Our garden is into its fourth year now and I’m continuing to play around with things, add new plants and the colour palette is slowly evolving. I’m excited about ‘the big grow’ this year and new plants being started from seed across February and March.
The teenage years
The thing that strikes me about this winter is that some of our plants must be at that magical point of being “established”. Astrantia and Brunnera are seriously clumping, Alliums are multiplying and shrubs are chunking up. Most of my ferns are dividing like the clappers. The third spring since most plants were added to the garden and everything is taking on its own life in a new way. Even my cloud pruned topiary Buxus is finally looking like ‘something’ (no doubt to be struck down immediately by blight).
Temperature watch
It’s been a good winter. In January our garden had a solid few weeks of minus figures and frost for the first time in the four years we’ve been collecting data in our weather station. The daffodils are definitely back on track for spring in London this year rather than the freaky flowering of December 2015.
That said, our garden’s microclimate has never been more apparent. My frost tender Echiums in the garden are unscathed, unlike my allotment grown ones that were frosted to a black mush. Other plants like the tender Rhodochiton atrosanguineus vine are still alive if not yet kicking and the original Canna ‘Assaut’ has been multiplying underground like rabbits.
Grasses progress
Yesterday I cut back all of the deciduous ornamental grasses because new shoots are coming through already, catching me by surprise. In fact, two of them, a Calamagrostis and Hakonechloa were shooting a couple of weeks ago. Surprisingly despite a colder winter, some Miscanthus and Pennisetum are still green from last year.
The big chop chop!
I love pruning and chopping – if you ever worry that pruning is hard, that’s a myth. Methodical yes, but above all, enjoyable. Almost everything that needs to be chopped back in our garden now has been (I’m impatient and tend to cut a month earlier than the books say). Including both the Clematis Group 2 and 3, either to the ground or about 60cm from it to grow taller into the trees. Sambucus and Buddleia too. It’s really only the Eucalyptus, Fuchsias and Salvias to go now, which I’ll save until March when the harshest weather has passed.
Changes to the garden’s look and feel
Our garden hasn’t changed that much since we revamped it but naturally, it is evolving. Naturally by means of the plants growing and by me tinkering and succumbing to the annual tsunami of catalogues through our letter box.
If my original plan had all of the colours selected like an artist’s palette in neat little blobs of pinks, reds and plum, the current plan has seen my hand smudge them all together into an undefined whirl.
Considering very few plants have ever been removed, it’s usually with a rebellious smirk that I find myself cramming even more plants in. This year, the only way is up and more climbers need to be added. What these will be I haven’t decided yet, but I have a few seeds in the propagator to trial.
Into spring
Next time I write, here on Littlebury Road our season will be well underway. Sowing starts early for us in February (earlier than you’re supposed to so don’t copy us!) with most being sown for home and allotment in March.
By March, I’ll also be able to report if our spring white garden has been a success. I suspect not as there still aren’t enough plants but at least we’ll have some interesting white flowers to see us through until the colour madness begins in April.
Into the growing season then…
