Close your eyes and picture yourself in your perfect garden. Are you dozing in
a deck chair, drinking in the calm, or busying yourself among the plants?
Does the garden look sleek and minimal or charmingly dishev-elled? Is the
planting lushly tropical, packed with eye-popping bedding or a froth of
blowsy roses? What is the garden of your dreams? The RHS Chelsea Flower
Show, which runs from May 22 to 26, has been a source of inspiration to
gardeners for years. Over the next three weeks, I will show you how to
create a garden that will be a prizewinner with your family and friends.
My first piece of advice is to temper your vision with a healthy dose of
reality. Fantasising about perfectly tended acres and an army of gardeners
can be fun, but when you have a cramped town garden, a full-time job and a
couple of football-kicking children, such daydreaming won’t achieve anything
– unless it triggers a decision to move. The real key to successful
gardening is a dose of brutal honesty: about the space you have, your
genuine level of interest in gardening and the depth of your pockets. Only
then can you transform that space into your perfect outdoor patch.
WHAT SORT OF GARDENER ARE YOU?
The first thing to consider when planning a garden is not what plants to put
in, but the people who will create and use it. Don’t underestimate yourself
because you are new to the practicalities – keen novices can quickly become
knowledge-able – but be realistic about the level of interest you can
sustain. Enthusiasm alone isn’t enough. If you are starting from scratch,
the initial burst of creative energy can be fun, but maintaining a garden is
a long, slow burn. The amount of time you are prepared to devote – or the
money you can afford to pay someone else to do the hard graft – should drive
your ambitions.
WHAT IS THE GARDEN FOR?
The needs of family and friends will also determine how you use the space, and
should be taken into account along with your level of interest, available
time and budget. Gardens aren’t just about growing glorious plants. We also
want room to sit and entertain, a sandpit for the kids, a spot for the dog
to run around, or plots in which to grow fresh veg, fruit and herbs, perhaps
a potting shed and a composting corner. In an ideal world, we might also
include an area dedicated to wildlife and wild-flowers, a water feature or
pond, a collection of sculpture, willow bowers, rose arches and hanging
baskets. For many people, there just isn’t the space, so make a list of
priorities. Remember, too, that as our lives change, so too may our gardens:
that toddlers’ climbing frame can eventually give way to the bower you so
want.
Some factors are not flexible. The direction the garden faces, the surrounding
environment and soil type are fixed, so work with what you have to achieve a
site’s full potential. Even the most unpromising plot – small, awkwardly
shaped, shady and overlooked by neighbouring buildings – can become
surprisingly attractive if you do so, rather than soldiering on in denial.
Put the right plant in the right place and it will thrive; the wrong one in
the wrong spot may appear fine initially, but gradually, it will become
miserable and diseased, then die.
Put some thought into where you buy, too. Displays at supermarkets may be
tempting and cheap, but it is unlikely that the plants will have had enough
TLC, and all but the toughest will start off life in your garden at a
disadvantage. It is worth going to reputable growers, nurseries and garden
centres whose main business is to provide you with healthy plants, rather
than sell them as commodities alongside sausages and screwdrivers. They will
also have a wider selection.
ASPECT
The direction your garden faces – and the amount and type of shade cast by
surrounding buildings and trees – is paramount when it comes to deciding
what plants to grow and how to position key elements such as patios, seating
areas, water features and greenhouses, so work this out. (If necessary, buy
a compass.) An east-facing aspect is too shady for sun-lovers such as
lavender, as it will get only the morning sun, which may also burn plants
such as camellias after a frost; south and west are sunny and warm; north
receives the least light.
You may face specific challenges. If your garden is in a frost pocket, for
example, choose hardy plants that don’t flower too early in the season;
exposed coastal sites require plants that can withstand hot sun, biting wind
and sea spray. Most of us, however, will need to monitor which parts of the
garden, if any, are in full sun (the perfect location for drought-tolerant
plants), which are in partial or full shade, which may be either dry or
damp. If you’re not sure, sit in a deck chair out in the garden for a day
(gin and tonic optional) and watch as the sun moves overhead. Note which
areas are shady, when, and for how long. Here are some of my favourite
plants for different conditions.
