Planting for the future
GARDEN DESIGN
by Lesley Hegarty and Robert Webber
keep it looking good. Those clients who are relatively new to gardening are often really enthusiastic to ‘learn on the job’, as were Joe and Sophie. In deciding they would derive most pleasure from doing all the work themselves, they not only discovered an enjoyable new hobby, but a great way of keeping fit at the same time!
A new garden - a few months after planting
With your newly laid lawn and your borders planted, you can now sit back and watch the exciting transformation of your outdoor space! Forget the show gardens you see at Chelsea which are crammed full of mature plants all flowering simultaneously; this is the real world where plants are allowed to grow at their own pace and respond naturally to the seasons.
Our guiding principle is to plant for the future, which means buying plants in the smallest sizes available – preferably in 9cm pots if you can get them. This is better not only for your purse, but also for earlier establishment of your borders. The smaller the plants, the more readily they get off to a good start in the ground. The corollary is that, at first sight, looking at those patches of bare earth in your borders can feel a bit of an anticlimax. But don’t lose faith.
Keep up the watering during dry spells, be vigilant with the weeding, and, above all, be patient as the transformation unfolds.
Joe and Sophie, owners of the garden we designed and have been following in this series, planted their borders in the early spring, an ideal time of year, and were truly amazed at the results – even before the end of the summer their herbaceous plants had grown their socks off and were already treating them to a wonderful, colourful floral display.
Once you have lived with your new garden for a few months, you may decide whether you wish to spend your valuable free time maintaining it yourself, or would prefer to get some help. You will find that the weeds are already beginning to come through and grow like Topsy, competing vigorously for the same space as the other plants, and even the lowest maintenance garden will need some attention to
If you would appreciate a little guidance, designers who are also professionally trained horticulturalists will happily provide you with a fully customised maintenance regime and regular health checks for your garden to ensure you make the best use of your time in it to allow you maximum enjoyment from it. If energetic gardening is not your cup of tea, you may prefer to employ a gardener for maybe a few hours a week to do some of the pruning, skilled border work or even the mowing of the lawn.
Whether the maintenance is carried out by you or your gardener, try to resist the temptation to move any plants around or make substantial additions to your borders until they are well and truly established.
Chances are that the beautiful scarlet-red rose that Auntie Flo gave you for your birthday, for example, won’t look quite right in your ‘Mediterranean-themed’ planting scheme of pinks, purples, whites and silvers. If you have gone to the expense of paying for a planting plan, the plants will have been selected carefully to ensure that the right plant is in the right place - and each one will conform to your chosen colour palette as well as respond to the plants around it in terms of foliage texture, contrast and shape. Perhaps you could consider making a feature of your gift in an attractive container or introducing it into a different area of the garden.
Next month
Whatever your chosen garden style, your enjoyment of this new outdoor space is key. After all, you have invested a considerable amount of money in this project, and what investment other than a garden can combine giving you so much pleasure and delivering a continuous tangible return on your assets?
Next month, to complete our series, we will move the clock forward a few years and judge how your investment has performed. We will review some of the changes you may need to make to ensure that it continues not only to outperform the market but also to pay you handsome dividends.
www.hegartywebberpartnership.com
Country Gardener 31
Don’t lose faith when it comes to a new garden. The important principles are plant for the future and plant in the smallest sizes possible
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