another plant that can be very
easy care, especially if you live in an area of low rainfall as we do.
However, in the past six months, the rain has been more than any of us can cope with, and that includes the Agastache. It looks like a dead twig.
I will stick with the salvias, but I think that I need to focus on plants that won’t mind getting their feet wet occasionally, so sadly the Agastache will not be replaced.
Instead, plant growers have recommended I try
Achillea (Yarrow) for a good long-flowering wildlife-friendly plant.
Achillea is also quite drought-resistant, so it shouldn’t mind a hot summer, either.
Roses are surprisingly hardy plants, too. They don’t seem to mind torrential rain or drought, provided they’re well watered the year they’re planted.
But I have enough roses, and the same goes for the equally easy-going Turkish sage (phlomis) or lamb’s ears.
Hardy geraniums are a good resilient choice, although I find they take a while to get established.
It’s always a good idea to think about what does well in your local gardens – even the big open gardens where you know they have professional gardeners to care for the plants properly. Penstemons are another good flowering perennial, and they go on for years in our local Doddington Place Gardens in Kent. Although Doddington Place is reasonably near to where I live, it’s actually colder, so I think I should try penstemons again. The RHS warns that, “some penstemons are hardier than others”, so check the variety carefully. Perovskia Blue Spire, now called Salvia Blue Spire, is another very tolerant plant.
You can see it planted in both dry gardens and in areas with more rainfall. It has tall blue spires of flowers throughout late summer and autumn. What used to be called sedum is also very tolerant of both dry and wet summers – and it’s loved by bees.
• Visit Alexandra’s blog online at themiddlesizedgarden.co.uk.