Best plants for full sun: Anthemis tinctoria ‘Sauce
Hollandaise’: clump-forming oxeye daisy with pale-cream flowers. Perovskia
‘Blue Spire’: upright, slender stems with violet-blue flowers and
silvery-grey leaves. Stipa gigantea‘Gold Fon-taene’: golden grass
with clouds of feathery tufts.
Full shade: Geranium phaeum ‘Samobor’: deep-purple flowers and
purple marked leaves. Sarco-coccavar digyna‘Purple Stem’:
shrub with slender tapered leaves, with dark-purple young stems and
pink-tinged flowers. Asplenium scolopendrium: hart’s tongue fern with
strap-shaped fronds.
Partial shade:Dicentra spectabilis ‘Alba’: clump-forming
perennial with heartshaped white flowers hanging from slender, arching
stems. Helleborusx hybridus: leathery-leaved perennials with a
wide range of open, double and frilled flowers in white, pink, yellow and
purple. Hakonechloa macra ‘Alboaurea’: perennial grass with yellow
leaves, striped with narrow green.
Exposed or coastal sites: Crambe maritima: sea kale, with thick
stems bearing clouds of tiny white flowers. Eryngiumx oliverianum:
branched blue stems with silvery flowers, surrounded by spiky ruffs. Fuchsia
magellanica: shrub with tiny red flowers followed by oblong red-purple
fruits.
SOIL
Some plants thrive in most conditions. Others can prove a costly error if you
put them in the wrong spot. So, work out your soil type and consistency.
Is it heavy clay – rock-solid in hot weather and sticky when wet – sandy and
free-draining, or crumbly and fertile? Alkaline soil is rich in chalk or
limestone, with a high pH; acid soil has a low pH. Many of us have neutral
soil, which suits a vast range of plants. Find out what you have with a
soil-testing kit, available from garden centres, before you sink a single
plant in the ground. They are easy to use. And look at what’s growing well
over the fence, as neighbouring gardens are likely to have similar
conditions to your own.
Plants for heavy clay: Crataegus persimilis ‘Pruni-folia’:
rounded deciduous hawthorn tree, with leaves that turn orange and red in
autumn. Sambucus nigra ‘Eva’ (sometimes labelled ‘Black Lace’):
black-leaved elder with pale-pink flowers. Astrantia major ‘Claret’:
wine-coloured papery bracts on a clump-forming perennial.
Sandy: Artemisia‘Powis Castle’: good foliage plant with silver
filigree tufts. Echinops ritro ‘Veitch’s Blue’: globe thistle with
dark-blue flowerheads. Romneya coulteri: sub-shrub with cup-shaped
white flowers against ovate grey-green leaves.
Alkaline: Cotinus coggygria ‘Royal Purple’: shrub with clouds of
purple inflorescences and dark-purple leaves, turning scarlet in autumn. Verbas-cum
‘Gainsborough’: tall stems of pale-yellow flowers above felty green
leaves. Anchusa azurea ‘Loddon Royalist’: sturdy perennial
with branching panicles of small, bright-blue flowers.
Acid: Rhododendron yakushimanum: tightly dome-shaped shrub with
pink flowers. Dodecatheon meadia f album: cowslip-like
meadow plant with creamy white flowers on the end of strong stems. Deschampsia
flexuosa ‘Tatra Gold’: tussock-forming grass with clouds of golden
spikelets.
STYLE
With the basics sorted, it’s time to get arty. Your garden should reflect your
own taste and interests. However, the type and age of the house, and the
local environment, may suggest a particular style. I’m a great believer in
taking your lead from the atmosphere and setting, but if you want to bring a
nautical theme to the heart of the Midlands, or crave a Moroccan courtyard
on Merseyside, well, you’re the boss. Whatever you choose – and I will show
how to achieve four key garden styles next week – consistency is crucial.
Whether your garden is in the heart of the city or surrounded by fields, in
deep shade or full sun, on a rooftop or enveloped by velvety lawns, one
thing should be common to all. Respecting the environment is the mantra at
Chelsea this year, and should be in your garden, too. Water sparingly, use
chemicals with restraint, or not at all, and encourage wildlife. Then your
dream garden will be a credit not just to you, but to the planet.
timesonline.co.uk/chelseaflowershow
