After recoiling my toe previously, I am tentatively submerging my whole foot into this Blog and hoping it doesn't end up in my mouth.
I'm banking on the shape of this Blog emerging organically, I don't have a clear plan for it and I'm known to disappear off on a tangent, bear with me though and I'll try to stay on topic.
A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit an old project (pictured) that was settling into it's third summer. Because of the nature of gardening, you rarely get to see a finished job. Allowing for plants to grow into their space is vital for any long term garden. The finished gardens from flower shows and TV makeovers are usually very impractical in the real world. A desire for the finished item at point of delivery can cause problems over the long term and is very cost inefficient.
I am reminded of this by a garden near where I live, (designed by a famous TV gardener who shall remain nameless) which is stunning for about one month every year. However, not much happens in any other season. Were it a plant it would be described as having a short period of interest and is a problem the ever recommendable Christopher Lloyd addressed in his book Succession Planting for Adventurous Gardeners
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.It would be wrong of me to infer that the designer was unaware of this. I haven't seen their brief and it was commissioned by a property developer. I suspect its main function was to look as good as possible for a quick sale. There are many positive reasons to concentrate on a single season (which I plan to talk about sometime) but this time I can't imagine it was to serve the interests of the eventual owner.
What was I saying about tangents? Any way back to the 3 year old garden I recently revisited. I was thrilled by the way it has settled. There were a number of obstacles to overcome in this garden so I'm going use it to inform this and future posts should I have nothing better to talk about.
It's a modern garden in Wiltshire next to a busy roundabout. It has one particularly great view out of the garden onto a distant abbey on top of a hill. The client had suffered from with moles, flooding and whilst keen to be in the garden they aren't keen on gardening.
When Stephen (Close Nursery Garden Service Ltd. tel. 01666 505021) and I first arrived we could tell by the size of overgrown shrubbery that it was incredibly fertile underneath. This will be addressed in my next blog where I will witter on about the shrubs and trees that require brutal pruning.
